The marketing magic of including your fans in your process
Producer and DJ Downupright explains how they have invited fans to do more than just listen to their music. This not only boosts engagement but is also a great way to build a mutually beneficial bond with your fanbase.
by Bill Boulden AKA Downupright via IndieOnTheMove
Guest post written by Downupright, a producer, composer, & DJ from Buffalo, NY. They/them have released many projects over the years under a variety of different artist names. In their “spare” time, Downupright is a serial startup entrepreneur and fractional Chief Technology Officer of between four and ten startups at once.
Hi! I’m Bill Boulden, also known as the producer and DJ “Downupright”, and in a past life I was “Spruke” as well. My thing is ambitious Kickstarters that push the boundaries of what’s possible with musical releases: taking things beyond the audio file.
Offer Something More Than Traditional Fandom
In 2015 I successfully funded Music To Die Alone In Space To, a generative album that was rerecorded in its entirety for every backer—I recorded that album 310 times. In 2018 I completed Pieces, another unique-copies album that split a disjointed story across 96 copies via snippets of “found audio” in a process I called distributed storytelling. Now in 2024 I am back at it again with having freshly completed We’re Doomed, We’re Dancing—60 tracks in 60 different genres in 60 minutes, with the genres determined by the fans via polls and surveys.
Listen on Spotify:
Across all three projects, the unifying theme was that I was asking more from my listeners and backers than simply “go stream my track”, “follow me on TikTok” etc… I was asking them to participate. I wanted them to have some skin in the game.
+5 ways musicians can engage their audience online
Expect The Unexpected
The takeaway, of course, is I must warn you: this is inviting chaos. And I mean that in the good way! The entire purpose of this is to sort of give up control, a little bit of “Jesus, take the wheel!” It’s the sort of love-based “giving up control and accepting chaos” that I’ve heard accompanies welcoming a child or pet into your life. The fans, by participating, will surprise you, and the only constant is not being sure what you will find yourself doing next.
By inviting the fans to choose the genres for We’re Doomed, We’re Dancing, I discovered myself facing new challenges I would never have faced without them; and the product is that much better for it. I did not see it coming that they would ask for a They Might Be Giants-type pastiche genre track; and I found myself digging out the accordion (!) while writing a song about thermodynamics. I did not expect that a backer would ask for a chorale, and I found myself hiring an entire choir to perform an original chamber piece! Without opening myself up to this sort of free-for-all input, I probably would have just explored sixty kinds of EDM. I’m so glad I did this, though, and it really shows in the end work.
Do Protect Ya Neck Legally
Just some nickel-and-dime stuff, though, you will want to be very clear that participation does preclude a release from credit or compensation. I am no lawyer (If you’d like one, I recommend the excellent Ryan Kairalla!) but the basics are that you do just want to unambiguously say that by freely giving you the brainstorm idea, the person is agreeing that they aren’t coming back and demanding half the royalties later because “they had the idea”. (Don’t sweat it, it’s not heartless—ideas are cheap and execution is everything, I say this in my day job with app startups all the time.)
Encourage an Ownership Mentality In Fans
The final step, once you’ve delivered a killer product that grew organically out of fan involvement, is to foster amongst your audience a sense that they are allowed to go a step further than regular fans. We’re not some aloof Thom Yorke recording our challenging, ineffable work in a quiet studio somewhere; we’re not Taylor Swift where fans can only ever hope to consume, in a one-way, unidirectional flow of content that comes down from up top but never bottom-up. We have welcomed fans into the conversation and now they should be aware that they can engage a little bit more with your work than the average consumption habits.
You don’t have to just listen in Spotify, click save, and be on your merry way. Tell your friends! Point to the tracklist and say “You know what’s cool? I voted for that track.” Let your fans know that they are allowed to be part of this story, in a narrative sense, unlike with a Yorke or Swift or you only ever get to observe from outside.”
