Relationship Bands, when the band and the fan have a connection

Growing up in the scene where Phish became the king of the jambands, and other bands were who I went to see when Phish wasn’t on tour. I forgot what a personal relationship with a band meant. Don’t get me wrong, back in the day Phish was a family band; from chess games, to the secret language, to Big Ball Jams, to 100K plus attendees at festivals.  Phish slowly moved from very personal relationship with their fans to more than arms lengths away from the fans. Part of this is because as fans we have extremely high demands from our bands, we want access, information, and we want what we want, when we want it.  This is very possibly part of the stress level that led to the bands hiatus numbers one and two. 

I think a lot of today touring bands are somewhere in-between. The Disco Biscuits, moe.Umphreys McGee, and the rest of the community have evolved into hybrid. With taping allowed at the shows, you can still do the trading and or download your music. And there are all sorts of websites to go to get your information. Like Jambase.com, Jambands.com, Home Grown Music Network, Archive.org, and many other resources. What you would have needed insider information yesterday to get. Today it’s easily accessible with the technology.

But there are a few bands that are taking the extra step to get back in touch with the fans.
Using today’s technology to keep that personal relationship with their fans. First off check out Ben Kweller, he is not a traditional Jamband icon, but he is loved by many, myself included. His new CD Changing Horses is coming out on February 12th. He has been using Twitter and other social media to drive people to a video of himself describing the new CD, and telling them about a contest that is coming up that each CD pre-order comes with an opportunity to go to dinner with him. It’s not so much the dinner. But the video is engaging, and it makes you want to know Ben. 

Umphreys Mcgee’s new album Mantis came out last week. And they put control of the bonus material back in the hands of the fans. They said “the more people pre-order the album, the more bonus material comes with it.” I actually got a phone call from a friend telling me it was my responsibility to buy the album so we could all get more material. 


The Disco Biscuits, Dave Matthews, Umphreys, Tea Leaf Green, Ben Kweller and even Jambase have all set up Twitter accounts and regularly let their fans know what’s up, occasional pictures, and some personal information. These bands are using what the fans use, to give them exactly what they want. Call it Brilliant marketing, call it a relationship. Either way, kudos boys: This is how we the fans want to build the relationship.