Miss Leslie’s Honky Tonk Happy Hour: Because I’m A Fan
I’m a music fan. Sure, I’m a musician, but I’m also a fan. I understand the need for publicists and viral marketing. It’s an attempt to use business strategies to try to grow a business. But I’m not a fan of business. I’m a fan of music. I find out about new artists from friends. Real friends. Not people on MySpace that I’ve never heard of. Or some artist that latched onto my email address from “that-website-I-signed-up-for-that-I-ended-up-hating-anyway.” Or some review in a newspaper or magazine by some critic whose musical tastes I don’t even know.
I read blogs. People that are either my friends or I’ve come to know as friends because they share the same background and perspective in music. I trust them. And I can respond. And they respond back. We share about artists that play the music we’re into. And we make fun of the music and artists we hate.
I loathe MySpace and Facebook ads that tell me about bands I’ve never heard of that have thousands of fans. I’ve actually clicked on a couple–just to see. They were awful. Someone talked them into spending money that they could have used on guitar lessons. And these artists request to be my friend so that they can send me event requests and post comments about their new CD–both things I could care less about.
Because I’m a fan. I like good music. And I like what I like–I don’t follow trends or the new Next Big Thing. I can like the most obscure artist or the biggest top 40 act. Because I am all about the music. I want to hear something real, genuine, thoughtful and sometimes passionate. When I find an act I dig, I buy their stuff. All of it. I try to find those obscure recordings–from when they were first starting out and developing their sound. I look for every video I can find online. It doesn’t matter if it’s professional, or even if the band sounds that great.
Because I’m a fan. I stay up late at night to listen to a radio interview broadcast online in another time zone. I write emails to the artists I love to just let them know that they touched me. And a lot of times they write back–they know how important I am to them. They know that I will tell my friends about them and bring them out to shows. I sign up for the artists’ fan club because I’m a fan–not because it’s the only option I have to see part of their website. I don’t need to be conned into giving up my email address. I don’t need gimmicks to buy their stuff or go see their shows. I’m looking for when I can see them again.
Because I’m a fan. I don’t care what the artist looks like. It doesn’t matter to me if they gain weight or lose it. I don’t care if they’re young or old. I’m all about the music–if it’s an aging artist, I’ll keep on listening. Because I’m a fan, I don’t care if I start to see their wrinkles and I don’t care if their voice starts to show its age. I can hear echoes of the artist at the peak of their career. I can hear it when they turn 50, 60 and even 80.
Because I’m a fan. I’ve lost respect for record labels. They’ve forgotten about me and they turn artists against me. They’re in a business. They don’t love the music like I do. They haven’t laughed and cried and danced to all of the sounds that I have. They want my money. But I want to give my heart–because all I am doing is giving back what the real, genuine artist has given to me in the first place. Art that comes from their heart and soul.
Because I’m a fan. I don’t listen to FM radio. Maybe a good show on a public radio station. But never commercial radio. I’ve found outlets like Internet radio, Satellite radio, podcasts and carrying my iPod with me everywhere. I choose my own music. FM radio runs an eternal loop. The DJs have no clue about music–they’re into stars. I don’t care about stars. I care about the music, the lyrics, the melodies, the musicians.
Because I’m a fan.
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October 19, 2009 at 8:32 am Permalink
I will say that the myspace ads are awful for finding new music, but when you have a few bands on your profile bands that are similar to those have a way of finding you. Bearfoot found me that way.
October 19, 2009 at 8:41 am Permalink
It’s not about connectivity, it’s about segmentation. You can’t find new music on mySpace unless you already know what you’re looking for–there’s too much bad music, and there’s too much music.
October 19, 2009 at 9:07 am Permalink
I’ll second how great satellite radio is for finding new music. I have had XM for the last 5 years and haven’t listened to a on air station in years. Before the merger, XCountry on XM was a great place to hear new alt and red dirt country. The station that replaced it, Outlaw Country, has a narrower play list, the very annoying Mojo Nixon but on the other hand, the amazing Elizabeth Cook hosts a morning show so its a wash in the end. After hearing the Derailers, Dale Watson, Drive By Truckers and Whiskeytown on mway to work this morning, I can’t imagine to ever again having to sit through a Top 40 station and hear glorified karaoke singers.
