Why Fans Have Become So Needy And Why You Are Obligated To Give Them What They Want.

Attracting and maintaining fans is no longer about a band's music. If you didn't read my blog from last week, you can make it up to me by reading it now and then commenting on how fantastic I am. Actually, go back and read the last two because they touch on how to find fans and get them to actually come out and pay your cover price at the door.

Scott Welch, a manager who has worked with the likes of Alanis Morissette, contends that art comes from the bottom up instead from the top down like it used to. "Fan management is the only part of the business that's left... it starts and ends with the fans. They determine who will make it. If they like you you're gold. If they don't, you're in trouble."

Fans these days are much more demanding than they used to be. With the introduction of social network marketing, fans want to constantly be updated on where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, what you're eating, etc.

P. Diddy has a question of the day on his Twitter. He asks a simple question, such as the one from today, "what's your favorite MJ song?" Then he waits for his million plus followers to respond. He has also apparently launched PTwittytv... Yes, real time video of him that he posts on Twitter. He's slacked on posting them recently, but the fact that he has even taken the application to a whole new level shows how innovative and forward thinking things are these days. I hear you in that he has his minions who do his bidding. Who knows if he even came up with the idea, but his fame is what makes it take and make the world take notice.

What's my point? My point is that it seems tedious and unnecessary, but silly things like Twitter are so incredibly important in keeping fans on the hook. Mike King, Director of Marketing at Berklee Music says, "You can't just leave it to chance and hope for the best. Today it's especially important to be proactive. The internet and mobile communications have made fans much more demanding. If you don't pay attention to them, you'll lose them."

The fans are as important, if not more so, than the music now. If you don't have the fans, then the music will be lost by the wayside. They are the reason you are successful, so keep that in mind my arrogant band friends.

Cheers!
Creed