How to Activate Your Community Online and IRL 

Artist Fanbase

For the importance we place on community, it remains a challenge to define it. 

Budding independent artists are told they only need 100 true fans to build a self-sustaining practice (the holy grail of internet fame), but it can be a tough road to climb to even connect with your first few. It’s not terrible advice—it’s just a lot easier said than done!

When I first started releasing music, I quickly learned I had no idea what a true fan might look like. I’d meet plenty of people, in Twitter Spaces or rumbling around in a discord, but they were all there to build their own fan base as well! So, we all did the only thing we really could do: we built friendships rather than the collectorships we’d initially sought. 

Those friendships developed into a community—and it’s led me to a deeper understanding of what’s possible when you’re working with others toward a common goal. Without institutional support, independent artists have managed to sell out massive NFT releases, throw IRL music showcases, and build true support systems for one another. 

We’re continuing to open doors for ourselves and others, and successes can often develop out of happenstance one-to-one interactions that grow into more. That’s community too—the individual relationships built within the broader network.

Starting out as an artist, I had no idea how to develop my community. I’ve since realized that it’s a practice: the people you meet and connect with daily become your support system, and the most random of connections sometimes have a huge positive impact on your artistic future.

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To get to the heart of how these ideas of community play out for real, I reached out to a few leaders for their thoughts. 

Jadyn Violet, Carla The Poet, Martin Gerber, and Evaflow Skystarter have each developed a unique approach to growing their following. They have leveraged the tools of the trade—Twitter Spaces, Discord, Instagram, and Tik Tok—to grow their audiences across the internet and IRL. Their artistic journeys have led to different experiences, however, and each has their own take on the opportunities and pitfalls of community building.

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First—why is community important to you?

Martin Gerber: Going back to early childhood, I grew up in an area without a neighborhood. It led to lots of isolation, and I remember visiting kids in other neighborhoods with communities and feeling the contrast. It was bittersweet to visit them, and tough to head home afterwards.

Jadyn Violet: Community is something I’ve always wanted, even before making music. It’s one of the most basic human necessities. Living in central New Jersey, there’s not much of that around here. I just wanted to find people to co-create with. It was really difficult to find—even with platforms with as much distribution as Instagram and Tik Tok, it was hard.

Carla The Poet: The ability to connect with other like-minded individuals to create, gather inspiration and support each other is why community is important to me. As artists we can create alone but we wouldn’t truly be able to grow and prosper without the support of others, whether that’s through feedback, or showing up for each other.

Evaflow Skystarter: Community is important when understanding and controlling your reach and the people you want to connect with. Algorithms have a lot of control—being active and intentional about their actions makes a big difference. It’s having someone else that cares about what you have going on, but then also you caring what they have going on.

JV: Community equals sustainability and longevity in any ecosystem—business or otherwise. Web3 showed me the potential of why you want to pursue that. Technology creates the opportunity for people to come together … we see the conversation about community now a lot more than we did the past five years.

MG: There’s so much isolation in general. Online community can be very important to people who suffered from isolation early on in life. The way forward out of that for me is to strengthen and foster community.

ES: Our online relationships elevate social media to a reciprocal thing where we can grow together. It elevates the relationship. It makes us ask: why are we on the internet to begin with?

CTP: Through the connections we develop, we can find out so much more about ourselves and our art that would help us get to places that we wouldn’t have been able to get to alone.



How would you describe your own community?

JV: My community stemmed from me wanting to provide value to people. I started on an individual basis, listening to people on one-on-one calls. It became an endless value chain as I went from person to person, growing what I had to offer others and what they could offer me.

CTP: I would describe my community as collaborative. I personally don’t feel like I contribute to one community but a network of communities that all show up for me the same. Through this network it allows me to branch out, connect, and contribute in places that I may not have been able to from having to dedicate most of my time to one group of people.

MG: It’s a 24/7 party, and a crazy thing to be a part of. Twitter spaces is what enabled it—it changed the nature of online communities and how they tap into web3. And, as things have progressed, spaces allow us to have a broader conversation about which online habits are healthy and which are dangerous. 

ES: My community is still defining itself—it’s still in progress. It’s still even taking shape in my mind. I want it to be more than just around me, I want the people surrounding me to help each other as well. A place where people come in and touch base with each other. Being a Skystarter is about tenacity—getting up more times than you fall. Knowing you want to move from where you are at to a better place.

