{"id":465,"date":"2024-04-11T12:06:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T17:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cyberprmusic.stage.12sm.us\/robgordon\/"},"modified":"2024-12-13T14:02:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T14:02:07","slug":"robgordon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Steps To Building Music Super Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"
Super Fans is the new buzzword in music. This is amusing to me because I have focused on super fans for the last 2 decades, and I’m struck by the fact that even though it is necessary to keep learning new strategies, apps, and platforms, the basics of human interaction make super fans. We are all interested in connection, and music is one of humanity’s deepest connectors.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A Lesson In Building Community\u00a0 & Super Fans\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This brings me to Rob Gordon \u2013 my first boss at the only record label I ever worked at: What Are Records? What I learned there about super fans and building teams has set me up for a successful career in the music business. This is because of Rob\u2019s genius around building super fans for his artists. Rob had an uncanny knack for understanding what later became known as “direct to fan” before many in the record business caught on, and I continue to operate based on his teachings.<\/p>\n

You will have a sustainable career when you understand the value of community and connectivity and harness it to grow super fans.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What Rob understood was: Observing and staying in constant contact with a rabid fan base, and nurturing them was the ultimate way to earn money in the music business, and here’s what we did at the label:<\/p>\n

9 Steps To Nurture Your Brand & Your Super Fans<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

1. Harness Energy and Enthusiasm <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Way before the Internet and smartphones were part of our daily lives, Rob joined a band called The Samples because he saw a phenomenon that was in the process of happening.\u00a0 Every show they played was packed with college students, screaming along to every song from coast to coast, the band was touring constantly and the word was spreading as the crowds were growing. The incredible part was The Samples had been dropped from a major label deal. Rob signed them and started recording their new album and at the same time negotiated their major label album back so he could re-release it. He saw that energy and enthusiasm were growing, and he moved fast to capture and create more of it.<\/p>\n

2. Create a P-L-A-N<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We created a long-term plan for the band to help support them.\u00a0 We had a year of tour dates planned out with their booking agency, several albums lined up on a release schedule and he had a funnel of merch to add as the band re-entered markets to keep super fans happy and buying.\u00a0 The team at the label met weekly to talk about the plan for not only The Samples but all of the other artists on the label. As a team, we each all worked on our pieces of that plan. If you don’t have a plan for the next 12 months of your music career you should make one<\/strong>. Plans start with goals and once you can articulate your goals<\/u><\/b><\/span>,<\/a> it will be much easier to build a plan around them.<\/p>\n

3. Build a Killer Team<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rob assembled a team of young, ambitious employees dying to make a mark in the music industry (myself included), and he showed us exactly how to build a record label. He gave us each a LOT of responsibility.\u00a0 At age 22, I was in charge of the entire\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/u>intern<\/span><\/strong><\/u><\/a> department, interviewing and managing our internship program, which in a college town was a huge responsibility.<\/span> We all worked in one big room in NYC, and when we moved offices to Colorado, we worked in a “bullpen” so we could each hear what every single department at the label did.<\/p>\n

4. Think About The Flow of Money & Save Where Possible<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rob put his own distribution channels in place. We mailed the albums directly to the stores and tracked the sales. We cut out the need for a distribution company while directing the profits back to the band and the label. This, at the time, was completely unheard of. He also had the band buy their tour bus. Renting tour buses was a huge expense that would cut deeply into their profits. Radio promoters, publicists, graphic designers, and street teams were also hired in-house.<\/p>\n

5. Keep Your Community Close<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We moved our offices from New York City to The Samples’ hometown, Boulder. CO. This put us in direct community with the band, who stopped by the offices when they were off the road and hung out with us socially. This move also put us in a community with many of the core super fans, promoters, venues, managers, and team who were spreading the gospel of The Samples from the band’s home base.\u00a0 It was not unusual to drive around town and hear The Samples blasting from car windows, frat houses, bars and restaurants.\u00a0 It was an exciting reminder of our mission and it was highly motivating (and fun).<\/p>\n

