Sunday 31 October 2010

1000 True Friends

1000 true fans is an idea increasingly used in blog posts about music these days. Since the original post, there have been a number of others posting either in defence of the idea or to try and debunk the theory. Interestingly all the posts I've seen talk about it from the artist perspective with no consideration of the process from the fan point of view. So I have two aims with this post. The first is to look at things from that fan perspective to show you that if you want to follow that path of 1000 true fans, you need to understand that the monster you are creating is actually 1000 true friends. The second is to show you just some of the ways in which an understanding of the fan thought process can help you towards creating that monster of 1000 true fans, whether you're an artist, a fan funding site or something else, should you decide it's still something for you.

So let's start with some basics.

What is a fan?
From my own point of view there are 3 types of people wandering around out there. The first I label consumers. These are people who will not go looking for you - rather you need to go looking for them. Traditionally reliant on what the media throws in front of them to decide what they do and don't like, this is your mass-market or long tail. The second type of person is a subset of the consumer, which I refer to as a music lover. Rather than be restricted by what mass media advertises as the thing they should buy, these people also search out music. Maybe your packaging for your CD looks interesting on the shelf, maybe they read a recommendation somewhere or maybe they even heard part of a song. They'll fall over you via some interesting route and like what they hear enough to want to give you a "test drive" i.e. If they're in the right sort of mood when you grab their attention and they've got the money, it's likely you might sell a few tracks or an album just because it looks interesting. The third type of person is the fan. Unlike the first two types of people, they already know who you are, they know where to find you and most importantly they WANT to find you. Irrespective of whether they are one of the quiet lurkers silently following you around or the more rabid and noisy "true fans", they will still be looking on a regular basis to find out when you're next releasing music, whether you're playing a gig in their area etc. etc.

The path to a fan
As far as your music is concerned, everyone starts out as a consumer (or that subset of consumer known as music lover). It's only by following a particular path that they may turn into a fan. If you like music you already know this, even if it is only subconsciously. But let's lay it out anyway.

1.Discovery
It all starts with a song that grabs your attention. "hmm, I like the sound of that - who is it by?". You might hear it anywhere - the radio, the music to a TV advert, the music someone has used for their home-made video on Youtube etc. etc. It doesn't matter. What matters is the fact you've found a song you like enough to want to own. It might not be the first thing by that artist you've heard (chances of this are actually very high) but it's the first thing that has managed to hold your attention.

2. Exploration
What happens next largely depends on how much of a music lover you are, and/or how much that track has got your attention in the first place. Since the advent of the Internet, it has become a lot easier to try and track down an artist, rather than have to go down the town and browse the local record shops, or wait for their next track to appear on the radio. If you've been hooked enough by just that one song, there's a good chance you'll leap straight into the next stage of trying to track down the artist to try and find out what other songs they've done to see if you like them. But except for exceptional circumstances, one song is not going to be enough and repeated exposure is required for the interest level to rise significantly. In other words - whilst someone may buy that one song because they like it, you don't stand a chance of landing up with a fan until they've heard more than one song they like "enough". And that's something that has the potential to take months (or longer), particularly if you don't regularly catch their interest.

3. Conversion
If you reach this point, you've probably sold a few tracks or an album. If someone likes what they hear and they happen to fall over you again at a later date, they may remember you and decide to buy your next song, album or whatever, but you still can't consider them a fan until they have been converted and actually start to seek you out rather than fate bringing you back together. There are actually 2 stages in the conversion - the first provides the fan and the second is the conversion of fan into "true fan". To clear the first stage, as a rough estimate you're probably looking at a minimum of an album's worth of material (i.e. about 10 songs) that the person actually likes, and this must also form at least 75% of everything they've heard of yours up until that point. The higher the percentage of your music that they like, the more likely you are to retain them as a fan over a long period. If there are tracks they actively dislike (rather than it being a take-it-or-leave-it case) you can be in danger of losing them quite quickly.

