How have you liked supporting the musicians you love?
What’s felt grubby?
What feels fine for “creators” (podcasters, YouTubers, journalism, etc), but doesn’t make sense for music?
I’m working on something about the financialization of fandom and curious of your thoughts.
I’ve enjoyed using Twitch to support some YouTubers like Munecat and media outlets like TYT but not found musicians/DJs/labels I love on there
I’ve not kept up Patreon subs for some podcasts as I don’t have time/£ to justify the costs (most music pods are marketing)
I really love a few Substacks but I have email overwhelm and don’t always have time to keep across them so haven’t upgraded to premium
And most musicians use mailing lists as marketing tools, rather than an enriching newsletter (Patti Smith’s feels like an exception to that)
Mostly I support the artists I love through buying merch and gig tickets
Have sometimes felt like my pay what you can Bandcamp purchases have been more like donations than because I want/need to own the files
Perhaps because collecting files klangs with access to the music
Bandcamp Friday will reach its third anniversary in a few weeks time and I’m doing a range of podcast interviews and pieces about what’s next for music and what else is/isn’t currently working.
Generally if I like a musician/band it’s because of their music. I rarely if ever want more of their personality beyond maybe a Q&A section on their website. The whole ‘chuck me a fiver a month and I’ll send you, er… some newsletters maybe? And a photo of my desk running Logic? Um, I’ll do a video of my dog oh and I guess a newsletter where I give #opinions on whatever’s in the news’ is way too much peeking underneath the kimono for me.
I have a few Patreons active for DJs and remixers, but that’s where they send new mixes every month.
I’m not a fan of patreon, or this distinction that you’re somehow a better, more important fan if you can pay more money. I guess pre-covid I wasn’t a fan of VIP areas at big gigs either. Part of what I love about music is that everyone ought to be equal who listens to it, or goes to a gig. As soon as there’s gatekeeping involved, even if it’s something that I ought to love, it feels like it’s not for me.
But I’m not a typical consumer - I still buy records and mp3s. Maybe someone who streams and pays a flat fee but has disposable income might be more flexible about paying extras
I like the subscription model in the sense of just chucking a few quid a month to bands you really like to help them keep working, on the expectation that you’ll probably end up streaming their music for free when it comes out. And the odd studio or live snippet helps keep me feeling invested
I buy from Bandcamp and go to gigs. Not fussed on merch in general. Not a big Patreon person, although if it were a small artist I had a big attachment to raising to try and make something happen then I’m up for that.
the financialization of fandom 