100 CD's for 100 Bloggers

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Mark Mack over at Viral Garden (among others) has an idea of how to make marketing music relevant again in a program he has dubbed 100 CD's for 100 Bloggers.  It's a great idea because it's simple, and uses the wisdom of existing fan bases to spread the word.  It's not spamming en masse, but providing the fans with tools to spread the good word.

The program works like this. First, you search for your biggest fans who also blog.  Second, you send them a CD, personalized by the band, and ask them to review it, no strings attached.  It's a good idea because it's so simple.  It will work because it merely makes it easier for the consumer to do something they want to do anyway.  Here are a few of my suggestions:

1) Expand it past just the one band.  Sure, each band would find their 100 biggest blogging fans, but then they would also receive a second CD, that they would be likely to enjoy, also no strings attached.  Why not try and expand one band's community by tapping into another?  As long as the process is genuine and authentic, not based on who's paying what, it could be an added value, and another win-win.

2) Establish a relationship with these bloggers.  Make it easy for them to talk to you down the road.  If there's another band they'd like to write about, keep the communication open so they have the opportunity to find and talk about the new stuff.  Help establish them as the go-to-person for new music amongst their peers. 

3) Create a conversation with bloggers across different acts.  With their invitation to become a blogger for a band, they also receive an invitation to become part of a deeper communtiy.  Give them access to music, give them access to their favorite musicians, and access to each other.  Make personal contact with these musicians paramount.  Give them the references they need to help them write. 

4) Make it easy for them to pass-along the music itself.  Give them a download link to post a single on their blogs, and pass along that link to their friends and readers, so they can hear it first-hand, and maybe talk about it, too.

This is sort of like on online version of Buzz-Oven, which was started down here in Dallas by Aden Holt, and is about to start up in Austin.  The idea is simple, and much like Mark's 100-4-100, but based less online, and is more about a community of music marketers, and less in engaging existing fans of the bands.

Kudos to Mark Mack for a great idea.  Now, Will anyone actually do it?