6. Communicate Consistently with Fans – Make Them Super fans<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

This all happened before the rise of the internet. So, we did this through physical mailing lists, postcards, letters, and catalogs. Our label communicated with fans on behalf of the band in a way that artists rarely utilized. Today, we use email newsletters and social media to talk to thousands of fans at once. But back then it was rare, and I learned the extreme value of a mailing list and a database of fans. We also knew that it was the special fans who supported the band and we were sure to flag them as “super fans”<\/b><\/u><\/a><\/span> we would send them special extra gifts in every package and make sure the band knew who was enthusiastic and supportive along the road.<\/p>\n

7. Build a Funnel and Continually Release Products\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We gave the fans what they wanted. When other bands were only selling CDs and T-shirts, we had a full product funnel<\/a>.<\/b><\/u><\/span>\u00a0 The Samples not only sold CDs and tapes.\u00a0 They also sold T-shirts, hats, hoodies, sweats, CD carrying cases, and VHS videos of the band having a blast on the road in their wonderful movie Ten Wheels.\u00a0 We had great products that sold well at shows and through the catalogs.<\/p>\n

8. Keep Super Fans Ignited and Excited<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The team at What Are Records? also learned that if you could keep a fan base ignited and excited, they would return and continue to buy more<\/b><\/u><\/a><\/span>. We listened to the fans, and put out exactly what it was they wanted. In every CD, there was a pamphlet that allowed super fans to write back to the record label and request whatever it was that they wanted.\u00a0 This communication led to the creation of even more geat merch to sell.<\/p>\n

9. Reward Those Who Help<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

After a year with What Are Records? I got a job opportunity that was too good to pass up. On my last day at the label, Rob did something that I could not believe. He gave me the label\u2019s entire press database. He said that since you helped build this, I\u2019m giving it to you as a gift. It was this database that helped me develop my company. Rob understood that sharing information would be the only way that we could all succeed. Years later, I traded databases with Rob again to benefit us. I now share as much information as possible through my newsletter and this blog.<\/p>\n

Want a system to help you plan your next releases?\u00a0 Download my FREE Music Marketing Check Sheet<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Free<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Super Fans is the new buzzword in music. This is amusing to me because I have focused on super fans for the last 2 decades, and I’m struck by the fact that even though it is necessary to keep learning new strategies, apps, and platforms, the basics of human interaction make super fans. We are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,78],"tags":[1173,1290,2211,1540,1541,1291],"collection":[2187,2189],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-pr","category-guides","tag-community","tag-community-building","tag-super-fan","tag-super-fans","tag-superfans","tag-what-are-records","collection-ariels-top-posts-of-all-time","collection-building-your-fanbase"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n9 Steps To Building Music Super Fans - Cyber PR Music<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you understand the value of Super Fans, community and connectivity and harness it to grow, you will have a sustainable music career.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"9 Steps To Building Music Super Fans - Cyber PR Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you understand the value of Super Fans, community and connectivity and harness it to grow, you will have a sustainable music career.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cyber PR Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-11T17:06:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-13T14:02:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/9-steps-to-building-your-superfans.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"756\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"756\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ariel Hyatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ariel Hyatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/\",\"name\":\"9 Steps To Building Music Super Fans - Cyber PR Music\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/9-steps-to-building-your-superfans.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-11T17:06:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-13T14:02:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bdf285b89bc557389ed1d62981c9b87f\"},\"description\":\"When you understand the value of Super Fans, community and connectivity and harness it to grow, you will have a sustainable music career.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/9-steps-to-building-your-superfans.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/9-steps-to-building-your-superfans.png\",\"width\":756,\"height\":756,\"caption\":\"9 steps to building your superfans\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/robgordon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"9 Steps To Building Music Super Fans\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cyberprmusic.com\/\",\"name\":\"Cyber PR Music\",\"description\":\"Your premier resource for all things digital PR. 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