1,000 True Fans to Succeed

1,000 True Fans is all an artist needs to succeed according to this article. The article says that if one has a certain number of true fans, it can mean more than having an even bigger number of "so-so" fans, in a matter of speaking. True fans meaning people who are completely dedicated to purchasing any merchandise you may offer, including shirts, CDs, artwork, attending signings, unveilings, concerts, etc. The kind of diehard fan that is willing to drive 200 miles to see a concert or performance that only lasts a couple of hours.

There are many advantages to this type of system, however, there can be some disadvantages as well. A strong base support, according to the article is said to prevent the artist from following the "long tail" career, meaning that they will be deemed more successful than an artist striving to get by; they will have a strong group of fans to sustain them. Having a considerably smaller amount of fans as compared to the millions that most strive for will allow the artist to follow their own path and still be able to maintain these True Fans. They became True Fans because of a strong liking for what was already being produced, therefore it can be argued that there is no need to change the style or thought processes behind any of it. This may not be the case if they were striving to please a much broader base of fans with a broader interest in their work. This can be compared to the news media. The mainstream media developed a wide range of followers, viewers, subscribers and were under the pressure to please not only them to maintain their interest but as well as the corporations that owned whichever media in question. However, the new and developing independent media blogs and such have not had such pressure, and have started with a much narrower fan base, and have continued to build True Fans from there.

The theory brings forth the question of whether or not True Fans exist. The definition as stated in the article, summarized above, seems very extreme in many cases, and although a fan may be willing to donate a small sum of money in order for that artist to continue to develop their work, does it mean they would continue to do so to continue the success?

We have seen this theory work with bloggers that have now become quite popular. Josh Marshall is the most prominent that comes to mind. He has proven that it can be quite successful for bloggers to attain donations and money ahead of time when promising a certain service in return, in his case the first was covering the New Hampshire primary.