I think back to the 1980’s when I was reading my Tiger Beat magazines as quickly as I could turn the pages. I sent in money to join a fan club and I’d get a package back in the mail. Occasionally I might get a newsletter after that (and it’s important to note here that I’m not just thinking of Duran Duran, but fan clubs as a whole), but that was really the end of it. Fan club memberships were pretty one sided deals between myself and my mailbox!
Flash ahead to current times. Fan communities are built differently. There is interaction between the fans and personal connections being made through many different avenues: message boards, Facebook and Twitter,among others. One comment that I’ve seen many times is that there is so much infighting between fans. Fans fight for space to be seen and heard. Many believe all fan communities are that way, that it’s the nature of the beast.
Bruce Springsteen’s fan community – free to any who join – doesn’t seem to have the same sort of competitive nature. The directions of the community are well paved avenues that Bruce himself follows. He guides his fan community by suggesting charities for fundraising, yet still establishing firm boundaries and not necessarily being freely accessible. His involvement tends to set the tone for the entire community, which is large and thriving to this day.
Does a band (or celebrity for that matter) need to be involved in their own fan community for it to be “alive and thrive”? It’s an interesting question.
-R
Sounds nice in theory, but I can see things going badly very easily so perhaps it's best if they just concentrate on music and touring and leave the community sustain itself.
That said, an appearance at a convention once a year wouldn't hurt!
~Betsi
Would the fan community sustain itself? What keeps people interested or what makes people leave the fandom?
-A
Unfortunately, in the 30 years I have been into this band, the downside has been the bitching between fans. In the early days, it was Duranies vs Spandau Fans, & Culture Club fans. As those bands fizzled out the fans turned on each other. Sadly, thats the down side of this fandom, and I cant explain why it exists. Jealousy is probably the main reason, but what exactly are people jealous of?
I think the jealousy comes from a variety of different things, but one thing that I touched on in my blog is that when the band is held at arms length, and dangled before the fans like a carrot – it becomes a fight of who can grab their attention the longest, who can get closest, who gets front row, etc. etc. etc. The focus is on getting the band, not the music. Other bands who allow themselves a little more accessibility don't seem to have quite the same problem, and to be fair – the problem seems to exist much more over here in the US than it does in the UK – and yes, I know this because I've been witness to it. I can't say how it is in other parts of the world because I've yet to get other places.
Yet. 😀
-R
I think it would – maybe it wouldn't look the same, but those who are truly fans of the music would remain as long as there is music to experience. I think bad music makes people break up with a band. Fans behaving badly might make me leave a certain message board or block a Tweeter, but it wouldn't make me less of a fan of the band.
It blows me away to read some comments by people I assume are adults. The young fans' incessant tweets begging for attention are understandable. I'm quite sure I would have been just as bad (though I probably would not have quoted adult song lyrics back at Simon). But I would have clamored for recognition. I think I'm thankful social media wasn't around at the time. The world doesn't need to know my thoughts back then!
As blogged about earlier this year here, it seems that Duran2 is making an effort to mingle – albeit electronically – with their fans community. Should they be doing more, at least for paying FC members… probably. Maybe we can bug Andy to blog about how the band viewed fans (when he was with them) and in an ideal world what they'd like to do for fans. I do think their fandom is so large it would difficult for them to do enough to satisfy everyone. That doesn't mean they should do nothing, but maybe fans expect too much in this information era. What did we expect from them as kids?
For me, as long as they keep making good music and touring I'm happy. Too much togetherness would spoil the mystery and magic, no matter how much I think I want it.
I commented in the next post but I mentioned the $60 dollar fansite and I need to point out that the “man himself” is not at all involved in that. No special q & a's or chats. Once in a while his assistant writes a column. Frankly Katy and Ask Kay and Katy's Kafe are better.
So I don't really think the bands have to be involved and I've not noticed any difference in fandoms where the artists are more available as compared to those where they aren't. In fact the only difference tends to be that people “kiss ass” on the “official sites” and then complain everywhere else(or it's pushed “underground”, it still happens and just as much but everyone discovers their own little “corners” of discontent). I think John and Simon being on twitter is accessible enough and it's more accessible than others are. I also think the Ask Katy and Katy's Kafe are pretty good.