In addition to this, in order to clear the second stage, not only are you looking at a 90%+ like rate (in practice this is often 100% or very close to), they have to have seen you play live as well. If your live performance disappoints compared to the impression given by your recorded music, at best you'll be left with a fan who will buy your next album when it comes out and at worst you'll probably lose them altogether - the full conversion to "true fan" will not complete. Even worse, getting past this second stage still only creates a pseudo "true fan". Meeting in person will either seal or break the deal - if real life doesn't match the impression you have been giving them, then someone who previously has considered themselves a "true fan" and acted accordingly up until that point could well land up changing their mind.

Interestingly I actually found this post while I was planning this episode in my blog. The thing that amazes me most about it is that its author actually had to stop and think about the process he went through. Is it really not that obvious?

What do fans want?
In two words. More music. But let me give you the longer version.
- unless they were lucky enough to find out about you by the time of your first album, you can be sure they'll want to check out your back catalog and will likely buy some or all of it if and when they can
- they want to know when your next release comes out so they can plan their finances accordingly
- they want to see you perform live to see if you're as good as your music suggests

"True fans" take this one stage further
- they want to own everything you've ever done as well as being the first in the queue for whatever you do in future. Yes, that includes that early demo that you wish in hindsight had never seen the light of day and has been long out of print.
- they have made an emotional connection to you through your music and the image you portray and they think you're one of "their kind of people"

Yes, that's correct. That "true fan" on the other side of the world is actually your best friend (in the mind of said fan at least), even though you're actually complete strangers. Scary thought huh? At some point during the conversion of fan to "true fan" they have crossed an invisible line which means they stop looking at you as a business and start looking at you the same way they would a potential friend. If you're looking for true fans you need to understand that this is the reality, spot when it happens and react accordingly.

That thought scares me. If that's the case, why do I want true fans?
What planet have you been living on? If you don't want these people, you're passing up the opportunity to get yourself some lifelong supporters of you and your music. They think you're worth every penny they pay, despite the large number of people scratching their heads wondering why someone would pay YOU that much for whatever it is you're offering. And even if they can't actually afford the super-duper-top-of-the-line version, you've still got their undying love. Seriously. True fans are there for you and they are often generous, and not just in terms of money, particularly if you're not local to them. You want that bed for the night? You got it. They know what your favourite food or restaurant is? You got it. A luxury you like but can rarely afford to have? You got that as well. The list goes on...

So do you still want to create 1000 true fans? Read on.


Some clues that you already have true fans

- they will give or send you things (often out of the blue)
- they'll visibly talk about your latest project/voting request etc. without you needing to ask for them to do so
- if you mention you have a particular problem, they'll try and help you solve it if they can without expecting anything in return
- fans may come and go, but true fans will still be there whatever the ups and downs and more importantly they'll cut you some slack when you screw up (providing you don't do it too often and don't take them for granted).

Don't forget, they're your best friends (even though you don't know them). Isn't this the kind of way you'd treat your own best friends?

Let me give you an example from a story I've heard. Matthew Ebel has a fan helping him to book shows. His take on the subject is that the fan is doing the same job as a booking agent, therefore she should have the same percentage of his fee that he would pay to a booking agent. Her response - don't be silly. Now read that example again except with the word "friend" wherever I've used the word "fan" and not only should you see the conversation from her point of view, but also get a feeling for where things ought to go next.

How to create and retain true fans
- don't fake it, always be true to yourself
Whilst it's possible to have an image, whatever you do, don't try and come across as something you're not. Your fans need to like you for being you, or they'll feel cheated when they find out the reality. Managers are highly dangerous in this regard. If you've got one of those dealing with your fans rather than dealing with them direct yourself, make sure you stay aware of what is going on between them, and make sure it's known that it's a manager and not you talking to your fans. I'll never forget the story of the Sellaband believer who spent several thousand dollars on an artist on Sellaband, only for her to not even acknowledge him when he was stood directly in front of her, when her manager had been pretending to be her and constantly talking to him telling him how wonderful he was online. In actual fact the artist herself had absolutely no idea of who he was or what he'd been doing. That kind of experience loses fans and must come as more than embarrassment for any self-respecting artist once they find out too. Let's face it, could you really trust someone if you feel deceived?

