By: Connor

For those familiar with the concept of ‘1000 True Fans‘, this article should shed a bit more light on the potential the idea has. There’s also been some criticism of the idea – much like communism, it sounds great in theory but rarely ever actually works. The main voices of dissent point out: ‘the math works, but few are actually doing this, and those that are following the direct-to-fan model already have a prexisting fanbase built via traditional means. If Radiohead says ‘pay us what you want, fans,’ of course they’re going to make money, they have like 10 million fans. Check out this interview with Amber Rubarth, a solo musician with 281 True Fans at the time of this interview.

Ariel Hyatt: Do you believe that 1,000 true fans is a theory that can work?

Amber Rubarth: Absolutely, love the concept. I agree with Matthew Ebel that 1000 may even be more than you need to have the good life.

AH: How many years did it take you from day job to part time job to F/T musician?

AR: I picked up the guitar in 2004 and two years later was doing it full time. Of course I lived in my car a few times at the beginning…

AH: How many die hard fans, fans that will buy everything and anything from you, would you imagine that you have?

AR: 281 (that’s how many pre-ordered the new collectors edition of the album right away).

AH: Amber, How do you turn a casual fan into a “true fan” ?

AR: Turn yourself from a casual artist into a true artist. Let them be involved and build something truly great.

I think a main thing in making “true” fans is being a “true” person and I feel that includes making sure you are happy and living life, studying, practicing, reading, exploring, etc. People will connect more deeply if you are an interesting person rather than if you’re just really great at tweeting and YouTubing.

Read the full interview at Music Think Tank

Technorati Tags: 1000 True Fans, Amber Rubarth, Derek Sivers, music think tank

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Music Business, Music Promotion, Wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.