By Kip Kirby
© 2009 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.
Dierks Bentley: up 96 percent annually for the past four years. Keith Urban: up 170 percent in his first year. Brooks & Dunn: up more than 500 percent in 18 months. Kenny Chesney: from 3,000 to 30,000 in less than 18 months. Lady Antebellum: a 10 percent increase every month since March 2008.
If this sounds like a rally from the good old days of Dow Jones, think again. These numbers, supplied by industry sources, reflect across-the-board increases in artist online fan community growth.
"Thanks to the Internet, fans and fan clubs today are absolutely more important than they've ever been," stated T.K. Kimbrell, President, TKO Artist Management and longtime manager to Toby Keith. "More and more people every day have access to computers and the Web. That's where people go to get their information. We can spread news about our artists and instantly reach fans all over the world."
"Fan clubs are an online community of like-minded people who care about your music and your lifestyle," said Shelia Shipley-Biddy, President, Stringtown Records and Artist Manager, Hallmark Direction Company. "The more they get that personal touch, the better it is, because that's their opportunity - and yours - to share."
"It benefits all artists to have an online community," said Heather Conley, Director, Marketing, Lyric Street and Carolwood Records. "As a record company, we really look to the Web and fan communities as major components of our marketing strategy. We've developed online tools like widgets, countdowns and wakeup calls for fans, as well as viral mechanisms to alert and activate these core consumers. In most cases, our artists' fan communities are a significant part of our overall marketing plans."
From record sales and ticket buys to sponsorship tie-ins, e-commerce and other promotional activities, nearly every element of branding and broadening an artist's career draws on the close-knit connectivity of online fan communities to spread their message.
According to Jon Wright, Creator of Directives and Managing Partner, MusicCityNetworks (MCN), ABOCs - affinity-based online communities - are critical to extending an act's career. "The fan is in control," he insisted. "They can and do demand that artists be interactive with them. They expect it. It's in the artists' best interest to incorporate this relationship into their own daily lifestyles."
Moving beyond the models of yesteryear, today's fan clubs have become sophisticated, multi-tiered operations, where fans choose which level they want to join. Anyone can sign up at no cost for inclusion into an artist's Internet, e-mail or mobile community, but at paid levels of membership the benefits increase.
"Typically speaking, when you talk about fan clubs, you're talking about a paid subscription level with lots of content and interaction," observed Hal Hassall, former VP, Marketing Services, echo, Ticketmaster Entertainment's Nashville-based digital entertainment marketing firm. "Price points in Country Music usually work out to around $25, $35 and $50. The two upper tiers usually involve discounted product and merchandise in addition to digital access to content hidden behind the log-in. As a visitor to an artist's Web site, you might find a few hundred photos to view for free; there might be a few thousand photos available to paid members behind the log-in screen. There might be a handful of videos for fans on the outside; there might be a few hundred videos for members on the inside."
In other words, joining a fan club appeals to fans willing to shell out a few extra dollars for an all-access online pass. This can include viewing personal interview segments and backstage footage; joining live chats, blogs, forums and message boards; a chance to pre-order upcoming CD releases or buy discounted merchandise and apparel; entering contests to win prizes and autographed gifts; purchasing concert tickets in VIP seating sections or even registering for meet-and-greets backstage after the show.
In the case of Kellie Pickler, for example, those who joined her official fan club, launched in March at KelliePickler.com, were eligible to buy tickets to her shows (including her concert dates with Taylor Swift) before they went on public sale, as well as access to rare photos and videos, a members-only message board, contests, giveaways and merchandise discounts - all for a $19.99 annual subscription.
In return for this level of support, artists can galvanize a significant portion of their fan base into a dynamic marketing resource. As street teamers, fans spread the word virally through MySpace, Facebook, iLike, imeem and other social networking Web sites. They link music and videos to their own pages, participate in promoting specific events and even shoulder some of the responsibility for publicity and promotion.
"Rascal Flatts has a very large and rabid online community," said Conley. "We use those fans on all our online initiatives because they've learned how to be really good marketers in their own right. We send out packages to 'regional marketing leaders' who have developed a community of fans in their own areas that they oversee. These leaders are fans that management has picked out as being responsible and able to do 'above and beyond' what a regular street team member does. They function almost as an extension of our label marketing or distribution. They hand out thousands of postcards, put up posters, take pictures in stores and send back reports about product placement and inventory. They are totally invested in the band, and they help us as a record company to get the word out about new product, new ringtones or a new single at radio."
In April, Lyric Street and Turner, Nichols and Associates mobilized this force on a national scale to promote Rascal Flatts' latest album, Unstoppable. In return, participants received opportunities to interact personally with the band as well as to receive free merchandise.
"We've had people download artwork they've created with the street date on it, blow it up to a poster, plaster it on the side of a hot air balloon and fly it over the city," said Lang Scott, President and Managing Partner, MCN. "We could never dream up what these fans come up with when you give them the marketing assets and a little added incentive to help their favorite artist. If you then add viral components such as trackable promotional banners for them to embed on their own social networking sites, you're talking about thousands and thousands of instant impressions, which help the artist, the label and everyone connected with that act."
When does it make sense to add paid memberships to a fan club operation? Hassall suggested a rule of thumb: "If your e-mailable audience is greater than 30,000 people, you're probably at the point of having a profitable fan club operation. Below this, it's probably not going to be a money-maker."
Money remains an issue, not only in challenging fan clubs to make sure they deliver what members want but also to stay afloat in today's turbulent economy. "People are cutting corners everywhere they can," acknowledged Wright. "If your Sara Evans fan club membership is coming up for renewal, it may be hard to warrant such a discretionary expenditure when simply paying the rent is a challenge. We're trying to tackle these issues by expanding member benefits and discounts, providing physical goods as part of a membership or adding a paid membership subscription when you purchase the artist's CD package."
Others follow a more traditional approach by keeping their fan club management in-house, including Alan Jackson, who employs two full-time staffers to oversee his operation. "I know we're probably a dying breed nowadays, doing a fan club the way we do," admitted Cindy Hart, President, Alan Jackson International Fan Club. "But people really like it. I think fans respond to being able to hold something in their hand that you send them for free and a personal voice they can talk with."
But whether a fan club is managed by artists or through third-party new media firms, certain truths endure. "Fan club members are the first ones to buy your records and concert tickets," said Hart. "They'll be the first ones to support your charities and your sponsors. They genuinely want to support you. For artists who are changing labels or have been dropped from a label, fans can help lure new sponsors or a record deal. It's a major selling point for artists to know they can count on this support and to encourage it every way they can."
