Dating apps, new music do tango

Madonna
Madonna

NEW YORK -- In your quest to find a date or a spouse, you might discover something else when using dating apps: new music.

More acts are looking to platforms like Tinder and Match to promote their music and reach their fans on the go. Madonna's latest album was advertised on Grindr, an app for gay men, while Jason Derulo looked to Tinder to debut a music video.

Mariah Carey built a profile on Match.com to premiere her music video for "Infinity," and DJ-producer Afrojack recently took over Match's Twitter account for eight hours to answer questions about love and relationships while promoting his single, "SummerThing!"

"You want to go where your fans are, where your potential fans are. And you can't just promote on iTunes -- you've got to think of other ways to reach an audience," said Joel Simkhai, founder and chief executive officer of Grindr.

Grindr started a contest around Valentine's Day, where users would change their profile photos to mimic the album cover of Rebel Heart. Five winners earned a chance to live chat with Madonna.

"She was very keen with having chats with actual Grindr users," Simkhai said. "That was her idea."

Grindr also worked with Lady Gaga in 2011 when she released "Born This Way," providing a link to iTunes to download the No. 1 hit.

Zedd, the Grammy-winning DJ-producer, worked with Tinder to promote his album, True Colors. While searching for suitors, Tinder users would come across Zedd's promotional profile and if they swiped right -- which means "like" -- they could buy his album at a discounted price of $3.99.

"Music is something that is so woven into the life of millennials, as is meeting new people, that there's just an incredible amount of overlap between the two," said Phil Schwartz, Tinder's head of marketing.

Tinder and Interscope Records, Zedd's label, wouldn't say how many albums sold on Tinder, but the sales from the app counted toward the 39,000 copies True Colors pushed in its first week, helping it debut at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Schwartz said 85 percent of Tinder users are between the ages of 18 and 34, and the average user spends about 11 minutes on the app each day -- one of the main reasons Derulo placed the video for "Want to Want Me" from his latest album Everything Is 4 on the app.

"I see this app as the wave of the future. I know my fans will swipe right," Derulo said.

The dating service PlentyofFish has appeared in Britney Spears', Flo Rida's and Kesha's videos. In addition to finding a place in Gaga's "Telephone" video, PlentyofFish worked with the star during a U.S. tour.

Others also have found ways to work with dating apps: Hilary Duff, a regular Tinder user for real dates, used the app's interface in her latest music video, and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has directed commercials for eHarmony, the dating service that has worked with Natalie Cole and used her hit, "This Will Be," in TV and radio ads.

This summer, Grindr is expected to launch campaigns with Nicki Minaj and Idina Menzel.

Style on 07/05/2015

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