October 19, 2009 at 9:42 am Permalink
Amen, Miss Leslie!! It seems that you’re in my head.
October 19, 2009 at 9:43 am Permalink
I’m suddenly addicted to Pandora these days. It’s surprisingly on target.
October 19, 2009 at 10:15 am Permalink
Oh, I miss XCountry … Outlaw country has improved a little bit since the merge, but you are right about Mojo – he’s so foul-mouthed that I cannot listen to him!
October 19, 2009 at 10:29 am Permalink
I don’t have a clean mouth, but Mojo Nixon is a complete tool and idiot. What I miss most about XCountry is Rogue Calls. I learned about so many artists through it-prime example, the Gourds.
October 19, 2009 at 12:11 pm Permalink
I think this fits at least a couple dozen of us. Thanks for putting our thoughts into the words we couldn’t find, Miss Leslie. Your song ‘Drunk Dialer’ is one of my most-played for the past 3 months too. Great stuff. I’m definitely a fan of Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers too.
October 19, 2009 at 2:16 pm Permalink
I have a good friend that swears by Pandora. For a long time, my music was not on there. Recently, I found out I was somehow added – but only my first title which was released in 2005.
This is the flipside to the Quest of the Fan. The Fan wants to find forums and venues that expose him/her to new music. But most forums and venues have a separate agenda (usually having something to do with advertising $$) and others have limited resources or have filters based on industry standards with limited independent music showcasing.
The Artist wants to get their music to the Fan. Jim is right – there’s too much music and too much bad music. How does the artist reach the fan? This is my never-answered question. I ask it over and over to literally everyone that I meet in the music business – whether they’re an industry executive or a fan. How do I get my music to my audience?
I CAN tell you one thing – my audience is NOT the blind masses. And in some ways, that is an audience that is harder to reach. While they are actively searching for something new and something real – that music may not have hit the forums that those fans frequent.
I wrote this blog to Fans and Artists alike. Artists need to be aware of the importance of Net Presence as well as the importance of the value of the Fan.
It’s not some numbers game played on MySpace and YouTube, as record labels and publicists seem to think.
October 19, 2009 at 2:41 pm Permalink
Amen!!!
October 19, 2009 at 7:29 pm Permalink
I used to discover most “new to me” artists through links in the daily country music news summaries that until recently were posted every weekday here at The 9513. Hey, what happened to those anyway? Hmm…
PS – The BOMSHEL album “Fight Like a Soccer Mom”(er I mean Girl) gets released tomorrow! I’m not going to purchase it, but I love typing in BOMSHEL!
October 19, 2009 at 9:22 pm Permalink
Sheesh, give ‘em a break, Rick. They rarely miss a day.
October 19, 2009 at 10:58 pm Permalink
Very interesting Miss Leslie. This past weekend, I was talking to a dear friend about how some artists have changed over the years and it is more about being “bigger and better” when in the end it was bigger but not better. I love the fact that I can spend $25 to see Jamey Johnson perform to a sold out honky tonk and get over 4 hours of pure entertainment of real country music on the front row whereas others charge $60-$200 for a front row seat and play their 1 1/2 hour set of the same thing night after night. I remember when Fan Club Parties and even a Fan Club was about the fan, not getting as much money as possible from the fan. Why should I pay to be a “fan”? Does it make me a bigger fan than one who cannot afford to spend $25 on a measly message board and “exclusive” content that will eventually make its way to youtube? Any more the presale passwords are easy to find meet and greets are like cattle being led through a market at the stockyards. I’m glad that folks like Lee Ann Womack make theirs free – get back to your roots.
One thing about “too much music”…it makes even hard for those at work like me who cannot listen to the radio online, or have myspace/youtube/streaming blocked. Thanks to folks like the 9513 and those that comment on here/post blogs, I have found out about a lot of new artists I would haven’t heard of otherwise.
Great article Miss Leslie. :)
October 19, 2009 at 11:53 pm Permalink
Really beautiful, Miss Leslie!
October 25, 2009 at 9:50 pm Permalink
Perfectly stated.
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