Having listeners is not the same as having fans.
A musician with a thousand true fans will outperform any musician with a million listeners…This is an idea put forward by Kevin Kelly, who believes that anyone can do what they love for a living if they can produce $100 worth of value to 1000 true fans.
The value of followers and their commitment to your journey as an artist is infinitely more significant than the quantity of fans.
Streaming platforms can be good to help introduce your music to a wider audience and potentially develop a fanbase of listeners. But how many of those listeners are real true fans? How many of them really love your music?
Whilst metrics such as monthly listeners and total streams on many Web2 streaming platforms would have helped you secure a deal with a record label or get featured on popular radio stations in the past, Web3 allows a much higher quality connection between audience and artist. A connection that can be used to help creators efficiently monetise their art…Finally!
In the world of streaming, owning a music format is lost. No-one is buying music, yet everyone is consuming music and it’s the artist that loses out the most. Streaming platforms are generally low-paying for artists, providing listeners that just want to listen to music in general rather than true fans who want to collect music of their favourite artists.
Listeners don’t really engage and may not even return to re-listen to your latest music. True fans however, will return and re-listen, will consider ALL the material an artist creates and will stay loyal within the gaps from one album release to the next. A true fan will go to see a live performance, interact with their favourite artists over social platforms and buy merchandise. True fans really value your music, believe in you and take inspiration from your creativity.
So, a few snippets of advice for artists:
- Be true to yourself and try not to please everyone
- Understand your true fans and appeal to those who truly ‘get you’
- Understand the value those true fans bring
- Encourage them to join your journey
- Let them know they’re appreciated
- Make them feel like they belong
- Don’t be misled by streaming numbers, it doesn’t necessarily mean fans
- Fan-centric audiences are longer lasting
Web3 is all about true fans and communities. It’s a place where you as an artist can have complete control within your community of fans. It allows you to maintain control of your creative work, giving you a chance to build a genuine fan base and break away from streaming giants and 360 record label deals.
The goal in bringing Web3 to the music industry is to inspire artists to focus on the value they bring to their fan base. Being a musician nowadays is so much more than just creating music. The modern independent musician will have expertise in digital marketing, copywriting, entrepreneurship and content creation…These are all skills that can be used to create VALUE for the fans, benefiting both the artist and the audience.
Furthermore, artists have the ability to cultivate deeper relationships with fans, gain direct access to true supporters, and independently launch the music they love without having to chase streams or use inflated marketing tactics to gain listenership.
Music is a naturally powerful tool, forging emotional connections, organically building tribes of like-minded people. After all, we all want to feel like we belong…to something!
