Opinions On Band Fan Clubs

[The_Q]

I was curious as to how many of you are members of fanclubs, which ones, what you think of them and which ones to stay away from? I am a fairly new member of the Iron Maiden Fan Club and think the perks are great. I am thinking of joining the Helloween fan club as it is my #2 favorite band as well as the Gamma Ray one. What are your suggestions or comments?

 

[Kaosaur]

I was curious as to how many of you are members of fanclubs, which ones, what you think of them and which ones to stay away from? I am a fairly new member of the Iron Maiden Fan Club and think the perks are great. I am thinking of joining the Helloween fan club as it is my #2 favorite band as well as the Gamma Ray one. What are your suggestions or comments?

In Japan, an absolute necessity. Here? No not really.

Japanese band fan clubs get their members exclusive concerts, exclusive tickets to big shows, exclusive merchandise (and a substantial amount of it) and presents (in some cases) sent to them throughout the year.

 

[kittybeast]

Maiden FC has been beddy beddy good to me........except this last presale ticket fiasco! But I don't blame the band for that, I blame 'kin ticketbastard and livenation.

If the perks are there then it is good, ie presale tix, offers to M&G, etc. Best of luck to you in your FTTB and HCW entries!

 

[kashford]

American band fan clubs... no not for me.
Why?
The tragic killing of Selena by her fan club manager... very sad indeed.

 

[Cheiron]

Fan clubs were cooler before file sharing. I'm not in any. I recognize how some give you some cool advantages with advanced ticket purchases. But I'm not goo goo ga ga over any bands other than some smaller bands that don't have one.

 

[DAVETHEMETALGUY]

i think the last fan club i was in was the SMF's of Twisted Sister back in 1986. I remember their home office was in Macon, GA. for some reason.
i never really saw the use of a SMF membership card....

 

[thedelicateflower]

...the only one i ever belonged to was slaughter's fan club in the early 90's...went to their american noize fan forum...(convention where a lot of the l.a. local bands played)...played black jack with mark and blas as dealers....that was fun................(i told mark he should keep his day job...he didn't care for that)...:Smug:

 

[lady_space]

I'm in Marillion's The Web UK. Well, at least, I usually am--I think my membership expired. Anyway, in addition to a Xmas CD and a quarterly publication that's really nice, I get first dibs when Convention tix go on sale. That's my main reason. I have been a member of the Queensryche fan club once, I think, but that was just for a pre-sale and meet & greet, IIRC. Let it lapse after that. FTFC! (for all you old RMAQers! lol)

Like others have said, it sort of depends on what ya get. I view it basically as another service.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I never liked fan clubs. I'm more into making friends with band members. I like genuine relationships.

 

[Pellaz]

I was a charter member of Metallica's fan club waybackwhen, back when it was really quite cool for fans -- exclusive t-shirts, ticket purchase perks, exclusive merch, a fair number of meet'n'greets per city. Back then it was being run by their longtime personal assistant, Tony Smith, who was very cool to us even before the fan club was created.

Later, Tony was replaced, and the club went straight downhill. I let my membership lapse several years ago and never really looked back.
Metallica used to be extremely fan-friendly, even well into their sellout-arena years.
Later this practice declined.
So did Metallica.

I was also a member of the DTIFC back when it was cool, and have all of the Fan Club Christmas CDs (although after a time they became Fan Club Easter CDs, and I think they later petered out altogether). That one also I let lapse several years ago after DT kinda began sliding downhill.

 

[jaimek]

I was in the Queensryche fan club back when it was supposed to be "lifetime" (ha), and I was also one of the earliest members of the Dream Theater fan club -- I let both lapse a loooooong time ago. (I ebayed some of the DT fan club CDs for a pretty decent chunk of change, too.) Since then I've never really bothered - I support the bands I like by buying their merch, but I'm rarely interested enough to care about the limited edition stuff.