The state of the VMF community

Atreides · Post by **Atreides** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:31 pm

There has been an awfull lots of posts concerning the level of activity in the VMF community in the past few months. So i tought i could start a new post about it and add my grain of slat to the subject.

I think it is necessary to step back and look at it from a distance. Yes VM is great and we all love to talk about her and learn new things about her and her career. But Vanessa-Mae is still quite a narrow subject with a finite amount of material. There are only soo many things we have access to and soo many new things that happen on a weekly basis. The amount of new material for veterans to talk about is slim at best. Going outside the professionnal boundries and entering her personnal life with gosship is out of the question and utterly uninteresting, at least for me. Without newbies around to poke us with questions and request, the board is bound to be quiet. I think in its current state it is as good as it can get.

The only wa to get more action around here in my opinion is to get more material. And the only way to get more material is to get the Sony or VM marketting team involved. But somehow they both fail to see the great marketting tool that fan communities can be with only minimal support and involvment from their part. I mean, how hard is it for them to pass us along concert information, marketting material, interview material? You send a press release to a radio station you might reach 50k pple in a small region, you send it to an internet community and you ll reach millions worldwide. And as an added bonus you get hundreds of fans to actively promote and pass along the information freely. I guess there must be complications in the previous scenario that i dont understand that prevent them from interracting with stuch communities. Maybe if the "Journal" on the official web site actually had informaton in it ... but that too is outside our control. Maybe add some trivia, but then again, most of the community has the same level of knowledge about VM. So i doubt it would fly.

Dont get me wrong, I think the VMF staff is doing one hell of a job considering the situation. We have a high quality, well maintained web site, and up to date news. How the hell does Rijko get his hands on all that stuff on a daily basis anyways? Did he sell his soul or what? I dont think there anything more that can be done by the staff.

I think we have a strong community with a very strong core of dedicated, long standing members. We have a staff the uphold high standards and provide great services to the community. I belive all in all, we are in good shape. We are still alive and kicking.

These where my 2 cents... I guess i ll go back and finish my income taxes now ... unless I can find another excuse ... Ohhh... look !!!! A pile a dirty dishes

Atre.

Xanthippe · Post by **Xanthippe** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:13 am

I agree with everything you have said Atreides.

I think Vanessa-Mae is quite satisfied with her present situation and the level of her commericial success. She doesn't want to expand it further becasue it would mean more concerts and a longer time from home: she had that from 1996-2000 already. Obviously, she wants to spend more time and effort into her private life.

She is not interested in the internet apparently and she has said to us that she only very rarely surfs on the internet herself. We must not expect anything from that. The success of the online community completely depends on ourselves as dedicated fans.

This forum saw many new members the past 1-2 years, but unfortunately almost none actively participates.

bijsterg · Post by **bijsterg** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:01 am

As all I could say about it is allready mentioned, I only confirm that I agree. However, that does not mean that I'm happy about it! An active forum is much more fun than a sleepy one, even when the sleepers are very dedicated but tiered.

Well, I keep contributing, wherever I can and how I can.

Arioch · Post by **Arioch** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 3:05 pm

I agree i think that we need to accept that the forum is not going to become noisy.
I think that the major problem is down to the type of Forum?
It is a Forum dedicated to a Classical artist, Classical music is calming and relaxing
because of this it is being reflected with in the forum. Many fans who have joined
our forum are respecting this by staying quiet?
Well this is how it seems to me, most of our younger members probably think that
we are all old sitting in front of the fire with our slippers on and past it?
If you have ever looked at other forums dedicated to Rave, Rap, Rock and other
types of music you can see what i mean, It seems the type of Forum stereo types
us somehow!
At least our wonderful forum isn't dead it is just in a coma waiting to be awakened!

