HOW TO BUILD AN ACTUAL FAN BASE? 🔍

DISCLAIMER: A controversial artist as of recently but doesnt mean we can't learn from his marketing team.

- What do you mean how to build a “real” fan base? I’m already uploading my music and sometimes even shoot videos for them this is more than enough!!

- Wrong. Gaining a true fan requires much more in depth work and doing things you probably haven’t even consideredIn these series I’m gonna give you PRACTICAL tips that will give you a good idea of how to captivate your audience and make them CARE for your music.

I want to keep it short but informative so I’ll split it in multiple parts- I’ve worked with more than a hundred up and coming artists as a producer. And over the years I’ve been a fan of musicians such as: Travis Scott, Twenty One Pilots, NF, Tyler The Creator, Brent Faiyaz etc. I’ve been observing what makes a regular listener a loyal fan and what makes a good album a legendary one. Let’s identify what these artists do specifically to GAIN and maintain a loyal fan base that supports them.

1. CREATE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR LISTENERS

Shooting videos & documentaries, making merch, doing photoshoots - all this is necessary to create a great experience for fans. But still I see plenty of artists that put questionable artworks as their song covers.One of the biggest albums of 2018 “Astroworld” by Travis Scott did a very good job of creating a story behind the album rollout.

The project is named after a now-defunct Six Flags theme park in Houston, also called AstroWorld.A Houston native, aimed for the album to sound like "taking an amusement park away from kids".

- Travis was upset because the place that made his hometown more fun was taken away. So he wanted “Astroworld” to sound like a trip to a musical amusement park.On July 27, 2018, a giant sculpture of Scott's head appeared on top of an Amoeba Music store in Los Angeles. Multiple copies of the sculpture appeared in various other locations, including Scott's hometown of Houston, Texas.

- Not only we were taken to the amusement park sonically. Travis quite literally brought his album cover to life by placing giant sculptures in all Major cities in America

(Obviously I’m not saying make a giant sculptures of your face and start placing it on every corner)

Putting out merch along with a new album is common sense for artists today, but Scott took a unique, hype-driven approach.Every 24 hours, for nine days, the merch on Scott’s website turned over. Hoodies with massive graphics and ashtrays one day, replaced by a crate (seriously) and dad caps the next.On the last day of the initial capsule release, Scott launched a white T-shirt with an action figure-style graphic of himself—designed, of course, by Louis Vuitton and Off White’s Virgil Abloh.

- It sold out FAST because of all pre work that was done

- The feeling of scarcity and involvement made fans this hyped about the project.