Dead By April is a Swedish metal band from Gothenburg who were formed in 2007. They’ve had huge success on their way! They ended up on a 7th place in the Swedish Melodifestival, have a number of bestselling hits and won awards like ”Best newcomer” (Swedish rock awards and Bandit rock awards 2008) and ”Best hard rock/metal” (Rockbjörnen 2012). That’s not bad, guys!
I met the guitarist from DBA, Pontus Hjelm, for the first time in his studio in late 2014. He had received an e-mail from us at AppSpotr and was quickly intrigued by the possibilities for the band to have their own app. Now it’s soon time for the release and we’re all very excited. How will the fans receive the app? How will DBA use it? And why did they choose AppSpotr as their partner?
Now I’m back at the same studio and talking to Pontus about all these things and more.
Why did you make an app for your band?
– The online presence, or marketing if you will, is more important than ever for the music industry as a whole. You have the big social media forums such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter etc. where you can find virtually any artist on the planet – which is great!
We look at our Dead By April app kind of the same way – as another social media forum. But with a twist. Our ambition with this app is to create a ”hub” for the general Dead By April supporter, but also for ourselves.
A few of the features you’ll find within our app:
– It was also very important to us to engage with our fanbase and ask them what content they’d want to find within the app the most. The feedback we got was invaluable and really, we built this app together. All in all, downloading this app will be the best way of maximizing the Dead By April experience!
Ok, but there’s a lot of digital tools today where you can market yourself or your product. Why an app?
– Well you know digital tools today isn’t as it once was for bands. The sale of albums isn’t at all an income you can rely on. You need alternative channels to reach out to your fans. And when I got your e-mail I thought that this would be great for us as well as for our fans. And you need more partners that can help you out. For example, we have both clothing brands and suppliers of energy drinks that support us. And now there’s you! Which is great! We find your tool very easy and it will be a useful channel for us to keep in touch with our fans.
What will be the content in your app? What can the fans expect?
– We get a lot of questions regarding lyrics. I’ve almost never found lyrics to our songs without at least some small errors. Now the fans can rely on that the lyrics in the app are correct because we’re the ones who inserted them. Also, we’re putting in tabs for selected songs so that the fans can learn to play them, which will be cool!
And why did you choose AppSpotr to create your app?
– That was a no-brainer really. First of all, it seemed like a legit company with many satisfied customers. Turned out we were right! Secondly, AppSpotr is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, just as the majority of the Dead By April band members. This allows us to have very effective communication, quick meetings, phone calls etc. without having to take different time zones into consideration. Plus, the employees are awesome and easy to work with!
And you have a new album coming out?
– Yes, that’s right! But we don’t know if it will be a whole album or an EP yet. We have a lot of new material recorded so, we just need to decide which kind of record we want to release. But the app will be a part of this release! So we’re exited!
Well, SO ARE WE!
I left the studio with a selfie of me, Pontus and Marcus (drums) and I also got to listen to a sample of a new song from the album. The fans will not be disappointed!
The Dead By April app from AppSpotr is to be released at the end of May.
If you would like to make your own app just like Dead By April click here and find out how you can get one of our awesome invite cards. Get creative with us!
/Cissi at AppSpotr
You can listen to Dead by April on Spotify by clicking the player below.