What really annoys me is the lack of communication between Vanessa-Mae, her
staff, and Sony. When i sent Sony a email asking if they could keep us informed
on up and coming events, do you know what their reply was?
Sorry but Vanessa-Mae and her team do not tell us anything but we would be
grateful if you hear anything would you let us know so we can put it up on the site!!!
If Sony can't get the info what chance do we have?
Even her support team can't be bothered to reply to emails.
Has any one ever emailed Fretless about merchandise that is on sale?
I bet if you had you never got a reply?

Now i might sound harsh but it seems to me that maybe Vanessa doesn't wish us
to go to her concerts? maybe she would rather live her life with out worrying about
the people who pay her wages and support her?
I am fed up of hearing that she is doing (no has done) a TV appearance on UK TV or
the radio 2 days after the event, I am fed up of finding out about a concert 1 week
before!
I give Sony some praise has they are trying their best by posting tour dates for us
but then they were mostly supplied by Rijko.
Don't get me wrong Vanessa is a great artist and she deserves what she has earned,
i will continue to give her my support but i feel that she has let me down and most of
all let us her fans down.
Vanessa-Mae is Famous world wide, now she needs to realise she has to pay the price
that fame brings there is no escaping it.

Post by **changing worlds** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 6:13 pm

Arioch wrote: Sorry but Vanessa-Mae and her team do not tell us anything but we would be
grateful if you hear anything would you let us know so we can put it up on the site!!!

I think a Sony member should join our forum. That way they can access the information as soon as it is posted.

IMO, VM does need to focus more on her fans. Choreography still (to my knowledge) is not released in the USA. I don't expect a major USA tour, and have no plans to drive 8 to 10 hours to see her in concert. This differs from my thoughts five years ago.

I wonder if this is 'nothing new'. You don't see a lot of the 'original fans' anymore.

Atreides · Post by **Atreides** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:22 pm

I think a Sony member should join our forum. That way they can access the information as soon as it is posted

That would not surprise me. In my opinon Sony has been a great improvement over EMI classics, they seems to have been more cooperative and open toward the community. The official web site is almost keept up to date, i dont think the official site was updated more then once ever year or so wile EMI was in charge. Not to mention the silent treatment they where giving the fans.

Sony being the distributing lable it would make sense that they are not involved in the concert planning and etinary, this task belongs to the artist management team. They are probably almost as in the dark as we are. On the other hand , they should not be kept in the dark, that is the kind of information that if used properly can boost record sales.

So where does the blame fall for the lack of communication ? On Sony? on Fretless ? On VM personnal team ? On VM herself ? They probably all deserve a part of the blame. But ultimatly, it falls on the artist itself. She is ultimatly responsible for her career and what is being done or not done in her name. It is her duty to give em a cold shower if they dont do their job. Is this situation or policy in place by choice? Is it vonlontary? Only 1 person can answer that.

You don't see a lot of the 'original fans' anymore.

How true!!! We hardly see Glenn anymore, Mysan sold his collection and vanished ... Many of the original group the predates me seems to have gone beyond. Musical taste is like eveything else, it evolves, most of them probably moved on to other styles and dont care as mutch as they used to about this one. Old ones leaves , new one come onboard , its a cycle.

Ohh, well ... back to my taxes ... but then again, my car need to be wased , i guess the taxes will have to wait a little longer

Atre

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:39 pm

All I can say is ... it is what it is ...

eva03 · Post by **eva03** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:45 am

Atreides wrote: So where does the blame fall for the lack of communication ? On Sony? on Fretless ? On VM personnal team ? On VM herself ?

I think something's wrong with her current management team. Mel Bush's management was better.

wylde8 · Post by **wylde8** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 10:02 pm

VM does need to take a more proactive approach to marketing herself. Mosts artists are the first ones to step up to the plate to do this, but I think VM is content where she's at. Plus, its more difficult for her since she has more of an international audience.

I'd wager that it will take an album that doesn't sell and is considered a disaster to make her get involved. Her albums have all sold well so far, but none as well as the Violin Player. And considering the number of her biggest fans that have come and gone on this board, its always a possibility that an album could bomb if other fans are losing interest.