Building Authentic Fan Connections

Ep. 170: We bring you a bumper episode of Music Ally Focus, with four true domain experts, all sharing their advice, insight and strategies for you to use. (UPDATE: we fixed a surprising number of audio glitches!)

Music marketing is in a transitional era where traditional funnel marketing rubs up against wallet-draining superfan campaigns – and the desire to create deep, narrow direct-to-fan communities that will support an artist forever.

So... what's the right path? It's about building a community of people who are thrilled to be part of a fanbase, and who love spending time with each other. But this kind of fanbase might not generate those giant social media or streaming numbers that labels love. So what needs to change? It's a combination of hard work, daring to look past old behaviours, and "random acts of kindness", our experts say.

Our springboard was this article that guest Simon Scott wrote about music discovery and fan commitment: https://musically.com/2025/07/10/how-music-discovery-and-fan-commitment-are-inextricably-linked/

Guests are, in A-Z order:

• Aaron Bogucki – founder of direct-to-fan services company Big Cookie 
• Keziah Reed – Digital Marketing Manager, Artist Services, UK, at Believe
• Robyn Elton – Head of Artist Strategy (Audience) at agency Blackstar
• Simon Scott – Founder & CEO of fan engagement technology company Push entertainment