RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS...Road Trippin' on the Information Superhighway

Can't Stop-Formed in LA, 1983

-Currently consists of:

Anthony Kiedis: Lead Vocal

Michael “Flea” Balzary: Bass

Josh Klinghoffer: Guitar

Chad Smith: Drums

-Anthony and Flea are the only original members

-Famous for playing shows wearing nothing but a sock to cover their genitals

-Created many chart topping songs and sold out many a show over the years. Their latest album I'm With You released in 2011 topped charts in 18 countries

-Inducted into Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2012

-Recently criticized for playing the 2013 Superbowl unplugged over a backing track, the band have not denied this, rather publicly explaining the legitimate reasons for this decision

SUBWAY TO VENUS-Although highly regarded by the old school as quality musicians, it seems RHCP have had no trouble keeping up with the times, still selling extraordinary amounts of seats, merchandise and music to younger generations as well

-There is no doubt this is in part thanks to the professional management of their online channels.

-Flea and Chad also manage their own Twitter feeds however there is a plethora of Chili Pepper imposters as well. @flea333 @rhcpchad

The band actively engages in the following channels: Redhotchilipeppers.com facebook.com/chilipeppers youtube.com/rhcptv twitter.com/chilipeppers instagram.com/chilipeppers chilipeppers.tumblr.com google.com/+RedHotChiliPeppers Facebook.com/flea Facebook.com/rhcpchad myspace.com/redhotchilipeppers

The List Goes On...On top of the direct social media feeds from the band there are also

countless fansites, on-line radio streams and biography pages on mainstream media websites, here are just a few.....

http://www.last.fm/music/Red+Hot+Chili+Peppers

http://open.spotify.com/artist/0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/red-hot-chili-peppers-official/id492804019?mt=8

http://www.setlist.fm/setlists/red-hot-chili-peppers-13d68969.html

http://www.songkick.com/artists/468146-red-hot-chili-peppers

http://www.whosampled.com/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers/

http://www.jango.com/music/Red+Hot+Chili+Peppers?l=0

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/red-hot-chili-peppers

http://rockhall.com/inductees/red-hot-chili-peppers/bio/

http://grooveshark.com/#!/red_hot_chili_peppers

http://thechilisource.com/

www.redhotchilipeppers.com

- Active since March 2000

-Offers a wide selection of fan interactivity

-Streaming music, frequent posts from the band and its team, optional memberships, a message board, downloads, games, tour info, links, shop and so forth

-The posts from the band are highly personal and speak to the fans directly

-Messag board allows fans to interact with other fans and the band directly

-Links direct fans to related projects including Flea's non-profit organization for less priveleged, young musicians

www.silverlakeconservatory.com

AUDIENCEThey've been around since 1983, that alone tells you something about

the continued fan base they have, now spanning several generations. The demand from a wide range of high profile consumer attractions such as The Superbowl and The Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame or working with artists on other platforms such as Damien Hirst who has been said to be one of the great living artist. This is at least reflected by his wealth, his most expensive piece selling for 10.3 million pound Sterling and his raising £111 million ($198 million) at a Sotheby's auction for the sale of a full show.

CONSISTANT FEED

Flea and Chad are both quite active on Twitter and Chad posts on Reddit often too. The RHCP Twitter feed is updated regularly and it is almost surprising to see how much work they still have to offer, coming out with music videos consistently and now recording and eleventh studio album.

@RCHPChad @flea333 @ChiliPeppers @RHCPFansite

Their bands homepage is also kept ahead of the game along with people interacting on the message boards daily. They have a current Youtube feed and as metioned before interaction with other celebrities that creates positive buzz.

CONTENTMost of the semi personal tweets out there are thank yous to fans and

hosts, friends and others that they try not to miss. Many posts in their social media feed are presumably written by an employee. Much of the website has assurance of policies and restrictions which are also reflected in the issue regarding accusations about the band not playing live at their Superbowl performance. Upon this, Flea wrote a 700 or so word letter and posted it to the website...

“We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell. Plus, we the RHCP all love football too and that played a big part in our decision. We decided that, with Anthony singing live, that we could still bring the spirit and freedom of what we do into the performance, and of course we played every note in the recording specially for the gig. I met and spoke with Bruno, who was a beautiful dude, a real talented musician, and we worked out something that seemed like it would be fun”

http://mashable.com/2014/02/04/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-air-guitar-super-bowl/

FLEA'S TWEETS....

Communicates with his followers as real people not just as consumers of his music.

Connects on a personal level posting about things that mean something to him

This genuine, down to earth and positive connection with the wider public through social media acts as an extension of Flea's personality as an artist.

CHAD'S TWEETS...As we see in some of his recent Tweets, Chad also contributes frequent snippets of his life which do not necessarily promote the band itself but furthers a wholesome image which grows with the individual member's personal interactions.

Here we see examples of his interaction with fans directly calling out to Redditers, “ask me anything now”

Just as in Flea's Tweets there is a humble and generous theme that runs through the charity events and the many thank you's they have to offer

Maybe if record companies encouraged this sort of behaviour in their ranks and among their artists, they may be surprised to see an overall improvement in the industry.

@ Dave NavarroPast member of the Peppers...

Just for examinations sake I looked at Navarro's Tweets and we see a continued trend of personal and not necessarily band related or even self promotional content.

An accomplished artist beyond his work with RHCP but as we see he does not feel the need to be constantly pushing his “products” on his audience.

Maybe this is a side effect of being already accomplished but it is evident that true artists work speaks for itself and a personal connection to an artist is far more valuable to an audience than a producer-consumer relationship.

ENGAGEMENT

Recently Chad Smith called out Will Ferrell to a drum battle and thee challenge was accepted. This is also good example of social media engagement which will turn into a larger piece of great entertainment and generate some money for charity in the process

http://redhotchilipeppers.com/news/455-funny-or-die

https://twitter.com/RHCPFansite/status/425386006204776448/photo/ - A fan's pool

The band's engagement with the public has a far reach... from the Charity Flea founded to help bring music to less privileged youth, To taking part in the Superbowl and as Chad recently tweeting that his drums and sticks sold for more than $40 thousand toward the Make A Wish foundation.

Flea and Damien Hirst with one of their custom SPIN Bass Guitars. pic.twitter.com/QfgHVxZcEf

CONVERGING

One other distinct way they have used social media to converge with traditional media was when “the band launched a contest for fans to create the "Charlie" music video. The winning video, directed by Omri Cohen, was selected out of over 2,600 submissions”

http://redhotchilipeppers.com/videos/28-charlie

And was RHCP Guitar Hero awesome? Please tell me

So what's the point?...

So these guys have been around for ages, maybe this is the reason for their ability to connect with their listeners so naturally. It is more likely that their longevity was in part thanks to this fluid interaction between the band and their extended community. What came first the chicken or the egg?

Regardless, it is evident that the bands presence online and their individual engagement with social media is a continuance of this ability and it seems to have grown organically out of a genuine care for expressing their personal as well as collective values through their music and beyond.