I recently tweeted about a song by the band Otep.
As a musician, I’d like to pose this question to you…
How do you know if your music is changing someone’s life?
Does Otep Shamaya know I’m talking about her? Will she friend me on facebook? Did she see me twitter about her?
Probably not.
It’s very likely I am just background noise in the continuous waterfall of constant chatter in the realm of her and her band’s multitude of fans.
Is that a good thing? Well, it most likely means she has enough fans to make a living making music if there are so many that I disappear in the noise of it all.
What about the independent musician still trying to make the transition to full time music maker?
The Effect of Interaction.
What would happen if she did interact with me? Would that blow me away, making my day and giving me something to tell my friends?
Would I twitter again, and update my facebook status with the news that the frontwoman for Otep just interacted with me, doubling the exposure my first mention gave?
Would I be a fan for life? Would I be an Otep evangalist, suggesting her music to all my friends with fervor and dedication? Would I buy her next album? Single? Poster? T-shirt? Soap bar? Lunch Box? Cologne?
1,000 True Fans.
The mindset of a true hardcore fan is the most unshakable mindset there is. It turns the average follower of your band into an extremist. Here is an excerpt from the original blog post by Kevin Kelly that gave birth to the 1,000 true fans idea :
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
Lifelong Customer.
For the independent musician, it isn’t that difficult to monitor what is happening on the internet when it comes to what people are saying about you or your band.
Let’s take a look at a few of the ways you can see what is being said about you and/or your band.
What are some other ways you or your band monitors your fan chatter? Post your comments below.
If you haven’t already, friend me on Facebook and converse with me on twitter.
