Another Musician Who Recognizes The Concept Of True Fans

from the flo-rida dept

Tue, Mar 18th 2008 12:01pm — Mike Masnick

News.com is running an interview with an up and coming hip hop artist named Flo Rida who appears to clearly grasp the concept of True Fans. When asked if he gets upset about people sharing his music online he says:

"If you're really in touch with your fans on a personal level then you don't have to worry about things like that. A lot of times I make sure I go onto MySpace and holler at my fans, looking at them on YouTube, showing love, making sure that I'm in tune more so on a personal level than just having a hot song...cause these are people who just might want to go to the store to get the album as well as download. These are people who might want to put your poster on the wall or see your (album) art.

The reporter also notes that he used to shout his cell phone number out during concerts. It appears that treating his fans right has its rewards. One of his songs set a record with 13 straight weeks at the top of the charts as the most popular ringtone and he has two Top 10 digital singles on the charts despite the fact his album hasn't even been released yet.

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Filed Under: 1000 true fans, flo rida, music, true fans

23 Comments

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Jake, 18 Mar 2008 @ 12:18pm

Well, more power to him. Shame his stuff's so powerfully average though.
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Lucretious, 18 Mar 2008 @ 12:20pm

Mike, I'm curious why you didn't pick up the Clive Davis statement story (how he feels that singers shouldn't be writing their own material). Seems like it would've been a good discussion.
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Hellsvilla, 18 Mar 2008 @ 12:23pm

I dont get your closing statement.
Why the insinuation that an "album" is anything of any relevance at all?
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DanC, 18 Mar 2008 @ 1:23pm

Quick.....
Someone come up with a reason why this couldn't possibly work for anyone else.
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Jim, 18 Mar 2008 @ 1:26pm

Re: I dont get your closing statement.
Why don't you explain why his closing statement is irrelevant rather than ask him to justify it. It made sense to me: Flo Rida's record hasn't hit store shelves yet, but it is apparently very popular despite that fact. If this is a logical fallacy, please enlighten.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2008 @ 1:28pm

I don't see what's so astounding about treating 'fans' as valued customers. Seems like plain old everyday good business economics to me.
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JS Beckerist, 18 Mar 2008 @ 1:53pm

Completely lame plug
Completely lame plug here, but Flo-Rida's song "Low" is the most hits of all lyrics I've transcribed (started in November)

http://www.beckerist.com/lyrics/Flo-Rida_ft_T-Pain_-_Low.html
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Michael Long, 18 Mar 2008 @ 2:13pm

Birdmonster
Interesting. I noticed, however, that you tend to skip over news that doesn't support your premise. Chris Anderson just posted about the long-tail band Birdmonster, which just left the ranks of the "do it yourself" group to sign with a label.

To quote, "Do we want to be musicians or do we want to run a business? To do both equally well just seemed unrealistic."
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Mike (profile), 18 Mar 2008 @ 3:00pm

Re: Birdmonster
Interesting. I noticed, however, that you tend to skip over news that doesn't support your premise. Chris Anderson just posted about the long-tail band Birdmonster, which just left the ranks of the "do it yourself" group to sign with a label.

How does that disagree with what we said? I've always said there's a room for the labels to act as the business partners for musicians... it's just that it should be in helping them sell the scarce goods, not the infinite goods.

I never said the bands should do it all themselves. There's definitely room for business partners to manage the business. In fact, that's exactly what I was saying the RIAA members should be focused on:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070201/004218.shtml

So, actually that story is an example of exactly what I believe will happen.

And I didn't "skip over" the story because it didn't support my theory (which it actually does). I hadn't seen that story, and now that I have, perhaps I will write it up. There are thousands of stories a day. I have time to write maybe 10 to 12. If I don't write one of the others, it doesn't mean I'm ignoring it...
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teknosapien, 18 Mar 2008 @ 3:06pm

Well this is not the first band/artist
to do this - remember that little old bad called the Grateful Dead they used their fans to spread the music which did promote the band. When they were touring they were the top grossing touring band in the world beating out the Rolling Stones and others on several occasions. as for the "Do we want to be musicians or do we want to run a business?" the smart move would be to hire the right people (fans) to run the business portion of the venture, while, you the band work on the Music. Any band that goes the way of a record company is probably not one I would listen to anyway so as it speaks to the core reason why they are a band in the first place
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2008 @ 3:49pm

Re: Well this is not the first band/artist
I'm confused. The Grateful Dead had a record company.
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Mike (profile), 18 Mar 2008 @ 4:06pm

Re: Re: Well this is not the first band/artist
I'm confused. The Grateful Dead had a record company.

What does having a record label have to do with anything? Whether or not you have a record label has nothing to do with accepting new business models.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2008 @ 4:15pm

Re: Re: Re: Well this is not the first band/artist
Mike, I agree completely. My confusion was regarding teknosapian's post. He held the Grateful Dead up as and example but then said he would not listen to a band that "went the way of a record company" The two comments seemed mutually exclusive as I understood them.
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Wolfer (profile), 18 Mar 2008 @ 5:41pm

Re: I dont get your closing statement.
The album is relevant in that it isn't relevant... or at least not as relevant as the RIAA thinks. That's the point.

