I get emailed quite a bit by artists asking for strategies to grow their fan base. These artists feel like their music deserves way more eyes than the ones they are getting. They tell me that growing a massive fan base is the next progression and they feel like all they need are a few tips and tricks and they will get a bigger fan base. My first step is usually to highlight how much work they've done as an artist and then I let them know that their favourite artists have done so much more than them in terms of laying a foundation and releasing music. Sometimes I get my point across but a lot of the time people miss the point altogether. They're convinced there's some trick to it that people are hiding.
The real thing that I want to ask is whether the artist asking me about fan bases has earned it.
"Have you earned a fan base? Do you feel like you deserve one?"
Most people's response would be that they do deserve it. The general feeling is that after a couple of big songs, big features, a music video or after releasing an album, that is the point where artists blow up. My studio is full of people who want to blow up off one or two songs and it's a little sad. The truth of the matter is your favourite artist has a massive catalog of tracks and a long history of failures that you'll never hear about. You'll never hear about their 5 years of doing shows for free or the months spent trying to afford studio time. They'll never tell you how they wrote songs until they had nothing left to write about, but continued writing anyway because they had come too far to quit. Unless you followed those artists from the start, you'll never know about all those years they spent trying to get their music in front of the right people and failed. They were kicked to the ground and then kicked again, but they got up each time and tried again.
When we look at our idols we never see their struggle. We see the polished version of what they once were. The most accurate depiction of their struggle would be through an interview or through a Wikipedia entry detailing their rise to fame, but even some of these wouldn't talk about not having any money or being in a situation that seemed futile. A lit of our situations aren't as desperate as we think and that's another reason why I think people fail. I've heard people talk about not being able to afford studio time anymore, but their Instagram is laden with pictures taken at a club popping expensive bottles with expensive sneakers and designer watches. I wish more major artists would talk about how they got to where they are so that they give up and coming artists a bit of a reality check when they start to feel sorry for themselves.
People talk about putting in 10 000 hours of solid work before you achieve mastery. I really like this concept because it highlights a need for patience and dedication to the craft before it shows you good results. The time taken isn't only so that you can learn how to be great at your craft, but so that you can go through the ups and downs of trying to promote your craft and get people to notice you. The failures you endure strengthen you and allow you to refine your strategy so that the next time you approach a similar situation you have a better outcome. By the time you complete your 10 000 hours you've gone through the situation so many times that you are a pro.
For you to practice medicine or law legally you have to go to school for a number of years and acquire certain qualifications before you are awarded with your license. Once it's awarded you still need to put more time in to become a trustworthy practitioner. All of this practice and failure during tests, practicals and exams make you competent. These hours of study and practice are your 10 000 hours and your student fees and degree are your barrier to entry.
In music and other arts, things aren't as clear. There are schools where you can learn drama, visual arts or music but these are not barriers for entry into the industry. There is no certification or degree needed to become a guitarist, singer, producer or a painter. It's up to the person learning the craft to practice everyday to become as competent as they possibly can. This means there will obviously be a lot more chance-takers like people who claim to be vocalists that have only been singing professionally for a year and want every accolade they know of. Even in the world of music production where one would expect the barrier to be software and equipment, people are getting pirated and software, purchasing a microphone, making 3 songs and saying they want a massive fan base. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with hustling to get studio gear but that's only the starting point. It's up to you to earn the right to build up a group of loyal supporters by making the best quality music you can and being as interactive with them as possible. These will be your 10 000 hours.
Once fans start to trickle in, this is usually the point where people slow down and start to work less because people are showing them a little bit of love. This should be the point where the artist is working even harder to build with these newfound fans. It never ends. The fans will (one day) eventually start to snowball in and you won't have to work as hard to get more, but the best artists continue to work as hard as they can.
If your favorite artist is putting out tracks every month, performing every week, doing interviews and experimenting with new marketing techniques then who the hell are you to think that releasing 10 songs in a year is anywhere near enough?
We need to wake up and smell the work. It's very difficult to build a career in the creative arts and it's like we are blind to it because of the few one hit wonders we see every now and again. Release music consistently each week for 3 years and then let's talk about building a solid fan base.
SB
