Following on BuddyPress

Due to budget restrictions and conflicts, I’ve had to make a transition from Ultimate Member to BuddyPress and leverage some free software to accomplish the same ends. It’s been going great so far, but I’ve had some trouble with one feature in particular: followers. I can’t seem to find a good, cheap, and reliable plugin for basic follower functionality. I want my users to be able to follow their favorite artists and see when they upload new content, but either I’m blind as a bat and missing something basic with BuddyPress or it just doesn’t have it baked in.

Someone suggested the following plugin to me, but there have been some issues with it thus far: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/buddypress-followers/

It’s a little out of date, and when I try to run it there’s a coin toss before it crashes my site or remains stable for an hour. And then crashes. I’m looking for any kind of alternative, preferably free but if I have to scrape some pennies together then so be it.

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]