MG: I’d been on Soundcloud and Twitter for a decade or more trying to collaborate and it just never came together. Eight months into the web3 space and I’ve got more collabs than I can keep up with. On an artistic level, the degree of interaction is completely different.

JV: My daily Twitter spaces and the Ultraviolet Rave stem from the same idea: give people contexts to come together. Especially people who have never had that opportunity—maybe they just need someone there to provide it for them.

CTP: I’ve found \[building a community network] a lot more beneficial and exciting than building up a community focused around one person, mindset, or idea. This has also allowed me to meet people who have the same mindset towards community building themselves.

MG: There’s still more questions to be answered for me: what about the collector’s journey and meaning of art, and how can we involve more people in that process? This feels urgent to me in a different way than making art does. My reason for building community has shifted—not just online but IRL as well. It feels like uniting all the spirit rivers of a mountain. 

ES: It’s a huge question with community: where does it live? Where does it come together? It’s something I’m actively thinking about as a growing concept.



What’s the first thing someone should do if they want to start building community? 

CTP: Start reaching out to people. 

ES: Find meaning in what you're doing so that even if you post and don't reach anyone, you still find fulfillment.

JV: Go into it not focused on your own product. Off the bat, just learn and listen. You’d be surprised at how many of your questions will be answered.

MG: People should start by joining communities. A lot of people come in talking about what they’re going to do but don’t ask others what they’re working on. They come in and talk about communities but they’re not actually a part of any. They’re poaching!

CTP: If you’re curious about something or like something that someone is doing, tell them or ask them that question. Interact with the people you enjoy publicly; we all appreciate when our supporters love us out loud. Join communities to see what people are getting into and how you can contribute & don’t be afraid to have conversations.

JV: My approach was to join three discords, and then just be super active. I gave a thoughtful response to every single message that came through. If someone shared their music, I’d listen to it and give feedback. From there you can reach out to the people you meet and chat about their journey—then call them one-on-one.

ES: It's tough … you’re going to have to go the extra mile. Algorithms are set up to reward the people who are being present, and it can mess with your mental health a lot. If you’re going to build at your own pace, do so with love. Do it one to one, with zero expectations. If you want to make waves, maybe you have to go all in.

MG: You truly need to get in there to be successful. I immersed myself in communities out of self-need—it was healing for me. And then I started trying to figure out how to give back.

Building community looks different for everyone but there are still fundamental elements to it.

Semantics of Community

Part of being in web3 is undoubtedly lurking on Twitter (just as much as engaging). I often find myself engulfed in conversations I am not part of, just a curious bystander ruminating on other people’s thoughts and seeing what comes out the other side. One of those recent occasions was over a tweet by Black Dave - an artist, thought leader, and early adopter of web3 technology. In the tweet, he states, “Thinking about how little music NFT innovation there’s been so far this year, my own included.” Artists and collectors began chiming in with their own hot  takes, discussing innovation and the projects they think are worthy of the moniker. LackHoney agreed with Black Dave, remarking on how few truly remarkable innovations get introduced in the music NFT landscape. Past3l of Outsiders Collective pointed out that the collective’s recent mixtape was actually quite innovative, sharing that their goal as a community “is to innovate and push the space forward with everything we do.” Sound of Fractures questioned the expectations that using music NFT technology puts on artists: “If you’re using it, we expect you to push it? Can it not just be amazing music?” The conversation sat marinating in my brain and kept leading me to one question: how do the narratives of innovation shape and influence people in the music NFT landscape? In this piece, I will explore the many questions that lie within this larger one. The intention is for this article to be a starting point for larger conversations on how we exist and interact with one another within this constantly evolving space.



What is innovation? 



Before we can start to truly discuss innovation, we have to define it. It is easy enough to do a google search for ‘innovation’ and find it defined as “a new method, idea, product, etc.” It starts to get sticky when you look at its synonyms: variation, rearrangement, transformation, upheaval, REVOLUTION! Now, sure, rearranging your furniture can be somewhat of a revolutionary act, especially if the new layout inspires you to throw a small gathering where a friend introduces you to anarchist thought, but in other cases, these synonyms illustrate just how differently we can conceptualize innovation.



