Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead
What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History
1. Auflage August 2025
Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
The Grateful Dead-rock legends, marketing pioneers
The Grateful Dead broke almost every rule in the music industry
book. They encouraged their fans to record shows and trade tapes;
they built a mailing list and sold concert tickets directly to
fans; and they built their business model on live concerts, not
album sales. By cultivating a dedicated, active community,
collaborating with their audience to co-create the Deadhead
lifestyle, and giving away "freemium" content, the Dead pioneered
many social media and inbound marketing concepts successfully used
by businesses across all industries today.
Written by marketing gurus and lifelong Deadheads David Meerman
Scott and Brian Halligan, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful
Dead gives you key innovations from the Dead's approach you can
apply to your business. Find out how to make your fans equal
partners in your journey, "lose control" to win, create passionate
loyalty, and experience the kind of marketing gains that will not
fade away!
Introduction xv
Part One The Band 1
Chapter 1 Create a Unique Business Model 3
Chapter 2 Choose Memorable Brand (and Band) Names 13
Chapter 3 Build a Diverse Team 21
Chapter 4 Be Yourself 29
Chapter 5 Experiment, Experiment, Experiment 37
Chapter 6 Embrace Technology 45
Chapter 7 Establish a New Category 53
Part Two The Fans 59
Chapter 8 Encourage Eccentricity 61
Chapter 9 Bring People on an Odyssey 69
Chapter 10 Put Fans in the Front Row 79
Chapter 11 Build a Following 87
Part Three The Business 95
Chapter 12 Cut Out the Middleman 97
Chapter 13 Free Your Content 105
Chapter 14 Be Spreadable 113
Chapter 15 Upgrade to Premium 119
Chapter 16 Loosen Up Your Brand 127
Chapter 17 Partner with Entrepreneurs 135
Chapter 18 Give Back 143
Chapter 19 Do What You Love 151
Acknowledgments 157
"Furthur" Reading 159
About the Photographs 161
About the Illustrations 161
About the Authors 163
Brian Halligan (hubspot.com/bhalligan; Cambridge, MA) is co-founder and CEO of HubSpot, Inc., an Internet marketing company dedicated to helping small businesses leverage the Internet to "get found" by qualified prospects and convert more of them into leads and customers. His blog, blog.hubspot.com, ranks as one of the world's top 100 marketing blogs, according to AdAge Magazine. Brian is a frequent lecturer at MIT and Harvard Business School on the science of selling and marketing. He also frequently speaks at conferences, such as the New Marketing Summit, Search Engine Strategies, and the Inbound Marketing Summit.
