“A Unique Form Of Fan Outreach,” or “The Handwriting’s On The Wall”

As a kid, my favourite band was Moxy Früvous. In fact, they still hold a pretty dear place in my heart! But as much as I love their songs, I know there’s similar material out there that I immediately dismiss.

What’s more, a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to listen to their album Bargainville, but I had lost my old copy. Instead of finding it, or any of their other albums for freeonline, I went over to HMV to pick some up, and then swung over to MapleMusic to find the rest.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking yourself “why would you do that, Aidan? You already owned the CD at one point… You were entitled to that free replacement copy!” I would be asking that too, if I didn’t already know the answer:

Moxy Früvous made me feel appreciated as their fan.

I had always known that I wasn’t their biggest. They had legions of Früheads who would follow their shows, know the trivia, and bond as a community — I wasn’t one of them.

Instead, the band made sure that, when I came forward as a fan, I knew that they knew me. Sure, they would send me promotional materials, like most bands send their street team members. But, when I opened those envelopes, I would always find a personalized, handwritten note from each member of the band. They were rarely (if ever) long, often squeezing the four messages into a space no bigger than one side of a Hallmark card. Still, this small act inspired a big reaction: it showed me how much they appreciated my patronage…

And I’m still loyal to them to this day.

How do you treat your biggest fans? What about the not-quite-biggest, but still fairly vocal ones?

Also, if you haven’t heard Moxy Früvous yet, check out songs like “The King Of Spain,” “Horseshoes,” “Fly,” and “Sad Girl.” They’re from the albums Bargainville, Wood, and Thornhill respectively (the middle two are both on Wood), some of which you can find online at MapleMusic. You can also check out some of their old shows in archive.org’s Live Music Archive.