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The Guide to Your Direct to Fan Business

The Guide to Your Direct to Fan Business

Rob Abelow shares his guide to your direct-to-fan business.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

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The Guide to Your Direct to Fan Business

Rob Abelow shares his guide to your direct-to-fan business.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Like

the-guide-to-your-direct-to-fan-business

Share

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The Guide to Your Direct to Fan Business

The Guide to Your Direct to Fan Business

Rob Abelow shares his guide to your direct-to-fan business.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Like

the-guide-to-your-direct-to-fan-business

Share

the-guide-to-your-direct-to-fan-business

Where Music's Going's Rob Abelow shares his detailed guide on running your direct-to-fan business.

Where Music's Going's Rob Abelow shares his detailed guide on running your direct-to-fan business.

Where Music's Going's Rob Abelow shares his detailed guide on running your direct-to-fan business.

Where Music's Going's Rob Abelow shares his detailed guide on running your direct-to-fan business.

Contributor

Rob Abelow

Rob is the founder & president of Where Music’s Going, a music industry research & advisory firm, and Head of US for direct-to-fan platform OpenStage. He previously spent 10 years as the president of Roll Call Records & Management, an artist management company & record label he founded.

Read More

Contributor

Rob Abelow

Rob is the founder & president of Where Music’s Going, a music industry research & advisory firm, and Head of US for direct-to-fan platform OpenStage. He previously spent 10 years as the president of Roll Call Records & Management, an artist management company & record label he founded.

Read More

Contributor

Rob Abelow

Rob is the founder & president of Where Music’s Going, a music industry research & advisory firm, and Head of US for direct-to-fan platform OpenStage. He previously spent 10 years as the president of Roll Call Records & Management, an artist management company & record label he founded.

The most comprehensive artist-tailored CRM that consolidates all your fan data & communications in one place. OS integrates with streaming, social media, merch, community & ticketing platforms to give you a complete view of fan activity & power upgraded experiences for fans on & off platform. Use it for email, sms, pre-save & data capture, but it’s so much more. Ditch Mailchimp. Take full control of your fan relationships.

The most comprehensive artist-tailored CRM that consolidates all your fan data & communications in one place. OS integrates with streaming, social media, merch, community & ticketing platforms to give you a complete view of fan activity & power upgraded experiences for fans on & off platform. Use it for email, sms, pre-save & data capture, but it’s so much more. Ditch Mailchimp. Take full control of your fan relationships.

The most comprehensive artist-tailored CRM that consolidates all your fan data & communications in one place. OS integrates with streaming, social media, merch, community & ticketing platforms to give you a complete view of fan activity & power upgraded experiences for fans on & off platform. Use it for email, sms, pre-save & data capture, but it’s so much more. Ditch Mailchimp. Take full control of your fan relationships.

The most comprehensive artist-tailored CRM that consolidates all your fan data & communications in one place. OS integrates with streaming, social media, merch, community & ticketing platforms to give you a complete view of fan activity & power upgraded experiences for fans on & off platform. Use it for email, sms, pre-save & data capture, but it’s so much more. Ditch Mailchimp. Take full control of your fan relationships.

bonfire

bonfire

Direct to Fan

Creator Tools

Web3

Custom fan engagement experiences on your own url, in your branding, all with no code. From listening parties to memberships to exclusive content. And my favorite is the coming-soon Season Passes: time-bound memberships wrapped around your releases or tours, turning them into passports opening up more value, but without the endless maintenance & unclear value prop of a Patreon-like membership.

bonfire

bonfire

Direct to Fan

Creator Tools

Web3

Custom fan engagement experiences on your own url, in your branding, all with no code. From listening parties to memberships to exclusive content. And my favorite is the coming-soon Season Passes: time-bound memberships wrapped around your releases or tours, turning them into passports opening up more value, but without the endless maintenance & unclear value prop of a Patreon-like membership.

bonfire

bonfire

Direct to Fan

Creator Tools

Web3

Custom fan engagement experiences on your own url, in your branding, all with no code. From listening parties to memberships to exclusive content. And my favorite is the coming-soon Season Passes: time-bound memberships wrapped around your releases or tours, turning them into passports opening up more value, but without the endless maintenance & unclear value prop of a Patreon-like membership.

