> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Artists Should Not Have to Rent Access to Their Fans - URL: https://www.hypebot.com/artists-should-not-have-to-rent-access-to-their-fans/ - Published: 2026-11-10T14:53:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-10T14:53:54.000Z - Description: Artists are losing control of their fan relationships to streaming, social media, and ticketing platforms, but a direct line to fans builds sustainable careers. - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Superfans, Opinions, convert fans, loyal fans, Fans, Subscription, build fan base, Fan Base, grow your fan base, fan relationship *By *Brent Shows*, Founder of* [***Fanaura***](https://www.fanaura.com/?ref=hypebot.com) You can spend years creating music, building a fanbase, and selling tickets, only to discover that you do not actually control your relationship with your fans. Instead, the platforms where your fans follow you control [that relationship](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/relationship/) and charge you to reach the audience you spent years building. An artist I managed had a Billboard hit that took off on radio and social media. When we released his next single, the algorithms on [TikTok](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/tiktok) and [Instagram](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/instagram/) didn’t put it in front of nearly as many people. I heard directly from fans who hadn’t even known he was playing in the next city. They missed the show because they’d never seen the announcement in their feeds. We’d reached millions with one song, and we had no reliable way to tell those listeners where they could hear him play it. I saw the same disconnect while working with some of the biggest companies in the music industry. The technology existed to reach millions of listeners, but independent artists still lacked a reliable way to communicate directly with the people who wanted to hear from them. Think about how backwards that is. Your fans might listen to your music on Spotify or Apple Music, follow you on TikTok or YouTube, and buy tickets through Live Nation’s Ticketmaster or AEG’s AXS. Each company holds a different piece of that relationship, and artists often receive only a fraction of the information. And the numbers behind this are almost unbelievable. According to **IFPI,** the recording industry generated **$31.7 billion worldwide** in 2025\. Some of the most valuable people in that industry are superfans, the people who follow an artist for years and consistently spend money on music, merchandise, and tickets. Luminate’s 2024 year-end report found that U.S. superfans spend 66% more on live music each month than the average American music listener. But here’s the statistic I can’t stop thinking about. In 2025, Spotify reported that its “super listeners” represented, on average, just **2% of an artist’s monthly listeners** but accounted for **50% of ticket sales** through Spotify. Just 2% of listeners drive half of those ticket sales. And it raises a much bigger question. If such a small percentage of an artist’s audience can generate that much activity, how much more could an artist earn if even 10% of the people already listening to their music consistently heard about their next release, new merchandise, or [upcoming shows](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/bandsintown)? People are already [discovering music](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/discovery). The problem is that discovering an artist doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll ever hear about what they do next. Fans should be able to choose which updates they receive and what information they’re comfortable sharing. Artists should be able to keep the data their fans have willingly shared with them and take it wherever they go, regardless of which platforms they use. But that’s not how the music industry works today. Major corporations have long relied on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to centralize customer information and maintain direct relationships with their audiences. Yet much of the music industry still operates through a patchwork of disconnected platforms, leaving artists with fragmented fan data and limited control over how they communicate with their own audiences. When fans sign up to receive music, merchandise, or tour updates, those updates should actually reach them. Artists shouldn’t have to pay again to promote a message to someone who specifically asked to receive it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-10-at-1.57.41---PM.png) **Courtesy of* [**Fanaura*](https://www.fanaura.com/?ref=hypebot.com#how-it-works)**.* I built Fanaura.com because I wanted artists to have a direct relationship with the fans who care enough to support them. Fans shouldn’t have to constantly check social media to find out whether their favorite artist released something new. **Artists spend their careers building relationships with fans. They shouldn't have to keep buying those relationships back.** ***+Read more:*** [*"Why Fan Subscriptions Failed – and What Actually Comes Next"*](https://www.hypebot.com/why-fan-subscriptions-failed-and-what-actually-comes-next/) --- **Brent Shows* is the founder of* [*Fanaura.com*](https://fanaura.com/?ref=hypebot.com)*, a music technology platform helping artists take ownership of their fan relationships through unified fan data, CRM tools, and AI-powered technology. Drawing on his experience in artist management and working with some of the music industry's largest companies, Shows founded Fanaura to address a fundamental challenge facing artists today: the lack of direct access to the audiences they've spent their careers building. x\`*