There are many things to say about email marketing.

So many books, videos, and blog posts that tell you what to do and what not.
But what interests me the most is how you could use email marketing as a musician.
After all, “marketing” is not always a word that you would connect with music per-sé.

Music is an art form. A way of expressing yourself and sharing it with the world. (Or just with your family on Christmas Eve…no problem with that 🙂

If you want to share your music with the world, however, you have a variety of options to choose from. Foremost, and probably the biggest, the internet.
Almost anything internet related could be used to promote your music.
Social media, websites, blogs, online video, chat, you name it. I have even seen music-related content on Twitch, an online streaming platform mainly for gamers! So, whatever suits you, right?
In this blog post, I want to focus on the “E-Mail part of the Interwebs”.
What is so good about email, and how can you use it to promote/market your music?

Let’s start at the beginning.

Set an email marketing goal for your music

After you have set your goal, which should be something around the lines of
“I want to share my music with the world/make money with my music/gain a larger audience/etc”,
one of the next steps is creating an email list.

That, and creating a website (the basics of your online presence, more on that in this blogpost)

Combining your email list with your website is probably the best way to go, but you can build an email list on social media too.
With a list of subscribers, you maintain control of what you share, when and how.

Where to get the best subscribers for your email list?

After you have chosen your email service provider or ESP, you start with a simple sign up form. Ask your subscribers for their first name and email address. This is enough for now.
Btw, you can start with Mailerlite or Mailchimp as an email service provider. They are both free and offer space for a good amount of subscribers.
The form is usable as an embedded part of your website, as a piece of code, but you can also use it as a link to use on social media. This should be easy to find in the dashboard of any major email software.
Congrats! You just created your first sign-up form/link!

Where to put your sign-up forms!

• A couple of good places could be:
• Your website (obviously)
• Your bio in your social profile, for example Instagram or YouTube (pro-tip: use software like Linktree to add multiple links to your social profile)
• Your personal email signature. Make people aware of your email list.
• On a live show in some form. Create a short link, add it to a business card or put it on a backdrop, and direct your audience there.

  The bottom line here is to put the link or form where it makes the most sense. For example, putting it without any backstory into people’s dms just makes it spammy and people will get a negative association with you. You don’t want that 🙂 

How to get the best subscribers on your email list?

But how do you actually convince someone to subscribe?
Pretty simple. Share your music for free.
Yes, for free!!
No, I don’t mean the full album after they subscribe, but one song from the upcoming album.
Or, a short mix of all your previous songs.
Or a special acoustic version.
Find something that fits the audience and your style.

If you really do not want to share your music for “free” (more on that later, because you will be in the end…sort of) share discounts. 50% off on my next album.
Or a full unreleased video of a song? Maybe even small merch items, or at least a discount on your merch.

What should I send to my email subscribers?

Keep them entertained while they are on your list!

Start a small sequence of emails to introduce yourself and show the new fans where your music can be found. Around 3 to 5 mails in the first week is possible, but one or two is fine as well.
After they are on your list, you can send out an email once every week. Sometimes once every month could do, but no less than that.
By keeping them updated on your work, they remember that they are on your list. If they receive an email after 6 months, they might not remember you and unsubscribe. (This happens more often than you think! Talking from experience 🙂
Don’t oversell yourself. Just start a conversation the same way you would at a party, for example. Introduce yourself in one paragraph. Tell your new fans why you started with your music and what your music journey means to you. You can also mention that you are happy with them, subscribing to them. Show some appreciation and try to act as natural as possible.
From here on, you should repeat what you did to get more subscribers. Don’t forget to make some more music of course, but that should be obvious 🙂

• If nothing special happens in your music career, that is, no live shows, no upcoming albums and such, nurture your new fans with information on what you are up to in life. Make it as music related as possible, that’s why they subscribed to you in the first place.
• If you have upcoming events, it becomes even better. You can build up to anything you are working on. Share you’re behind the scenes of a new album, a video clip in the making or some demo sessions.
• Shortly before the release, you could do discounts for loyal members. Or send out short clips of your new songs.
• For a live show, start sharing dates and locations.
• When the final date arrives, you can even hand out discounts to loyal fans, or ask them to stand out in the crowd. Be creative with it and reward them for being on your list.

With these tips, you will grow your email list rapidly and generate more interaction with your fans.
Try out which method works best for you, and stick with it for a few months before switching strategies. I promise you, you will get great results!

Keep making awesome music and share it with the world!

Maurice from Music-Mindset.com