Case Study: How HammerFall created its 'Freedom' music video
How the Swedish power metal band legally sourced fan footage for an iconic music clip
160
featured fans
Templars of Hammerfall
from 16 countries
123,000
YouTube views
- Hammerfall is a Swedish death metal band
- HAMMERFALL
13 albums and still going strong
- For the release of HammerFall’s single “Freedom”, Nuclear Blast Records used Vloggi to collect fan-shot video submissions from around the world. The result was a rights-cleared fan video workflow that matched the spirit of the track: real people, real energy and a global metal community participating in the campaign.
- The Swedish metallers released "Freedom" as the third single from the album, "Avenge The Fallen", on Nuclear Blast Records
- Read how Nuclear Blast Records used Vloggi to crowdsource fan-shot video for HammerFall’s “Freedom”, collecting authentic, rights-cleared fan footage for a global music campaign.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Client: Nuclear Blast Records
Project: Freedom by Hammerfall
Type: Music video
Summary: “Freedom” was released as the third single from Avenge The Fallen, ahead of the album’s release via Nuclear Blast Records. The song’s theme of independence and individuality made it a natural fit for fan participation.
Rather than relying only on traditional promotional assets, Nuclear Blast Records wanted to involve HammerFall fans (the Templars of HammerFall) directly. The label needed a way to collect video clips from fans at scale, while making sure the submitted footage could actually be reviewed, cleared and used.
That meant the process had to be simple enough for fans, but structured enough for a professional label campaign.
- ABOUT NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
The Home of Thrash and Death Metal
- Nuclear Blast is a record label founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by thrash metal, melodic death metal, grindcore, industrial metal, power metal and black metal bands, as well as tribute albums.
- In October 2018, French independent label Believe Digital acquired a majority stake in Nuclear Blast.
- It also distributes and promotes post-hardcore/metalcore labels SharpTone Records.
Music campaigns need rights-cleared fan content
The Challenge - Fan video is powerful. But Fan video in inboxes is chaos.
But collecting fan footage is difficult. If clips arrive through email, social DMs, file transfer links or public hashtags, the label quickly loses control. Files may be compressed, missing contributor details, stripped of context or submitted without proper rights.
For a global music campaign, the label needed more than video files. It needed:
- a simple upload workflow for fans
- consent and rights capture at submission
- original video files rather than social media links
- contributor data attached to each clip
- a central review library
- a way to shortlist usable footage
- confidence that clips could be reused in the campaign
The creative idea for Nuclear Blast was simple. The operational reality was not.
The Solution - A fan-band video co-production workflow
How Hammerfall's social media made all the difference
The campaign worked because HammerFall did not simply ask fans for clips in the abstract. Lead singer Joacim Cans promoted the call-out directly through the band’s social channels, inviting fans to submit videos and be part of the official music video for “Freedom”.
That artist-led invitation made the difference. Fans followed the link to a dedicated Vloggi upload page, generating more than 2,700 page views and turning social engagement into structured, usable video submissions.
Vloggi gave Nuclear Blast Records the infrastructure behind the call-out: one branded upload page, one controlled submission workflow and one searchable library for reviewing fan videos.
Key workflow features included:
- Branded video upload page with welcome video from Joacim Cans
- Mobile-friendly fan submission flow
- No app or login required
- Original video file collection
- Contributor information captured at upload
- Campaign terms and permissions included
- Searchable video library for review
- Shortlisting and content management tools
- Download-ready clips for production use
For music labels, this matters because fan video only becomes valuable when it can be found, cleared and used. Joacim’s call-out created the fan response. Vloggi turned that response into rights-cleared campaign content.
The Result - Uniting fans in their passion for their favorite band
The YouTube reaction showed exactly why fan-sourced video works. Fans were not passive viewers; they were searching for themselves, timestamping their appearances and celebrating other fans around the world. Comments included “I’m at 1:42”, “There I am!”, “Me and my daughter on the video!” and “I’m so happy to be in this video!” Others described the release as a “beautiful tribute to the fans” and praised HammerFall for including its “brothers and sisters of metal”. For Nuclear Blast Records, the campaign turned a single release into a participatory moment, giving fans a personal stake in the official video while creating authentic, rights-cleared content around the song.
Total budget US$2,000
The Result - A global fan video made quickly, affordably and with real fan participation
Using Vloggi, Nuclear Blast Records was able to invite HammerFall’s fan community into the “Freedom” campaign while keeping the submission process structured, rights-cleared and production-ready.
The economics were striking. The Vloggi campaign cost around 18,700 Swedish Krona (approx. US$2,000), giving the label a low-cost way to collect authentic fan-shot video from around the world. Once the submissions were in, the production team edited the clips together and synced them to the track in about one week.
The finished video went on to attract more than 123,000 views on YouTube, a strong result for a late-career metal single built around fan participation rather than a conventional high-budget shoot. More than 160 fans saw their clips featured in the official video, with submissions representing over 16 countries.
For HammerFall, a band built around loyalty, identity and a global metal community, the fan video approach was a natural extension of the song’s message. For Nuclear Blast Records, Vloggi provided the infrastructure to make that participation practical: one call-out, one upload workflow, one rights-cleared video library and a campaign asset fans were proud to share.