- realise that it's the little things that matter
Shortly after Second Person raised their $50,000 on Sellaband they held a concert in London. I went down to that concert on my own, not knowing anyone there - I hadn't even been to a Second Person concert before. There are also very few pictures of the "real me" lurking around online. Yet I'd barely stuck my head around the door, before a shout of "Lucretia" (the name I'm known by on Sellaband) came from across the room, and Mark from the band was on his way to meet me. And indeed he was back around several times during the evening to check I was doing OK. When you consider I either had to be introduced to everyone else I met that evening, or at best I had a few uncertain enquiries as to whether I was Lucretia, the fact Mark had made the effort to both find out who I was and look out for me with genuine enthusiasm is something that really stands out. A simple thing perhaps, but the kind of thing that leaves a lasting impression. Just as with friends, it's the little gestures that show you're interested and/or you care about them as an individual that will leave the biggest impressions on your fans.

- find a way of giving true fans what they want
Other posts on the subject of 1000 true fans make the mistake of regarding a true fan as someone who can pay you cash. This is a misconception. I said earlier that a true fan wants to own everything you've ever done or will do in future. Just because they want to own it doesn't mean they can afford to own it - at least not in the traditional sense of paying money. The future is therefore open for artists to do what they do best i.e. get creative. Everyone has different skills and different contacts and the real winners will be those artists that form relationships with each fan in a way that allows the artist to use the fan's skills to help them accomplish some goal whilst rewarding the fan for helping them complete that goal with whatever it is they want to own as a thankyou gift. But to be able to do this, you're going to have to get to know your fans in the first place. At the end of the day, wouldn't you rather have someone who is as "into" your music as you are helping you out, rather than employing someone who is basically only helping you because you're paying them? Trust me, if you can pull this one off, not only will your existing fans love you for it, but you'll find yourself with a queue of new people too as soon as it becomes known what the deal is, because I certainly haven't seen an artist manage this one yet.

In short, if you approach the problem of making new fans the same way you go about the problem of making new friends, you stand a much better chance of landing up with a true fan. Even better, once you prove to them you're as cool and as great to know as they believed you were, they'll pass that word on.

I often hear artists saying they get the best response to their music by mixing with people who share the same interests as them, rather than trying to chase after people on music sites. Duuuh! If you make friends, people may be more inclined to listen to your music and see if they like it. Is it therefore such a leap to realise that by exposing yourself online, you've already prepared the ground, so that complete stranger that pops up from nowhere probably already has some idea of what you're like and what you're into? It's almost certain they have one or more things in common with you or your outlook on life - that's a part of what gave them enough interest in you to stick their head above the parapet in the first place! As a result, the artists I've seen do best at creating fans are those that realise the process of "make friend -> make fan" works backwards as well, and know how to react to a stranger that seems to suddenly appear with an interest. The better (and faster) you are at identifying when someone has, or is in danger of crossing the line and becoming a fan, the more likely you can make a true fan out of them.


Fans and fan funding

Fan funding sites are failing because they are trying to come into the process too late. It can take a long time just to convert one person into a fan. By the time you've gathered enough fans who trust you enough to pay you for something before it has been created, the chances are you'll also have developed the infrastructure and/or the contacts to be able to do it yourself. Why would you ever pay a middleman in this case? Not only do your fans have to trust you, they then have to trust the middleman too, and if the middleman lets you down some of your fans will therefore lose trust in YOU.

Rather than centering on the artist, fan funding sites need to recognise the laws of supply and demand and realise it's actually fans that are in short supply and it is therefore the fan needs that need to be fulfilled, as the artist needs will then be fulfilled automatically. (Stop Press: Artists only have ONE major need, and that's more fans!) Without this, they will only ever be a temporary fad while artists are still busy working out the fact they could do the same thing themselves.

