🔵 Let's talk about Universal's Fan Pass

The giant has now moved further into capturing fan data directly, and that is something to be wary of.

Earlier this week, a member of the MU team shared a fresh-looking new email from a band who are evidently going through Universal Music’s ecosystem. The email was inviting fans to join the band’s new Fan Pass, telling them to “save to your apple wallet if you wanna receive updates and special content from us”.

In principle, it’s not a bad idea; it is good fan engagement, if we apply the eternal proviso that these platforms are then used longer-term and properly strategised by the artist and their team.

With a bit of digging, we were able to determine that this was all running on a new platform - https://pass.fans - which is wholly owned and operated by Universal Music.

Fan Passes are not a new thing; they’re originally a product of the Web3 era which allowed a unique wallet to be created, allowing a fan membership card to exist - one in which all manner of data could be attached via the blockchain (e.g. how many gigs someone attended, how many loyalty rewards they have received etc). In 2025 they’ve evolved a little more, making use of Apple and Google Wallets, as is the case here.

They are not without their problems, however; the main one being portability of data. If someone creates a fan pass on one platform, it is extremely difficult - if not impossible, dependent on system architecture - to move that pass to another platform. For anything requiring an Apple or Google Wallet, you need an Apple PassKit Pass Type ID, or Google Wallet API Issuer ID and object IDs, and these are not portable as they directly bind to the platform powering the experience (in this case, UMG’s fan pass system).

For that reason, Universal owning and operating its own fan pass system amounts to a huge red flag for me. Emails can at least be exported. Fan passes? Whilst potentially not impossible, I’d imagine it is quite close to that for the reasons stated above. I am also yet to see any platform that enables any kind of migration to someone else’s service. Really though, why would they? It simply makes no business sense to facilitate customers exiting easily.

In fairness to Universal, that issue of data portability is not unique to it alone. I’d imagine it is a challenge that all operators in this space would have. (I feel it also worth adding that there are plenty of fan pass platforms out there too, who have been in this far longer and who might well have more evolved offerings.)

I’d certainly be interested to hear from those running fan pass platforms as to whether an artist could migrate their fans, along with all fan data and insight, to another platform. If they can, fantastic, and I will post an update naming and linking to them if that’s the case. If not… again, it is a red flag, as it becomes an lock-in to a platform that might, in time, simply be outgunned on features, pricing, reliability or other aspects, as all these services inevitably are.

Email service providers are a case in point of perfect data portability: one can move from one provider to another with minimum effort. Granted, this creates volatility for those platforms, but a counterpoint is that it also ensures pricing and competition remains high, yielding a much better end product for those using them.

Flipping that principle on its head, if one is locked in to a platform and that platform ultimately wanes on reliability, service levels, features etc, or which potentially just goes under having run out of funding… well, there’s very little you can do.

This is not me saying that everyone should avoid fan passes. Ultimately what this really highlights - once again - is the vital importance of setting up a properly thought-out fan engagement strategy, because these need to be viewed as multi-year exercises, not something simply designed for the next album campaign.

Again, this flags the issue with Universal running these types of platform. What happens if/when an artist’s contract expires and is not renewed, or if they elect to move to a competitor?

I was discussing this with MU’s Operational Director, Matt Cheetham, and our Technical Director, Tom Packer. We all agreed on the following points, which I’d almost set out as a manifesto of sorts if you are planning fan engagement:

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1. Have a proper comms plan

As Tom says: “You can’t just keep loading up channels without knowing why, and then communicating that to the fans. Its fine to add Discord, Wallet, Whatsapp, SMS etc.. but what should fans expect?” And Tom is absolutely right: this requires serious thought and a long-term comms strategy.

2. Be clear internally and externally on what channels you are using, and what each of them is for

Otherwise, you run the risk of one of two things:

1. Bombarding fans with confusing messaging across many channels and struggling to maintain them

2. Making fans feel like they are constantly jumping through hoops to get the access to the things they actually want

3. Avoid or minimise dependency caused by the use of just one platform

Whilst “one platform to rule them all’ makes a lot of sense from a management perspective, there’s a counter-logic in which using multiple interoperable systems will reduce both dependency and risk, whilst also allowing a more dynamic means to grow and evolve your offering.

4. Always focus on deeper fan engagement and relationship building.

Really, this should be point number one. Print out a banner of that statement and stick it on your wall, because that’s the primary objective, not monetisation. That will inevitably come if you are doing this properly.

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Consider those points above though, and ask yourself this: with all of that in mind, is Universal Music the right entity to be managing your fan pass?

I would politely argue not.

Have a great evening,

D.


🎶 Listening to “Superconductor” by Blotter Trax. I was recommended this fantastic album by the man who made it, who I won’t name here on the basis I think you should just go and enjoy the album. Released on Optimo’s label, it rampages through a kind of 80s electro vibe, and it’s absolutely brilliant. Go play it and thank me later.

📖 Reading “Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense” by Rory Sutherland. I’d class this book as essential, especially in these times where arguably much of the world doesn’t make a lot of sense to begin with. In it, Ogilvy exec Sutherland argues the case for non-rational thinking (not irrational, that’s different!) and goes on to outline all the ways in which approaching something in ways that don’t conform to rational thinking actually yielded transformative results. There’s a strong case that the music industry in general could do with applying some of this wisdom to how we move forward in such stagnant times.

📺 Watching “Keep thinking with Claude” on YouTube. Madvillain soundtracking an ad for an AI platform?! Whatever next…. but it’s a fine ad, and if it’s all AI-generated, then it is done very well. Can’t hate it, no matter how much you might want to loathe AI.

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Remix, anyone?

On the basis I tend to assume it will be met with mass ambivalence, I tend to forget to mention my own musical work, which is pretty daft when I’m actually quite proud of it. Here’s a remix that dropped recently of South African-based producer Custodian. Reggaeton house vibes anyone?