Articles

The Fan Club Debate

Article posted on Sep 19, 2007 by Ian Lashbrook

By: EddieCash

The Fan Club Debate

When I was about 15 years old I got an envelope in the mail from Biohazard, a band I was seriously jocking at the time. While I can't really remember all of what was inside, what stuck out the most was an order form I could fill out and send back with some of my hard earned allowance to become a member of the official Biohazard fan club. I remember thinking 'What the fuck? I have to send you money to be an "official" fan?' Something smelled fishy and instead of sending a check from my parents, I sent back a profanity laced message along with my name, address and phone number.

Well someone got back to me. I don't remember if it was by phone or through the postal service, but whoever it was, she seemed to put things into perspective somewhat. Apparently putting together official fan clubs take time and money. No one wants to spend their own cash without compensation so in order to get updates, t-shirts, stickers, or whatever to those who want them, it'll cost you. Either way, it just didn't seem worth it to me. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, no fan club has ever seemed worth it, but that's just me.

So are these things a great way for listeners to get closer to their favorite bands? Or are they simply a way for already wealthy musicians to milk more money out of the very people who lined their pockets? Take a look at what these clubs are offering.

According to a press release, the official Avenged Sevenfold fan club gives you "a ton of awesome features including an early admission pass to all headlining general admission shows, the new CD/MVI which includes the new album and over 2 hours of exclusive footage, the opportunity to take advantage of Avenged Sevenfold ticket pre-sales, plus much, much more!" All this, including the vague and unpromising "much, much more" will set you back $25.99 for one year.

AFI has "The Despair Faction," their official fan club. It's four bucks more than Avenged Sevenfold's but that extra money will last you a lifetime. No need to renew every year. The club's site says "The purpose of The Despair Faction is to give back to those who have demonstrated a true understanding of, and devotion to, AFI. This is for the fan-letter fans, the gift-package fans, the first-in-line fans, the front-of-the-stage fans, the eight-hour-drive fans, the cross-country-flight fans, the fan-since-I-was-a-kid fans, the fan-till-I-die fans..." What about the I-was-a-fan-when-you-played-straight-up-hard-core fans? I guess if you can't grow with the band, you're not welcome in The Despair Faction.

Anyway... for a lifetime membership of $29.99 you get a T-shirt, button, armband, sticker, patch, and poster (all of which are exclusive to members). You also get to buy more shit from the exclusive store, exclusive audio and video, a magazine "when a new issue comes out," and a chance for various meet and greet sessions with AFI. There are other perks, but none really worth mentioning unless Davey Havok is your God. If that's the case, you're probably already a member.

Even new bands are playing the fan club game. Paramore is getting 30 bucks a year from the die hard faithful for the usual t-shirt/sticker/exclusive audio/etc. On a messageboard dedicated to Paramore, posters are questioning if international memberships are worth it. One person says it's 50 bucks and another claims "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that all the exclusive videos/pics/etc. from the site will end up here on p.org and the forums. You'll still get first shot at tickets for international shows, I'll bet, but that only seems incredibly useful for people who live in the UK." Hmmm... makes sense. So are you really only paying 30 bucks for a t-shirt and a sticker?

Of course these are all bands who have broken out of the underground and had at least some mainstream success. At this point in their careers, it may be a little hard for them to stick around after a show and bullshit with their fans. On the other hand, most of the bands who fall under the punk umbrella will always remain underground. Will you ever have to pay to join a Strike Anywhere or Paint It Black official fan club? Doubtful, but then again, these guys are not hard to track down if you want to say hi and thanks for the music.

I always figured that if bands were truly grateful for the fans who put them where they are, maybe THE BANDS should be the ones paying the costs to run fan clubs. Mailing lists are free and give you all you need to know. What good is a welcoming letter going to do you in six months? Is that t-shirt really worth 30 bucks considering they're usually half that price at shows? Do you really need to get tickets before everyone else? The seats won't be better, especially if it's a general admission show.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is do we not do enough for the bands we love? We buy their albums (even that deluxe, special edition crap), go see them when they play our town, and buy their merch. Do we really need to drop even more money just so we can bust out our fan club membership card to buy even more crap we probably don't even need? Maybe you do, but I'll pass. I'm good with the music.