From Beatlemania To Beliebers: The Business Of Fan Clubs In The Superfan Era
Fandoms are no longer about stickers and promotional photos. Artists are using their most enthusiastic followers to help make key decisions about release dates, tour launches and merch, to spread the word about key developments and to generate revenue through membership fees. Long before last November, when K-pop group BTS released its album BE, Imelda Ibarra and her team of 29 colleagues were picking up signals that something was coming. “After being a fan for seven years, you roughly know: ‘OK, it has been five or six months, and [BTS] start being more active on social media,’” say...
Source: billboard.com