How The Dillinger Escape Plan Built a Loyal Tribe of Early Adopters

Drawing on his experience with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Ben Weinman makes a case for artists to appeal to their most dedicated early fans who can help spread the word amongst peer groups. Check out The Business of Uncompromising Art, exclusively on Soundfly: soundfly.com/courses/the-busi...
- About this video:
Early adopters are your flag waivers. They love identifying something new and spreading the word about it. It is crucial to draw these influencers in, especially at the beginning of an artistic career.
Early adopters were a key part of The Dillinger Escape Plan's success. Early in their career, they played shows which single-handedly led to other shows which enhanced their fanbase at a critical time, and subsequently paved the way for the band signing a record deal with Relapse Records.
In Ben's newly launched video, courtesy of his online course, he touches on just how valuable it can be for young artists and bands to convert early listeners into fans in order to begin building a mythos and a tribe to last a lifetime. Check out this lesson and more on Soundfly.
- About this course:
Soundfly has teamed up with Ben Weinman, guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of The Dillinger Escape Plan, to bring you a game-changing online course on growing an audience and navigating creative opportunities without sacrificing your values or integrity. The Business of Uncompromising Art is a course like no other, teaching you how to make a living in the music industry on your own creative terms.
This comprehensive course is packed with 35+ lessons, case studies, personal challenges, stories, advice, and lessons learned from Ben’s successful 20+ year DIY career in music. You’ll discover how to attract a passionate fanbase, deliver honest art, and design creative strategies for making money in an industry plagued by old, tired models.
In Ben’s own words: “This course teaches you how to stick to your guns, follow your values, create uncompromising art, and then sell that uncompromising art in a way that doesn’t suck the life out of you.”
This course is live now on Soundfly, and features 35+ lessons loaded with case studies, stories, invaluable advice and strategic information, and videos, plus graphics, activities, downloadable learning materials, and access to Soundfly’s Discord community where you can ask questions and get feedback on your work.
If you aren’t a Soundfly subscriber yet, you can preview The Business of Uncompromising Art now for free and sign up today at:
soundfly.com/courses/the-busi...
You can now access this course along with dozens of other in-depth, high-quality courses on topics ranging from songwriting to producing, mixing to beatmaking, and so much more with Soundfly's subscription. Subscribe today to get learning: soundfly.com/subscription
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[@russellszabadosaka5-pindin849]

There's so much truth in his words. I experienced it myself. I was in an original band from 1992-94 and we played any & every place that would have us in and around New York City. Grunge was huge, but we were doing something else but with electronics and heaviness. After a couple of years, we built a small but devoted following of about 30-50 people who were almost always there for us with new friends, requesting us on college radio, playing our demo. Our singer was a dickhead who left the band after an argument at CBGB in 1994, so it was over...but those shows, those friends & fans we met along the way, those are some of the best times of my life, the most exciting memories...of how they were pulling us up and helping us move up through the ranks in a super competitive city, and you could feel the buzz growing every gig. I'm not sad about it, I'm happy I experienced that, it was almost as good as being a "big signed band". Maybe it was better! And that singer is still an asshole. Some people...jeez.

[@coryleblanc]

3:14 lel that kid

[@theapexview9800]

Weinman: "your fans are very important..they are family"
Weinman 2010: "we are not a fan of fans"

[@jasonterrien]

Home is where the heart is.