ThingLink - a free service that adds links and tags within photos - is proving to be a valuable tool for d.i.y. musicians and music marketers. They've taken photo tagging to a new level with the introduction of Rich Media Tags that transform pop-up text boxes and links to other sites into embeddable media that allows for interaction with Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Spotify, Vimeo, Wikipedia, SoundCloud and Twitter. While tagging sometimes seems like overkill, ThingLink is offering a way for photos to become media platforms and function like surrealistic album covers for the digital age.
ThingLink's recent integration with SoundCloud was the first stage and now the announcement of Rich Media Tags reveals the potential. It's easy to be underwhelmed with all the new web tools being introduced, but ThingLink offers some impressive abilities.
Simple Plan's ThingLinked Album Cover
Simple Plan created an interactive graphic using their album art to promote their new album "Get Your Heart On!" It's a great example of how ThingLink can turn a graphic into a media bundle introducing, in this case, a new album. All sorts of creative ideas for art and/or marketing come to mind, from sharing the influences of a song to creating a treasure hunt using ThingLinked graphics.
Tight Mix has a good idea for using ThingLink:
"Another idea I came up with was tagging live photos with clips from the actual show that the photo was taken. Put it up as a blog post on your website the next morning, and send out the link in a thank you e-mail to your list...It’s a great way for fans to revisit the experience and remember a unique moment."
ThingLink founder and CEO Ulla Engeström stated that they were "surprised by the music sector, by how enthusiastically they took to Thinglink". However, I've been having difficult finding examples in the wild. Let me know if you see any that use the new Rich Media Tags!
Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance: World Dance News is his primary web project.
