What A Fan Wants

Brandweek, Oct 2, 2000 by Erik Gruenwedel

To most teens, summer ended on Labor Day, and homework, part-time jobs and high school angst are now reality.

For five lucky students, however, the three R's were pushed back a couple of weeks when they were randomly selected from 100,000 entries to attend the Sonicnet.com Music Fantasy Camp in New York, Sept. 8-11.

Their prize was a variety pack of lessons from a glitzy celeb teaching staff: They learned dance and singing from pop star Christina Aguilera, guitar from country crooner Clint Black, style from Guess model Tyrese and studio production from alternative rockers Eve 6.

Under the probing "eyes" of an MTV videographer--and currently streaming on Sonicnet--Vanessa Flores, a 16-year-old from Houston; Christopher Kim, a 20-yearold Boston College student; Trista Morris, a 16-year-old from Vancouver; Leslie Pedersen, a 17-year-old from Fairfield, Calif.; and Shalese Fletcher, a 16-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., all posed for pictures and chatted with the stars in addition to learning "tricks of the trade."

"More and more we are [discovering that] a music audience is as much about being a music fan as it is about the artist," said Joe Ortiz, vice president of marketing for the MTVi Group, the New York-based online entertainment parent to such sites as MTV.com, Sonicnet.com and VH1.com. "The more we can bring those two different worlds together, that's a win-win for both sides."