The fan funding site that wins will be the one which gets into the process much earlier and realises that the conversion from consumer to fan is what they actually need to help with as it's where the potential really lies. On the one hand, artists are out there looking for fans. On the other hand, the current situation encourages consumers to remain consumers, rather than converting into those true fans that every artist craves. There is so much choice of music available, but so little chance of ever seeing the artists that make that music perform that there's no incentive to become a fan (see my section above on what fans want). Anyone with half a brain knows there can be a world of difference between a recording and how good an artist actually is. So it's no wonder that there are no superstars any more - that process of becoming a fan I mentioned earlier has been stifled by the sheer amount of choice screaming for attention and the traditional industry's inability to actually link artists with fans under these conditions. Of the three artists I particularly consider myself a fan of, I've only ever seen one perform live in person - the best I've had on the other two is video/Internet performance. And there's still no sign of either of these two ever performing a show in the same country as me, let alone anywhere actually local, despite each having already released at least 4 full albums, and one of the two even being a repeated and well-known award winner and chart topper in their own country.

We're forever being told that the price of technology is coming down and it's much cheaper to do things these days. People all over are saying that streaming media is the future. Yet how many music venues do you know that record concerts? Or even better, stream it? According to the future of music, fans have more access to artists than ever before. The reality is so far the exact opposite of this - despite all the touted advances in technology and all the free services around, the artists you are most interested in are often turning out to be the ones you have least access to. And there's no sign of this situation improving.

In addition, consumers want to try before they buy in the comfort of their own home. Gone are the days of going out on a dark and rainy night only to find out that it was hardly worth it, because the "new band" you went to see were basically just no good live. Without creating the appropriate level of accessibility to meet this need, you won't create fans in future. Accessibility is the one thing than fan-funding sites and more importantly the music industry in general should be looking at creating, and both are failing heavily in this regard. No Accessibility = no reason to engage = no reason to buy and music becomes a throwaway 5 minute track based flash in the pan as a result.

If I'm not getting what I want as a fan, why shouldn't I just be a consumer? This fan disillusion is the true challenge that the music industry needs to face and overcome, now that the music you can listen to is worldwide and no longer limited to artists in your own local area and whoever the music industry in your country is currently pushing.

The cost of true fans
Assuming I've properly managed to get over the idea that fans are actually your friends, it's time to understand what the cost of the 1000 true fans route is, and therefore why it will likely only ever work to an extent, rather than its full potential.

1. Time is not on your side
Can you spare 5 minutes of your time every week for your best friend? In reality, I'm willing to bet you spend somewhat more than 5 minutes a week on average with your best friend. But if we go with the theory that a true fan is your best friend, and attempt to spend just 5 minutes in a week with each, then if you have 1000 true fans, you'd need to spend nearly 12 hours every day, including weekends, to cover the lot. Assuming you sleep for 8 hours, that means you would have just 4 hours to do everything else including actually create music. Clearly not practical. Collecting and retaining a large number of true fans is therefore very difficult through time pressures alone.

2. One true love
Out of all the artists that an individual gets exposed to in their lifetime, you'll likely be able to count the number of artists they are a "true fan" of on just one hand. And possibly just one finger. Whilst they may consider themselves a fan of a much larger number, they'll only ever go that real extra mile for those currently at the top of their own personal pile. Given the millions of artists in the world, chances are it's not your day. The true fan relationship is much like searching for your soulmate - that one true love. Even though the fan is extremely compatible with your music, given enough time, the law of averages states that someone with even more compatible music is going to come along and oust you. How long can you retain your one true musical love status, so you can actually increase your number of true fans rather than merely replacing some of them?

3. Are you superman (or woman)?
It takes a special kind of person to truly cultivate true fans. I've been lucky enough to meet with some during my time on Sellaband, and I suspect a number of others based on their correspondences with myself or others, including one that I personally think can't sing for toffee. But one man's trash is another man's treasure in that regard, and they definitely exhibit all the other signs that would encourage someone who is into their music to consider becoming a true fan.

