After wrapping up my first show at the legendary Bitter End, a visibly excited man rushed up onto the stage where I and my guitarist still stood. All he wanted was to take a picture of me wearing his sunglasses, a tradition he’d started amongst his favorite indie artists. That person was a guy named Mark McLaughlin, and unbeknownst to me, he had just become my first fan.

Mark bewildered me because he was the polar opposite of what I’d been taught my “fan avatar” would be. As Mark puts it, he is an “old white guy”. That’s how I knew it was time to throw out anything we think we know about who our fans are and what they love about our music.

That’s precisely why I’ve brought him on today’s episode, so you can hear from a fan directly about the questions that we only speculate on like:

• What draws them to our music?

• What makes them “a fan”?

• Do they prefer Spotify or Apple?

…and so much more.

What’s also fun about today’s episode is that in true Mark fashion, he mentions several other artists he’s a fan of, so I’ve gone ahead and created a playlist of them all called “Mark’s Mentions”. Listen here: http://tinyurl.com/marksmentions

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://themillennialmusicianpodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information on this show.

Mark McLaughlin:

http://Instagram.com/whatmarkheard/

Learn more about Shay:

Official Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://shayleonia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://instagram.com/shayleonia⁠⁠⁠⁠

TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tiktok.com/@shayleonia⁠⁠⁠