Email marketing is nothing new. It’s been around for a long time. Marketing and promoting your music via email is a direct way to connect with your fans, nurture relationships with them, and earn money in the process. Email marketing is superior to any other marketing tool available for musicians because of its flexibility, direct-to-fan nature, and the autonomy you have as the marketer.
This is a two-part guide, where we’ll walk through the entire process of setting up your Music Email Marketing Strategy from start to finish so that you can build your email list and convert onlookers to actual fans 24/7.
After reading this guide you’ll learn…
- How to build an email list full of raving fans from scratch.
- How to engage with your mailing list subscribers in meaningful ways.
- How to automate your Music Email Marketing Strategy so that it will work for you while you’re busy making music and doing shows.
- How to monetize your email list, which is what we musicians call earning money with our music.
Check out Part 2 of this Series: Email Marketing for Musicians: Develop and Monetize Your Email List
Watch: How to Establish a Loyal Fanbase
What is Email Marketing?
First of all, let’s talk about what email marketing actually is as it pertains to your music business. Email marketing is a highly effective digital marketing strategy that allows you to converse with your fans on a direct, one-to-one basis. This strategy is the perfect way to turn listeners into loyal and raving fans that will support you album after album and year after year.
It involves the process of sending emails to a list of subscribers regularly with the purpose of building authentic relationships with them centered around your artistry, your music, and your mission as an artist.
Why is Email Marketing important for musicians?
This area of your music business is very important because it provides you with full access to your fans where you can talk with them directly. Many musicians think since they have active social media with lots of followers, they don’t need a Music Email Marketing Strategy. At first glance, it would seem so. If you think like this, I don’t blame you. However, there are other factors that you may not be considering. For one, social media platforms have algorithms in place that limit your ability to reach all of your fans. Also, you can not send mass emails to your fans on social media platforms without it looking robotic. And thirdly, you don’t own the rights to your fans. The platform does. This means that any new regulation they put in place can change how you reach and interact with your fans to your detriment. Facebook, for example, is constantly tweaking their algorithms in order to earn more money for its own platform. Every time that algorithm is tweaked, you’ve got to change the way you post, the number of times you post, and what you post in order to maintain relevancy. You don’t have to worry about any of that with a mailing list.
Book Recommendation: Email Marketing for Your Creative Business If you are the owner of a creative business, and struggle with email marketing, this quick and easy 5 chapter book is designed to get you thinking about it in a different way. Included at the end of each chapter is a worksheet to help you think about your business, and how to apply what you have learned.
A mailing list that you own offers longevity in that you can use it for a very long time without much oversight. It also offers you complete autonomy over what you say. No one is looking over your emails and reviewing them for possible infractions. Other than spam guidelines, you will not get put into any type of timeout or have your emails pulled down due to not following vaguely written ‘community guidelines.’ With the exception of SPAM laws and regulations, you can say what you want and send emails as often as you want without getting penalized.
What’s more, it’s way easier to spur your fans into action with email than it is with social media.
Here’s how to start an email list.
Starting an email list is a simple process. We recommend using a third-party provider such as MailerLite. For a list of other marketing services for musicians, check out what Symphonic Distribution had to say. They offer a free tier that allows you to import subscribers, set up forms, embed forms on your website, build landing pages, utilize pop-up subscribe forms, and even send automated emails. Set up your free account with MailerLite and start designing your first subscribe form now. Once you’ve done that save the link to this subscribe form because you’ll need it later.
After creating a subscribe form, you’ll need to start collecting your first subscriber emails. I did two things when I first starting building my list.
- I sent an email out to everyone I knew who might have an interest in me as an artist. This included my friends, family, neighbors, church member friends, and so on. I tapped into my entire network and came up with about 50 names. The email I sent was a personalized email. I shared with them what I was up to and what my plans were going forward. I also shared that I will be keeping track of my music journey via email and I’d love for them to be a part of it. Finally, I ended with a question asking them if they’d like to be added to my list. See an example of the email I sent below.
- I hosted a soft-launch concert. I invited certain people from my network to join me for an intimate concert where I performed for about 30 minutes. The event started off with a small reception where I served refreshments. As we started the show, I shared my vision for music, why I was embarking on such an experience, and what I intend on doing. I performed a 30-minute set where I did a mixture of covers and originals. After the event, I talked a bit more about my hopes and I asked them if they wanted to come alongside me. I passed around a mailing list sign-up sheet and to my pleasant surprise everyone there signed up!
After doing those two things I was well on my way to my first 100 email list subscribers. But that was just the start.
Here’s how to grow your email list.
There are many things you can do to grow your email list. In addition to the two tactics I listed above, you can also implement calls-to-action in various ways.
+Related: How I Get Subscribers on my Mailing List
On Your Website
Add a pop-up subscribe form. I don’t know how you feel about pop-ups, but there are tasteful ways you can include a pop-up to where it’s not intrusive such as setting your pop-up to only show once after a certain amount of time the visitor has spent browsing through your website. The pop-up should include a reason why they should sign up in addition to whatever information you’d like to collect. I suggest starting out by collecting their first name and email address.
Add a form on every page. In addition to the pop-up, I suggest adding a sign-up form on every page of your website. No visitor should leave your site without knowing you have a mailing list and how to sign up. Make it easy for them to sign up by including a way to do it on every page.
Mention your mailing list in blog posts. Always mention your mailing list at the end of every blog post you write.
