Tag: Mailing Lists

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5 Tips To Improve Mailing List Signups At Shows

We have made this point several times in the past, but in a time where everyone is constantly vying for attention on social networks there may be no better way to reach your fans than through maintaining an email newsletter. Some may think email is becoming antiquated these days, but that is in fact not the case. Email is the only way many brands and artists are able to reach their audience that allows for in-depth discussion on multiple topics, and though it may never make you a star maintaining such outreach can aide in developing a sustainable career in music. We have talked about how to make great newsletters in the past, and if I had to guess we will probably revisit that topic in the future, but today we are looking at how to increase signups for this outreach at your upcoming live events. The advice we have is not all that complex, but if you follow our guidance and apply the concepts to your audience you will see results.

Contests connected to signups.

One of the easiest ways to gain additional signups for your email newsletter at shows is to lure in curious music fans with the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe you cannot offer a trip to Italy or a summer in Hawaii, but you could offer free tickets, free merchandise, or even a chance to contribute gang vocals to your next album. Find a prize that is feasible without breaking the bank and promote it at your merch table, requiring everyone who wants to participate to signup for your email newsletter. If longtime fans complain that they cannot enter, consider launching a digital counterpart that allows people to gain ‘entry’ in exchange for encouraging friends to signup.

Everyone loves a free download.

This one takes a little bit of extra computer work, but it’s worth the effort if you are willing to make time to do it right. Many people who signup for your email list at shows will have seen you for the first or second time that evening, which means there is a good chance they do not already own your music. One way to convince them your email list is worth their time is the promise of free music in the immediate future. Tell interested participants that everyone who signs up during the show will be given a free download following the night’s events, in addition to being added to your newsletter. This conveys to music fans that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get them interested in your music up front, and it also gives you an excuse to connect with them after the event as well. When sending out downloads you will have the opportunity to contact people individually, which could help develop a street team down the line.

There’s an app for this kind of thing. More than one, in fact.

For many years, the fastest way to collect emails for newsletters was to keep a pen and paper on your merch table, but in the digital age that format of record keepings is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Today, as long as you have an iPad or some type of tablet device you are able to collect information and store it in a fraction of the time the same activity required even five years ago. Apps like ProspectSnap, SignupAnywhere and Chimpadeedoo for instance, allow you to instantly add people to your email list. These programs are often used at conferences, but they work perfectly fine at concerts as well. You can even customize the signup form to reflect your band and image. The best part? You do not need a wi-fi connection for these apps to work. That said, you will want to keep someone at your table at all times to ensure the safety of your tech.

You have a voice – USE IT.

Might as well close with something a bit more obvious. No one can promote you and your music quite like you and the people who help create the sound you hope to make your career. That is a long way of saying you are the best advertisement for your efforts, and that goes as much for your new album as it does signing up for your email list. While on stage, mention the signup list. When your meeting fans by the merch table, mention the signup list. When you’re loading out and people want to hang and/or grab a bite to eat, make sure you mention the signup list. People will want to know what’s in it for them, and if you’ve applied any of the other tips in this piece to your efforts it should not take you long to formulate a fitting response. Sell yourself. If you cannot do that, how can you expect anyone else to?

…One last thing

Above all else – be human. Talk to people and let them know that you would like to stay in touch with them even when you do not have a show or album to promote. Newsletters are as much a place for promotion as they are a place to share where you have been and where you are headed. They bring together communities that would otherwise be unable to connect and strengthens them through meaningful messaging.

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Why You Need A Mailing List For Your Band

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.

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Haulix Basics: Removing Yourself From A Press List

One of the great moments in any young music writer’s life is the day that first album advance arrives in your inbox. It’s a symbol not only of progress within your craft, but also that someone within the actual music business trusts you enough to have access to their latest project. We could get into the whole ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ rant, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about what happens when writers go from loving the site of new album advances to dreading them, either due to quality or quantity, and what steps can be taken to simplify one’s Haulix activity.