bonfire

bonfire

Direct to Fan

Creator Tools

Web3

Custom fan engagement experiences on your own url, in your branding, all with no code. From listening parties to memberships to exclusive content. And my favorite is the coming-soon Season Passes: time-bound memberships wrapped around your releases or tours, turning them into passports opening up more value, but without the endless maintenance & unclear value prop of a Patreon-like membership.

single

single

Direct to Fan

Direct to Fan

Single makes your Shopify storefront music & fan friendly: Sell digital music & bundles, auto-report to charts, offer memberships, livestreams, video. All on top of your store, paywalling whatever you’d like. When you graduate from Bandcamp, go here.

single

single

Direct to Fan

Direct to Fan

Single makes your Shopify storefront music & fan friendly: Sell digital music & bundles, auto-report to charts, offer memberships, livestreams, video. All on top of your store, paywalling whatever you’d like. When you graduate from Bandcamp, go here.

single

single

Direct to Fan

Direct to Fan

Single makes your Shopify storefront music & fan friendly: Sell digital music & bundles, auto-report to charts, offer memberships, livestreams, video. All on top of your store, paywalling whatever you’d like. When you graduate from Bandcamp, go here.

single

single

Direct to Fan

Direct to Fan

Single makes your Shopify storefront music & fan friendly: Sell digital music & bundles, auto-report to charts, offer memberships, livestreams, video. All on top of your store, paywalling whatever you’d like. When you graduate from Bandcamp, go here.

bandcamp

bandcamp

Digital Distributors

Concert Listings

I had to include it. An easy, free-to-set-up e-commerce store ideal for artists whose sales don't justify paying a monthly fee to Shopify. It also works well for selling records from multiple labels in the same storefront, with fulfillment & payments flowing back through to each label on the backend.

bandcamp

bandcamp

Digital Distributors

Concert Listings

I had to include it. An easy, free-to-set-up e-commerce store ideal for artists whose sales don't justify paying a monthly fee to Shopify. It also works well for selling records from multiple labels in the same storefront, with fulfillment & payments flowing back through to each label on the backend.

bandcamp

bandcamp

Digital Distributors

Concert Listings

I had to include it. An easy, free-to-set-up e-commerce store ideal for artists whose sales don't justify paying a monthly fee to Shopify. It also works well for selling records from multiple labels in the same storefront, with fulfillment & payments flowing back through to each label on the backend.

bandcamp

bandcamp

Digital Distributors

Concert Listings

I had to include it. An easy, free-to-set-up e-commerce store ideal for artists whose sales don't justify paying a monthly fee to Shopify. It also works well for selling records from multiple labels in the same storefront, with fulfillment & payments flowing back through to each label on the backend.

mainfactor

mainfactor

Storefronts & Commerce

Mainfactor provides a suite of tech-enabled services to artists doing $100k+ in annual merch sales. Everything from store-building to manufacturing & product to marketing to logistics & fulfillment. Mike & his team have built over 500 D2C stores, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

mainfactor

mainfactor

Storefronts & Commerce

Mainfactor provides a suite of tech-enabled services to artists doing $100k+ in annual merch sales. Everything from store-building to manufacturing & product to marketing to logistics & fulfillment. Mike & his team have built over 500 D2C stores, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

mainfactor

mainfactor

Storefronts & Commerce

Mainfactor provides a suite of tech-enabled services to artists doing $100k+ in annual merch sales. Everything from store-building to manufacturing & product to marketing to logistics & fulfillment. Mike & his team have built over 500 D2C stores, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

mainfactor

mainfactor

Storefronts & Commerce

Mainfactor provides a suite of tech-enabled services to artists doing $100k+ in annual merch sales. Everything from store-building to manufacturing & product to marketing to logistics & fulfillment. Mike & his team have built over 500 D2C stores, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

bonsai

bonsai

Artist Marketing

Creator Tools

Bonsais turn 1:1 fan engagement into a content flywheel. Here’s how it works: 

- 1. Fans ask you questions on Instagram, Youtube or Discord & tag your Bonsai. 

- 2. You answer the ones you want.

- 3. Your answer auto-publishes on Reels, Shorts & Discord - and tags the asker.