‘Innovation’ tends to fall into two broad categories - radical and incremental. Radical innovation often produces a new product that challenges the status quo and disrupts an industry. The introduction of blockchain technology into the music sphere is certainly a radical innovation - it has created upheaval in the music industry and revolutionized how artists can sell their art and build their communities (to say the least). The earliest music NFT adopters were able to capitalize on the perks of being the first to experiment with releasing music in this new radical space. As more artists joined, incremental innovation began to proliferate rapidly. Incremental innovation is more subtle. It is the adjustments, slight changes, and modifications to how the technology is used that add additional value to the original innovation. For instance, not only are artists minting music NFTs (still a strange absurdity to many outside of web3), now artists are also experimenting with new features like bonding curves that create infinite editions or custom smart contracts that allow your NFT to be an entire mixtape, and highlighting being the coveted ‘first’ to do it.



Who defines what is ‘innovative’?



When we realize how sticky the term ‘innovation’ is, we can start to ask new questions like who defines what is innovative in the music NFT landscape? There is no measuring stick or barometer for incremental innovation. Each of us can define it for ourselves and perhaps debate about it on Twitter, but whose definitions shape and influence the public perception of music NFT projects? Is it the artists? The collectors? The thought leaders or NFT influencers? We have gotten used to seeing popular weekly round-ups of the most ‘innovative’ (read: newsworthy) projects in the music NFT landscape. And each of these articles has a person informed by their own definition of innovation, as well as their own personal experiences, tastes and biases behind it. These ‘innovative tastemakers’ have the power to elevate a project and provide visibility, playing a key role in successful drops and further opportunities. They influence the entire landscape, impacting how artists design and market their projects. It can be hard to break free from this outside influence (hell, maybe you just want to use the tools and could care less about being innovative) and define innovation for yourself. 



What are the impacts of the pressure to innovate?



The innovation > visibility > opportunity pipeline can create pressure to constantly experiment in order to maintain relevance in the space - I certainly have felt it and have witnessed others lamenting it. In its best moments, this atmosphere leads to new practices that benefit artists across the web3 music landscape; in its worst moments, it creates a spirit of individualism and competition that leaves many of us fighting to be the first to do, well, anything new in the space. And in the context of structural inequity, this atmosphere undoubtedly creates privileges for well-resourced communities with the time, money, and connections to build novel projects or hire engineers and developers to do it for them. 



I can only imagine how this pressure must feel for new artists entering the space. Should they really be trying to create a new type of smart contract while still learning what they even are? Broader signals across Twitter suggest ‘yes’ even as many of us shake our heads no. Now I am not saying we should not try to push the space forward - innovation got us here, from the first musicians to sell their art as an NFT or put a music video on the blockchain. What I am curious about is, if we take the pressure off of innovation and allow it to develop naturally and spontaneously, would the innovations produced be more impactful? Would our artist community be healthier and more collaborative? I can only speculate. 



How do we alleviate the pressure?



What is our best defense from the pressure of innovation? Self-inquiry. The web3 music space moves so quickly, it is easy to forget why we are making certain choices and end up stressed, burned out, and bitter. If we acknowledge the downsides of expecting artists to innovate on top of artistic creation and start to ask ourselves questions like, why am I innovating  (for the joy of experimenting with technology; to improve and democratize technology; to have a marketing edge; to gain a moment of glory and recognition) and who am I innovating for (myself; my fans; my community; Vitalik Buterin) we might be able to cultivate a more slow, intentional, and inclusive environment for artists in web3 - at least that is my hope.

The Question[s] of Innovation

In May 2022, Capitol Records artist Halsey [claimed their label had refused to release their latest single](https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/05/23/tiktoks-power-revealed-halsey-claims-label-wont-release-song-without-viral-post/?sh=118f259f2e4f) until the band could deliver a viral TikTok video to aid promotion. Other artists, including Florence Welch and Ed Sheeran, made statements along similar lines, revealing the necessity of social media content and reach in the promotional cycle of new music releases. 



For independents, the need to create ‘viral’, or even just regular content for platforms has become an accepted part of the job. A grind endured so that their musical output stands a remote chance of [greasing algorithmic wheels](https://qz.com/571007/the-magic-that-makes-spotifys-discover-weekly-playlists-so-damn-good/) and reaching audiences. Even then, [only plays in the millions can begin to pay the rent](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/15/mps-call-for-complete-reset-of-music-streaming-to-protect-artists). 



