Women of Country - The Editorials

The Editorials

The Complaint Department

If you’ve followed Women of Country for a while, you already know that the two of us who run 99% of the show here are music fans. We like just about any type of music that we can get our hands on, it doesn’t really matter what the genre is. Sure, we complain a lot about the state of radio, and we complain a lot about the state of the recording industry, but it’s really because we truly and deeply care about the music as an art form.

For the first time in my life, I am heading down to Nashville, Tennessee to get a taste of what Fan Fair is all about. I will be attending a few shows and parties for some of my favorite artists. It is going to be a week of celebrating the music that I like to listen to. It’s a week when the fans get to get even closer to their favorite artists. It’s a magical week where some pretty special things have happened in the past. Garth Brooks once spent a whole day, and I do mean 24 hours, signing autographs for more fans than anyone could count without taking much but bathroom breaks. It’s a week that a lot of artists donate their time and more to worthwhile charities by having benefit concerts and auctions. Fan Fair basically is a time when artists go out of their way to do something special for their fans.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty cool deal. Like I’ve said, I’m into all sorts of music, and there is no such event like Fan Fair for rock, or blues, or jazz, or any other musical genre for that matter that I know of. The thing that bothers me (you knew SOMETHING had to be bothering me…) is that a lot of fans do not appreciate the kinds of access that they get with country music artists! They always somehow feel that they deserve more.

I have somewhat of an insider’s view working with Martina McBride’s fan club, and I can’t say that I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen from a good number of fans lately. Fans continue to demand more and more from an artist. We get e-mails on almost a daily basis of people complaining, and often NOT in nice terms, about their fan club packets taking too long, about not getting picked for a meet and greet, about not getting in to the fan fair party, about concerts that had to be cancelled for one reason or another. I know a couple other fan club presidents, and I can tell you this is NOT unique to Martina’s fan club either.

What I can’t comprehend is what people expect from an artist for their $15.00 or so per year fan club membership. They feel that gives them carte blanche to get first row tickets to each show, get to meet and chat with the artist at each show… Heck I bet some think they should be invited to the artist’s homes for dinner. I mean, this is $15.00 we are talking about here. The last I checked, that wasn’t even enough to buy a CD at some major chain stores. Fifteen bucks won’t buy me much more than a value meal at Burger King for dinner, but for some reason people feel fan club membership makes them royalty.

While I’m no accountant, I don’t see how $15.00 a year can even cover the pictures, keychains, magnets, bumper stickers, newsletters and other goodies that fan clubs usually like to send out. None of this stuff is free, and there has to be someone getting paid (not enough I’m sure…) to run the show.

People need to learn to respect the artist, the fan club presidents, and their time. There will be times when you run into an artist and they can chat for a minute and sign an autograph and such, but there WILL be times when that’s impossible. When they have to politely say “I can’t right now” and walk away, even if you are in their fan club.

If you don’t think you’re lucky to get even a small bit of contact with an artist, try to get close to 99% of the rock stars that are out there. They keep a much greater distance between themselves and their fans, and I can’t really say that I blame them. An artist’s job is to make music. That’s it, end of story. They don’t have to have a fan club, they don’t have to show up at Fan Fair, they don’t have to have a web site to keep in contact with their fans.

So, as I’m heading out to Fan Fair, I am THANKFUL to have this wonderful opportunity to rub elbows with some of my musical heroes. If I get a minute to chat with some of them, and tell them why I like the music, or what really touched me in a song, I think that’s cool. I think the artist’s that make up the country community think it’s pretty cool too. Because, while it’s true that without the fans they wouldn’t have a job, it’s also true that without the artists we wouldn’t have something to listen to on the way to work, while we’re driving, and any other time of day where music is playing for our enjoyment.

Make no mistake about it, Fan Fair and every country artist’s fan club could be shut down tomorrow and the industry would still survive. So, while I feel that it’s ok to complain about the state of radio when they only play the same twenty contrived pop songs over and over all day long, and while I feel that we SHOULD complain about the fact that Nashville has been putting out Vanilla flavored clone acts of the last big thing for FAR TOO LONG, I do NOT feel it is right to complain that you aren’t getting enough access to an artist, or that you couldn’t get into a fan club party, or you couldn’t get on the meet and greet list for a show. After all, there is only so much time that an artist can spare. And, when they all decide to get together for a full week of doing nothing but pressing the flesh with the fans, I’m going to say thank you! And I’m going to feel lucky and honored to take part in an event that makes country music great! I hope to see some of you there!

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