Will More Musicians Go D2F And Build Their Own Social Networks? [CASE STUDY]
By Ohmare “International O” Washington from International O.
I recently posted an article from Hypebot about Garth Brooks releasing an digital album and creating his won social media site . After reading that article, it got me to thinking. Will there be more artist to follow this D2F (Direct To Fan) Model?
In 2009, I created my own platform through NING. I built our own social community on that platform to where our fans could sign up, and create their own profiles. They could upload pics, videos, and music on their profile, just like myspace. We would send out an email to all of our members about upcoming releases, tours, and any other news pertaining to Flycat Music Group.
We even had Q&A sessions where my artists would create an account, and we let the fans ask them questions. Before we could afford to pay a publicist, we would send all of our members a link to an upcoming project, video, single between 1 day to a week earlier than we would release it to sites and social media. Our platform had over 500 members from the U.S., Germany, London, Russia, and Hungary. The standard free template gave us a maximum of 150 members, so as the site grew, I had to use a paid monthly plan on Ning. Through google analytics, We had over 17,000 visitors from 50 States 124 countries on our website from 2010-1012. The Image below only shows 2012 numbers.
Countries
States
This was a viable way of reaching our fans in places that you may not have been able to reach. It also helped find where our biggest fanbase was, so we can make sure to reach those places on tour. I think D2F is a great strategy even if you are not a major artist. You just have to make sure you’re consistent with content to deliver your fans. I had 7 acts at the time, so we were able to put out multiple projects in one year, and keep fans coming to our site. Something you may want to look into.
What are your thoughts?
