Lenny Kravitz Is Still A Straight Cold Player!
Posted in Entertainment, Music on February 22nd, 2010 by drfunkenberry
Lenny Kravitz on the cover of Mix Magazine, March 2010
Lenny Kravitz celebrated the 20th anniversary of “Let Love Rule” with a 2CD deluxe edition of the album, filled with unreleased material and a fantastic live show from 1990, as well as a completely sold out world tour. Since then, he has been recording and finishing his long awaited “Funk” album “Negrophillia” in his studio in the Bahamas. All along the way, he has been bringing his fans along for the ride. LIKE NEVER or ANYONE BEFORE!
Kravitz uses the Internet in a unique way to correspond with his fans directly. Not in the whole “hey guys, what you have dinner” rhetoric you get when following a Kardashian on Twitter but with the posting of a photo of him in the studio recording and released minutes after it is shot or a video of him creating a song or just chilling in the Bahamas with family and friends.
He uses his Twitter and Facebook accounts for that purpose andhas an outstanding 1.6 million people following him on Twitter in less than a year with no project to promote at the time. 1.6 million?? With no radio play or real media attention? See, Lenny understands the new technology of interactions with fans like no other artist. Get the music and news straight to the fans and they will find a way to get it. A short “making of” film of the song “Super Love” has already created a huge buzz online. The video was posted the same night the song was recorded, completely unprecedented and proving the love Lenny has for his fans. This has made “Negrophilia” the most anticipated album of 2010 amongst music fans, critics and Internet users all over the globe.
There was a classic video of Lenny getting lost on his way to an Atlantic City performance entitled “Lost In Borgota” that was filmed by Mathieu Bitton on his iPhone that other artists may have been embarrassed about but Lenny took you on that adventure. That moment captured by Bitton was a stroke of creative genius and started the now fan-favorite series of short films by Bitton. “We were in the elevator filming a 30 second twitter shout out about the show when we suddenly realized we were lost and no one was coming to get Lenny to bring him to the venue” says Bitton. “Lenny just looked at me and said “Take out your phone and film, this is some ridiculous Spinal Tap shit and we gotta share it with the people.” The rest is history. The movie ended up on MSNBC and CNN worldwide and was the most talked about online film that week.
When a snippet of the unreleased Michael Jackson track “Another Day” written and produced by Lenny was leaked on a mix tape that R.Kelly put out, Lenny, within hours of the leak, recorded a video statement via Twitter about his frustration with the song being released in that manner and wanting to get a proper version out to the fans. This became his most watched and re-tweeted post to date. We hear Lenny spent most of that same night mixing and finishing the track and is hoping for a release by Sony this year. Sony stepped in to remove the unreleased version off any web site carrying it.
With Lenny’s new CD coming out this fall, his 1.6+ million Twitter followers are sure to grow along with many artists trying to use the LK way of new promotion in this digital and Twitter age. 20 years into the game, Lenny is way ahead of the curve and is schooling younger artists on self-marketing in the new age of online marketing. “What I love about Lenny’s usage of this medium is that he does it all with the fans in mind. He doesn’t ever want to over saturate them or give them unnecessary information. Everything has to be up to his standard of class,” adds Bitton. “I am witnessing the making of Lenny’s greatest album yet, the one he was born to make and am so proud to be here to help bring it to the REAL people. The fact that Lenny is embracing this new technology is sure to help the album reach more fans and make more new fans than ever before.”
Also, Lenny is headed to Los Angeles to attend the NAACP Image Awards where he is nominated for bestsupporting actor in Precious and then the Oscars where the film has 6 noms.
If you’ve been missing out on Lenny’s adventures, be sure to follow Lenny Kravitz on Twitter. You just never know where he’ll take you.-Dr.FB
P.S. – While you’re at it, follow Drfunkenberry on Twitter too.