Yet, not everything related to the current state of the internet is bad. It is worth remembering, for instance, how - broadly speaking - the internet era has afforded artists not only [greater control over their creative output](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-much-more-money-artists-earn-from-bandcamp-compared-to-spotify-apple-music-youtube/), but also the opportunity to reach [niche and globally dispersed audiences](https://www.deezer-blog.com/curious-sounds-vaporwave/). It nevertheless remains true, however, that the time and effort required to feed platforms with content takes musicians’ focus away from their core creative role. More broadly, as [platforms contribute to further toxicity in our public discourse and democracies](https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cambridge-analytica-files), we each of us continue to doom scroll. The initial egalitarian promise of the internet has slowly eroded over time yet - as both musicians and fans - [we cannot leave](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/02/25/we-are-hopelessly-hooked/).  



It is amidst this souring atmosphere that the [claims of emerging Web 3.0 vendors find fertile ground](https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolis/2022/04/04/building-on-the-promise-of-web3-to-deliver-a-future-of-utility-value-and-empowerment-that-benefits-everyone/?sh=c9a9bc36c50e). There is, we are told, a better way. The internet can be reimagined. As a creative, as a fan, and as a member of society, your efforts and contributions to the communities you form can have a value beyond the post-IPO bottom line of behemoth platforms. It is a tantalizing prospect, and one we should explore. The alternative is simply more of the same. 



How, then, can we begin to explore the possibilities for a better alternative? And how can this be done from the position we find ourselves in now? To begin that journey, here are two things to consider that may inform our approach.



We should first remember a time before the internet and digital technologies more broadly. These innovations [have fundamentally reordered the process of production, distribution and consumption for popular music](https://leanpub.com/20things) - and culture more generally - in largely positive ways. They have removed many barriers that existed in the geographically and physically constrained past, to such an extent that it is now possible to record, distribute, and promote music from the same device. Even if - as Halsey’s tale tells - new barriers have emerged in the place of old ones, we should not reject wholesale the good things from the present. Indeed, any future, positive incarnation of the web will likely be built upon the technologies, culture and practices of the present, not in spite of them. 



The second thing we can learn from the past (and disappointing present), is that [the bad press Web 3.0 has accrued](https://web3isgoinggreat.com) is to be expected. [New technologies have always brought with them chancers and charlatans](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2286633.The_Pirate_s_Dilemma), because new technologies produce short-term knowledge gaps the unscrupulous will exploit. Eventually, those gaps erode as the true use case of a technology emerges. [The history of technology in popular music, from the phonograph onwards](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6374049-perfecting-sound-forever), largely follows this trajectory. Web 3.0 is no different. 



What may make it different, in the historical sense, is if artists, fans, and communities this time engage in critical questions NOW - something we collectively failed to do with Web2.0. For every “Cryptobro'' scammer enticing your grandmother into his ponzi scheme, there is a team of developers working on a solution to a problem she likely cares about. The extent to which we are able to tell the difference between the two will likely decide the direction of the soul, ethics and culture of any emergent web.



We have to ask ourselves: what sort of internet do we want?

Artists who are fed up with web2 commotion and how native web3 platforms can help and be better

Fed up with Web2 Commotion: Can Web3 Platforms be Better?

Brancesuniverse is a nebulous embodiment of my energy, experiences, and inspirations. Particularising it is like if you were an alien trying to introduce yourself to a human. It’s similar to a psychedelic experience in that there are little to no words to capture it, you just have to experience it for yourself due to its autological nature.



Some early inspirations I had for brancesuniverse come from different countercultures,Funkadelic,popstardom/rockstardom, a Steven Universe Convention,  a 3 month incarceration where I got my name “Universe” & NDE overdosing that prompted my induction into the 21 Club (a club of artists that died at 21 and under instead of 27), and last but not least, babyuniverse. 



