Conor Maynard Crowdsources Concert Spots With ‘MayniacMap’
English singer Conor Maynard, whose first album Contrast debuted on top of the UK Albums Chart in August, is tapping into his social media-hungry fan base to help him decide where in the United States he should perform this winter. To determine the five cities in which the 19-year-old will give free concerts, his label EMI Music has created MayniacMap. MayniacMap lets his fans (a.k.a. “Mayniacs”) earn points for their respective cities. Users rack up points by connecting their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Tumblr and GetGlue accounts, and performing activities — such as following, Liking, commenting and sharing. So far, New York, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit and Tampa, Fla., have accumulated the most points so far. Maynard hails from Brighton and has experienced a similar rise to fame as Justin Bieber, having built a rabid global audience online with soulful YouTube cover videos starting in 2008 before earning a record deal. “It’s flattering to be compared to someone so big, but we have different sounds,” Maynard tells Mashable. His cover of Ne-Yo’s “Beautiful Monster” eventually caught Ne-Yo’s attention, and the two talked via Skype about Maynard’s future. The chat sparked media buzz in the UK, and EMI’s Parlophone label signed him. Maynard’s music video (watch below) for “Turn Around,” which came out in September, features Ne-Yo. Other musicians have also leveraged their online fans to propel projects. Most recently, American folk band Bon Iver asked people to remix songs from its album Bon Iver, Bon Iver; the songs are now on a Spotify album. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/08/conor-maynard-mayniacmap-concerts/