It's relevant to the discussion of whether or not albums are important for artists to be popular or to get exposure. If an artist can have this much exposure when the album hsn't even been made available yet, then the relevant question is "how important (relevant) can the album really be to an artist's success?"
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Twinrova, 19 Mar 2008 @ 4:02am

+1 for the Artist, -1 to the RIAA
It's great to see a change in the industry. I didn't think I'd live to see the day. Hopefully, this trend continues with other artists.

But what about "retro" music? Sadly, I see no "free download" future for this stuff, which is a shame.

My vehicle is in the shop so I'm driving the second car, which has no MP3 playing capability. I've been flipping stations constantly, trying to find something decent on the radio.

My goodness, I can't believe today's music sucks so bad. I can't believe anyone charges for this crap. Well, even if "Flo Rida" (oh come on!!!) does offer freebees, it will go to the crowd that apparently finds the music entertaining.

I may not like the music, but I certainly enjoy the change.

I'll accept that happily.
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:HAn., 19 Mar 2008 @ 5:07am

Re: Re: Well this is not the first band/artist
11. teknospien didnt explain fully. The Grateful Dead (as well as another hugely successful band, Phish) would allow fans to tape their concerts and encouraged sharing the music. Both of these bands probably had the most die-hard fan base of all time and their concert grossings were among the top (and yes, they sold and continue to sell TONS of records). The music industry always seems to forget this for some reason....Probably because it PUTS THEM OUT OF A JOB
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:HAn., 19 Mar 2008 @ 5:07am

Re: Re: Well this is not the first band/artist
11. teknospien didnt explain fully. The Grateful Dead (as well as another hugely successful band, Phish) would allow fans to tape their concerts and encouraged sharing the music. Both of these bands probably had the most die-hard fan base of all time and their concert grossings were among the top (and yes, they sold and continue to sell TONS of records). The music industry always seems to forget this for some reason....Probably because it PUTS THEM OUT OF A JOB
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Hit Beats, 31 Jul 2008 @ 12:50am

Fans are important!
It would be nice if Indie hip hop and rap artist, and R&B artist can get a REAL chance that allows them to get noticed by real fans.. Indie is the way to go. Already the production side is available. I get tracks and beats from http:.//www.beatslocker.com and they are totally hit major sound and great quality hip hop and rap beats. So that side is covered where as before only then major labels had access to these producers.. I already have airplay and Uni has contacted me! But in the end it would be nice to stay indie and keep the cash...all that remains to conquer is promo and marketing.. distribution is even covered .... when that happens majors are truly over!
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Right hip hop, 31 Jul 2008 @ 1:07am

Make fans Notice or whats the point?
It would be nice if Indie hip hop and rap artist, and R&B;artist can get a REAL chance that allows them to get noticed. Indie is the way to go. This could be another step for the indie and the end of major labels. ITunes def helped as you can distribute like the majors. Already the production side is available. I get tracks and beats from : http://www.beatslocker.com and they are totally hit major sound and great quality hip hop and rap beats. That was never available before....So that side is covered where as before only the major labels had access to these producers.. I already have airplay and Uni has contacted me! But in the end it would be nice to stay indie and keep the cash...all that remains to conquer is promo and marketing.. distribution is even covered .... when that happens majors are truly over!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Right hip hop, 31 Jul 2008 @ 1:09am

Make fans Notice or whats the point?
It would be nice if Indie hip hop and rap artist, and R&B;artist can get a REAL chance that allows them to get noticed. Indie is the way to go. This could be another step for the indie and the end of major labels. ITunes def helped as you can distribute like the majors. Already the production side is available. I get tracks and beats from :

http://www.beatslocker.com

and they are totally hit major sound and great quality hip hop and rap beats. That was never available before....So that side is covered where as before only the major labels had access to these producers.. I already have airplay and Uni has contacted me! But in the end it would be nice to stay indie and keep the cash...all that remains to conquer is promo and marketing.. distribution is even covered .... when that happens majors are truly over!
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Kris Carter, 8 Oct 2008 @ 3:02pm

Downloading
Yea I kinda like Flo-rida, and it is true if you connect with your fans on a higher level you wont have to worry about new age downloading as much becuase they will go buy it after they download it, assuming its good material. also check out http://www.getbeatsonline.com for free beats.
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Ray, 16 Nov 2008 @ 4:09am

Rap Beats
Well I'm a big fan of www.ideclaresamples.com for rap beats and hip hop beats
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Ray, 21 Jan 2009 @ 7:46pm

Re: Rap Beats
O I Declare Samples move the to www.ideclaremusic.com just a update on them lol but this is the one for rap beats
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