None of these people ever stop. I still remember sharing a taxi back to the airport in Amsterdam with Lily Vasquez at 4am - two hours before I actually needed to be there. She had pretty much been everywhere and spoken to everyone over the course of the weekend, and whilst I'd attempted to grab a few hours sleep before the taxi she hadn't even been to bed. I'm sat there feeling like the bleary eyed owl that's been woken in the middle of the afternoon, staring out of one half-closed eye wishing everyone would just buzz off and leave it to sleep and Lily was still fired up and on the go. To be able to put that amount of time and dedication into people and still be going takes a special kind of person, and it's exactly that kind of person that is best suited to creating large numbers of true fans. Are you that superman (or woman) or are you the bleary-eyed owl like me?

Whilst the 1000 true fans route sounds idyllic, the reality is that it's pretty much impossible to keep up the level of interaction that's required to keep that going for any period of time. But clearly, you can work with a smaller number and still keep them happy enough to want to retain their "true fan" status.

Fans need to learn too
It's only really since I pushed myself out of the consumer pile and took a real interest in Sellaband, that it's become apparent that for the music industry to move forward, fans need to understand a few things too.

1. "Sold Out" is a reality that isn't going anywhere
Some of the cries most often heard from fans is that an artist has "sold out" and/or doesn't have time for their fans any more. However fans need to realise the reasons why artists don't have a lot of time for them, and the fact this problem isn't going to go away. Just because an artist is doing it all themselves and doesn't have a manager, record label etc. in the way doesn't mean there's going to be any more opportunity to interact with them. We're back to that fact that it takes 12 hours every day in order to spend just 5 minutes of time a week with every true fan.

The average person has absolutely NO idea of the realities that artists have to cope with and the amount of time it takes, and even after 4 years I'd still consider that I've barely started to learn. By educating fans and giving them this understanding, more of them will start to cut you some slack and you'll also find yourself with better fan retention. If people don't understand something, they speculate and ultimately that lack of understanding is what often leads to those cries of "sold out". Engage them, involve them, but overall educate them if you want to beat this.

2. Be more open to interacting with artists
It's a huge temptation to only interact with artists you're really interested in, but by getting to know some of the others who openly exhibit the signs that encourage true fans you could be doing everyone a favour.

At the end of the day, there are a number of artists I've encountered and talked to on Sellaband that I feel truly guilty about the fact that I don't like their music more (or even don't like it at all). From the perspective of creating true fans, they're going about it the right way but for me the "musical spark" just isn't there for me to want to create the relationship. But the fact that I've interacted with these people, or even just paid attention to the way they interact with others gives me the opportunity to tell someone who asks me whether I like a particular artist the fact that even though I don't like their music, they come across as someone worthy of the effort. True fans are looking for interaction, so if I as a music lover can help direct another towards their "musical soulmate" without them having to sift so much of the junk by trial and error, surely that has to be a win for everybody?

3. It works both ways
The good news for potential fans out there is that it works both ways. In my experience, the artists most deserving of true fans are also the ones who appreciate them the most. They will be as excited to meet you as you are to meet them if not more so, assuming they ever get the opportunity. But by the same token that means EVERYTHING works both ways. If you truly want the kind of level of interaction which can only be offered to a "true fan", then you have got to step up to the plate and fulfil your side of the bargain. In the new music industry the artist - true fan relationship is a self-sustaining one, but you're going to have to be a true fan, and not merely a fan. That artist you love is going to need to trust you as much as you do them (if not more so, seeing as they probably know less about you than you do them) if you're going to move forward together, and that means that all the qualities you're looking for in them, they need to be able to find in you too. When they ask for your support in something, you need to be there to give it,assuming it's possible for you to do so. Are you up to that kind of challenge?

So. Artists. Fans. What are you waiting for? Get out there and make some true friends.

Friday 1 October 2010

September roundup

The main post this month is something I thought should be written as an article in its own right, so here's just a quick roundup of the other things going on.

I mentioned last month that I'd received the mp3s for Francis Rodino's new EP. Well the CD itself has now arrived as well, meaning the Pledge music process has been somewhat faster than the Sellaband one, both in terms of the time for fundraising and the time between completion of fundraising and release. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting on a number of artists from Sellaband for their CDs, including several who completed funding back in 2008.

