When most people start or join a band, there is a stage when most of your “fans” are your mom and assorted other family and friends. At some point during your tenure with said band, you are going to want your “fans” to include more than just the folks you know personally and actually have fans that don’t necessitate quotations around the word defining them. What goes into building an actual fanbase?
There are many factors that aid in this fan gathering, one of these factors that is surely the most influential is sounding not bad. This should be obvious but many people overlook this factor and inevitably get themselves a record deal and become multimillionaires. The sorry sorry saps…
Another large factor is doing things that will make people familiar with your name and spark interest in your band. A common way to do this would be to perform live shows with more recognized bands of the same or similar genre. You want to sound exactly like everybody else because this will cause people to mistake you for bands of a superior stature.
And finally, one often forgotten factor that will help your friends lists numbers and facebook likes is keeping in touch with the people that already like you. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool for bands. You want your fans to tell the world that you are the best and all music is simply an ant compared to your amazing-ness because fanboyism does not cause any annoying results to listeners.
But in reality folks, you do want to sound good, you want to play shows, and you want to satisfy the people that do like you, because building relationships is extremely important to success – whatever that may be for your band or group or solo project. Don’t step on toes and reject potential fans because you feel your group is better or somehow playing to the wrong crowds. People are generally filled to the brim with various tastes and likes. I know I, personally, like all sorts of music. I’m not simply limited to listening to metal. I do like to play metal and heavier music a lot because it gives me a way to vent any angers and frustrations in a constructive and creative way keeping me cheery and fun at all other times, but heavy music is in no way my only outlet.
I think playing these songs that help me enjoy my life substantially more to a crowd of people that actually want to listen is another way to justify all the time and energy that goes into being a musician. The fame and money of years past are long gone for most but it isn’t for those reasons that I play music. It’s simply because I enjoy what I do and having the opportunity to make a positive difference in other people’s lives while at the same time making a positive difference in my own life is worth any and all of the struggles – including doing all that I can to share my creativity with more and more people every day.
I hope all the musicians reading this feel the same way I do.
Now get out there and make some good music so I have something cool and new to listen to! I’ll do the same for you!
RJ Ellsworth 