Your Fans Don't Just Want To Connect With Your Music

Scott Owen from The Living End riding his bass

Photo Credit: wonker

"If fans connect with your music isn't that enough?"

This is such a common statement I hear from most veterans in the industry. It typically follows a discussion or debate about why bands should be on the internet, social networks and be talking to your fans.

Here's the thing, 20 years ago back when access to music was a scarcity; music was all fans could realistically connect to. Fans would line up for hours just to speak to a famous musician, to connect with them so to speak. For labels the artist-fan relationship only needed to go so far as music, because any fan connecting with the music would buy an album.

But music is excessively abundant now. Some call it a horrible glut, I call it a glorious renaissance. Semantics aside, no one can argue with the fact that music, by itself - just the songs, is worth (economically) far less than it used to be.

Your fans want to connect with you

All content is worth far less than it used to be. This is because we are measuring the value of that piece of work. That song, that blog post, that news article. Individually they are worth very little money. But what does an artist care, it's not like album sales were ever the breadwinner for an artist (bar the top 1%).

But as you would know from my last two posts, their is no value in an idea (song, post) alone, but there is incredible value in the creator (filter).

Casual fans connect with your music

The buck has shifted from the music to the artist. Now someone will connect with your music for free. No cost, almost no obligation. They listen, and if they like it they connect to it. If you lock it all behind a pay wall, far less will hear it, let alone connect to it. Free some of it up, not all but enough to connect with your potential fans.

For the majority of the time a fan will connect with your music, before they connect with you. As such, this is why your music should not only be as good as possible. It should be freely accessible.

Your fans connecting with your music isn't as profitable as it used to be, assuming it ever really was. The next logical step after the music, is for a fan to connect with you.

Scary huh.

Your fans want to connect with you.

Get used to it. Music is abundant, you are not. Use that to your advantage, it is your only profitable one.

Regular fans connect with you

They will scour the internet to find where you pop up. In previous decades, passionate fans could be found hanging around the back doors of venues (this is still true today).

Your regular fans will connect with you and give a shit. They care what you say, because you said it and your interesting to them.

Regular fans have opted-in to your life. Seth Godin nailed this in his many ebooks on permission marketing. Links.

They will follow you on twitter and SoundCloud, friend you on MySpace and Facebook. Bump your songs on thesixtyone, favourite them on Last.fm. Why? They want to connect with you. More importantly they want their friend to know they have connected with you.

They are showing their loyalty to you. Fan loyalty is a valuable thing, but it can be lost easier than you may think.

Your fans are opting into a relationship with you. More a friendship than anything serious (we hope). As such if you treat them like friends you will strengthen that relationship.

Tell them about things you find interesting, show them demos of your new song. Post that photo of that artwork that blew your mind. Put up that video of you singing a capella to a spontaneous group of people. And ask them what they think.

Don't beg for responses though. Unless that's 'your thing' you want to maintain an air of confidence even if you don't particularly have one at the time.

True fans want you, to connect with them

Your most dedicated, passionate or just more interested fans will attempt to get you to connect with them. Emails, @replies, haunting cries for an autograph.

Your fans are looking for validation.

They want you to know they exist. They want to know, that you know, they exist.

After that they want to tell everyone they know about you.

And after that they want to help you however they can.

They are a small portion of your fans (in fact they are the smallest) but they are by far the most valuable. Do not ignore them.

Don't be too afraid in soliciting their help either. Need a gig photographer for that event in that town you've never been to. Ask your fans. Give them something in return. A couple of free tickets (your photographer will most likely have someone to go with). A album, unless it just came out or is a pre release is not a wise choice, as they will most likely already own a copy.

Understanding how your fans connect with you and your music will help you better interact and market to them. You do need to put a lot of work into your fan base compared to generations past. The payoff is arguably more valuable today.

If you have no idea what a casual, regular or true fan is, I suggest you have a gander at the infographic that kicked off this series. If you can't be bothered, let's face it your a busy musician, they are simply a method to spilt up your fanbase to better market to them. 

A casual fan is someone who knows your music but hasn't seen a reason to connect with you, or buy anything. A regular fan is someone who has bought your music, connected with you and will be waiting to buy the tickets to your next gig. A true fan is like your hardcore uber-dedicated fan.

This is the fourth post in the Long Tail of Fans series. If you haven't already have a read of the previous posts try, How you can make your True Fans work for you.

Don't forget to leave your thoughts in a comment or tweet.