I don't think they can really suggest charities(mentioned on the next post) much because from what I've seen Duran Duran fans would find reasons to complain about what charities they chose to support–“I'm so disappointed they chose to this sort of thing…very disappointed” and “they are trying to force their views down our throats!!”.
Probably the only way to avoid it would be to choose children's hospitals and pet rescues–most people seem willing to not find those all that controversial. 🙂 Most people still aren't willing to admit to hating babies and puppies. LOL Simon needs to find a pug pet rescue to support, that's it! 🙂
Another suggestion, to be honest in most fan communities I've been part of and seen, most of the “action” comes from the fan side first. Fans themselves do charitable drives, often from some stated interest an actor or band member or artist has mentioned. Like for an animal lover they'll get together and gather donations to animal charity in the vicinity of where the artist “calls home”, to someone who has shown interest in social troubles, they'll donate to a homeless charity, if they know someone close to the artist has had certain health issues, they might get together donations to that, etc, etc. Then sometimes after that the artist(s) themselves might suggest a charity. But more often than not the fan community takes it upon themselves to DO things, even in the bad, backstabbing, calling each other nasty names ones(which is to say, almost all of them:)). So yeah I'd say perhaps it is time for the fans to take ownership of their own fandom and not expect for it to be done for them. Fans create the community, ultimately the band, singer or actor, etc is just the catalyst for getting them together and giving them something in common to talk about/squee over.
I pretty much agree with Betsi here. I actually think they do pretty close to enough. I'm not sure why we expect them to have so much personal contact–I don't know any bands least of all in their age group who have more and plenty have less and those who do have more, frankly a lot of is a desperate need for attention on the part of the artists more than really loving the fans, IMO. I am actually glad that the guys mostly seem to have better things to do with their time than to get ego boosts from the fans. I'd worry about them if they were constantly kissing my ass. 🙂
To me they generally seem pretty genuine when they do interact–like the people who complained when Simon lost his voice, between Simon, and Nick and John–they must have apologized a half a dozen times or more but for some people it still wasn't enough–all those complaints about “why haven't they apologized” and it's like “Um…well…they did” and seemed quite sincere about from what I can tell. I get being disappointed but that's the chance you take. It's not like it was something that could be helped, Simon was injured, it would be like he was a skier and broke his leg in three places and you had bought tickets to the Olympics mainly to see him. Stuff happens. My mind was more like “With fans like these, who needs enemies” than “they should be grateful they have fans”.
I appreciate your point of view here…although I must admit that I don't agree with all of your points. That's probably to be expected since I'm coming from a completely different angle on my blog posting. I suppose I'd have to ask why someone would pay $60.00 to join a fan site simply for the content, but as you say – it's all about perspective. If YOU think it's worth the money, then that really is all that matters at the end of the day.
I think you can always point out artists or bands who are LESS accessible. That's not a difficult prospect, and I can think of several off of the top of my head. On the same token, I know of many other bands who are even more accessible than Duran Duran. I just don't think it's necessarily very innovative or smart to try and convince people that what we have is perfectly fine, and that there is no reason to strive for a better concept. I mean, if it were working, I'd have to think their sales would be doing far, far better…. I don't really see the marketing brilliance in the status quo, to be honest.
What I've found most disconcerting about this entire subject in the past week (your posting completely aside, this is not in reference to you at all, but more of a generalized comment regarding some of the mail I've gotten in the past several days on my own Facebook page as well as comments elsewhere) is how quickly people are to complain, but when someone dares to point out the real issues or dares to discuss the things that really COULD be changed for the better, in essence daring to criticize Duran Duran, people jump to defend them from the horrible fan who dares to speak the truth. It's both amusing and kind of sad. I'm not one to blow smoke up someone's behind just because I'm a fan. They could and should be shooting for far more than just the status quo. -R
Trying to be anonymous-If you have been a reader of this blog, you will see that we did not demand more of the band during the time that Simon lost his voice. That said, there are ways that any celebrity could show appreciation for the fans without it becoming “kissing our asses”.
-A
I agree that the fans could band together for a cause, if they so choose. That said, I think it is a group effort–band, management and fans to create a fan community. For example, the band has acknowledged fans who have met and travel together. That works to enhance community. Likewise, when the fan club used to do fan events that brought fans together.
-A