Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz graduated from the San Diego coffee house circuit to garner more than 2 billion views and counting for his music on YouTube. With hit records such as I’m Yours and Lucky, Mraz says he owes his success to the Internet, where his fan base began and continues to grow, as he told us at the National Association of Music Merchants convention here.
ONLINE MUSIC
“My whole career began because I was always putting my music on the Internet. By the time I had my first tour, I had an audience everywhere I went, because people were listening online.”
‘I’M YOURS’ HIT ONLINE FIRST
The 2006 smash, which has sold nearly 10 million copies, was online before being released commercially. “I had a gig in Sweden. There were thousands of people there, and when I launched into I’m Yours, they were all singing along. I was stunned.” Now, he routinely tries out new songs on tour that end up getting recorded on cellphone videos and posted online. “When I go to a show three days later and they’re singing along, I know it’s connecting.”
VIDEO INSPIRED BY TWEETS
For the song The Woman I Love from 2012′s Love is a Four Letter Word album, Mraz invited online fans to tweet what “the woman I love” meant to them. The resulting music video had scenes inspired by their tweets.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Mraz rarely uses Facebook, even though he has nearly 14 million followers. “I have an amazing social-media wing man who manages my Facebook fan site. All my blogs get copied there.” But he doesn’t use it personally because he got so many friend requests. “My e-mail in-box exploded.”
He’s more active on Instagram (more than 1 million followers), where he posts photos, and likes the new MySpace. “I like how you can customize a radio station based on a couple of tracks.”
FAVORITE APPS
–His iPhone Voice Memos App is the first place he turns when he begins songwriting. He records thoughts to test out the song first.
–Guitar Toolkit. (Apple, $9.99) “Every guitar player uses it, or some variation of it. … It will even give you some chord tips.”
–Pandora (free; Apple, Android, Windows, BlackBerry.) “My main streaming website and app, because I don’t like to be the DJ. I just want to put in one or two things I like, and be turned on to new things.”
USA TODAY