What does the Theory of 1,000 True Fans means for public relations, public affairs, and non-profits?

If you were paying any attention to the the music industry last year, you may have noticed that Radiohead ran an experiment where they basically gave away their latest album online a "pay what you want" model.

Two amazing things happened: 

1. over the course of a few months 1.2 million people downloaded it; and
2. on average they paid either nothing or a lot of something for it, the average of which was $5.

Industry observers expect they grossed at least $5 million.  Then in the last two weeks, Nine Inch Nails did something similar when they released an album with the first nine tracks for free, the full album for $5, and then subsequent packages with additional material for increasingly higher prices.  The highest package was a limited edition ultra deluxe CD package, signed and numbered, for $300.  All 2,500 of these sold out in 24 hours, grossing the band $750,000 alone.

These bands are putting into practice the Theory of 1,000 True Fans, an old concept only lately well-labeled by digital thinker Kevin Kelly. The theory says that for the creative class, all you need to make a decent living is 1,000 true fans who will buy pretty much anything that you produce.

When you have 1,000 true fans and the Internet, your distribution costs are near zero, and you don't need companies like Tower Records to distribute your music anymore, which is why we don't have Tower Records around any longer.

What does this mean for public relations, public affairs and non-profits?  The expectations of the public are changing.  To develop an audience, you are expected to publish and talk about your work constantly.  The very fact that you're reading this analysis for free, despite the fact that ten years ago it would be called "research" and carry a hefty price, is an ode to the veracity of this theory.

Organizations that don't publish are finding it very difficult to engage their audiences when their opponents and competitors talk to them all the time. 

"Does this mean I need a blog?" a nonprofit executive recently asked me.   No, it means you, or someone in your organization needs to write something almost every day about the work you do to further your mission.  The "blog" is just the vehicle you use to post it.  Perhaps tomorrow it's an e-mail list, and the day after it's a posted URL on Facebook.   The day after it may be a postcard.

What's changed is the expectation.  Today's public expects more out of the organizations they give their attention, loyalty, and money to nowadays, or they withhold it.

Shabbir's latest digital public relations case study, co-authored with Jason Alcorn, can be downloaded in PDF format at TruthyPR.com.

Comments

[ldfarah]

Thanks so much for drawing such a clear connection between PR, non-profits and the Long Tail Theory.

Since non-profits are generally selling ideas rather than products, it's not an obvious fit. But on closer review, it makes a great deal of sense.

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Leyla Farah
Cause+Effect - Public Relations with a Purpose