Direct to Fan: Showing the Love Brings the Love

How does the artist stay connected to fans beyond posting to their Facebook page or meeting people after a show at the merch table? One answer is to focus on the super-fan, the ones that know all about the artist, go to every show, and are rabid for personal attention. What does an successful direct-to-fan approach look like? Why does it work?

Presenters

Kevin Wortis

Dir of Label Svcs

Girlie Action Media & Marketing

Kevin Wortis, a 25-year music industry veteran, worked for years as a booking agent, artist manager and label head before co-founding and running the pioneering label services company World's Fair.
Since March of 2011 when Wortis brought his Label Services model and clients to Girlie Action, he has led on the marketing, promotions and sales campaigns for such artists as Amanda Palmer, The Cure, David Lynch, Dead Can Dance, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, Meshell Ndegeocello, UNKLE and the Grammy Nominated Pretty Lights.

Mike Jones

VP, West Coast

A to Z Media

Mike began his career as a musician, and in 1989 he founded Schizophonic Records, focusing on music from the great Pacific Northwest, Portland and beyond.
In 1995 he created the Northwest's first regional music distributor-- NAIL Distribution,-which was home to many break-out artists including Death Cab For Cutie, Pink Martini, and Jack Johnson. In 2000, Mike sold N.A.I.L. to Allegro Music Distribution and founded CDForge, a manufacturing broker specializing in project management of media and merchandise production for record labels, corporations, and numerous other clients. CDForge has created CDs, DVDs, LPs, and tour merchandise for artists such as Pink Martini, The Dandy Warhols, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie and many others.
In 2011, CDForge was acquired by A to Z Media of New York, the largest independent music industry broker in North America, overseeing West Coast sales and operations for the company.
Mike lives in Portland.

Mike Fiebach

Founder & CEO

Fame House

Michael Fiebach is the Founder and CEO of Fame House, with offices in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Michael started Fame House in January, 2011. Fame House grew as an independently funded, one-person company, to a multi-city, 25+ person operation in 2 and a half years, and was acquired by the publicly held SFX Entertainment (NASDAQ:SFXE) on October 21st, 2013 ( http://on.wsj.com/1ixm3ZC ). Fame House is currently a 35 person, full-service digital marketing agency, wholly-owned by SFX.

Fame House clients include: Interscope, Universal Republic, Atlantic Records, Eminem, Tiesto, Pretty Lights, DJ Shadow, Loco Dice, The Crystal Method, and Richie Hawtin, as well as various SFX-owned companies, including Mysteryland and Disco Donnie Presents, among others. From 2006-2010, Michael ran the legendary DJ Shadow’s online operation, marketing, project and merchandising management, and worked as a freelance music industry consultant. Michael has a B.A. in Music Marketing & Management, and a certificate in Music Industry studies, from SFSU.

Tim Bierman

Mgr, Ten Club

Pearl Jam/Ten Club

Tim Bierman has managed the Ten Club since 1998. In those 15 years, he has taken an enthusiastic, start-up fan club and steered it toward a fiscally viable example of what a fan organization can be in today's volatile music industry climate.

Bierman began his career in music at the age of 14, playing in bands and hustling gigs in suburban St. Louis. At 18, he left the midwest and headed to Montana for college. There he found his place on the staff - and later as an owner of - Rockin' Rudy's Records. Bierman spent the next seventeen years there as buyer and manager. After a brief stop in San Francisco at Amoeba Records, he moved to Seattle to help his old Montana friend, Pearl Jam Bassist Jeff Ament, find a new direction for the Ten Club.

Along the way, Bierman has directed the launch of www.pearljam.com and developed the proprietary infrastructure that runs one of the industry’s most successful sites. Bierman has been instrumental in developing Pearl Jam's legendary bootleg programs and help build the band's own Monkeywrench Records label.

Ten Club has been the official Pearl Jam fan organization since the 1991 release of the band's seminal debut album, Ten. An extension of the band's gratitude to its passionate fan base, Ten Club's priority has always been to take care of the fans first. Through providing up to the minute information on the band's music, tour schedules, side projects, philanthropic endeavors, etc., Ten Club has grown into a successful, interactive fan club model that is highly regarded throughout the music industry.

In addition to being a resource for all things "Pearl Jam," Ten Club has also built an exclusive merchandising and ticketing arm that provides members with access to limited edition collectibles, digital bootlegs and priority pre-sale ticketing to Pearl Jam engagements. Starting out as a mail-order "paper" fan club, Ten Club has continually evolved to meet the fans needs and become what it is today.