Utilize a squeeze page. If a pop-up subscribe form is not your style, the other thing you can do is create a squeeze page. This is a page every visitor arrives at when clicking on your website link. The page asks them for their email address in exchange for a freebie such as a free song or exclusive video, or a free merch item. Be sure that there is a clear way to enter your site, just in case they’re not quite ready to sign up. We wrote an entire article about squeeze pages here in case you want to dive a bit deeper into this tactic.
Here are some additional ways you can include opt-ins in order to drive more sign-ups…
- Floating bar
- Your site’s header
- Blog archive page
- Your sidebar
- In a scroll box
- Your footer
- Your About page
- Booking/Contact pages
- On a designated sign-up page
- In an exit-intent popup
Your Email
Your email is a great place to promote your mailing list! For people who are already engaging with you personally via email, this tactic is a no-brainer. Include a blurb about your mailing list and a link to sign up in every email by adding it as part of your signature.
Your Social Media
Here’s where your social media profiles come in handy. Promoting your mailing list on social media is a great way to convert standby onlookers into actual fans that you regularly engage with. There are many ways to promote and convert your mailing list on social media…
- Include a link to sign up in your bio. Your bio is prime real estate space to promote your mailing list. Don’t waste this opportunity by not including a link to your sign-up form here. It could be as simple as saying, “Join my VIP List and get my latest release free (insert link)!”
- Schedule weekly posts promoting your newsletter. How will your followers ever know that there is a way to get involved on a deeper level if you don’t tell them? Promote your newsletter every week with newsletter-specific posts. Talk about why your newsletter is the bomb and why they should sign up. Share a teaser of something you just sent out to your subscribers and remind your followers to get on your list if they want to get it next time. Include joining your mailing list as part of your monthly tips about how to support independent artists! Ask for their help with deciding on a new merch item and while they’re at it, ask for their email address and if they want to join your VIP list. Nine times out of ten, they will say yes. Pro Tip: Use a third-party survey tool like Typeform to make this magic happen.
- Host a giveaway. Who doesn’t like participating in contests and sweepstakes? Use this fun way of engaging with your audience to accomplish your newsletter growth goal. Why not host a contest each month? Give away a free merch item. Ask them to submit their story related to one of your songs or a holiday like Valentine’s Day. Tell them to share why they think they are your biggest fan. Ask a trivia question. As part of the contest entry rules, make it so they have to submit their email address to participate. Be sure to tell them you’ll be adding them to your list though. The last thing you want is a bunch of spam complaints! I suggest using a survey tool like Typeform as suggested above. That way you can easily collect the email addresses of contest entrants.
- Promote your list in the comments. When someone comments on a song, respond by asking them to join your mailing list. I know this sounds a bit over sales-y, but you can do this in a tasteful way. For example, if someone comments that they really like your new song, you can reply by offering a thank you and saying ‘hey, if you want to hear more join my VIP list. I’d love for awesome supporters like you to be in my circle! I share behind-the-scenes scoops on my songs and also exclusive freebies. Here’s a link…”
+Related: I Lost 1,000+ Subscribers…Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing
At Events
The best way to encourage mailing list sign-ups is through events, virtual and in-person. For virtual events, if your guests have to pre-register in any way, make it a part of your event to-dos to add each registrant to your mailing list. Be sure to let them know that they’ll be added in a disclaimer, though. If you don’t have a pre-register option for your virtual event, you can mention your mailing list during the show, or even host a giveaway contest and have people go and sign up during your show. You’ll collect their emails at this time too of course!
If it’s an in-person event, pass around your mailing list. Don’t just leave it on the merch table! Announce it during your show and physically pass the mailing list around. Trust me, if you do it this way, you’ll increase your average sign-ups by at least 70% at events! To sweeten the deal, give away a free physical album or merch item to one lucky person and make it a requirement that they have to sign up to your list if they want to participate. This tactic doubles as a great way to showcase your merchandise and promote merch sales. I have used postcards like this to collect email addresses in the past as part of a live giveaway at my shows and it works really well.
Book Recommendation…
Mailing List Sign-up Book for Bands and Musicians
Without the ability to directly contact your fan, you’re missing out on opportunities and income. This Mailing List Sign-Up Log Book helps musicians, bands, and performers consistently collect email addresses with every gig in a very simple, convenient, and organized way.
One time I performed at a big conference. I had a bunch of CDs with my latest Single printed up and gave them to the event organizers. When people came to check-in for the event, I asked them to give away my CD. The catch was that if they wanted the CD, they had to sign for it by sharing their name and email address. I collected hundreds of emails at this one event alone that way.
In General Conversation
I rarely meet a new person where my profession doesn’t come up naturally in the conversation. And like clockwork, the person usually asks when is my next gig. If they plan on actually coming or not is another story, but the fact that they asked, gives me an organic way to pitch my newsletter. I tell them if I have something coming up or not. Whether I do or don’t I always use this opportunity to take down their email address. I simply say, “you know what, give me your email address and I’ll add you to my list. Whenever I have an event coming up I’ll let you know, how’s that?” Without fail, they always say yes! I have collected lots of email addresses this way.
The main idea is to be proactive in building your email list. I know that we musicians are constantly creating and making music and a lot of times we just ignore the business side of things for the sake of time management. This is a huge mistake. These things should not be ignored, especially your mailing list. The musician’s mailing list is his/her key to earning a living. If you want to build and grow your list, get bold! Get out there and market your list as a priority for the best results.
In the next part of this series, we’ll be going over what to say to your subscribers and how to be consistent with relevant content; how to maintain a clean and healthy list; how to maximize open rates, and how to monetize your email list. Click here to learn more.
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