Why are Fans Loyal Anyway?

Aly Gillani is the European Label Rep for Bandcamp, a thriving, global music community where fans discover new artists, intimately connect with them, and directly compensate them for their work. Aly’s role involves expanding and managing the growing network of labels and artists using Bandcamp to connect with their fans.

Faryal serves as TuneCore’s Vice President of International, overseeing TuneCore’s existing international teams and responsible for the brand’s growth and expansion into new countries and territories. Faryal holds a BS in International Relations and History & Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. She joins TuneCore with over 10 years of Localization, International management, Project management and Strategy & Operations experience. Prior to joining TuneCore, Faryal worked at Tag, an international creative production agency, where she was Global Head of Localization. There, she was responsible for overseeing a global team and supporting clients across a wide range of industries to help scale their localization efforts and ensure successful market entry. Faryal is passionate about traveling and learning about other cultures and helping brands go global. She believes music transcends borders, and loves supporting independent artists across the globe at every stage of their careers. Faryal is also a mother to two small children, and she considers herself a crusader for gender parity in music and working moms.

Dr. Simone Driessen is a researcher and senior lecturer in media and communication. She is based at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In her research, she examines why music fans remain fans over time. In addition to studying this long-term audience engagement, Simone is also interested in exploring why fans discontinue their fandom. Particularly when this happens after a controversy or cancellation of a celebrity.

Started as a bedroom producer and has grown into the most promising indie-pop artist in the Netherlands. We are of course talking about the 24-year-old Simon de Wit, aka Blanks! This musical multi-talent is an ‘overexcited music boy’, whose inexhaustible enthusiasm has already built up a fanatical fanbase of more than 2 million people. With his new album, Nothing Lasts Forever And That’s OK, he surprises his fans with his cheerful and upbeat, but also vulnerable and smaller songs. With his sold-out European tour in 2021, ESNS 2022, and a bigger European tour in prospect, you can’t ignore Blanks ‘live’ either!

Martijn Crama runs a management agency and represents TAPE TOY. Alongside working as an artist manager, Crama is a consultant in the music industry advising both artists and music organizations about their career plan. In 2018 Martijn released his first book for ambitious and debuting musicians called ‘Basisbagage’ and started a YouTube learning channel during Corona in 2020. A management curriculum for music conservatory students of the ArtEZ Popacademy was designed by Martijn.