• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, March 14, 2011

Leave it to eMusic to project concerts of up-and-coming artists on buildings in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Austin.

The subscription music service began a virtual road tour in December, with New York as its first stop. The tour concludes later this month in Austin.

Three bands were featured in the virtual tour: Best Coast, Sonny and the Sunsets and No Age. The artists are available for download from eMusic's database, and the bands were deemed  up-and coming artists and subscriber favorites via eMusic's recommendation engine.

The tours were promoted on Facebook, Twitter, industry bloggers and local market newspapers. eMusic's digital and media media agencies, Sarkissian Mason and TargetCast tcm, respectively, created the campaign, which took 4-6 months.  

While concert footage from one of the three artists plays on a building, brand ambassadors interact with passersby for 4-5 hours a night, doling out T-shirts, lighters, stickers, artist info and eMusic subscription info.  

"Weather was a big issue with the campaign (NY and Atlanta experienced extreme weather conditions during the campaign)," said Pamela Griffin, VP, Account Director, at TargetCast tcm. "The nights were very windy and chilly -- one Atlanta date was one of the coldest in Georgia's history -- so that presented a challenge in getting people to interact with the street teams because they didn't want to stand outside for too long."

The tour stays in each city for a two-week time frame, moving locations throughout the duration. In New York, for example, the projects were in Union Square, St. Marks/Astor Place and Bedford Avenue. 

Concert footage was projected on walls using a 10k lumen projector and Hypersonic speakers. 

"The primary goal of this campaign was to drive brand awareness," continued Griffin. "In Miami, they gave out about 500 lighters, 200 iron-ons, 3,000 bumper stickers and 2,500 gift cards."