The Kaiser Chiefs Are The Kings Of Customization

This summer the Kaiser Chiefs finally ended their 3 year hiatus with the release of their new album entitled The Future Is Medieval.  The band joined the recent trend of online album releases with an online release on June 3rd, followed by an official release on June 27th.  In the three year break it seems the Kaiser Chiefs must have taken some social media classes from Salty Waffle (you should try some for yourself!) because their new album offers a few cool new social-media-related advantages!

The Future Is Medieval is unique in that it allows for the listener to customize the album through a number of options.  Since the album was released online this allowed for a great deal of user customization of the content.  First of all, the user can pick and choose what songs they want on their version of the album.  They can pick and choose their favorite 10 tracks from a list of 20 tracks available on the band’s website.  After they compile their list of songs they can also create their own album artwork for “their” album.

As if this wasn’t enough for their fan base, users can set up their own website page for their customized version of the album and sell it online via PayPal.  Every time they sell their version of the album they receive 1 Euro of the profits.  This gives fans a great incentive to promote and sell the Kaiser Chiefs album, thus gaining the album even more exposure.  All of these features definitely make the album a great example of what can be done with social media to enhance albums and even promote them to larger audiences.