5.22.12 THE DARK SIDE - Post here if.....

This post is probably too long! My apologies. I don't have time to post more frequently or to come back very often, so feel free to scroll.



I'm quite sure there are many fans who are involved in message boards/communities who never request or even buy a cd, because their goal is social interaction and personal validation. Stanning Adam is just a vehicle for achieving those goals. However, I think most fans of ANY artist never call a radio station and I think the stats are something like 85% of all non-country music is illegally downloaded. I doubt the stats on Adam's fans would show LESS requesting or legal sales than other non-country artists.

I do think there are fans who used to be more involved in promoting and supporting Adam's work than they are today. The investment fans had in Adam coming off of Idol as FYE was released, especially after the backlash from the AMAs, is much greater than it is right now. I'd argue that the AMAs and losing to NAL helped mobilized his fanbase in ways they might not otherwise have been (and made blatant homophobia more unacceptable than it is right now).

As an example, I knew plenty of serious fans who were not fond of WWFM, but who requested the hell out of it largely due to their anger over the AMA backlash as much as out of their desire to see Adam succeed. I knew fans of all ages who'd never requested a song in their lives who requested WWFM. They have not been requesting BTIKM or NCOE because they're not fond of either of those songs and they feel a little burnt out about being told to request singles they don't like. Without an external rallying cry, as it were, they have no incentive to request a song they don't care for. That's reality -- people don't request songs they don't like. Another reality is that getting people to do something -- even request a song they DO like -- sometimes requires more incentive than, "I like that song."

I also know some formerly serious fans who have over time backed away from requesting and voting, etc because of a variety of fandom issues that have made the fandom less enjoyable. Music, entertainment is about pleasure and if you're not getting it, naturally you back away. I know people who got disgusted with RCA ED on AO or who can't stand radio attitudes or who've left in disgust after reading one too many times that they're old and unwanted in some way; you simply cannot expect to tell people to go away or treat them with disrespect and yet also expect them to promote. Human nature is such that when you tell them to go home, they're going to take their toys with them.

If you're going to excise a demographic, you'd better have a replacement bubbling up. As I noted in an earlier post my niece is in that coveted teen/YA demo and many of her friends were Adam fans and only she even knew he had a new cd out, let alone that there was a 2nd single. The marketing/promo has not reached that coveted demographic. I was actually thinking about this issue last week when I was at a going-out-of-business sale for a company that sold religious supplies. (Don't even ask.) A year ago, the owner made a decision that although he'd been in business for 30 years supplying to both Heffalumps and Woozles, his personal principles were such that he did not feel comfortable supplying to Woozles any more and got rid of all Woozles stock. He did not do a study to ascertain if there were enough Heffalumps to keep him in business and/or how he might snag more Heffalump business. He just got rid of the Woozles. And so a year later, a 30 year old business is gone because he excised one demographic but did not increase sales in the other (or retool his store into a smaller business).

I also think the total number of fans has undoubtedly gone down. Adam is in artist, but he is in, after all, the entertainment business -- you have to keep entertaining people and you have to do it when they want it. Two and a half years between cd drops is an eternity.

Someone who was in the entertainment industry for decades once told me, "When you get down to it, the critical factor in this biz is timing. From how an actor reads their line to how a singer pauses for a breath or holds a note to when you market a new show... the make or break factor is timing."

I do think timing played a role, plus I think there are additional factors. The delay in getting new music (which included release dates that came and went); Idol-based fans moving on; the Beg for Money/Monte fiasco; what some fans feel is the mainstreaming or neutralizing of Adam's look and his music (in the form of BTIKM and NCOE) to garner broader radio support which hasn't seemed to happen; a first single that seemed to fall flat with a portion of the diehard fanbase in an oddly timed and then seemingly botched release, immediately followed by the Finland incident... Keep in mind that if you are a casual fan, you probably heard nothing about new music until his cd dropped. All of these issues are quite possibly have caused discouragement and/or disinterest, especially in more casual fans.

But that's all water under the bridge, IMO. The key question NOW is how to reignite interest in previous fans and gain new fans. I think the answer lies in creative, out-of-the-box marketing and cross promotion.

I agree, Tigerlily. History has shown that EVERY person off AI loses a huge chunk of their fanbase by album two. People either move on, or are simply much less invested. The hope is that the artist can break out of the Idol bubble and gain new fans to counter this. Gaining new (and younger) fans is proving to be a challenge for all of them---especially when radio no longer seems to want to cooperate with reality show alums.

I think Adam is doing the best he can.

AlexandraKv


I'm so glad you came across DTRH!!!

Oh Lynne

For old times sake ;D: