Epic reponse to Pete's M&G question.

[rosiedoes]

I've Q&A'd and blogged about this issue before, and at one point I was helping run a campaign to get stuff changed - but the girl behind it basically seems to have given up, which was an inevitable shame.

The biggest problem is the running of the OCK as a whole. You (collective 'you' - band, management, label - whoever) should never have handed this over to Artist Arena. They run the OCK as a business, and we end up with absolutely insulting situations like the sale of M&G or EE passes and the epic failure that is the tiered system.




When they implemented that, they emailed people who were not yet due for renewal and told them they had to renew their subscriptions right away, or they would lose the years they had already accrued. The new membership year then commenced right away, instead of being tacked on and running from the end of the previous subscription. Some people I know lost more than 6 MONTHS of their existing membership (one girl lost ten months). That is simply not acceptable, especially given that you will be hard pressed to find an OCK - even Diamond Tier OCKs - who approve of the scheme in the first place.

They charge $20 for postage, and then - even living in the UK - I received and envelope post marked at $4.50. If an envelope (and it was an envelope) is costing them $15.50, they need a new supplier, and I want my money back.

As if it isn't bad enough that those of us outside of the US *only* have the benefit of a slim chance at getting a M&G pass - we can't make it to flyaways, we can't be in videos, etc. - the merchandise we are sent is of such a poor standard, I'd rather keep my $20 postage and never receive a crepe paper-like bandana that is ugly and entirely pointless and a distorted and grainy version of this picture: http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Fal... - which I could have made myself using Google and a graphic image program to change it to greyscale.

Most of us only sign up to OCK for the chance of a M&G. I've been an OCK for around two years, I think, and I've never won M&G or EE. At this stage, I don't expect to because I've dared to complain (and never received a response) and we know for a fact that AA have been blacklisting people so they never get a chance to win. Many fans have complained at this stage, but if we receive a response at all, it's condescending, rude and invariably blames the person complaining, implying that they are stupid or unable to read.

I worked in Business Development for four years, as a senior account manager, and that is NOT how you treat a valued customer. We shouldn't even *be* customers; we should be fans.

The shenanigans with the Australasian tickets was an immense insult which angered not only the Aus fans, but all of us. People feel cheated and underappreciated. Meet & Greets are supposed to be a priviledge reserved for fanclub members (a priviledge we pay for) - but with the option to buy in, and trumped up hype about what a M&G actually entails, it suggests (especially given that AA repeatedly tells us how you as the band have a approved it and think it's cool) that the biggest fans are the ones with the most cash (or, because you can jump up a tier by recruiting, the fans whose friends are most easily influenced and able to afford OCK membership). In this economic climate, that's really cruel. The biggest fans are already scraping together money to see you live and buy your records - being then told that your gratitude can be bought (after charging people to become members to be entitled to the chance to buy those tickets - before then extending them to everyone, and charging above the going rate for standard tickets through the OCK presale) is a kick in the teeth to people who have stood by the band and supported you in other ways.

Most of us know that isn't your choice - it's Artist Arena scamming us - but they claim it's all cool with you guys, and that's either a lie, or deeply disheartening.

The one absolute imperative when it comes to M&G is that it should never, EVER be about money. Frankly, for $200 I would expect a lobster dinner with the band and a ringside seat for naked chocolate wrestling. What fans actually get for that money is a bit of paper that has been scribbled on and to be pushed past you sitting at a table while Marcus yells "MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" if you manage to say more than "Hello" and "Thank you."

I know and understand that you have a very limited amount of time to get M&Gs done in, but I'm going to just list the points about the events themselves that I feel are most important to the experience:

1. A few more seconds with the band. I'm not talking an hour (as cool as that would be, it's unfeasible and I know that), but just to be given a more reasonable moment to speak or finish the sentence you're on is so important - especially when people have something important they want to tell you (like my friend who waited in the freezing cold outside the Birmingham show to tell Joe how you guys have basically helped her 16 year old brother who is disabled learn to speak). Security are just doing their job and I know that (in fact, Dre is one of my favourite kids from the FOB family - he's lovely) but rushing kids and yelling at them to move on during that one moment they've been desperate to have with you guys is gutting. They just need to be a little bit more patient and give nervous kids (and grown-ups!) a chance to get their words out.

Too many people come out of M&Gs disappointed and disillusioned because of that.

2. NEVER HAVE THEM DURING THE SUPPORT. This leaves kids who will sometimes camp out over night at your shows needing to choose between being on the barrier and getting to meet you (and given point #1, I would personally choose the barrier). I know that logistically it's hard to arrange, but if you could hold them before doors opened and let those kids go straight into the venue after, before or as the doors opened, it would keep everyone much happier.

3. The photos are hugely disappointing. Again, I know it's a time issue, but I don't think that clustering group of strangers together for a picture is fair. The winner and the plus-1, yes, but not a bunch of other fans you don't even know. That picture is YOUR memory - your night with your friends, when you met the band you loved - the last thing you want is people you've never met before cluttering that up.



I know that you guys are trying to stay accessible to us, and 99% of fans do really appreciate that, but the M&Gs we have now aren't really in the spirit I think you intended them to be when you started. I've met you guys a few times, now - in fact I've met Patrick about five times in the last couple of years - and all but once was from just hanging around after the shows.

Maybe at future shows you should try getting people into the main arena before the show and lined up against the barrier, and go down the line yourselves. Then the fans can't feel as intimidated by security telling them to move on, because you boys are in control of how much time you spend with each fan. You can stop and listen if you choose to. You could maybe even do a short Q&A - sit yourselves up on the edge of the stage and have the fans put their hand up to ask a question if they have one. Just to make people feel like they've had a chance to meet you, not look at you like they would a zoo animal.

You could even extend the Q&A part to all OCKs with EE (and give EE to all OCK members, which someone suggested before - default EE alone would make it worthwhile being an OCK, for me). Just have the signings and the pics beforehand - let everyone with EE in after that, for the Q&A, and I really think you'd find people are much happier.

Fans need to feel like you want to meet them, not like they are an inconvenience.

Above all, you need to take the contract for OCK away from Artist Arena. They're misrepresenting you guys so badly, and cheating your fans for their own monetary gain and it's making so many people lose faith in what used to be an awesome organisation. For whatever you're paying them to manage it, or whatever share they take from membership, you could almost certainly employ people to run it full time. Fuck, if I thought it would improve the service the fans get I'd do it for you for free. Seriously.

Get a committee of OCKs together to voice their ideas and interact with the other fans to feedback on how things should be run, because Artist Arena just treat us all like thick little children and clearly have no idea (or interest, for that matter) on what is really important to us.

At this rate, I really won't be renewing my membership, because it just doesn't feel worth it. :(

Originally posted as a comment by icedmaple on A Homeboy's Life using Disqus.