It gives you a chance to deeply engage with fans, while simultaneously creating content for everyone, bringing them a little bit closer.

bonsai

bonsai

Artist Marketing

Creator Tools

Bonsais turn 1:1 fan engagement into a content flywheel. Here’s how it works: 

- 1. Fans ask you questions on Instagram, Youtube or Discord & tag your Bonsai. 

- 2. You answer the ones you want.

- 3. Your answer auto-publishes on Reels, Shorts & Discord - and tags the asker.

It gives you a chance to deeply engage with fans, while simultaneously creating content for everyone, bringing them a little bit closer.

bonsai

bonsai

Artist Marketing

Creator Tools

Bonsais turn 1:1 fan engagement into a content flywheel. Here’s how it works: 

- 1. Fans ask you questions on Instagram, Youtube or Discord & tag your Bonsai. 

- 2. You answer the ones you want.

- 3. Your answer auto-publishes on Reels, Shorts & Discord - and tags the asker.

It gives you a chance to deeply engage with fans, while simultaneously creating content for everyone, bringing them a little bit closer.

bonsai

bonsai

Artist Marketing

Creator Tools

Bonsais turn 1:1 fan engagement into a content flywheel. Here’s how it works: 

- 1. Fans ask you questions on Instagram, Youtube or Discord & tag your Bonsai. 

- 2. You answer the ones you want.

- 3. Your answer auto-publishes on Reels, Shorts & Discord - and tags the asker.

It gives you a chance to deeply engage with fans, while simultaneously creating content for everyone, bringing them a little bit closer.

planet

planet

Fan Club Tools

Direct to Fan

Your tour pre-sale gateway that either sells your allocated tickets directly or links out to partners, capturing the full demand & fan data in the process. What I like about Planet is it can put a tour access pass into your fan’s Apple or Android wallet, so they’re gated for future presales, you can then send them push notifications, or provide extras at the show. It’s a membership pass for your shows.

planet

planet

Fan Club Tools

Direct to Fan

Your tour pre-sale gateway that either sells your allocated tickets directly or links out to partners, capturing the full demand & fan data in the process. What I like about Planet is it can put a tour access pass into your fan’s Apple or Android wallet, so they’re gated for future presales, you can then send them push notifications, or provide extras at the show. It’s a membership pass for your shows.

planet

planet

Fan Club Tools

Direct to Fan

Your tour pre-sale gateway that either sells your allocated tickets directly or links out to partners, capturing the full demand & fan data in the process. What I like about Planet is it can put a tour access pass into your fan’s Apple or Android wallet, so they’re gated for future presales, you can then send them push notifications, or provide extras at the show. It’s a membership pass for your shows.

planet

planet

Fan Club Tools

Direct to Fan

Your tour pre-sale gateway that either sells your allocated tickets directly or links out to partners, capturing the full demand & fan data in the process. What I like about Planet is it can put a tour access pass into your fan’s Apple or Android wallet, so they’re gated for future presales, you can then send them push notifications, or provide extras at the show. It’s a membership pass for your shows.

rostr

rostr

Collaboration

Analytics

Industry News & Trades

"We use ROSTR constantly. It’s the best resource in the music business." - Marc Geiger, Chairman and CEO @ SaveLive

Music industry professionals use ROSTR to build their network, discover artists, save time & stay in the loop.

Promoted-Listing

Promoted-Stack-Item

stack-launch

ROSTR

own

rostr-promoted-listing

Promoted

rostr

rostr

Collaboration

Analytics

Industry News & Trades

"We use ROSTR constantly. It’s the best resource in the music business." - Marc Geiger, Chairman and CEO @ SaveLive

Music industry professionals use ROSTR to build their network, discover artists, save time & stay in the loop.

Promoted-Listing

Promoted-Stack-Item

stack-launch

ROSTR

own

rostr-promoted-listing

Promoted

rostr

rostr

Collaboration

Analytics

Industry News & Trades

"We use ROSTR constantly. It’s the best resource in the music business." - Marc Geiger, Chairman and CEO @ SaveLive

Music industry professionals use ROSTR to build their network, discover artists, save time & stay in the loop.

