Sam Feldt Reveals The Secret Behind Building A Sustainable Artist Career
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Sam Feldt and besides a multi-platinum selling artist, I’m also an entrepreneur. About three years ago, I noticed that I amassed a social media following of over a million people, but my actual reach was far less. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram forced me to pay them in order to reach my own fanbase on social media. They could only reach about 1 or 2% of my fans organically, even with me paying them. To me, this was absurd- and also the reason I launched Fangage.
Use Fangage to build your own fan database
Fangage is a Software As A Service (SAAS) tool that allows artists (and influencers in general) to set up their own online fan portal, where fans can sign up to get access to exclusive content and unique experiences. The more information the fans share about themselves, the more content they unlock. For example, you can download my Heartfeldt Radio Show immediately after signing up, but to win a trip with me to a show in Ibiza you have to complete your whole profile and share your phone number with me. As an artist, this allows me to quickly build up my own database of Superfans, and makes me less dependent on the ever-changing algorithms and business models of social media platforms.
To be honest, it’s kind of a win-win situation. Fans get a lot of cool and exclusive content for free, keep up to date with their favorite artist, and feel engaged with the artist’s brand. At the same time, the artist saves a lot of time, money, and trouble because they don’t have to reach their fanbase through social media. Fans sign up to the artist’s platform through an easy-to-follow chat wizard that allows them to ‘chat’ 1-on-1 with the artist as they complete their profile, which has proven to be very user friendly. On top of that, there aren’t any ads on the platform, and the data that is collected by an artist is always theirs to keep. Unlike most social media platforms, we will never restrict you from accessing 100% of your fanbase.
Why you need to start collecting fan data right now
Since you’re reading this, I’ll assume you are an artist yourself (or at least active in the music industry), so let me explain why all of the above is so important. First of all, you can’t build a brand or a business (which you are as an artist) on borrowed ground. A million followers on social media are worth nothing if you can’t reach them all and are at the mercy of Facebook and Instagram to determine how much of your following you can reach organically. With their ever-changing business models and pressure from investors, it could be the case that in the very near future none of your fans will see your content unless you pay for it. This isn’t realistic for many artists, and may disrupt or even destroy their careers. If you start building up your own database and invest in collecting the data right now while you still can, you will not only be immune to this, but it will also help you accelerate your career as an artist.
As an example, there are about 20.000 Superfans in the database on my Heartfeldt.me Fangage portal. This might not seem like a lot, but you have to remember that these fans are people that I can personally contact and activate at any given time, at no cost to me. They are my superfans who made the effort to register on my platform and will buy my music, tickets, and merchandise as well. Having this database enabled me to grow my Spotify account to almost 9 million monthly listeners, do shows all over the world (because I know I have dedicated fans in every part of the globe that I can reach directly) and increase my brand equity because of improved fan engagement. I understand that all of this might sound like a lot of difficult mumbo-jumbo, so I’ll explain it a little easier: it is ESSENTIAL to develop a fan database that YOU control if you want to grow a sustainable career as an artist.
Kind regards,
Sam Feldt