And this increasing wait for Sellaband artists is just one of many things completely putting people off the site. In the first week of September, the friend from my university days has finally had enough and updated his Sellaband status to read "Goodbye Sellaband. It was nice while it lasted, but it's time to move on". Looking at the list of 25 artists he had bought parts in, it looks like he is still waiting for 3 or 4 CDs as well, but otherwise has decided he won't be buying any more.

AmieStreet closes down and redirects to Amazon. I managed to get nearly all the remaining money I had there into tracks and downloaded, but their servers were obviously overloaded with people in the same kind of rush, as the process took me several attempts over a number of days to complete. This is yet another case that highlights the fact of why I'd much rather have an album than download mp3s. Every time a site like this closes down or moves on you're in danger of losing the music you paid for. At least with a CD, the chances are you can still rip it again quite happily. And at your own leisure rather than being forced into a deadline too - essentially your music backup is already created! The $5 Amazon voucher was no compensation for non-US buyers though, as even if you redeem the voucher it can't actually be spent if you live outside the USA.

I am enjoying the site that the amiestreet people have moved onto though. Whilst Songza is aimed as being for a group of people to collaborate on playlists, I'm actually finding it the best site I visited since Yahoo terminated their Launchcast service. No prizes for guessing it's the music site I'm spending most time on at present. Essentially it allows you to set up a streaming station which only plays what you choose. The main downside compared to Launchcast is that it doesn't suggest artists for you to listen to based on what the station already plays, so essentially you have to go find and add songs yourself. I do have a few gripes with it, such as the fact you can't remove a track you may have added by mistake, nor can you remove a station once you've created it. (My initial experimentation meant I landed up creating 2 stations of the same name). Also the fact you can't listen to a preview of the track to check it's a) the right one and b) it's OK can be a bit of a problem. For example I went and added Lordi's "The Arockralypse" album and it's obvious the encoding is screwed up. This means every track on the entire album is playing in mega-slo-mo satanic, which is somewhat ironic when you consider the band's actual image.

For those of you interested in Indie artists, it's quite interesting what I've dug up on there (and indeed what I haven't). For instance there's no sign of Nemesea, yet all you Lily and Cubworld fans can go listen to their Sellaband albums (amongst those of many other 50K artists). And it doesn't stop there. Radius have their single "Prisoner of your love" on there, even though their album isn't yet released. And there's even music from artists on Sellaband who haven't reached a target such as some Wetwerks tracks. Matthew Ebel's back catalogue appears to have been sneezed on, meaning there's a howling gap after his album "Beer and Coffee" with the next album being "Songs from the vault vol 2.", meaning SFTV vol 1 and a couple of others from the intervening era are missing. There's also quite a few artists I recognise from either Stereofame or Thesixtyone that i've been able to dig up as well. In short it's well worth having a look to see who you can search up, as the site contains a broad selection of well known and indie artists, and also covers music released from at least the 1950s to (almost) current based on who I listen to that I've found. I'm still working on my own (call it personal) radio station, but if you've got anyone you think I ought to listen to, then here's the station you can add to A username I recognise from Sellaband has already come in and started adding some stuff to this one as well. Basically go ahead and knock yourselves out and join them.

Using Songza is currently completely free. More importantly there's absolutely nothing to download - it streams the music without bothering you to install any player, library management software or other junk that sites seem so keen to throw at you these days. There are some adverts on the site, but you can quite happily swap out to another tab or minimise your browser and it will keep playing so you don't have to be disturbed by them at all. But I find myself wondering how long the service will a) remain free and b) whether it will eventually go the same way as the likes of Pandora and lock non-US users out of the system. Which would be a real shame, as this is currently the streaming service most closely meeting what I want from a streaming service.

That's it for the September roundup. The main post looking at the "1000 true fans" model from the fan point of view will be along in the next couple of days, and that's one you really won't want to miss.