Promoted-Listing

Promoted-Stack-Item

stack-launch

ROSTR

own

rostr-promoted-listing

Promoted

rostr

rostr

Collaboration

Analytics

Industry News & Trades

"We use ROSTR constantly. It’s the best resource in the music business." - Marc Geiger, Chairman and CEO @ SaveLive

Music industry professionals use ROSTR to build their network, discover artists, save time & stay in the loop.

Promoted-Listing

Promoted-Stack-Item

stack-launch

ROSTR

own

rostr-promoted-listing

Promoted

stationhead

stationhead

Fan Club Tools

Livestreaming

It’s become the favorite place for major artists to hang with their biggest fans. Every channel is artist-specific, fan-driven, and feels far more organic than other options. Even when the artist is gone, fans continue to host & listen in their channel, making it always on & dedicated to you. Oh, and you can sell music directly during a party. Billie Eilish sold over 500 albums in 15 mins there last week.

(As of this writing, it’s only available to a small number of artists. Changes to that coming soon.)

stationhead

stationhead

Fan Club Tools

Livestreaming

It’s become the favorite place for major artists to hang with their biggest fans. Every channel is artist-specific, fan-driven, and feels far more organic than other options. Even when the artist is gone, fans continue to host & listen in their channel, making it always on & dedicated to you. Oh, and you can sell music directly during a party. Billie Eilish sold over 500 albums in 15 mins there last week.

(As of this writing, it’s only available to a small number of artists. Changes to that coming soon.)

stationhead

stationhead

Fan Club Tools

Livestreaming

It’s become the favorite place for major artists to hang with their biggest fans. Every channel is artist-specific, fan-driven, and feels far more organic than other options. Even when the artist is gone, fans continue to host & listen in their channel, making it always on & dedicated to you. Oh, and you can sell music directly during a party. Billie Eilish sold over 500 albums in 15 mins there last week.

(As of this writing, it’s only available to a small number of artists. Changes to that coming soon.)

stationhead

stationhead

Fan Club Tools

Livestreaming

It’s become the favorite place for major artists to hang with their biggest fans. Every channel is artist-specific, fan-driven, and feels far more organic than other options. Even when the artist is gone, fans continue to host & listen in their channel, making it always on & dedicated to you. Oh, and you can sell music directly during a party. Billie Eilish sold over 500 albums in 15 mins there last week.

(As of this writing, it’s only available to a small number of artists. Changes to that coming soon.)

grouped

grouped

Direct to Fan

Fan Clubs

Email Marketing

Grouped is a music-focused Patreon-like platform that can be free, monetized, or a mix. The killer feature is the custom audio player where members can stream even while they leave the app. Go live. Chat with fans. And control all the data from your community.

grouped

grouped

Direct to Fan

Fan Clubs

Email Marketing

Grouped is a music-focused Patreon-like platform that can be free, monetized, or a mix. The killer feature is the custom audio player where members can stream even while they leave the app. Go live. Chat with fans. And control all the data from your community.

grouped

grouped

Direct to Fan

Fan Clubs

Email Marketing

Grouped is a music-focused Patreon-like platform that can be free, monetized, or a mix. The killer feature is the custom audio player where members can stream even while they leave the app. Go live. Chat with fans. And control all the data from your community.

grouped

grouped

Direct to Fan

Fan Clubs

Email Marketing

Grouped is a music-focused Patreon-like platform that can be free, monetized, or a mix. The killer feature is the custom audio player where members can stream even while they leave the app. Go live. Chat with fans. And control all the data from your community.

fan-dynamics

fan-dynamics

Fan Club Tools

FanDX runs your artist fan community on Discord. They provide an onboarding flow that captures contextual info about your fans, provide a dashboard for the health of your community, and moderate fan communities for artists like Olivia Rodrigo & Machine Gun Kelly.

fan-dynamics

fan-dynamics

Fan Club Tools

FanDX runs your artist fan community on Discord. They provide an onboarding flow that captures contextual info about your fans, provide a dashboard for the health of your community, and moderate fan communities for artists like Olivia Rodrigo & Machine Gun Kelly.

fan-dynamics

fan-dynamics

Fan Club Tools

FanDX runs your artist fan community on Discord. They provide an onboarding flow that captures contextual info about your fans, provide a dashboard for the health of your community, and moderate fan communities for artists like Olivia Rodrigo & Machine Gun Kelly.

