“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.”
A good friend of mine, Curtiss King, made this video a while back but I feel its still relevant in 2019. Its about building the foundation for your fanbase and nurturing those relationships. He talks about an article by Kevin Kelly who breaks down the math to show that it only takes 1000 fans to make a living. Basically, you need to build a fanbase of 1000 die hard fans who will pay $100 each which equals $100k per year. That means you need something worth supporting and you need to be able to receive the direct payment.
1000 DIE HARD FANS + $100 each = $100,000 per year
In 2019 every serious artists should have their own digital real estate (website) where they can connect with their fans. Its so important to control your data and know each one of your supporters. This is why companies like Spotify, Apple, and other streaming services are so powerful. Not only do these platforms pay less then a penny on a dollar but they don’t share that information with you. So keep in mind while building your brand you need to be able to connect to your fans directly.
One way is through email marketing, keeping your fans update on new music, merch releases, and tours. Also there are apps like Superphone were you can text your fans directly. Whats cool about superphone is that it is integrated with e-commerce Shopify for merch stores. If you’re just starting out , I would focus on build your brand , being authentic and engagement with every single person who interacts with your content. Its not about having a a million followers its about developing relationships with those 1000 true supporters.
Hope this video inspires and please drop a comment of what type of marketing info you would like to know. Also what tools are you currently using to keep in touch with your fans?
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