How to Build a Strong Fan Base as an Indie Artist
Building your fanbase is important if you want to take your music to the next level.

A strong fanbase is what an artist needs to succeed. For artists in the industry, it is easier to get a stronger fanbase as the team of the artist usually handles all the PR stunts and actions that should be taken by the artist. That can include performances, collaborations, meet and greets etc.

Now, what is a fanbase? A fanbase is basically the fans of an artist that tend to stay loyal to the artist. In other words, a fanbase is the community of the artist. Like how it is a recurring thing that people say Justin Bieber fans are teenage girls, that’s just what his general fanbase consists of. For an artist, a fanbase is essential because the fanbase gives the artist the resources to continue their journey in music.

Now for an indie artist however, building a strong fanbase can take time and a lot of effort that artists usually don’t take into account while planning out their music career. Since you will not have the resources that you would have if you were signed to a label, it only means that you have to do what the label usually does for you, or helps you to do, all by yourself.

As negative as it sounds though, it is not all that bad. One of the huge advantages to being independent is that you have the freedom to do whatever you like. So even though you don’t have a label to assist you, you will be free to build your fanbase however you want.

And in this article, I will highlight some tactics and some ways that you can build a strong fanbase as an indie artist.

Start with small circles

Starting small and going big is definitely a good way to build a fanbase as an artist. A fanbase is not only defined by its size, the connection you share with the fans is also important. Which is why, you should try to start slow and not overexert and oversell yourself. This start could be family, friends, or maybe the neighborhood.

If you start by having a small fanbase it is much easier to build a stronger connection as it takes less time and less effort than trying to do it on a bigger scale. Having this small circle could boost you in popularity compared to other artists who don’t start with a small circle since the small circle can use their connections to get other people to listen to your music.

Live performances

An obvious one but an important one nonetheless. As mentioned in previous articles about indie music, performing live is one of the easiest paths you can take as an artist to build your fanbase. The negatives are slim and the positives are overflowing, making it a very safe way to expand your horizon. For one, performing live usually earns you money, it also makes your bond with your fans deeper if you perform right. In addition, you will get attention online possibly making artists look your way.

As for the negatives, well, the only big negative is that the reception of the fans could be negative but that usually only happens when an artist couldn’t care less about his fanbase or his performance, but you’re not here for that are you?

To build a strong fanbase as an indie artist while performing you can try and talk to the fans in between songs, give the audience a good time by being hype and excited to perform. You can also take a fan on stage to perform a song of yours, it may be something small to you but the fanbase you’re building will take that example of kindness to heart.

Another thing you could do is meeting and talking with fans after the performance. Most artists take some minutes after the performance to greet fans and take pictures, sign merchandise or sign an object of their choice, or just have a chat. You can do that to have a deeper connection with your fans, making you seem humble.

An example of this could be KSI, after every performance he usually spends an hour max talking with fans because he sees them as his friends since his connection with his fanbase is that strong.

Now the example of the opposite could be Kid Cudi, who punched a fan live because of his short temper. A fan threw his wallet on stage while Kid Cudi was performing live, so Cudi threw it back but to the wrong person. So, the person who received it tossed it back on stage where Kid Cudi got angry, went to the crowd and punched the person. Warranted or not, that is definitely not a good way to build a strong fanbase.

Interviews and social media

A big advantage that YouTube rappers and YouTube artists have on traditional artists is that the fanbase usually knows the youtuber more than they know the artist. The same applies to all social medias.

Now, since you are an artist and not an influencer you shouldn’t expect to just start making YouTube videos to try and deepen your connection with your fans. However, you can be active on social media and try to go to as many interviews as possible and appearing on any radio station, journal, social media platform that you can.

If you do participate in a lot of interviews and the like and start talking about yourself as a person and not as an artist, your fanbase will relate to you and start to see you as a human. As bad as it is, a strong issue that influencers and celebrities face is that they are always idolized by their fans since the fans don’t know that much about the person other than their music. So to counter that, you can talk about yourself as a person seeming more relatable, giving your fans a reason to get closer to you on a personal level than just your music.

Communication

Again, another essential part of life and of building a fanbase is communication. You know what they say, communication is key. Many artists receive hundreds of messages on all social medias and even emails yet they rarely respond, sometimes they never even respond at all. This causes the fans to feel distant from the artist, which is the opposite of what you should want to achieve.

Communication is key, talk to your fans on social media. If someone replies to your tweet with a question, as long as it isn’t too vile or irregular, answer it. If a fan messages you, respond to them nicely and show appreciation. If you do that, the fans will see your appreciation and their loyalty to you will skyrocket as a result, building you a stronger fanbase.

Conclusion

To conclude this article, building a strong fanbase is a very important aspect of an artist and there are many ways to build that strong fanbase. Starting with a small circle and a small fanbase, replying and answering messages of fans, talking about yourself as a person, performing live, those are all ways to build a strong fanbase.

As an indie artist, you should try to do all of these and maybe more if you have ideas for yourself to try and build a strong fanbase. The independent path is tough but it honorable, and possible. Good luck with your musical journey!

Sources:

https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/how-to/fanbase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-GCBTSpK3E

https://jammaround.com/blog/rappers/how-to-build-your-fanbase-as-a-music-artist-6-essential-steps-for-success/

https://www.dk-mba.com/blog/how-to-build-a-fanbase

https://www.disciplemedia.com/building-your-community/build-a-fanbase-complete-guide/