Warning: the following content is probably boring to most people, and its not really Alizée related (more for the young musician starting out, but she could take something from this) but if you like to think about the business side of music and what it means to be a fan then read on, you might feel the urge to leave a comment.

So a while ago Alizee Nation ran a short piece on the 1000 True Fan theory by Kevin Kelly that explores the theory of an artist rising above the noise by finding and intensely engaging with a 1000 True Fan’s.

This morning a friend of mine who also happens to be trying to make it with his band “Paperjet Hero” sends me a link to an interview featuring a young band called “I Fight Dragons” who managed to pull together a 1000 true fans (estimated) in 1 year and are making enough as an indie to make a living of it.

It’s certainly an interesting read and as is often the case riddled with cautions, but one thing that is clear is that we are currently stuck in a new era, slowly moving to a new model that is going to feature/require intense engagement with a core group of fans to ensure an artists livelihood. The old labelled CD sales model is dead, but we are not quite there yet where bands are making a living online, but we are getting there pretty quickly.

So what if you have a 1000 true fans already, or say 5000? Remember these are TRUE fans, the ones that go batshit crazy over every small photo, every new hairstyle, downloads every free single and buys every album (sometimes twice). What else do they offer you that you maybe have not considered?

For one Brian Mazzaferri mentions that he still needs a team that he has to pay that allows him to work on his music and not be distracted by other things, but I wonder Brian, have you thought about outsourcing some of that for your fans, in fact if you look right now, are they not already doing some of that for you?

Take our little Alizée club here, our friend Alizee Nation is the mother of all SEO/social coaches/marketer for all things related to Alizée already, does Brian really have to pay someone for this function? If Alizée ask AN to become her official blogger, he would do it right now, for free, no questions. How do you measure the value of a TRUE fan like that?

Nay, a lot of people mention the overhead and negative things involved with managing the relationship with true fans, I for one say its not difficult if done with a plan.

• Keep it simple
• Keep it largely non-personal, true fans understand
• Crowdsource to other true fans, disseminate through trusted channels
• Give true fans the opportunity to help you by giving them something special to buy.

That last point is an interesting one, I Fight Dragons sold a 100 limited edition lifetime memberships for $100 and made a quick buck from that, others also follow a similar model, closest to home is our friend Rob a collaborator on Une Enfant Du Sieclé who has various subscription options for his Dodecalogue project with subscriptions ranging from 15 euros a month to a once-off premium membership payment of 1500 euros which includes a song custom written for you, how cool is that!? If you have 1000 true fans and a 100 of them have the means to pay 1500 euros, that makes it 150 000 euro in your pocket, sounds like good business to me!

To sum up, it seems like we are heading down an interesting little rabbit hole in the music industry, but do not fear, there is hope, although the labels will never be out of the picture I do love the opportunity this is going to give to early movers, those guys in niches that just aren’t radio friendly, the ones that a label won’t touch with a 10 foot pole.

Thanks for reading this rambling post, just having some fun

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