How White Lies 4X'd Their Fan Club on Shopify
Background
Over fifteen years and five albums, London's White Lies built a fiercely devoted global fanbase, regularly packing venues from Amsterdam to Mexico City. But their fan club lived on a third-party platform, and the disconnect came with a cost: the club had no ties to their website or merch store, the band couldn't see who their members were or what they were buying, and every exclusive had to work within someone else's system.
To fix it, the band partnered with Big Cookie and 100% to relaunch whitelies.com on Shopify, fully integrating their store and fan club using Single.
Strategy
White Lies built the new club alongside their listeners. They interviewed fans about what it should offer, gifted existing members their first year free, and kicked it off with a band AMA during launch week.
The offer stayed simple: one annual membership, the same for every fan. For a flat yearly fee, members get:
- Priority ticket pre-sales
- Live albums and early access to new music
- Monthly newsletters and direct Q&As with the band
- Exclusive merch drops and 10% off the store
And because the club lives right on their Shopify store, signing up is as seamless as buying a t-shirt.
Results
Memberships quadrupled after the relaunch, and in the two years since, the club has become the financial heartbeat of the store:
- 42% of store revenue is driven by members, with fees alone making up a quarter
- +108% spend per member, at twice the order frequency
- 74% of members become repeat buyers, compared to 50% of other customers
Equally valuable is the visibility. White Lies can now see exactly what their biggest fans want, which exclusives convert, and where their most devoted listeners live. Years in, anniversary renewals remain high, generating predictable, recurring revenue while keeping the band close to their community.
The new fan club offers the kind of access and experiences fans have been asking for.
Why it works
The relaunch gave White Lies the connective tissue they were missing. Unifying their store and their community put the whole audience in view without sacrificing the grassroots spirit that built it. The new club didn't replace the original fan club culture, it legitimized it, adding the seamless perks and direct access needed to actually serve the fans.
That's the case for running a fan club on a platform you own: you can see your fans, reach them directly, and everything connects. For White Lies, the fans and the revenue were always there. The relaunch made both visible and put them to work.