Treating Music Fans as Customers

As artists, musicians don’t necessarily think of their fans as customers, and they are certainly not obliged to treat them that way. But what a contrast it is as a fan to be treated with respect!Coming from outside the music industry, some festivals are approaching fans more like customers. Take the relatively new Firefly Music Festival run by Red Frog Productions. Red Frog entered the festival market from outside the music industry, by organizing races. Their biggest race is the Warrior Dash, a 5K run with 12 obstacles, including crawling through mud, going under barbed wire, and jumping over fire. At the end of the race competitors and their friends hang out, drink craft beer and listen to live music. More than two million people have run the Warrior Dash since 2009.