Similar to athletes who tell reporters post-game “that they’re taking it one game at a time to do what’s best for the team,” it’s become common practice in the world of media-friendly clichés for musicians to stress that for them making music “is all about the fans.”   

Yet in the case of singer/songwriter and acoustic cover genius Ernie Halter, he not only argues the same but in addition to walking his talk, he continually looks for ways to invite fans to come along on the journey with him.  In addition to becoming “one of the first artists to really take advantage of MySpace,” the “tech-savvy approach” favored by Halter in using the internet as not just a brilliant marketing tool but as a way to follow through on his belief that “music is a conversation between the writer/singer and the listener,” the talented musician gave fans unprecedented access to the recording and promotional process of his newest album Starting Over.   

Broadcasting the entire recording process online as well as running an increasingly popular YouTube channel featuring more than one hundred exclusive videos where fans dish up requests for his endlessly popular covers, plus providing webcast footage of “his concerts across the United States,” as well as sharing a “live ‘tour van cam,’” a Facebook page, a Flickr Photostream of the handsome Halter, and offering up ringtones via Rock Ridge Music (if you text RRM to 71777), it seems safe to say that had he not become a musician, Ernie Halter could’ve become the Bill Gates of online social networking.   

Yet unlike the constant error messages of Windows Vista, Halter is quite “user friendly,” in responding to requests, so much that due to the overwhelmingly positive response from playing 150 shows, Halter felt inspired to include three of his most popular covers on the album, including Musiq Soulchild’s “Just Friends,” David Ryan Harris’ “Pretty Girl” (which he describes as “the most beautiful song ever”) and Baby Bash’s typically hip hop club anthem “Cyclone.”  Incidentally, the three covers are three of my favorites on his eleven track album and, although they definitely sound different live, I felt compelled to celebrate not just Halter’s respect for his fans but the fans themselves by including footage of the two gaining the most frequent repeat play on my car stereo below.