FUGA’s Marketing Strategy Manager, Rock, Ben Patashnik, is joined by Mark Walker, Managing Director at Free Focus, for a discussion on finding an authentic artist community, using that knowledge to build an informed content strategy, and taking care of your fans with a long-term trust strategy.
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FUGA’s Ben Patashnik and Free Focus’s Mark Walker deep-dive into the strategies that laser-focus on bringing value to fans. Taking singer-songwriter RØRY’s example, Patashnik and Walker break down how fandom accelerated the success of RØRY’s track, Restoration, which debuted at number 10 with 6,299 units in its opening week in January. Her latest music video for single, Dead Girl Walking, released on November 21st.
Walker, who manages RØRY at Free Focus, reveals how RØRY’s move into a more metal sound resonated with fans. “She was doing pop punk, emo kind of stuff before. Now it’s gone heavier, and the rock fans definitely have more of that community vibe compared to some other genres.”
“She’s got that loyal fan base that’s there for the music and that sense of community around what she’s doing,” says Walker.
From a distribution perspective, Patashnik reported witnessing the trickle-down effect of RØRY’s rising fandom. “It’s been a great demonstration of her fan base. They’re invested in RØRY, and the message that she’s putting out feels very authentic.”
RØRY’s lyrics cover her history of trauma, drug and alcohol addiction problems, and living with ADHD. Walker believes it’s RØRY’s lyrics that resonate more deeply with her fans. That lyrical content paired with rock, Walker says, is why the community is so strong for RØRY. “It’s coming together so tightly because they’re all kind of in it together.”
“The community is driven by rock, RØRY herself, and the social media channel ADHD Love run by RØRY and her partner, Richard Pink. We [Free Focus] manage that, too. She’s there, she knows what the fans are there for, and why they’re resonating with her. And she’s given them that home to come together.”
According to Walker, it all starts with the internal process of observing, finding, and understanding who the fan base really is.
Walker reveals that RØRY’s audience and fandom are organic, contrasting it with how labels and managers are notorious for pushing artists to use TikTok.
“A lot of RØRY’s fan community existed before Free Focus even got involved. And that’s what attracted us to the project, along with her music. We don’t force anything,” reveals Walker.
Patashnik pointed out that Free Focus’s community strategy appears aggressively focused on ‘honesty and authenticity coming from the artist.’
Walker agrees, explaining that RØRY’s organic story is the secret ingredient. “Her genuine story of having, in her words, tried and failed to be a musician throughout her 20s. Then she lost her mum, and dealing with that led to drug and alcohol issues and things.”
“So she’s worked through that. She then found love later with Rich and started ADHD Love. It’s a feel-good story. Being a Top 10 album with your debut album at the age of 40. Not many artists can say that; especially in an industry where age is often a stigma or has been in the past.”
Walker lays out how Free Focus tries to gamify engagement with incentives. Apart from Free Focus’s usual front-facing social media strategies, less glamorous avenues such as email lists are leveraged to deliver value to fans.
“We mix it up. We make sure we’re doing all the traditional things right. We’re servicing the songs, the radio, and pushing for DSPs and the rest. But alongside that, the mailing list is a big win for us.”
“We’re up to like 35,000 sign-ups. 5,000 of those came around the time of the ‘Degradation’ release. It’s one thing to get the email signed up. How do you engage them?”
Free Focus created a microsite where fans can scan a QR code for a shoutout on stage and be entered into RØRY’s live draw for a free merch bundle at the end of the night. “We’ll also look at incentives for being on the email list. Should we give them the link to the music video 48 hours before the song officially comes out?”
“We give fans a reason to engage by giving them a bit of love. We’ve had cases in the past where we haven’t been able to sort them out for a show, so we put them on the guest list for the next one. Just like that, little touches can make a difference.”
Patashnik encourages this mix of ‘new school tools with old school basics’ that cover fans’ needs.
Walker explains why nurturing and valuing fans is so vital to Free Focus. “It’s something an agent said to me years ago, and it stuck with me. At the end of a gig, I’d made a flippant comment about being a bit knackered and wanting to get home. And the agent basically said these fans are paying our mortgages, so we need to look after them, and we need to look after the artists.”
“So we’re always having discussions about merch prices for tours. Our merch company says we’re pricing it too low, but we believe it’s more fan-friendly,” Walker says, adding, “It’s important that fans don’t walk away feeling like they’ve been ripped off.”
Patashnik commented on this ‘long-term approach to building and nurturing the fanbase.’ He adds, “For the music industry as a whole, similar long-term strategizing would yield a lot better results for most people.”
Walker admits Free Focus is in a privileged position that allows it to charge less for merchandise. “We’ve got FUGA giving us the service we need as a distro. It’s a really nice position to be in.”
“We have a better royalty return by being on that type of deal as well, so we’re able to look at things a little bit differently. As long as the merch is making a healthy profit that can be reinvested in music videos or content or the next stage of the tour production, then great.”
“Tickets are selling, the records are selling. We can look at the PNL and reinvest money into things because we’re not on a traditional record deal. We’ve made a distribution deal, so we have full control over everything in that respect.”
IN FOCUS is Downtown Music’s latest online content series, featuring conversations among Downtown Music team members, their clients, and industry partners. The collection of videos and podcasts offers diverse perspectives on the trends driving evolution in the music business.
