Excellent analysis. What do introvert artists do? It seems the only route to success is to be "out there". Reclusive genii? Are they left without a path?
Keeping in context, this is an amazing tool added for bookers. As a fan, I can’t expect every artist to be 365days a year engaging with people. It works for a lot of musicians but should not be seen as the gold standard. Peek your head out and release something every once in a while when you have something you’d like to is A-Okay with me. No musician has to be everything to everybody and shouldn’t be expected to
This was a great read, Joel. Love the idea of getting creators to shift away from vanity metrics toward more actionable metrics and data. Thanks for sharing.
Also to consider: Fan-age. If you got a very young fan-base they can only with the parents to the concert. This could mean double the ticket-sales or none at all, because fans prefer not to got with the parents to concerts.
Great post! As an indie artist with 25 years of releasing music (many albums) and touring I relate a lot to what you're describing. I think a key word / concept is "community". The real links we have we people from the scene, with other artists and with the fans are crucial. It's hard to mesure, but it explain a lot of things.
As a longtime "fandom" music fan who buys physical stuff from bands, and as a product designer, I feel as though you've really nailed down a) why I never felt like I got into music/artists via Spotify and b) why dataism can actually be wrong sometimes (for examples like this).
Really appreciate your work in explaining the math. As a consumer it's convenient to pay one company a monthly fee and get whatever you want but whenever I look at my Amazon Music monthly summary, it's a bunch of artists that I play in the background at work and then some people I truly enjoy
Really appreciated this piece. I’ve been thinking about how digital infrastructures could better support collaboration within independent creative ecosystems.
At MYOOZ InC, we’ve seen how projects thrive when artists collaborate not just between peers, but with producers, designers, videographers, promoters, and other creatives. Their project’s identity emerges from that network. But because these interactions are often mediated by opaque platforms, they can be fragile, and many promising ideas never fully materialize.
I’m interested in prototyping a platform that more intentionally scaffolds these relationships: helping creators across roles build trust, share visibility, and coordinate their work, while preserving agency and creative integrity. It feels like the next phase of the music economy is about better collaboration infrastructure, not just individual growth.
This is uber cool. Great D2C and B2B fandom idea.
Thanks! I’ve started to build it since then.
Check it out if you’re keen- sellout.fm
Excellent analysis. What do introvert artists do? It seems the only route to success is to be "out there". Reclusive genii? Are they left without a path?
Keeping in context, this is an amazing tool added for bookers. As a fan, I can’t expect every artist to be 365days a year engaging with people. It works for a lot of musicians but should not be seen as the gold standard. Peek your head out and release something every once in a while when you have something you’d like to is A-Okay with me. No musician has to be everything to everybody and shouldn’t be expected to
This is so accurate!
This was a great read, Joel. Love the idea of getting creators to shift away from vanity metrics toward more actionable metrics and data. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Henry- much appreciated. The whole business needs to get rid of the smoke and mirrors…
My boy, excellent perspective
It’s really wild they haven’t realized this yet.
Also to consider: Fan-age. If you got a very young fan-base they can only with the parents to the concert. This could mean double the ticket-sales or none at all, because fans prefer not to got with the parents to concerts.
Great post! As an indie artist with 25 years of releasing music (many albums) and touring I relate a lot to what you're describing. I think a key word / concept is "community". The real links we have we people from the scene, with other artists and with the fans are crucial. It's hard to mesure, but it explain a lot of things.
Fascinating thank you
Community is also a prime asset for reaching a unique core demographic. Groups like the Rainbow Girls come to mind.
Nailed it
Fingers crossed the cover image isn’t AI. Can you credit it / confirm it isn’t AI or label it if it is? Thanks.
As a longtime "fandom" music fan who buys physical stuff from bands, and as a product designer, I feel as though you've really nailed down a) why I never felt like I got into music/artists via Spotify and b) why dataism can actually be wrong sometimes (for examples like this).
Excellent read, thank you.
Really appreciate your work in explaining the math. As a consumer it's convenient to pay one company a monthly fee and get whatever you want but whenever I look at my Amazon Music monthly summary, it's a bunch of artists that I play in the background at work and then some people I truly enjoy
Really appreciated this piece. I’ve been thinking about how digital infrastructures could better support collaboration within independent creative ecosystems.
At MYOOZ InC, we’ve seen how projects thrive when artists collaborate not just between peers, but with producers, designers, videographers, promoters, and other creatives. Their project’s identity emerges from that network. But because these interactions are often mediated by opaque platforms, they can be fragile, and many promising ideas never fully materialize.
I’m interested in prototyping a platform that more intentionally scaffolds these relationships: helping creators across roles build trust, share visibility, and coordinate their work, while preserving agency and creative integrity. It feels like the next phase of the music economy is about better collaboration infrastructure, not just individual growth.
I forget who wrote it but he said, "If you have 1,000 fans who'll spend $100/year on your stuff, you can make a living."
Looks like the concept of "1,000 true fans" is credited to Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine.
Thanks for finding the source
Sure is