Industrial-Influenced Band Launches Fetish Site

On Valentine’s Day, members of LA’s premier gothic-influenced rock band, Fetisch, showed their love by launching what could be called the most multi-featured, highly interactive band website currently on the Internet, Fetischmusic.com. No ordinary band website, Fetischmusic.com moves far beyond basic features such as the band’s bio, tour dates, photo gallery, merchandise, blog, message boards and music downloads, to create an interactive global online community with its precedent-setting, fan-driven subsite, Findafreek.com.

A mixed-gender quintet comprised of infamous Hollywood troublemakers, Fetisch has drawn comparisons to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails for its hard-edged, future-modern rock, while a male/female duality in the vocal mix that has fans citing similarities to Evanescence, Garbage, and KMFDM. Together for just over two years, Fetisch recently finished recording its much-anticipated debut album (due for release on April 1, 2004) and sought to develop a website that goes beyond conventional album promotion. “As an artist, you exist to truly connect with your audience,” says Fetisch lead vocalist, Angel. “Far too often, the only way to do that is with the ten songs on your CD. At a concert, you have a special opportunity to reach a few more people on a face-to-face level. For who we are as a band, that isn’t enough. Fetisch needed to have a more interactive forum to continue band-to-fan dialogue on a frequent basis, while offering fans a place to meet and interact with each other. Fetischmusic.com takes us a step closer to our fans, and expands on our communication beyond recordings, live shows and what you might read about us in the next issue of Kerrang.”

During the site’s pre-launch testing phase, Fetischmusic.com averaged 60,000 visits in one month. “Based on estimated growth rates,” says Angel, “we see these numbers doubling within our first official month of activity, and doubling again in April with the album release. Within our first year, we expect to exceed the number of interactive users on any of Billboard’s Top Ten artist’s websites. We are deeply thankful to our creative teams who have finally tapped the true power of online promotion. Fetischmusic.com has become the missing link in the next evolution of music on the Internet.”

Within Fetischmusic.com is FindaFreek.com (also accessible at this separate URL). Says Angel, “Websites like Friendster.com, Myspace.com and LiveJournal.com have opened the door to the huge potential of online community. We have our own Friendster-type engine built into our website, so users can establish personal profiles and search for others by types of tattoos, piercings, hair color/style (Mohawk, etc.) and shared interests. The idea was to build something for the fans. Too many artists build a website to say ‘Hey, look at me!’ Our approach was to say, ‘Hey, look at you!’ But this isn’t just a fan forum; it’s a place on the Internet where anyone who feels like an outcast or is anything other than ‘normal’ can find solace. It’s a home base for anyone looking for a place to feel that he or she truly belongs. This website is for you to express your uniqueness — a celebration of individuality — not a High School clique you must conform to.”