Primarily, we're talking musicians. So in this letter, I am going to address you as if you're a musician. But really, it applies just as strongly to other fields: some artists in the world of film, literature, even "Art." Basically, any individual whose fame and livelihood depends on coming up with creative ideas and executing them on a high-profile scale. If you're in that category, please listen to me: I want to talk about your fans.
We all grow up hearing the story of someone's biggest fan, who got a personal letter from their idol and the beauty of that one act changed their life. This interaction tends to get held up as the ideal for how good artists ought to behave.
Well let me tell you something. I'm a real fan. I'll tell you what I want from the artists that I admire: I want them to do their job. I want them to do their work. Because the real work you do, through your art...that can touch and change millions of lives. Spend your energies writing songs, creating art, building your legacy - not trying to foster some needy person's parasitic personal-relationship fantasy.
Who is the real fan? The one whose priority is to have a personal connection with you? Or the one whose priority is the music that you have created and the music that you are creating (or ought to be!)? The distinction couldn't be more obvious. I have no idea how the common perception has become so moony and wrong-headed, but I assure you that the vast majority of your fans are true fans who only want you to do what's best for the music. The personal attention junkies are a tiny, tiny minority who want you to spend a huge, disproportionate amount of your time pleasing them. It validates their delusions of specialness.
Oh, there are some stars who love and enjoy reading and personally answering fan letters. They draw energy from that. It adds to their creative juice. And if that works for you, then by all means, enjoy! That's a win-all-around situation. But most stars, particularly your real artists, your personally-tortured types with the esteem issues...they find themselves very conflicted and ambivalent about the adulation. What normal person wouldn't? They find that involving themselves personally in it is a chore and a creative drain. Yet so many of them put themselves through it anyway, because they're basically nice people. They don't want to be the bad idol...whose poor fan sits at home sniffling over unanswered letters. The result is that they wear themselves down and drain their creative energies doing something that only benefits that one fan (however many of that fan there may be - they're basically all the same person).
I'm pissed off about it! Anyone who would rather that you spend your time on a personal letter, instead of perfecting the epoch-breaking album that we all know you have in you...that person is NOT A FAN. Period! That person is a sad, sick individual. They don't give a damn on what matters to you and to the real fans! The music is all that matters. The vast majority of your true, dedicated fans know that. Your true fans are the ones who have invested their hearts and their lives in your music (and would love you to give them more of it) - they're not the ones obsessively trying to forge some bullshit personal bond with you.
So if you're really jazzed about hand-answering reams of fan mail, go for it. But if you're not, please have no compunctions about appointing some designated professional fan-club honcho to do the job for you. And if any "fan" complains about not getting a personal response from you...tell those fake fans to take a hike! The real fans know you have a much more important job to do, and it's called Art.
Signed sincerely,
Your Real Biggest Fan.
We all grow up hearing the story of someone's biggest fan, who got a personal letter from their idol and the beauty of that one act changed their life. This interaction tends to get held up as the ideal for how good artists ought to behave.
Well let me tell you something. I'm a real fan. I'll tell you what I want from the artists that I admire: I want them to do their job. I want them to do their work. Because the real work you do, through your art...that can touch and change millions of lives. Spend your energies writing songs, creating art, building your legacy - not trying to foster some needy person's parasitic personal-relationship fantasy.
Who is the real fan? The one whose priority is to have a personal connection with you? Or the one whose priority is the music that you have created and the music that you are creating (or ought to be!)? The distinction couldn't be more obvious. I have no idea how the common perception has become so moony and wrong-headed, but I assure you that the vast majority of your fans are true fans who only want you to do what's best for the music. The personal attention junkies are a tiny, tiny minority who want you to spend a huge, disproportionate amount of your time pleasing them. It validates their delusions of specialness.
Oh, there are some stars who love and enjoy reading and personally answering fan letters. They draw energy from that. It adds to their creative juice. And if that works for you, then by all means, enjoy! That's a win-all-around situation. But most stars, particularly your real artists, your personally-tortured types with the esteem issues...they find themselves very conflicted and ambivalent about the adulation. What normal person wouldn't? They find that involving themselves personally in it is a chore and a creative drain. Yet so many of them put themselves through it anyway, because they're basically nice people. They don't want to be the bad idol...whose poor fan sits at home sniffling over unanswered letters. The result is that they wear themselves down and drain their creative energies doing something that only benefits that one fan (however many of that fan there may be - they're basically all the same person).
I'm pissed off about it! Anyone who would rather that you spend your time on a personal letter, instead of perfecting the epoch-breaking album that we all know you have in you...that person is NOT A FAN. Period! That person is a sad, sick individual. They don't give a damn on what matters to you and to the real fans! The music is all that matters. The vast majority of your true, dedicated fans know that. Your true fans are the ones who have invested their hearts and their lives in your music (and would love you to give them more of it) - they're not the ones obsessively trying to forge some bullshit personal bond with you.
So if you're really jazzed about hand-answering reams of fan mail, go for it. But if you're not, please have no compunctions about appointing some designated professional fan-club honcho to do the job for you. And if any "fan" complains about not getting a personal response from you...tell those fake fans to take a hike! The real fans know you have a much more important job to do, and it's called Art.
Signed sincerely,
Your Real Biggest Fan.
Comments
That's the whole point!
It's the music that matters. Not Clay Aiken!