EP/33: Fan Clubs
Fan Clubs Then and Now with Kevin Brown of FanCircles
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Listeners connect with the artists on many different levels. Some are casual listeners, others might attend a concert or two and superfans make it a lifestyle choice. Consider ‘Deadheads’ who followed the Grateful Dead to hundreds of shows or the BTS Army that attacks online critics of the popular K-Pop group. What is it about some bands that create such rapid followings? Whatever the level of fandom, the ability for fans to connect to artists (and vice versa) has been ever evolving as new technologies have emerged: from snail-mail to email to social media to new dedicated fan engagement platforms like FanCircles.
In this episode we discuss fan engagement with Kevin Brown, who joins us from Canterbury, England. Kevin is the founder and CEO of FanCircles and has worked in the tech industry since writing his first game back in 1983. He went on to run various companies and exited several, most notably Affiliate Window where he was founder and CEO.
Find Fancircles at fancircles.com and follow them on Twitter @fancircleshq.
About KEVIN
Kevin Brown is the former CEO and founder of Affiliate Window Ltd, sold to Axel Springer in 2009 with a revenue of over £110m, staff of over 200 and offices in London and Baltimore (USA). Kevin built the company with his own software, led the company for 11 years, acquired Buy.At from AOL and oversaw the exit to Axel Springer in Germany. Affiliate Window is now part of Zanox in Germany and continues to grow.
After exiting Affiliate Window Kevin began Zoo Management and managed artists including The Australian Pink Floyd Show and The (Beautiful) South. During this time The Australian Pink Floyd Show were regarded as the “Greatest Tribute Show in the World” – The Times (2011), and played over 120 shows a year in the UK, Europe and USA with many shows as big as 15,000 people in arenas including The O2 Arena London and the Bell Center in Quebec.
Kevin invests in internet companies and music companies as well as being founder and CEO of fan engagement platform FanCircles.
