Email List Archives - Haulix Daily

Everyone is suffering from content overload, but email newsletters remain one of the strongest tools in any musician’s marketing arsenal.

In the age of abundance, how much is enough? How much money do you need to achieve stability? How many songs do you need to write a track that people will love? How many song streams will pay your rent? How many followers do you need to build a sustainable career? What is an ideal number of email newsletter subscribers?

There is no clear answer to any of these questions. The answer is different for every person or group, even if the goal is always the same.

One thing is sure: The number of subscribers (or followers) needed to build a sustainable career is smaller than you think.

Social media has trained us to dream big when it comes to fans. The names everyone knows have millions of online followers. Thousands upon thousands of people engage with every post a celebrity makes, and they, in theory, support every announcement that person of interest shares.

But you don’t need one-million people to support you to have a full-time career in music. An audience of one-thousand can make a more significant impact as long as they are engaged with your art.

Ask yourself: Do my fans see themselves as individual supporters, or are they part of a community built around your artistic output?

If the answer is the latter, you’re in a good place.

When artists can cultivate a community around their music, anything is possible. An email newsletter with one-thousand engaged subscribers who want to support your continued success will bring in more money and meaningful support than a million people who never buy a shirt or catch a tour. Any follower is sweet, of course, but unless they take the extra step to support you financially, their interest in your art does not help your bottom line.

If you don’t have a community around your music, then consider this:

What can I do to make people feel more involved in my music?

There are many ways to engage your audience, but making people feel involved in your career comes down to whether or not you take an interest in who they are as people. Where do your followers live? Why do they like your music? What do they want more or less of? What are they doing this weekend? Do they have families, or are they in school?

When musicians understand their audience, they can engage with them in a meaningful way that leaves followers feeling seen and appreciated. If you can make people think that way about you and your music, the community aspect will begin to take shape. Followers will follow one another; they will plan ways to attend your shows and arrange meet-ups in cities where they live. Your music will have a life outside your own, one that gives it added value to the people who enjoy it.

When people care about something, and I mean care about it, they will go above and beyond to see it continue. This is true in life and relationships and art. Don’t underestimate the value of making your fans feel good about being your fans.

So, don’t worry about reaching one million followers. Don’t even worry about hitting ten-thousand. Focus on building meaningful relationships with everyone who cares about your music and getting them to join your mailing list, and if that is one-thousand people, great! If it’s thirty, that’s good too. Don’t worry about the number of people engaged as much as you do making them feel important. If you can make them feel as good as their support makes you feel more followers will come in time.

There is something deceptive about social media. For all the good it does by allowing us to share our every thought at any give moment it also creates a false sense of closeness between friends and acquaintances or, in the case of musicians, the artist and their fans. Anyone with a Facebook page knows the reach their messaging receives is far smaller than the size of their fanbase, and even though Twitter buries their analytics a little deeper than FB the same gap between reach and audience size persists. There is simply no way to guarantee everyone on every network you keep will receive your messages unless, of course, you are willing to pay for such exposure. I know you would rather avoid that, and honestly I feel the same, which is why I must urge you to consider focusing more marketing efforts on building your personal mailing list.

Whether you’re trying to get the word out about your music at shows or online, directing fans to join your mailing list is the best way to ensure continued engagement with your brand and music moving forward. Followers on social networks are good, and they certainly help make your band look more established as the count continues to rise, but when it comes time to engage those so-called fans you never know exactly who will receive your message. The latest video or song stream may reach those diehards who live for your creativity, or you may reach those people who completely forgot they even gave your page a ‘Like.’ The scattershot delivery of social media simply does not offer the kind of specified reach you need to ensure your marketing reaches everyone you hope it will without first requiring a fee, and while you can certainly pay for exposure mailing lists provide a much more cost effect solution.

By gathering email addresses from fans both online and in the real world you are gaining access to every follower’s personal inbox. People may not read every post in their Facebook or Twitter feeds, but most people make it a point to at least browse the subject of every email receive, and that fact alone should tell you why email is the best way to engage with your fans. It’s through email that you can actually get a moment of their time away from the constant barrage of messaging and third party advertising that comes with posting to social networks, and it’s in those quiet moments of personal engagement when a real relationship with followers can be developed. The sheer fact they offered their email should tell you they have an invested interest in your continued success, and with direct access to the people who believe in you most you should be able to leverage their support to better promote your current and upcoming musical endeavors.

Having direct conversations with fans through mailing lists is about more than increased sales, though that should be more than enough reason to have one. These mailings also offer you, the artist, a chance to better understand your fans. The people on your mailing list are essentially a test audience for everything you do moving forward. You can track the way they engage with messaging and marketing by watching the analytics of each email, and you can ask them to give you feedback on new songs or ideas you want to share. If they’re invested enough in your music to allow you to further fill what is probably already a very busy email inbox then they would probably be overjoyed at the opportunity to feel they play a pivotal role in how you function as an artist moving forward. Share your dreams with them, and ask them to share theirs with you. This will further forge your connection with fans, and in time it will be those connections that ultimately help you build your music empire.

James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.