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 Post subject: 1000 True Fans?Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:06 am 
What do y'all think of this essay, called "1000 True Fans"? http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php It's by Kevin Kelly, one of the founders of Wired magazine (usually a good read, by the way). Here's his thesis, although the article goes much longer than this: Quote: While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living. A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans. I'd be especially interested to hear what Boyd or Kim think, if they have time, or anyone else in the music business. Is Kevin Kelly on to something? |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2008 | Posts: 475 |
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:54 am
Having only read that excerpt, I'd say that's about right. 1,000 people willing to spend, say, an average of $10 per month on an artist can support that artist very comfortably indeed. Of course, there's perhaps one out of every one hundred people who is a True Fan, so in order to reach the 1,000 you need to survive, you need to get heard by 100,000 (conservatively). Therein lies the difficulty, because you can spend a fortune in an effort to be heard by so many and then you have to use the money you get from the True Fans to pay back your label, manager, bank, student loans, or whatever your source of funds was in that quest for exposure. And that's only in the best case scenario, where you actually find those thousand people. _________________ INTELLECT AND ROMANCE OVER BRUTE FORCE AND CYNICISM Smokemonster |
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003 | Posts: 14510 | Location: Alone on an airplane, fallin' asleep against the windowpane...
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:45 am
I take issue with this definition of "true fan". Fan-dom should not be defined monetarily. I think a girl who lives in the middle of nowhere and could only buy Eisley's CDs and maybe see them live once, but who truly loves the band, is a truer fan than a collector who has a ton of money and nothing better to do with it than buy import albums and posters off of Ebay. Just my opinion. |
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Joined: 13 Jul 2007 | Posts: 33 |
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:53 am
ElDan wrote: I take issue with this definition of "true fan". Fan-dom should not be defined monetarily. I think a girl who lives in the middle of nowhere and could only buy Eisley's CDs and maybe see them live once, but who truly loves the band, is a truer fan than a collector who has a ton of money and nothing better to do with it than buy import albums and posters off of Ebay. Just my opinion. I agree with you, but I don't take issue with Kelly's use of the term. It's easier to say True Fan than Monetary Supporter or Individual Sponsor or something like that. He probably could have spent half an hour coming up with a moniker that's just as succinct and more applicable to his thesis, but oh well. _________________ INTELLECT AND ROMANCE OVER BRUTE FORCE AND CYNICISM Smokemonster |
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003 | Posts: 14510 | Location: Alone on an airplane, fallin' asleep against the windowpane...
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 am
 _________________ TRUCK STOP SHOWER GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR EISLEY!!!! COME ON! |
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Joined: 31 Oct 2005 | Posts: 462 | Location: san francisco
Last edited by fernster on Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:38 am
Saellys wrote: ElDan wrote: I take issue with this definition of "true fan". Fan-dom should not be defined monetarily. I think a girl who lives in the middle of nowhere and could only buy Eisley's CDs and maybe see them live once, but who truly loves the band, is a truer fan than a collector who has a ton of money and nothing better to do with it than buy import albums and posters off of Ebay. Just my opinion. I agree with you, but I don't take issue with Kelly's use of the term. It's easier to say True Fan than Monetary Supporter or Individual Sponsor or something like that. He probably could have spent half an hour coming up with a moniker that's just as succinct and more applicable to his thesis, but oh well. Good point. I guess I should've just said his definition of "true fan" differs from mine. Now, off to actually read the article in question! 
