The rise of B-Town music’s fan armies

This is a fairly new phenomenon. This taking up cudgels on behalf of one’s idol. It’s something that isn’t isolated to America, that melting pot of pop-culture trends. South Korea has an equally crazy — if not crazier — fan army phenomenon sweeping the country. And if you go by Billboard’s voting last year, the most involved and active fan army is in South Korea, not the US!

Forget Jabra fans, guys! Actors in these two countries aren’t as big superstars as the musicians in those countries. Singers are top dogs in the game. Across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, they’ve got a number of followers not bound by borders. These fans will do anything — literally, anything — to make sure their idols remain in positions of power and influence, no matter what. And they go by fancy and sometimes relevant names, too.

And slowly, but surely, India is catching up, too. Sure, we don’t have their kind of numbers across social media platforms, but we’re getting there. Most of the biggest names here have global appeal and are quickly learning the tricks of the trade to stay on top. And while the younger crowd knows the game all too well, it says something that the names with the most followers here are actually those who have been making music for (at least) over 15 years now, save for a few exceptions (who are quick risers in the numbers game.) We reached out to a few names in the business for their take on the phenomenon, what they thought of its rise and what they think are the pros and cons of having fan armies. Here’s what they had to say...

Ehsaan Noorani (for Shankar Ehsaan Loy)

Fans are called: By no name in particular
Opinion: “I think fan armies are welcome especially in a country like India where Indian film stars have ruled the roost. It shows a certain level of respect and appreciation for the artiste. Thanks to the internet and social media, the fan is now closer to his idol. We have a few fans who know more about us than we do.”

Pritam

Fans are called: PritamFC
Opinion: “A fan army loves, supports and tracks your work and applauds you wholeheartedly and even fight your battles for you. Most often, fans on social media are the first to react to your music.”

Amaal Mallik

Fans are called: Amaalians
Opinion: “I think after actors, in our country only singers get that kind of adulation. But it’s very rare that there are fan clubs for music composers  — A R Rahman Sir, Pritamda, Vishal Shekhar, etc being exceptions. But for me, in three years to have gained a huge fan following, being just a composer, who doesn’t even sing many of his songs, means a lot. Amaalians put up my pictures as their display pictures and make crazy fan clubs on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for me. These fans are like my family, standing by me through good and bad times. The best thing is, when I do something wrong, they’ll let me know. My fans are my reason for working hard, they offer me instant feedback and some are so young, but they understand my mindset! Apeksha Mahant, is my biggest fan and it’s like she is the leader of this army of and she works really hard to support me and build my fan base. She has never met me, but has always been there for me through messages and letters. A few others like Sadia Mashoud, Sneha Kedare, Rupam, Sukanya Suresh are all ardent followers. The best feeling is I have fans from all over our country, the UK, USA, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. It’s a really humbling feeling.”

Raftaar

Fans are called: RAA Army
Opinion: “My fan club is literally an army. It was something that started out very organically and today it has grown to become as prominent as my personal social media accounts. I think it’s so humbling to know there’s a whole bunch of people out there who love so you unconditionally. I call them my extended family. They are always watching out for me and putting out a positive word. The negative side maybe is that many fan clubs are now turned into websites and some of them are controlled by record labels. There was a time when a few of my fans got themselves inked with my name, got their hairdo replicated like mine and sometimes I have followers who have Raftaar appended before their name. That’s passion and loyalty!”

Benny Dayal

Fans are called: Official Benny FC, Go Badtameez With Benny Dayal, Friends Who Like Benny Dayal
Opinion: “Fan armies don’t necessarily define an artist’s popularity meter but reflect the respect loyalty and love an artiste has earned through his or her music over the years. They should be a destination for the fans to come 365 days a year. Fans clubs are a great way of keeping in touch with the fans and ensuring the artiste fan bond is nurtured. However, fans club need verification so that all information going out is pre-approved and there is no misleading on any front. It can’t be opinionated by the admin who runs it, as it’s their personal perspective which may not reflect an artiste’s life mantra. Fan armies can be a great idea of being official social media representatives of an artiste when the artist in question is media-shy. My team always gets these amazing recordings from the fan clubs by new talent who wants a break in the industry and there are a few I maybe considering.

Manj Musik

Fans are called: Manj Musik, Nindy Kaur & Raftaar Fans, Team Manj Musik, Nindy Kaur & Raftaar and Manj Musik RDB
Opinion: “The pros are the more awareness there is of an artist, the more online conversations or engagements, the bigger the fan base they have, the more they can churn on the live event business and from endorsement deals. The cons are that music unites and fan clubs go contrary to this worldwide belief as I have seen many fan clubs pitting against one another when promoting the artist they represent.  Also many times there is no distinction between virtual and real.”

Neeti Mohan

Fans are called: Team Neeti Mohan, Neeti Mohan Official FC
Opinion: “Fan clubs act as an instrument through which the fans’ desire for contact with the artiste is channelled, at the same time as they serve as a means for the promotion of tours and commercial releases. They can be used both to create a sense of identity and belonging and as a means of direct marketing. There’s always a good and a bad side to fan clubs. The positive side is that any piece of information reaches millions at the speed of light. The flip side is there’s too much information available on the public platform and in case a musician is a private person by nature he may prefer filtered information going out to the world. Also, fans clubs can get aggressive at times when there are controversies which again may not be in sync with the values and persona of the musician they represent. I have fan clubs in Dubai, Canada and Russia and it’s amazing to know foreigners know so much about Indian music and culture. “

Jubin Nautiyal

Fans are called: Jubinhearts and Jubinions
Opinion: “I understand that I connect with my fans because of our shared love for music. I always make sure I reply to all my fan armies. I have been getting requests from my fans apparently using my name and my music which makes me feel so content and loved. I get over a 100 friend or follow requests. So that’s nice.”

Sukriti and Prakriti Kakkar

Fans are called: SuPra FC
Opinion: “Fans are always special to all artistes and they play an important part in our lives too. There are several fan clubs on social media which are named after us and yes the unique name which our fans have given us is ‘SUPRA’ and we really like it. Having said that there are also few disadvantages of some of them on social media. Trolls are part of social media and that’s something we all have to face, some of our fans bad mouth our colleagues and thats not cool at all. We’d urge them to refrain from such things as we all are close friends. Thankfully though the majority of our fans clubs spread positivity and are lovely to have. We are thankful and grateful to our fan armies and hope to entertain them even more through our songs.”

Sachin-Jigar

Fans are called: Sachin Jigar Fanz, Sachin Jigar Our Inspirations, SJ Online
Opinion: “It’s a good thing that the music fraternity also enjoys a staunch following just like the film industry. Fan clubs are nothing but a social extension of a celebrity’s public life and offer an unmediated 24x7 access. At times musicians are so caught up in the studio that they may forget to upload relevant information on their social media pages but these fan clubs are always efficient and prompt in letting the world know what’s happening with a minute to minute update. It’s good in a way as there is this team of enthusiasts who are keeping the information up to date which is a pre-requisite in an age where social media plays such an important role. However, many times fan clubs pose to be the official source of information or point of contact of artistes which may a serious case of fandom.”