Official Fan Club?

[Mi chiamano Kami]

hyperrune - no, I guess I'm not a god, although it appears if I spam a lot, I could be quickly elevated to that status... ;D

Speaking of Anthony Callea (because I always have to notice when somebody does, LOL ) I used to be a member of his fan forum, Callea University, and this 'fan club' thing is starting to remind me disturbingly of the nastiness that existed between that and the official forum when it started up. No membership fees or anything, but some of the people at the official forum got hung up over Anthony occasionally posting over there, and it seems like his management leaned on him and he stopped posting anywhere but the official forum.
Which is why this thing makes me feel uneasy; I'd hate to see Damien put in a position like that. I think it would really tear him up to be involved in fan club politics and feel that maybe he was letting us down by only being able to post over there. I think in general Damien has very few immature fans (by which I mean immature as opposed to young - we know there are lots of younguns with good taste!) and the same situation might not erupt, but the exclusive-ness of it would probably exclude him from talking to us here. And that would cause some resentment, for sure - not towards Damien, of course, but it would definitely affect him to feel responsible for this. And the same for Dean and Jess really - I can't imagine them liking being caught up in a situation like this. Dean seems to have enough trouble dealing with the stuff people have been saying about him.

[hyperrune]

Quite right, Kami. Really, Damien is a human being, a genuine guy, and he has the right to talk to who he pleases. Us mere mortals can post whatever we like and have it read by hundreds of people all over the world - why should Damien be any different? Eileen has been lovely, putting in the time to talk to us, and Damien has been, too. Damien has the right to talk to someone if he chooses. It's not like we're asking for free music or pictures somebody else owns or something - all we're interested in is Damien himself, as a person, and if he can't even give that...?
Btw Kami, what does your full name mean? Is it just a name, or does it have a special meaning? I got my name from the title of a manga

[Mi chiamano Kami]

The idea from my name came from the song 'It's Only A Paper Moon', which I was listening to one day as I registered for some forum or other. Kami being taken to equal 'paper' (of course it has other meanings, which leads to some fun conversations ^_^) and 'tsuki' being the 'moon' part. The Japanese translation is just because I love languages, and Japanese is the only one I sort of know my way around. Since I love music and writing, I thought it appropriate and kept using it. Oh, and manga is shiny. Even though I haven't really read much.

On topic... yeah, Damien is a human, not some piece of property - I looked at the Dean site and it kind of gave me the creeps. It reminded me of an online dating website for some reason - not that I've gone to any of those except by accident, hehe. ;D
We should pay for Damien's music and concert appearances to support him, that's accepted, but I just don't like the idea of people paying for... well, a part of him. People paying for the privilege of feeling they get "special" treatment? The fact that he would want to talk to his fans is priceless, and I hate the idea of anyone cheapening that by making it a service that he has to do because someone paid for it. He should have the right to choose to do it or not to.

If I knew this would benefit him and that he loved the idea I'd be all for it with only a few reservations, but I think we all feel at this moment like someone is raking in the bills by using Damien's name. None of the other Idols have members-only clubs that I know of. So why should these three need them? I know a lot of big stars do, and Damien is going to be a big star for sure. But Dean's fan club at least, which is all we have to go off for the moment, is offering a lot of stuff, and for it to stay exclusive there are going to be a lot of things he won't be allowed to do. It just... I don't know, it seems against the spirit of Idol. We've all paid loads of money to Telstra to ensure we see more of Damien, and now they want us to pay goodness knows who to keep hearing all the latest news... so when does he get a share of this?

Arrrrgh. Music industry weirdness like this annoys me. What next... 'Join now for the chance to eat his soul'?

If I'm getting too worked up about this someone let me know...

[shimmery]

Wow, I'm so impressed at all this conversation in this thread, look at how we all love our club! It means a lot and these are such great discussions.

I'm also disturbed that people could be left out of a paid fansite if they couldn't afford it, and that is so non-Damien in attitude, because a lot of us love the fact that he is so down to earth.

I've also been worrying as was mentioned above that Damien and Eileen might feel torn between 2 clubs and esp. Damien might be bound in his contract to do only official things. This is why I am hoping that whatever we all do, we all stay together somewhere, wherever that is.

I think the only fan club I ever paid for when I was at school was Frenz of the Enz (which by then was for Crowded House) and we used to receive some lovely presents, once we received an exclusive single which was signed by the whole band. But Frenz was and still is run by a passionate friend of the band, Peter Green. So, for that reason I was happy to pay to be in it. I am not so happy about someone we don't know making money from us to allow us the right to hear from Damien when he has already shown he is more than happy to visit his supporters for free. The only other reason I'd consider joining is that if Damien had two sites, it might be all too much for him to keep up with and for his own sake maybe we should try to all be in one spot, so to speak.

Neski, as was written above, I absolutely think you should be heard in this matter as you started this club and nurtured it. You should NOT be cut out of any official club.

[murfinator]

aww what about me lol

[Neski]

*hugs Murf*

I like that song! (in reference to what about me) ;D

[murfinator]

haha thanks

[irishrokit]

It seems as though the fan one for Dean has been taken down

Maybe it wasn't as official as they made out. I looked the other day and it was there but you couldn't do anything until you paid $30. Looks like it was just someone trying to make a buck out of the idols

[shimmery]

whoa!!! Oh wow, if it's not official, that's shocking, all those kids who would have paid up their $30 to who knows who!!!

[belinda]

Oh gosh, that's terrible if that's happened.

[Neski]

Woah!!! You're joking! If it wasn't official, those poor people who signed up already(?) would be out $30 - not good at all!

[winterlong]

Wow, it looked so legit - particularly as it was linked to Access All Areas.....

I dont think alot of people of joined - there was scepticism... most fans were waiting for it to be endorsed by the official site, which it never did......now we know why!

[Mysterri]

I've just had a look at the site and there's nothing there at all now, just a background image. So someone is laughing all the way to the bank with the money they did manage to squeeze out of unsuspecting fans. Absolutely disgusting!

[Mi chiamano Kami]

Hm, it took the Idol people long enough to catch on didn't it?

I really hope that if anybody was sucked in by that jerk that they get their money back somehow, although it's unlikely really. Well, at least it was stopped before any Jess and Damien fans were caught by it.

[shimmery]

Kamitsuki I agree, it took FAR TOO LONG!!!! For goodness sake, we were discussing it here for days, and that was after it had appeared over at the Idol Forums. Those poor fans who paid!