I designed brancesuniverse to be indeterminate so I could have freedom to do whatever the fuck I want and not give a fuck what anyone thought. It might not be for everyone but those that feel like us, think like us, and rock with us will eternally vibe & resonate with us. Over time, brancesuniverse has also expanded into other entities [babyuniverse](https://babyuniverse.xyz/) and [PRTY](https://babyuniverse.xyz/prty)



In brancesuniverse, we blend the physical and digital worlds simultaneously combining them into a transcendent experience. I was brainstorming ways to bring my intangible internet sensationalism IRL and I spawned babyuniverse. Babyuniverse is a plushie I designed around my developing persona with an [NFT](https://brancesuniverse.shop/) attached to it that my fans can collect. Now I have my own [little physital mini-me called babyuniverse](https://showtime.xyz/t/polygon/0x8a13628dd5d600ca1e8bf9dbc685b735f615cb90/27436). I’m an orphan and I grew up in a group home type situation, so I never really felt connected to anyone or anything until I gave birth to babyuniverse. Babyuniverse is my way to make my community – my family away from family.



That is partly why I chose Web3. The ability to create my own narrative in the space through web3 tools is something I found inspiring. In Web2, things were very much surface level, but now we have the opportunity to go beyond the surface into the depths of our creativity. There has never been a time on the internet where you could interact with digital intellectual property in the same way as blockchain, so NFTs are the ideal fit for the means of distribution for projects like my babyuniverse plushie.



Mixed Reality is another way I like to immerse my audience in my universe in a hybrid URL and IRL interactive way. My URLs correlate with IRL footage I personally shoot with my own virtual reality camera. Making a mobile first experience was important to me because we live in a mobile first society & we are always on our phones so they can be viewed from any mobile device or VR headset. It’s like personalised performances in your living room. The most popular experience I have to date is on YouTube for my “[Scene](https://youtu.be/pSLnYG70bDU)” visual that features scenes I directed & edited. My YouTube video gained major attention and reached almost 15 million impressions worldwide!



The gaps between URL & IRL are closing as Web3 progresses and our digital selves become more prominent, but it is still essential to maintain our IRL presence. Bridging the URL to IRL gaps is instrumental in how I connect with my community because I move around a lot and sometimes you could catch me on the internet before you could catch me IRL. The IRL extension of brancesuniverse is called PRTY. At PRTY, we throw the most fire functions in the galaxy. PRTY started at a place called Rainbow City and some inspirations were movies like Project X & Party Monster and cultural events such as: Freaknik, Hot Girl Summer & NFTNYC 



The revolution of web3 and the new internet is giving me the opportunity to construct my own mixed reality and immerse my audience in my artistry for my own revolution. The initials of brancesuniverse & babyuniverse are B. U. and I believe those letters are the message we want to impart to the world. No matter who, what, when or where you are, be you. When expanding your community as an artist , you can be as creative and think as freely as you want. There is a universe inside each and every one of us waiting to blossom.

Bridging the Gap Between and IRL and URL community 

IRL to URL 

 Adam Bartley has a conversation with founder Jack Dille of DJ DAO on how to build a community

How to Build a Community ft. BARTYDARTY and Jack Dille

BARTYDARTY Twitter

Jack Dille Twitter

DJ DAO 

Conversation with Community Leads at Future Surf ft. Cam Murdoch, Scolla Fungwe and Isadore Noir 

Scolla Fungwe Twitter 

Cam Murdoch Twitter

Isadore Noir Twitter

Future Surf Twitter

Psychologist and SF-based indie punk-rock band leader of Your Fearless Leader, Marcus Ghiasi joins Eli Collins a.k.a. BlckSpkz to discuss fatigue while building a community in his life, as a musician, and a contributor to the web3 space. Marcus shares his views on fatigue v.s burnout, his journey as a musician while navigating his local music scene, and the future impact of the Web3 space in the music industry.  

ISSUE 003: Artist Fanbase

Vérité: On Community

fullscreen

Understanding the Artist Fanbase

How to Build a Community ft. BARTYDARTY and Jack Dille

Conversation with Community Leads at Future Surf ft. Cam Murdoch, Scolla Fungwe and Isadore Noir

Fatigue of Building a Community ft. Marcus Ghiasi and BlckSpkz

Advice from Artists Who Have Built an Online Community ft. TK and Domino

Semantics of Community

The Question[s] of Innovation

Fed up with Web2 Commotion: Can Web3 Platforms be Better?

IRL to URL

Do any resources come to mind for any of these issues? You can submit your illustrations, books, poems, whatever it may be, using the submission portal below!

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