When AI-powered fandom platform Fave announced last month that it had secured USD $2 million in a new funding round and was aiming for a total of $6 million, the company said it planned to launch a “suite of products for artist teams to find and reach superfans” through the company’s “unique intelligence.”
On Tuesday (November 7), Fave delivered at least one part of that promise: FanFinder, a new “AI-supported” tool for artists and their teams that will enable them to identify and reach out to their biggest superfans.
The company says that the tool uses advanced analytics to provide artists with granular data on Fave users, for instance by identifying which fans listen to a particular artist non-stop; who has been making fan art; who has attended every show on a tour; who is producing their own fan art or drumming up excitement for a new release, among “dozens of other specific and authentic fan activities,” the platform said in a statement.
Artists will be able to use everyday language to pose questions for deep dives into specific parts of their fandom, for example by asking “Who are my most active fans in San Diego from the past three months and what are they doing?”
Once superfans have been identified, artists can use FanFinder to reach out to them through Fave’s internal messaging system and engage them in numerous ways, such as by offering tickets, access to VIP meetups, the chance to weigh in on new or unreleased music, and so on.
The idea is to overcome an ongoing problem that artists have had in trying to identify their most valuable fans through incomplete and fractured social media data.
“The direct connection means the artist team isn’t at the mercy of algorithmically-driven social feeds that reach only 2% of followers when the artist is trying to reach their dedicated fans,” Fave said in a statement.
Fave launched in beta mode in 2021, with Jacquelle Amankonah Horton – a former Google and YouTube product management lead – at the helm. The company raised$2.2 million in a seed round that year, from investors that included Sony Music, Warner Music, HYBE, Concord Music, Quality Control and Female Founders Fund, among others.
The platform has since attracted a number of fandoms, including Taylor Swift’s Swifties, Bruno Mars’ Hooligans, and the BTS ARMY, fans of K-pop outfit BTS, whose label HYBE is an early backer of Fave.
Horton has been listed among Forbes’ 30 under 30 and was recently named the Most Pioneering Online Media Businesswoman of 2023 by Acquisition International. Fast Company named Fave one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022.
“We’ve built something relevant to any brand or business that wants to scale their effectiveness in impacting the top 20% of customers. That’s exactly the wide-reaching path Fave plans to chart ahead across multiple vertical market sectors.”
Jacquelle Amankonah Horton, Fave
“We made Fave a place for fans where they can be fully empowered, find each other, and immerse in their passions,” Horton said in a statement. “Now, we’re bringing creators into the mix, so that they can finally have a much more clear picture about who their fans actually are through real-time insights they’ve never been able to see at this level of detail and authenticity. They can easily find deserving fans they want to engage for cool experiences and opportunities they have that will now multiply the power of their efforts in seconds.”
She added: “We know very well how to effectively bring the power and ease of AI across billions of audience data points.”
However, the company stresses that the privacy and data security of its users is “at the forefront” of its efforts, and any fan who doesn’t want to participate in FanFinder can opt-out. The data used by the tool is kept confidential, and all communication between artists or artists’ teams and fans stays with the app.
“This ensures that artists and labels can harness valuable insights without compromising the trust and privacy of their dedicated fanbase,” the company said.
As Horton has suggested before, Fave’s ambition as a fandom platform isn’t limited to music, and the company is eyeing an expansion into movie and sports fandoms as well.
“We’ve built something relevant to any brand or business that wants to scale their effectiveness in impacting the top 20% of customers. That’s exactly the wide-reaching path Fave plans to chart ahead across multiple vertical market sectors,” Horton said.Music Business Worldwide
