The Importance of Fans Over Listeners
The whole idea of pleasing everyone is something that will never work. So, it is better to just stop trying that. I know it might sound strange to you right now, but having a small number of people who are die-hard for your work will always be better than having a huge number of people are just listen to your work.
When it comes to business, one of the biggest lies that are told to people is the idea that talks about constant growth and how that is your only way towards success. When you look at some of the biggest companies in the world, you will realize that they are working day and night just to achieve a concept and bring it to reality. They are constantly trying to increase their revenue as much as possible and decrease the costs that they incur as much as possible.
The thing that you must understand here is that if you start working towards being liked by everyone, you will soon realize that you will have to appeal to a much greater audience, which will actually remove the whole idea of being something different. Creativity is always something that grows when you are different. The right approach is to be appealing to people who are fully understanding of what you are doing, and you actually want to give them the power to spread the word about what you are doing and even if you are going through some conceptual changes, they are always there with welcoming opinions.
As a musician who is trying to stay in the modern industry, you really have to understand just how important a fan is. A single, good fan is going to be so much better than hundreds or thousands of people who are going to listen to your music and say that it is good. The reason behind that is simple. A good fan or a real fan as some say is going to relate to your success or your downfall in the music in one way or another. If you are going through a hard time and you know that you are going to make it out of it, the fan will actually feel the same way.
If you are trying to gain this type of fans, you will have to be true to yourself and most importantly, you have to work towards making the music that you are interested in making, the music that you love to make. Once you do that and apply this formula, you will start gaining the fans who will stick by you no matter what. Sure, you are not just going to get a heap of fans altogether, there will be a few in the start but if you involve them with you, engage with them, and make them know that the support they have for you is acknowledged and appreciated, soon, more will follow.
The concept of appealing to everyone is not something that you have to take part in; simply because those who work towards being appealing or being liked by everyone soon find themselves lost in the mix every time a great artist or a great song comes forth. Still, if you do want to appeal to someone, you have to appeal to those who can relate to the things that you are going through, and once you are successful at doing that, the sky is going to be the limit for you. Sure, the process is slow when you are not catering to the mainstream, but at least you will know that you have the support that will never end.
