Fans’ Emails A Gold Mine

Data supplied by Topspin Media., a music sales and marketing platform that manages online stores for thousands of artists, comes from a new feature that allows artists to track the average value of fan emails from mobile phones.

The data shows fans who get free music in exchange for contact information are 11 times more likely to purchase music, tickets and merch directly from a band than fans who aren’t awarded any perks.

The sales increase varies per act, Topspin said.

Arcade Fire fans reportedly spend a lifetime average of $6.26 each and Pixies fans $4.29 but Sigur Rós fans average $10.91 and Umphrey’s McGee fans $32.96.

Selling directly to fans also builds revenue by reducing or limiting the need for retailers and other middlemen, the company said.

ReverbNation, a digital platform, reportedly sees brands that pay to reach fans as valuing those fans more.

“The value of a fan isn’t so much in what they’re going to buy,” ReverbNation chief exec Mike Doernberg,” told the Wall Street Journal. “Fans have become a currency that bands can use” to secure corporate sponsorships and other deals such as song placement in commercials, TV shows and video games.