Streams Don't = Fanbase
In my daily conversations with artists, the number one thing they care most about is stream numbers. Typically Spotify, but overall, every artist wants to boost their numbers. I don't want to devalue the importance of streams - with significant numbers you can make real money. And if you're able to consistently gain a high amount of streams (6 or 7 figures and beyond), it can show that you have real staying power. These numbers are also attractive for booking agents, label owners, and anyone else with decision-making roles in the music business.
But we need to remember that stream numbers do not represent your fanbase. The reality is, even if you have millions of streams of your music, you have no idea who the people are who are listening. Maybe you don't care - but you should.
The challenge with putting your music on streaming platforms is that those streaming platforms own your data. You're effectively renting from these platforms. You might be able to grab demographic data (age, gender) or find out where in the world they're listening from, but you don't have anything beyond that. You can't engage with these listeners directly and you can't collect their information like email addresses or phone numbers.
If you want to measure a fanbase, you need to know exactly who the people are who are listening to your music, buying tickets to see your shows, ordering your merch, and consuming anything else you offer.
As artists, we need to get better at knowing exactly who our fans are and how to engage with them directly. Create exclusive ways for them to listen to your music, gain access to your performances, meet and greets, and exclusive offerings.
The music industry is the worst at direct-to-consumer initiatives. But it doesn't have to be. Collect email addresses and phone numbers from your fans so you can engage with them directly and know exactly who they are. Build a website or other community portal where you offer music and other things to consume that aren't available anywhere else. Do meet and greets at your shows so you can know exactly who is coming out. Automate your social media channels so when people comment on your posts, you send them a DM with an offer or collect an email to send them said offer (see the platform ManyChat for how to do this).
These people are your fans.
If you're not sure how to go about this, I can help. I know it can be confusing or overwhelming but artists who want to be successful need to get away from solely focusing on stream numbers. It's not the only metric to measure success.
