The next ownership battle in music won’t be over masters. It will be over understanding. Artists have spent decades fighting to own their recordings, publishing, image rights and merchandise. But as audience insight, fan intelligence, AI and predictive analytics become more valuable, another question is becoming increasingly important: Who owns understanding of the fan? Labels, streaming services, promoters, ticketing companies and merchandise partners can all contribute valuable information. But each sees the fan through its own commercial lens. Only management sees the whole career and the complete fan ecosystem. This is not about weakening commercial partners. Management-owned understanding should make every partnership, brief, campaign and investment decision better. Article 41 of The Superfan Formula: Who Owns Your Fans? Because once someone else owns understanding of your audience, they begin influencing the decisions that shape your future. Who owns the strategic picture in most artist businesses today?
Goldman Sachs. Citigroup. Barclays, all confidently modelled the future of music…and all completely wrong. Meanwhile, fans quietly built a billion-dollar resurgence right under their noses. A story proving that if you don’t understand fans…you won’t see what’s coming next. New edition of the Superfan Formula
The phrase “meet fans where they are” is thrown around a lot in the music industry, but rarely understood. This edition of The Superfan Formula explores what it really means, why tiered monetisation misses the point, and how to use attitudinal insight to scale emotional connection and build a fanbase that lasts.
Everyone’s talking about “super-serving superfans” but no one’s asking what’s the actual plan? Strategy isn’t slapping “digital” in front of a campaign—it’s understanding what your artist means to fans, and where they’re going long-term. If you’re still throwing spaghetti at TikTok and calling it a strategy, it’s time to read this.
A decade ago, we predicted how streaming would reshape music — and we were half-right. The industry embraced track-based strategy but ignored the need to build enduring artist brands. Now, labels lean on catalogue, artist development has stalled, and WHY data is more essential than ever. Time to rethink. #superfans
