Overcoming artist-to-fan engagement option paralysis

How artists can execute on building a lasting relationship with fans

If you ask any music artist what they struggle most with in the composition process, a good percentage of them will describe option paralysis (though many may not refer to it as such). At its core, option paralysis is the experience of having so many choices that they are overwhelming and so no choice actually gets made. For today’s composers and songwriters, there are literally hundreds to thousands of options for even the simplest artistic decision. Synth sounds, reverb types, rooms, settings, modulation, microphone emulation, amp simulators; the list of options and parameters of those options is quite literally endless and all available for free or close to it. Endless to the degree that it can be truly stifling creatively and at a minimum, a huge time-suck.

Overchoice

This “too many choices” problem also exists with options music artists must face once the music has been recorded, mixed and mastered and it’s time to share it with the world. Choices that need to be made include but are not limited to:

• Label (if needed)
• Management
• Booking Agency
• Promoter
• Publisher
• Publisher Admin
• Publicist/PR
• DSP’s
• Digital Distribution Partners
• Merch company
• VIP partner
• Fan Community Platform
• Social Platforms (multiple, different)
• Link aggregator
• Video-Streaming platform
• Digital good (NFTs) partner
• Metaverse partner

Again, the list goes on and on and expands daily. For the small percentage of recording artists who are lucky enough to have an artist manager, this can hopefully be navigated to a successful degree. But it’s even tough for managers to juggle. It’s quite literally a full-time job and then some.

All these decisions seemingly required in order to achieve the simple goal of FINDING and (more importantly) KEEPING fans.

And why is this?

In simplest terms, every one of the above participants in the music economy is either a gatekeeper of your potential fans or a conduit to engaging and monetizing them. They exist between you as an artist and your fans. Even after you’ve converted fans, they are still an intermediary. And they all take some cut of the money generated by you, the artist. Often, deservedly so — they have added some value in aggregating those audiences and creating channels an artist can use to reach them.

So what is the answer?

The struggle is certainly real. But artists can overcome option paralysis for fan-engagement by establishing a strategy on making platform and partner decisions which requires both self-awareness and focus. Artists should ask themselves these questions:

• Who am I trying to reach as an artist?
• How can I reach those potential fans?
• What can I offer to a potential fan as an artist while being true to my artistic goals?
• Do I control my artist digital identity, intellectual property and brand across the internet and future iterations of, and how am I achieving this?
• Once I make a fan, do I own the relationship with that fan or am I dependent on a third-party platform in order to maintain that relationship and engagement/interaction?
• Do I actually know anything about who the fan is and how they engage with me as an artist?

Once the artist has answered these questions, they should come up with a strategy that addresses their goals based on the answers and use that strategy in making partner and partner-platform decisions. When applying this strategy as a guideline when vetting, artist will most likely notice that some platforms prioritize their own growth in their fundamental model over the growth of the artist. Some platforms will also want to prevent the artist actually resolving the identity of their fans (fanonymity) or silo and gate the fans such that you can only access communication on that platform (walled garden).

The most successful contemporary artists are those that (for lack of a better term), have the lowest churn rate. They maintain sufficient ownership of the fan relationship such that once they connect with the fan, they are able to keep the fan simply by making great music and engaging them. Not by paying numerous platforms repeatedly in order to keep reaching them.

Do SOMETHING.

As an artist, whatever you do, doing something now to engage fans is better than waiting for the perfect solution to all of your problems.

Find the fan. Make the fan. Own the fan. Engage the fan.

(As efficiently and cost-effectively as possible…)

Launching Spring of 2024, ArtistVerified is the first platform to offer music artists and fans a centralized point-of-reference via a FanApp where they can establish a rewarding and actionable relationship by owning and controlling their digital identity.