Building Artist-Fan Relationship in the Digital Era of Consumption

Abstract

With today’s music streaming services, millions of artists and tracks are available for fans worldwide to jam to. It’s easy to use with free access available, making it accessible for everyone with internet. All artists aim for the same thing, loyal fans. But with easy accessibility of music, the competition gets tighter. With artists analogous to brands, it’s harder to build brand loyalty compared to how it was back in the day, where the only form of music is physical products (e.g., CD, records, cassettes). In the Indonesian creative economy sector, the music industry is one of three main defenders and with so, building artist-fan relationship between Gen Z music consumers in Indonesia and their favorite artists, focusing on digital consumption, is studied. Surveying more than 700 music consumers and analyzed using the PLS-SEM method, results show that high measures of brand trust and commitment significantly influence brand loyalty, and eventually, one’s purchase intention. These findings provide insights into how Gen Z views their favorite artists in terms of loyalty for academic research and how various actors in the industry can implement so. Further research is suggested to gain better understanding regarding a narrower scope of fans, artist categories, and specific forms of digital consumption.

Keyword:artists, fans, music marketing, brand trust, brand commitment, brand loyalty, purchase intention, digital consumption