As it stands, any publicist or label with a Haulix account can send a promo to anyone they add to their personal database. This is the way promotional distribution works on essentially every platform, but here at Haulix we have devised a way to allow journalists the ability to remove themselves from any list they desire without any confrontation whatsoever.

If you find yourself in a position where you wish to be removed from a mailing list of a Haulix client the best course of action is to first contact the client directly and request removal. If the client does not respond, or even if they do and you continue to receive promos beyond that point, you can remove yourself from their database by accessing your Haulix profile. To do this, simply log into the ‘My Promos’ screen and select the ‘Profile’ tab in the upper left hand corner. I’ve highlighted this button in the screenshot below.

Once clicked, you will be redirected to a profile page that was automatically generated the first time someone added your contact information to the Haulix platform. It should look something like this:

The top part of the page lists your basic account info, including the passcode you have chosen and every email address in our system linked to your name, as well as the ability to change that information with a few key strokes. If you scroll down a bit further you will notice that your profile lists every label that has you in their database, as well as the email they use to contact you. If you wish to be removed from any list, click the red ‘X’ at the end of the appropriate label identity and confirm the removal. The page will update and our database will automatically remove you from that client’s press list without them having to lift a finger.

If you follow these steps and still find yourself receiving promos, please do not hesitate to contact us directly to find a resolution. Just email james@haulix.com and together we’ll find a solution.

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.

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Advice: Stop putting more barriers between you and your fans

(Photo credit: Tracy Vanessa / Mezzic)

In the 90s it was all about getting your music into big box stores like Best Buy, Tower Records, and Circuit City. Distribution wins! But those stores didn’t really care about your music or your label or your scene. Sure, you sold a bunch of CDs through them in the 90s, but where does that leave you today? Who bought those albums?

Then the iTunes store comes along in 2003. Quick! Get your music on there, just like every other band and label. Upload your music, adjust your meta-data, sit back, and sell to people in parts of the world that you’ll never visit.

Again, iTunes doesn’t really care about your music – they just need to sell iPhones and watches at enormous profit. You’re a reference number in a database that gets cut a check every month. And for all those digital sales, Apple has a record of everyone who bought your album. That’d be nice list to see, right? Too bad.

Now we have streaming. And Apple Music! None of them really care about your band, either. They’re all busy are bolstering algorithms to suggest new music selections, all in the hopes of converting people to $10/mo subscribers. They’ve got lots of data (emails, listening habits, favorite albums) but none for you!

I got an email not too long ago from Ken MODE. Their singer emailed everyone who bought their last album on BandCamp, saying they had a new album out, and linked to their new album pre-order.

Imagine that, huh? Someone bought your old album, and when you had a new one available you sent them an email. Not just a Tweet (which gets lost in the noise of cat photos and political turmoil), not just a Facebook update (which might not even reach your fans because Facebook wants your $$$), but an email delivered to someone’s inbox.

It’s like when you had a show in your small town – you gave a flyer to your friends who were at your last show. You put up fliers in places where your friends would see them, like at record shops, and cafes.

So, you know who your ardent fans are, right? Point them to your own digital sales store (you can set one up using Big Cartel or Limited Run, or just use BandCamp). Sell direct to to your fan, then you’ll have their email address. Then the next time you have a release you’ll know who to reach contact (and not just a few dozen music blogs who are all copying and pasting 20 press releases every hour).

Of course that doesn’t mean stop uploading to iTunes and everywhere else (yet). I get it. But start selling direct to your biggest fans. Get their mailing address, then reward those fans after the sale with a free-shirt in the mail, or a sticker pack or something. In order to delight the people who love what you do, you have to make sure you can discover who those people are in the first place – and Apple, Spotify, and BestBuy sure ain’t going to help you build your email list.

Seth Werkheiser is the quiz master of metal trivia at Skulltoaster. He’s also the founder of some music sites you may have heard of, including Noise Creep (2009) + Buzzgrinder (2001). He’s anti-Facebook, anti-clickbait, and anti-growth hacking. You should most definitely follow him on Twitter. Yes, right now.

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