Email is the perfect way to keep in touch with your fans. A bulletin board or mailing list where people can get together and discuss music is also a step in creating a community of like-minded fans, as well as providing instant feedback. An even nicer surprise is to find a post from Alias himself, explaining how he made that particular beat. Members of Southern Celtic-influenced rock band Jump, Little Children often pop up on their fan mailing list, Opium. Ben Folds Five were pleasantly surprised when lead singer and songwriter Ben Folds penned his take on the Beatles' influence on rock music and posted it to the fan discussion email list.
Email lists make it easy to get instant feedback on live performances and new songs.
Get to know what your fans think and like, but take it all with a grain of salt. You are, of course, the one in control of your artistic vision. Also, if your band isn't very well known, join some fan lists for bands that you like and chat away, casually mentioning your own band in your signature file. Another good way to keep in touch with your fans is with scheduled live chats. For something easy to use, America Online Instant Messenger lets any user start a chat room and anybody using the software can enter.