Mar 7
1,000 True Fans Equals Success for Musicians
I’ve never been a fan of Nine Inch Nails, or of Trent Reznor, but I am in complete awe of his business acumen. He recently made $750,000 in less than one day selling 2,500 limited editions of his archives for $300 a piece. He is also selling his new album on i-tunes for $5.00. Those numbers have not yet come in, but I bet it will be impressive.
So, what can a struggling musician learn from Mr. Rezonr? Having an arsenal of true fans is more important than a contract with a major label. There is the argument that he had the advantage of being on a major label for almost 20 years (has it really been THAT long since NIN first hit the airwaves?) and that is true. It is also true that he makes, according to popular consensus, unique and meaningful music. But it takes a pioneer with a big wagon to blaze a trail. So, what can a musician just starting out learn from this? Blogger Kevin Kelly came up with a great idea that is spreading like wildfire in the blogosphere - gather 1,000 true fans and you’ve got yourself a career.
Mike Masnick from Techdirt did a great job of summarizing the value, perks and obstacles of such a strategy. What do you think?
1 Comment so far
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there is definatly an argument that if it hadn’t been for a record label, the entire plan wouldn’t techinacally have worked. However, i totally agree with 1000 fans = money in the bank. Its just a new version of selling CD’s off stage. Its relatively simple to find a 1000 people on myspace that like the type of music that you play. The factors that have to be put to mind are,
1 - your music has to be GREAT first and foremost (however i personally don’t think that the nin ghosts record is all that great)
2 - you have to have some kinda popularity, or marketing strategy
3 - you have to have fans willing to buy your album
4 - you have to price the “masterpiece” approriatly .
I think with the NIN example, for the hardcore fans, there gonna pay whatever he asks, for the casual listener, the price is right , (or the free download is even better).
the question is for an indepandant band , can they pull the same thing off, i think so, but its gonna require some guerlla web marketing, and getting in touch with your fans to find what exactly that there looking for.
cheers