The music industry has created an unrealistic image of success for artists. If a typical independent artist is able to amass just 1,000 of these type of fans, they’ll be able to make a content living. These type of fans would be willing to drive for hours just to see you perform they’d be ready to cop the vinyl versions of your music buy the latest merchandise you put out share your videos on YouTube. These principles outlined in his essay can be directly applied to independent artists and how they create DIY revenue streams.Īccording to Kelly, a true fan is someone who is willing to buy anything you produce.

To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.

You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine, wrote a very influential essay back in 2008 on the notion of 1,000 true fans.

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