Bands that actually engage their audiences? No way!

In recent years I've noticed a few bands actually asking their fans to give back, you know, other than just their hard earned cash spent on albums or downloads.

Case 1) Rasputina: Years ago Rasputina had a contest where they asked fans to submit their lies. The winners lyrics were assembled into the song "Our Lies" which appeared on their 2002 album Cabin Fever. Winners also received something special from the band for their efforts. "Our Lies" continues to be one of my favorite of their songs.
Later they had a coloring contest, which I entered but did not win. It may have been one of the few competitions where coloring inside the lines did not help me in the least.

Case 2) OK GO: OK GO had a great success with their treadmill video for "Here it Goes Again." Rightfully so. They also held a contest where they asked fans to video tape themselves performing their own version of the bands "A Million Ways" dance video. Winners apparently got to perform the dance on stage with OK GO at a concert. Nifty!

Case 3) The Foo Fighters: The Foo Fighters were performing "The Pretender" on the 2007 Grammy Award show. Someone had the idea to get fans to perform in the orchestra they added for the show. I don't know if there were My Grammy Moment contests before or since, but it's a pretty cool way to encourage kids/fans to keep playing that oboe, even if it's not very cool most of the time.

Case 4) Nine Inch Nails: Nine Inch Nails had the audacity to actually let their fans make videos for their double album of instrumentals Ghosts I-IV. The album, with purposefully vague track names, is a sound track for something and apparently they wanted to see what the fans thought it was a soundtrack for. This one strikes me as particularly amazing in how the album appears to have been created as a blank slate for the fans to interact with. I don't know if anyone wins anything, and maybe that's not the point? The film festival appears to be still ongoing, so perhaps I should break out the camera this weekend?

Granted, helping bands write songs, or filming your own home videos to their songs isn't for everyone. But when bands encourage fans to be interactive, or even creative, I think everyone is better off for it.