fan-dynamics

fan-dynamics

Fan Club Tools

FanDX runs your artist fan community on Discord. They provide an onboarding flow that captures contextual info about your fans, provide a dashboard for the health of your community, and moderate fan communities for artists like Olivia Rodrigo & Machine Gun Kelly.

laylo

laylo

Fan Club Tools

Music Marketing Platforms

I like Laylo for capturing fan interest on social media attached to an upcoming show or single drop. Have a show going on-sale this Friday? Drop an RSVP, fans sign up with email or SMS, then they’ll get an automated message with the sale link when it goes live.

laylo

laylo

Fan Club Tools

Music Marketing Platforms

I like Laylo for capturing fan interest on social media attached to an upcoming show or single drop. Have a show going on-sale this Friday? Drop an RSVP, fans sign up with email or SMS, then they’ll get an automated message with the sale link when it goes live.

laylo

laylo

Fan Club Tools

Music Marketing Platforms

I like Laylo for capturing fan interest on social media attached to an upcoming show or single drop. Have a show going on-sale this Friday? Drop an RSVP, fans sign up with email or SMS, then they’ll get an automated message with the sale link when it goes live.

laylo

laylo

Fan Club Tools

Music Marketing Platforms

I like Laylo for capturing fan interest on social media attached to an upcoming show or single drop. Have a show going on-sale this Friday? Drop an RSVP, fans sign up with email or SMS, then they’ll get an automated message with the sale link when it goes live.

audiomack

audiomack

Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)

Audiomack may not be as big as others, but the platform is just as much about connection as consumption. Artists can communicate with all their followers for free via the Connect feature. Great for building an audience & momentum (genre-dependent - particularly strong for afro-sounds).

Also consider Soundcloud, where you can reach out to your biggest supporters 1 by 1.

audiomack

audiomack

Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)

Audiomack may not be as big as others, but the platform is just as much about connection as consumption. Artists can communicate with all their followers for free via the Connect feature. Great for building an audience & momentum (genre-dependent - particularly strong for afro-sounds).

Also consider Soundcloud, where you can reach out to your biggest supporters 1 by 1.

audiomack

audiomack

Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)

Audiomack may not be as big as others, but the platform is just as much about connection as consumption. Artists can communicate with all their followers for free via the Connect feature. Great for building an audience & momentum (genre-dependent - particularly strong for afro-sounds).

Also consider Soundcloud, where you can reach out to your biggest supporters 1 by 1.

audiomack

audiomack

Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)

Audiomack may not be as big as others, but the platform is just as much about connection as consumption. Artists can communicate with all their followers for free via the Connect feature. Great for building an audience & momentum (genre-dependent - particularly strong for afro-sounds).

Also consider Soundcloud, where you can reach out to your biggest supporters 1 by 1.

where-musics-going

where-musics-going

Newsletters & Blogs

WMiG is a newsletter & agency helping artists connect directly with fans & build more sustainable audiences. How to think, how to do, and examples of what works.

where-musics-going

where-musics-going

Newsletters & Blogs

WMiG is a newsletter & agency helping artists connect directly with fans & build more sustainable audiences. How to think, how to do, and examples of what works.

where-musics-going

where-musics-going

Newsletters & Blogs

WMiG is a newsletter & agency helping artists connect directly with fans & build more sustainable audiences. How to think, how to do, and examples of what works.

where-musics-going

where-musics-going

Newsletters & Blogs

WMiG is a newsletter & agency helping artists connect directly with fans & build more sustainable audiences. How to think, how to do, and examples of what works.

Other Stacks

Other Stacks

Other Stacks

Other Stacks

Contributor

Rob Abelow

Rob is the founder & president of Where Music’s Going, a music industry research & advisory firm, and Head of US for direct-to-fan platform OpenStage. He previously spent 10 years as the president of Roll Call Records & Management, an artist management company & record label he founded.

Read More

Contributor

Rob Abelow

Rob is the founder & president of Where Music’s Going, a music industry research & advisory firm, and Head of US for direct-to-fan platform OpenStage. He previously spent 10 years as the president of Roll Call Records & Management, an artist management company & record label he founded.

Read More

STACK

Sidebar-Square

Stack-Pages

NIF-vol-5

ROSTR

NIF

NIF-vol-5