Electronic music prodigy Deadmau5, a.k.a Joel Zimmerman, who graces this month’s cover of Rolling Stone magazine with his infamous mouse costume head, has long been at the forefront of celebrities using social platforms to engage directly with fans and, in his latest move, truly encapsulates a perfect example of what can become of capitalizing on this artist-to-fan relationship that was once so impossible to cultivate. Deadmau5’s fan engagement techniques and campaigns have become a regular occurrence in the past couple of years.  He personally updates all of his social media channels (constantly),  frequently releases unfinished tracks asking for feedback and often holds video chats live where he answers questions in real time, gives advice, transparently reveals his studio techniques and talks electronic music. Recently he even pushed out a successful contest for aspiring producers called Mau5Hax, an exclusive real-time production workshop for an exclusive group of talented contest winners held this past year in Miami during the world famous Winter Music Conference. For an aspiring producer in the electronic music world this form of real engagement with one of the world’s best electronic music producers is nothing short of priceless. While Deadmau5 has consistently proven that it is possible to capitalize on the artist-to-fan engagement model in the social space, his latest production release takes it to a whole new level and, like something out of a fairytale, it has changed one fans life forever. We would have a hard time believing it – if it weren’t so true. It all started in late March when Deadmau5 began working on a new track titled ‘The Veldt’, inspired by the Ray Bradbury story of the same name. In typical fashion, his streamed the process live for 22 hours letting fans watch as he made production samples, fooled around, and toyed with the creative process. At the mention that he would need to eventually plot vocals for the instrumental track he was producing live (which he then posted to Soundcloud), uber fan Chris James recorded his own vocals over ‘The Veldt’ with lyrics inspired by Bradbury’s subject matter and then tweeted it over to Deadmau5.

The following day, at the urging of his followers watching the live stream, Deadmau5 gave the track a listen and responded enthusiastically.

Streaming live again, Deadmau5 called James on the phone and made plans to officially release the track, got his manager on speakerphone and in just a few short minutes, all over a live stream on the Internet, a fan’s life was changed forever and a song was produced that critics and fans have been calling Mr. Joel Zimmerman’s best song he has ever made. This video shows it all take place (beware there is adult language). “It’s so rare that you get shit like that!” Deadmau5 exclaimed. “I feel like Simon Cowell. Dude that’s f—in’ awesome. It really is actually really good. Done. Let’s make it a track dude. When my management hears this, they’re gonna shit themselves.” The song has since been officially released to chart topping success, critical acclaim and an influx of new fans and followers, which also brings to light the idea that,  in this direct artist-to-fan engagement model, it isn’t just the fan that is getting rewarded – it is also the artist.