"Will nature make a man of me yet?"
Ok, when when I started this newsletter, I didn't think how I'd find the time to write new issues and maintain the regularity after we got really, really busy. Look, I’m not complaining, but…
Anyways, here’s a contentious statement for you - one of the biggest problems with the music business is that, on the whole, it’s not overly strategic. Not much medium to long term planning, certainly at an artist level and amazingly, not often at the corporate level. I think we'll explore the justification put forth, and more importantly the uncomfortable truth in another newsletter or speaking event.
“one of the biggest problems with the music business...it’s not overly strategic.”
One area that particularly hampers trying to strategically ‘super serve, superfans’ is the very siloed nature of the industry. Simply, an artist’s creativity, career and output are often divided across multiple ‘administrators’ each with their own objectives. Which sometimes, are aligned to those of the artist. Problem is, artists careers aren’t siloed or partitioned and the way that fans consume, connect or interact with the artists they love isn’t either.
Coz they're Silos...get it?
Artist Fandom exists within a unique multi-dimensional eco-system, comprising the various touchpoints between fan and artist and other fans. Unique because no one artist eco-system will be the same as another. Importantly it’s not created by the artist, their management, or the record company but their fans, built to a blueprint shaped by their emotive connection to the artist, that they feel is appropriate to them and the values and expectations that they bestow upon the artist.
“no one artist eco-system will be the same.”
In sentiment I suppose it’s similar to the Brand world adage that in a digital world ‘your brand isn’t what you say it is, but rather what your audience say it is’. While I mention that, it's a phrase pertinent to the artists as well, but yet again, that's for another newsletter.
At the very best, whether you be artist, management, or record company, you are simply the facilitator of the eco-system and to be an effective facilitator one needs to seek out the WHY data that we’ve talked about in past newsletters. Identifying what those touchpoints are, could be and how to use them, only comes from a deep understanding of the fans attitudinal and psychological connection. The degree to which a touchpoint is important or relevant is unique and the way each should be used creatively and commercially will also be nuanced to each artist.
The artists Fan Eco-system is loosely divided across 6 key sectors:
1. Content
2. Live
3. Product
4. Community
5. Partnership
6. Experiential
Some of these sectors will seem self-explanatory, others are often misinterpreted, but all are more extensive than you may think. I also say loosely divided across these 6 sectors because each blend (or at least should blend) into one another. In most cases you should be creating commercial or creative opportunity and execution that encompasses more than one of these Fan eco-systems sectors.
A simple example would be the creation of the deluxe boxset. Its creation, manufacture, marketing and ownership should all encompass the sectors of Product of course, but also Content, Community and even Experiential. In actuality, it only ever encompasses Product, with a smattering of Content in the marketing stage. In a later newsletter, we’ll talk about how to reinvent the deluxe boxset by creating a longitudinal experience, while combining Web 3.0 and its wider opportunities. In all probability we’ll also be talking about this at a Stateside event, early in 2025, if we can make the scheduling work.
Live is so much more than the gig and the T-Shirt.
Anyway, I digress. Look even if you were for some reason developing a project or product that sat solely within one of these sectors, it would (should) stimulate the need for activity in other sectors. Do something in one sector, and it will chime in another.
The common mistake is treating these touch-points as isolated channels or platforms. Yet working together, the right mix of touch-points can create an all-encompassing and enduring relationship between fan and artist.
So, does this conflict with the industries siloed nature?
