Hello Reader — Happy Thursday!

​How fan-first marketing actually works​

The second installment in our new series Music Data Decoded is out now, and it's on one of the buzziest topics in the industry today: Fan data.

It's ironic that one of the strongest forces driving major shakeups across the industry is also one of its oldest. For as long as people have bought music products and experiences, fandom — the collective behaviors, communities, and data trails created by dedicated listeners and supporters — has served as a critical economic engine for the industry.

Current market realities have put superfans back to center stage, as a vital lifeline for artists and music corporations alike. Streaming revenue growth is dwindling, even as more fans globally come online; only a minority of artists are seeing increased gig fees to account for rising touring costs, despite ticketing prices skyrocketing.

As existing infrastructure falls short, artists are increasingly demanding tools to rally and communicate directly with their greatest supporters. Central to this demand is data: Information about who is most engaged with an artist’s work, where and how they are engaging, and, most importantly, why.

We interviewed several key strategists, builders, and leaders to get their take on fan data — what kinds of data are actually valuable, where to get it, and how to use it strategically:

• ​Bandcamp: Dan Melnick, Director of Product, Artists & Labels
• ​Big Cookie: Aaron Bogucki, Founder
• ​Cyber PR: Ariel Hyatt, Founder
• ​Fave: Jacquelle Horton, Founder/CEO
• ​Levellr: Taz Sharp, Music Lead

A preview of the takeaways from this article: As Horton's framework above suggests, fans are not a monolith. Many leading strategists and state-of-the-art data tools are segmenting fans more granularly, based on factors like engagement intensity, spending behavior, and social influence.

Click below to read our full analysis:

NEXT WEEK: Three music AI trends to watch in 2025

Our next webinar is in less than 7 days! We'll be breaking down three pivotal music AI trends that will shape the industry in 2025 — much of which is flying under the mainstream radar.

• Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
• Time: 1PM–2:30PM EDT
• Location: Online via Zoom

​In this 90-minute session, W&M team members Cherie Hu (Founder), Alexander Flores (CTO), and Yung Spielburg (AI Analyst) will give you a bird's-eye view on the most hyped music-tech story of the year, drawing from our research on 200+ AI startups, 400+ news developments, and thousands of academic papers.

​We'll map out the current state of the music AI market, followed by a comprehensive breakdown of three key trends:

• Synthetic data: ​AI developers are investing in synthetic training data to achieve more with less — a paradigm that could undermine traditional models of data licensing between developers and rights holders.
• Model controllability: ​AI models are advancing to enable more creative customization and agency, and therefore higher quality, in their outputs — raising critical questions about how professional artists will continue to have leverage in an AI-first world.
• AI content and copyright detection: Numerous tools are emerging to detect audio deepfakes, audit training data, and attribute outputs to specific training inputs — establishing a new, if somewhat rocky, foundation for rights management and IP protection with AI tools.

​​We'll leave at least 20 minutes at the end for audience Q&A. By the end, you'll be equipped with the improved technical literacy, commercial context, and strategic mindset needed to maximize your work with AI in the upcoming year.

Click below to reserve your spot (our members get in FREE). We look forward to seeing you there!

Want to dive deeper into how technology will transform the music business?

A Water & Music membership is the best investment you can make to level up on music-tech innovation. Through our unique blend of data-driven research and education, we help our global community of thousands of artists and industry professionals not just stay ahead of the curve, but also translate emerging trends into transformative business opportunities.

Our members get the following perks:

• Full access to our market research on music-tech trends
• Complimentary admission to our monthly webinars
• Private, off-the-record Discord server
• Discounts for our merch and online courses

​Join today — as a free newsletter subscriber, you can use the code FRIENDSOFWM for 15% off. (Valid only for new and reactivated subscriptions.) We'd love to have you!