The Curve by Nicholas Lovell

Author:Nicholas Lovell [Lovell, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101631447
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

9

SUPERFANS

Phish are a peculiar band. Their music is hard to define. They are a band that many fans think are best experienced live rather than via a recording. They have played together for so long, improvising, experimenting and performing, that no two gigs are alike. They’ve been going for thirty years yet only one of their albums has been in the top ten Billboard rankings. They’ve released over 800 songs and none of them have been radio hits. They have only made one music video in all that time.1

Yet, between 2008 and 2012, Phish made over $120 million from touring. In 2012 they grossed $28.1 million, more than Radiohead, Metallica or a resurgent Neil Diamond.2 Because Phish gigs are so heavily improvised, fans fear missing out by not attending. The fans who do go trade recordings of the live concerts with each other, a practice which the band encourages. John Ellis first saw them play in Toronto in 2002, since when he has been to more than fifty gigs.* I asked Ellis how much money he had spent on Phish.

‘At least $1,000 on the gigs. More when you add petrol and motels and food. Hundreds on CDs. Then T-shirts, books and so on. Perhaps $2,000.’

Ellis is one of Phish’s superfans.

*

Sharna Jackson is a thirty-year-old mother of one. By day she is employed at the Tate Gallery, trying to interest children in the art and artists housed in her workplace. By night she explores a gothic fantasy of Victorian London in an online game called Echo Bazaar.3

The brainchild of Alexis Kennedy, chief narrative officer of Failbetter Games, Echo Bazaar is part familiar, part intoxicatingly different. Described as ‘a free browser game that only takes a few minutes a day to play’, Echo Bazaar introduces players to a world of peasoupers and squidmen, detectives and nightmares through a series of short, interactive vignettes.

Jackson has spent over £250 ($400) on Echo Bazaar. ‘I love the game. I love the content and I love how the writers have evoked such an intriguing world. Echo Bazaar is brilliant because it is free. You can play it even if you have no money. You get a limited number of actions every day for free, and when I first played, I blew through all of my actions really fast. I spent money so I could get more access to content. I’m still spending.’

Whether she’s at work or at home, Jackson always has a browser window open, so she can see how many actions she has available to her. Her office computer is littered with giant Post-it notes showing her progress towards different goals. She is a superfan of Echo Bazaar.

*

We have met superfans throughout this book and will meet more. The players of Clash of Clans who spend thousands of dollars on the game. The supporters of Victoria Vox who paid $1,500 to hear her play a gig in their home. The people who pay $275 to attend a baking course in Vermont or £4,000 ($6,000) for

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