Spotify | “Fare Thee Well”

For the band’s 50th birthday, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead wanted to throw one last show*. Spotify had tickets to give away, and we knew they had to go to a true “head.” We reached out to the original social network — Deadheads — to make it happen. Spotify also celebrated the occasion with a Landmark reissue of the Dead’s greatest studio album, American Beauty.

*Actually, they were touring again, like, a year later. But that was the plan at the time…

The Giveaway

Back in the day, when Deadheads wanted tickets to a show, they would write to the band and decorate the envelopes with elaborate psychedelic drawings demonstrating their credentials. We put a modern twist on that tradition by having contestants post their drawings to Spotify’s Facebook page. The results (including the picture at the top of this page) were mind-blowing — both in quality and in quantity.

American Beauty Landmark reissue

To help celebrate the occasion, Spotify reissued the Dead’s greatest studio album, American Beauty, as part of its Landmark series, complete with commentary from the band and extra tracks. We created a tongue-in-cheek Deadhead Recruitment Playlist, which you could send to anyone you wanted to drop out of society. We also supported the reissue with ads online and in Relix, the band’s official newspaper.