What comes to mind when you think about the superfan?
Maybe you conjure a vision of a person who so loves an artist that they keep up with them throughout their social media feeds. They’re the ones that can tell you what Tik Tok dance or Instagram photo the artist recently posted. Or maybe you think about a fan who is so crazy dedicated that they travel to a different city to see their favorite artist perform. Or maybe even fly to a tropical resort to see the band perform several days in a row surrounded by all the other superfans.
But what won’t come to mind is the artist’s label, particularly if they’re on a major one. Yes, labels release the artists’ music and of course there probably wouldn’t be fandom without that distribution. But overall labels’ role in the artists life with fans probably seems secondary. Do most fans even know what label their favorite artist is on?
Which is why it might surprise you how much sway labels have over fans’ experience on platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. This became abundantly clear when I was reading Glenn Peoples’ Billboard story where Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek discussed a Superfan demo product his company has built. Ek said he was ‘playing with’ a new version of Spotify that is designed for the superfan, a topic that has been a focus for the industry for the past couple years.
Spotify's announcement came during their February earnings call, where Ek revealed he was personally testing an unreleased superfan product. The timing wasn't accidental - it followed new licensing deals with Universal and Warner Music Group that enable new paid subscription tiers and exclusive content bundles. The message was clear: Spotify is planning to enter the superfan space in a big way.
In some ways, it sounds promising: the company would be the first large platform to tackle the superfan opportunity. But what if I told you that Spotify probably will never launch their superfan product? And that if they do, it’s doomed to failure?
Based on the licensing demands, it seems like Spotify is focused on building a service that provides more. As in: more content and more exclusives from the artist. While it’s true that fans crave more from their favorite artists, content is only one element of superfan engagement that we studied while building Gimme Radio—and it might be the least important one. What we found is that the superfan wanted to hear directly from their artist as well as connect directly with other fans of the artists and genres they cared most about.
I am assuming that the reason content is key element to this new product is because it requires more rights from the labels, and therefore more revenue for them. And that’s a problem. Based on past actions and failed direct to consumer attempts, it’s clear that labels have never, ever, ever understood what fans want. This isn’t a criticism. Labels just aren’t in the fan business. They never have been and that isn’t going to change. I don’t have the time to mention the hundreds of direct to fan initiatives that have failed in the music business.
Maybe that’s what really irks me about all these plans. Labels believe superfans is just another way to squeeze more cash out platforms without really delivering what the fans want. But fans are fans because they love the artist, not the label. If anything, labels intermediating this relationship is diametrically opposed to what most fans want, which is a direct relationship with the artist. Just from a philosophical point of view, I don’t see why labels should take the lead in these services. What value do they add? Fans want a more direct relationship with artists. Fans are on services. Unless an artist has one of those odious 360 deals with a label, where the label gets a piece of everything an artist does in music, it doesn’t make any sense. Fans don’t want or need a middleman.
Don’t get me wrong, the superfan opportunity is huge. However, it will take a shift in priorities, one which puts the relationship between artists and fans first. But with labels calling the shots, all the way down to what the experience looks like, you can expect this latest iteration to once again disappoint fans.
Great stuff Jon 💯