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Joined: 13 Jul 2007 | Posts: 33 |
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:51 am
that is amazing, it is great to see the way that I have always thought written down in somebody else's words. I agree with that thing 100%. I feel that too many people go the "sending their demo to record companies" or "trying to get blockbuster funding" approach, rather than just taking the risk and just doing it themselves out of their own pocket, and trying to attract a following first. I believe that if you truly have something great to show people, it WILL get exposure, and a lot of which will be by word of mouth. And you can do the rest yourself. I would like to think that a true artist or someone with honest talent and integrity would go for the good of their craft first, before the fairytale rock star lifestyle "pool shaped like guitar" anyday. And to me personally, I can always tell by watching or listening to something if the makers put their heart into it or not.. even in Hollywood and on MTV it can be painfully obvious when some random shmoe who lacks passion is doing something just for money. |
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Joined: 05 Jan 2008 | Posts: 90 | Location: Long Island
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:00 pm
I also like the way he quantifies it, breaking it down to one 'days' wages per year. Although fandom is not all monetary, as Willy Nelson once wrote in a song " if wana to dance you gotta pay the band!" _________________ Mike=] |
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Joined: 05 Nov 2007 | Posts: 1453 | Location: Orlando, Florida
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Post subject: Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:11 am
I'm with Saellys -- I think Kevin Kelly's insight is a very useful way of looking at things, but coming up with 1000 "true fans" is easier said than done. There are a lot of potential fans out there who might never hear of you -- in my own case, the only time I ever heard of Eisley was when I just happened to be in a Barnes & Noble about three years ago when their first album was playing. If not for that happenstance, I would never have heard of them to this day-- other than the times that I myself have sought out information about their albums, there hasn't been any other time that I've just stumbled across them on TV, online, or in a newspaper. |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2008 | Posts: 475 |
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Post subject: Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:41 am
StuartBuck wrote: I'm with Saellys -- I think Kevin Kelly's insight is a very useful way of looking at things, but coming up with 1000 "true fans" is easier said than done. There are a lot of potential fans out there who might never hear of you -- in my own case, the only time I ever heard of Eisley was when I just happened to be in a Barnes & Noble about three years ago when their first album was playing. If not for that happenstance, I would never have heard of them to this day-- other than the times that I myself have sought out information about their albums, there hasn't been any other time that I've just stumbled across them on TV, online, or in a newspaper. Yup! The problem with his approach is that the market is saturated with other music through which your potential fans have to wade. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are plenty of people like you who don't immerse themselves in finding new music all the time. Even though you're a die-hard Eisley fan now, you wouldn't be except for that one moment of exposure. And it's really hard for an indie band, particularly an unsigned band, to get played in Barnes & Noble or any other major retailer. The concept of a thousand true fans is simple enough, but reaching enough other people to find those thousand is hard freaking work.  _________________ INTELLECT AND ROMANCE OVER BRUTE FORCE AND CYNICISM Smokemonster |
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003 | Posts: 14510 | Location: Alone on an airplane, fallin' asleep against the windowpane...
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:04 am
You hit the nail on the head with "hard work." Bands that develop that sort of fan base more often than not do work very hard. Some are quite driven. But I do wonder if you could get 2000 fans that do half of what his "1,000 true fans" do that are pretty big fans as well. And most people expect touring, which isn't cheap - signed or not. When I wake up a bit, I'll go read the article. |
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Joined: 27 Oct 2005 | Posts: 547 | Location: Northern UT
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:35 am
FYI, Kevin Kelly has a couple of long follow-up posts that are now more skeptical of the "1000 True Fans" idea. Very interesting and worth reading: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/04/the_reality_of.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/04/the_case_agains.php |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2008 | Posts: 475 |
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:49 am
Its a very interesting article. I'm sure if I agree with his theory... but by his definition of "a true fan", I would say that my daughter,Sam and I are true Eisley fans in that we have pretty much tried to aquire everything EISLEY we could get or hands on . And we're driving out of state Thursday to see Eisley in Detroit. We also wanted to get some older EISLEY items that are simply no longer available unless you can find some occassionally on eBay. Actually, that's how we've collected a few of our older Eisley concert posters ,t-shirts, hoodies, etc. which are no longer available anywhere else. Even bought some cool stuff from a nice guy who used to go to church with them in Tyler...he had a nice collection of Eisley things (some of which he said he got directly from Kim). He was moving away from Tyler and getting a smaller apartment (going to school, I think) and needed to reduce trhe size of his collections AND make some money for school.. _________________ Dan and daughter, Samantha - We Love Eisley! |
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Joined: 26 Jan 2008 | Posts: 974 | Location: Maumee, OH (Toledo)
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