Recently we created a survey for Phish fans to give us an idea of what the lot scene is like from their point of view, what they buy, what they make, what they want to see, and so on. 123 people responded to this survey over three weeks, giving insight into the buying power and creative forces of Phish fans. Here are the results with analysis of the survey.
Definitions to keep in mind
Fan-art is defined as art that is made by fans and inspired by bands, movies, events, etc…
Phanart – fan-art made specifically by Phishfans, for Phishfans, and/or inspired by Phish
PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish – a book chronicling and archiving Phish fan-art.
The Survey Questions:
1. Have you ever made fan-art
Yes: 47.4%
No: 52.6%
2. What did you make? (Multiple answers allowed)
Shirt – 38.3%
Poster – 36.2%
Jewelry – 8.5%
Other – 36.2%
Clothing 19.1%
Sticker – 19.1%
Analysis: Shirts and posters make up over 2/3 of all things people make, which makes sense since that is what we see most of. 1/5 made clothing of some sort, beyond shirts, the same amount as stickers. Are there as many stickers as clothes out there? Perhaps.
3. Did you…..
Make money – 47.8%
Break even – 28.3%
Lose money– 23.9%
Analysis: 75% of respondents made money or broke even, giving fans a 3 in 4 chance of not losing money. This is not indicative of ALL art fans have made or sold, but a good enough judgement that its at least worth getting into making something with a 75% chance (based upon this survey) to NOT lose any money.
4. Would you sell fan-art again?
Yes – 78.3%
No – 21.7%
Analysis: Overwhelming that most fan-art makers attempt to repeat the success they had in the past, especially since 75% of fans made money or broke even, showing correlation between the question 3 and 4.
Reasons given FOR selling fan-art again include:
- Meet cool people
- Meet people and feel more vibes that day
- Because i love to and am always so inspired right before tour time.
- It is a great way to fund your trip and I enjoy making the art itself
- It’s a ton of fun and I enjoy creating different things related to my favorite band.
- Because i can get to the next show
- It’s fun! (multiple responses)
- I did it more for an activity, and I thought it would be fun to give away stickers…etc
- Money, meeting people
- Fun to meet people and get more ideas also
- Didn’t try to sell it…just made it for myself
Reasons given for NOT selling fan-art again include:
- Because I dont like making money off of art
- Mostly I’ve made stuff for fun not money
- Wasn’t for sale were gifts for friends
A little of both…
- It’s really more maybe. These day I prefer my tours or shows as vacations and as sales is part of the day job these days, it’s less likely.
5. Have you ever bought fan-art?
Yes – 96%
No – 4%
Analysis: Not much of a surprise, since nearly everyone has bought some sort of fan-art in their day
6. What have you bought? (multiple answers allowed)
Shirt – 91.7%
Poster – 82.3%
Sticker – 78.1%
Jewelry – 35.4%
Other – 49.0%
Analysis: Again, the overwhelming responses indicate Shirts, stickers and posters as the predominant items bought on lot. An average of 84% percent of respondents has bought a shirt poster or sticker. This accurately reflects the 84.6% of items contained within PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish that are shirts, posters/paintings and stickers.
7. How much fan-art do you own?
| Blank space where no text should be |
1-10 items |
11-15 items |
16-20 items |
21-25 items |
26-30 items |
more than 30 items |
| stickers |
63.3% |
12.7% |
7.6% |
3.8% |
0.0% |
12.7% |
| shirts |
68.2% |
17.6% |
5.9% |
1.2% |
1.2% |
5.9% |
| posters |
54.8% |
14.3% |
9.5% |
3.6% |
1.2% |
16.7% |
| jewelry, misc, etc… |
70.4% |
11.1% |
3.7% |
3.7% |
0.0% |
11.1% |
Analysis: From this chart, we can see that more than half of respondents own at least 1-10 pieces of fan-art. The numbers drop off from there, with only an average of 13% of respondents having more than 11-15 items, 6% of respondents having 16-20 items, and fewer collecting more. This represents the minority of hard-core collectors of fan-art, as encountered in the creation of PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish where a handful of fans had the a significant amount of fan-art to help in the creation of the book that was otherwise lost to time.
8. Do you seek out particular fan-art?
Yes – 56.1%
No – 43.9%
9. Is there anything you haven’t seen on lot that you would like to see?
Yes – 28.4%
No – 71.6%
Comments of those who responded yes:
- Matted photographs
- More creative stuff instead of just brand logos turned into phish songs
- I’ll know it when I see it!
- A small area where poster artists could display/sell their stuff. Too often I find someone with an awesome print. When I ask where they got it, it’s usually from somebody just walking around
- More hats
- Dharma Beer (we support this idea)
- More creative items
- Dog leash/collar
- The “Jesus” fish logo thing, with Phish written inside. I’ve seen them on cars, haven’t been able to find one for myself 
- Furniture
- Pretty much anything as long as it’s high quality
10. What are your overall thoughts on the genre of ‘fan-art’? (scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best)
| I love all fan-art! |
very cool |
kinda cool |
mildly cool |
it makes no difference |
eh, not for me |
not very heady at all |
Rating
Average |
| 33.7% |
46.9% |
11.2% |
4.1% |
1.0% |
2.0% |
1.0% |
8.31 |
Analysis: 91.8% of fans responded positively (the first 3 choices), giving fan-art in general an overall rating of 8.31 on a scale of 1 to 10. Not too shabby.
So there you have it, the first ever Phish fan-art survey. Look for more of these in the future as we delve deeper into one of the mosdt unique and growing genres of art in America today.
Survey results thanks to Surveymonkey.com
