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The Biz: An Idiot's Guide to Running a Fan Club


10/26/07
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(antiMusic) Here is an excert from Anthony Kuzminski latest Biz article: In recent weeks, antiMusic has reported on fan club fiascos and we have been reporting on how these fans/customers have been treated. In the dozens upon dozens of emails we've received there has been a sense of immense dissatisfaction with a few of these fan clubs. What is most surprising to us is that the artists and organizations running these fan clubs appear to have forgotten that these fans are their most valued customers; not suits, not radio, not promoters, not people who watch Oprah but the person who buys everything you put out should always be number-one in their book. These are the people who would follow you into the depths of hell and if you charged them a ticket for the ride to hell, they'd pay. Call it devotion, blind love or even insanity, but the point is that fans like this are few and far between. The artist MUST take care of them before anyone else. In recent works, we've received word and reports of certain artists adding a "convenience fee" of $45 to each of their fan club tickets. What is the difference between this and a scalper? Even worse, these fans are picking up their tickets at WILL CALL! I saw Prince five-times in 2004 and each time I went through his fan club and did not pay one cent above face value for any of the tickets and the worse seat I had was in the seventh row. Oh yeah, that seventh row seat I scored on Ticketmaster.

Many of these emails from fans declared that they would rather go to a scalper because at least then they would be treated with respect and receive good service. So the question comes into play; are these organizations out to serve the fan/customer or are they there to turn a mighty profit? From the sound of it, these organizations are nothing more than money making ventures. What is most surprising to me is how little these artists appear to have with their respective fan clubs. When fans make excuses for the artists by commenting that the poor organization and scalped charges for tickets are not the artists fault�it saddens me, because the artist, no matter how big or small should be completely aware of what is being done in their name. - Read the full article, even if you normally don't care about fan clubs.

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