1000 True Fans

The article “1000 True Fans,” written by Kevin Kelley proposes the idea that an artist will only need an audience of 1000 people willing to contribute a day’s paycheck per year in order to make $100,000 a year. Kelley defines “True Fans” as those willing to buy everything an artist has to offer. He also says that with advances in technology and the popularity of the internet it is very easy for an artist to directly connect to their fans. By maintaining a direct connection it will be easy to maintain a loyal fan base.
Once the artist establishes their True Fans there will be a greater number of lesser fans. Lesser fans are defined as fans who buy only certain products produced by the artist. With a committed base of 1000 True Fans and a number of lesser fans, Kelley says that artists should not aim for super-stardom but for becoming a micro-celebrity or for micro-patronage. While many artists do not dream of this it is a way for them to make a living doing what they love.
The number of people involved with the artist will affect the number of True Fans needed to support the project. The correlation is linear. The number of True Fans needed directly relates to the number of people involved. The number of fans needed will also depend on the given profession. A designer may need a different number of True Fans than an author. Kelley gives an example of an author who asked their True Fans for a donation of $100 per month to publish chapters of their book online. When the book was entirely online they then published it for the rest of the fans. Kelley is incredibly enthusiastic about this method and makes it sounds like this is the answer for all artists.
Both “The Reality of Depending on True Fans” and “The Case Against 1000 True Fans,” both by Kevin Kelley bring up the more realistic aspects of relying on True Fans for a living. The first article recognizes the lack of evidence for “1000 True Fans” and gives an article by Robert Rich to support his previous claim. Rich dealt with his fans directly through his own website and needed his window of exposure in order to get started. He used a few small labels and says that the internet was a great help. Although he makes a living he admits to not making more than a garbage man and says that most of his fans in Russia do not pay for his music which lessens his profit.
The second article says that, based on research, very few artists rely entirely on True Fans for their income. It takes a lot of work to maintain a True Fan base and many artists do not have the knowledge or abilities needed to focus both on their art and their fans. Also, many artists would rather focus solely on their art and not on the demanding job of maintaining their fan base.
The final article “The Problem With 1000 True Fans” was the most realistic when it came to addressing this theory. The article cites five key reasons why surviving on only 100 True Fans will not work. The first problem is that gathering the 1000 fans is hard. The artist will need to be a little bit famous first in order to gain 1000 True Fans. Second, the available number of people is not the entire population of the world it is only the number of people willing to spend $100 a year on an artist. This makes it a lot harder. Third, with a limited number of people willing to spend $100 on art per year this means that artists will have to compete for these people. This means that some people will have to be willing to spend hundreds of dollars a year on multiple artists. This group is even smaller than the last. Fourth, chances are that True Fans will not stay True Fans forever. This means that an artist will constantly need to gain new True Fans every year in order to maintain their 1000 making it an ongoing struggle. And finally, the fifth and final reason is that just because a True Fan will spend $100 a year does not mean that the artist will receive $100 dollars a year.
When reading the first article I found it to be kind of unrealistic. It seemed like an easy concept but there were too many factors not recognized. It made it sound like anyone could do this incredibly easily, and there are people out there just waiting to be your fans. Even the second two articles missed many of the main points when attempting to address the main issues. I found the fourth and final article to be the most informative and the most realistic. My first thought when reading Kevin Kelley’s first article was exactly what the author of the last article addresses in his fifth point. Although you may make the $100 dollars from each person, it doesn’t necessarily mean you get that much to keep. The money has to go to your supplies, your tools, and your help with the projects if you have any. All in all, I think the idea has potential but is not a realistic plan for everyone to make a living.