1000 True Fans. This piece has been circulating around the Net recently and it seems to make a fair bit of sense. The basic premise is that instead of shooting for blockbuster, megastar status, artists should aim to cultivate a small but loyal fan base willing to spend a small sum to support the artist’s work. On the face of it, this is very logical. Nowadays the revolution in communications has made it almost trivial to reach audiences across the globe for the price of an email, and coupled with the plummeting cost of digital production, the time has never been better for artistic quality to percolate through the system.

The only drawback I can see is that 1000 fans is not a trivial matter for most artists, who are lucky if they can muster up a really loyal group of 100 supporters willing to spend money on their merchandise at any time. And that’s compounded by the general lack of commercial nous you’ll find in most artists in most fields, they basically couldn’t market their way out of a paper bag, or want to in most cases.

So situation normal for most artists. They’ll struggle on with their passion, and keep the day job even while they enjoy the pleasures of making audiences applaud in small numbers. Or maybe initiatives like Sellaband will fill the gap? Who knows? Still the idea of 1000 True Fans makes for a snappy soundbite, doesn’t it?