[Dreamboat] Fan Club

[Philly Kid]

On Fri, 3 Feb 2006 21:48:59 EST, Vik said:

>In a message dated 2/3/2006 3:42:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>swimfishie at hotmail.com writes:
>I'm stating this this because I feel very strong about the Heart Fan Club.
>
><Here we go. lol...>
>
>
>$30 per year is not asking much to join a fan club.  It pays for the band's 
>website and staff which gets those excellent tickets for the shows, plus the 
>"other" goodies. 
>
>practical.  [NOTE: At the DC show in '04, I went to the 'last show of the tour' 
>in my own home town... so all these mongers came from all over and because they 
>were able to travel, my 'special seat' got pushed back several rows.     The 
>thing that made it most special to me was getting to hang with my bud's Lynn, 
>AJ, Tom, Rich, etc.]  As for the other goodies, the once or twice a year token 
>chats?  Guess I'm old fashioned.  I think back to the old AOL days.  It's an 
>old arguement and I guess I just shouldn't even make comparisons.  Those who 
>remember know what I mean. And that didn't cost us a dime.  >

I guess it's what people feel is important.  I don't personally feel
like it's worth it to join the Heart fan club, either; but then, I
haven't joined any other fan club in ages so there you have it.  

>Styx, Prince and other fan clubs  - especially Fleetwood 
>Mac - charge a PREMIUM to belong to their fan clubs.  Melissa Etheridge's 
>fan club just raise their price from $35 to $45.  When her fan club started, 
>it was $25 in 1993-94.
>
><Outrageous.    Melissa should take the extra kickback she's getting from the 
>sale of her signature Adamas 12 string and reinvest that in financing her 
>fanclub so her fan's don't have to feel insulted to 'like her'.   Other bands 
>should consider investing a portion of the initial fee in stock funds, so it'll 
>pay itself  back...and future fees might not have to be as much.  There are 
>ways and resources to make a fanclub inexpensive to belong.   There are many fans 
>who would and DO things for free to help out...even moderating and passing on 
>info. > 


Excellent suggestions.  

I guess, for me, I saw all these fan clubs popping up, so if you paid
x amount of dollars you got the better seats (wasn't it Sarah
Brightman or whatever her name is that had some package deal where you
paid like $750.00 for a box seat, and a chance to hang backstage and a
free glass of champagne?)  



><Perhaps this really just comes down to 'how much of a die hard fan are ya' 
>or 'what's important to you today?'  :)   I spent probably a few thousand on 
>Heart over the many years that I used to collect stuff.   I spent 300.00 at a 
>convention just on photographs alone before there was an online fan site. That 
>was just one little 'expenditure'.  Money used to 'not be an object' where 
>Heart was concerned.  I emptied my pockets left and right.  I wasn't 'cheap' when 
>it came to Heart and my fanship.  I'd eat P&J for a few weeks to afford 
>something.  I'd say I was 'diehard'.   I've spent all the money on them and/or 
>bootleggers(excluding CD releases and concerts in my home town) that I'm personally 
>interested in spending anymore.  As some people here are aware, I will 
>shortly begin to sell off my entire Heart collection.  I don't hate them...  I just 
>need to start investing in myself.  I've gotten over "it".  >

Hoo boy.  I could definitely also go on about a lot of money I've
spent - not only on Heart products, but for organizing the monger
meets (and yes, I KNOW others spent a lot on that too, like Jack and
Scott for instance) and I didn't mind..  I was happy to do it at the
time.  But things change.  

However, having said that, and you also brought up a point about
rarities and such:  the only collectables I'd still be interested in
would be early Heart bootlegs, and I'm thinking in particular here
about Brad Davis's amazing collection.  I'd loveto hear a couple of
those old tapes from the early to mid 70's before they hit it big. But
I rarely look for that stuff anymore, I guess if something came up I'd
consider it, depending on what it was and so forth. 


><I agree that the communication of info is more effecient with the current 
>volume of the fanbase...than in the past.  However, this is at the expense of  
>putting  up with certain 'Drama Queen' postings and editorials.  That is the 
>main reason I stopped going over there.  I'm really tired of it.  Kinda 
>unfortunate, not to mention ..embarassing. > 


I think the whole fan club site and all that seems to be running
pretty good, much better than (overall) in the past.  I think there's
a lot of hard work put into it by a number of folks, and I respect
that.    I do drop in over there from time to time, the Blue Guitar
section is cool and I usually look for a few folks over there (Joma
being one of them). 


Pk
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