Over the last decade or two, there has been more emphasis on whether you should build a fanbase on Instagram, Spotify or even your own personalised app, as a music artist. As more tools in the tech space make this all possible it is still really important that we don’t forget the basics. That means building a mailing list that is already, primed and ready to receive your music.
I cannot tell you enough about how important it is to keep your mailing list relevant and how an artist can have a massive impact by just keeping a simple Mailchimp open on their website or generally building. However, here are some of the key benefits that I personally believe have stopped being so prominent.
Direct to Mobile Contact from your mailing lists
The modern world does move pretty fast and email marketing is a direct way to access your fans. We move so fast the biggest touchpoint to stay in the forefront of your fan’s minds is still email. Although social media has its benefits it still needs your fans to check in and keep up with social media updates. Having 1000 fans that you can directly access on a regular basis will mean you being able to reach an audience that is readily available.
You are building on rented ground without an email list
Don’t get me wrong, social media has a place in the world for marketing. However, do you really want to put all your eggs in one basket? If you are heading towards a huge growth in your followers and suddenly your account gets shut down overnight, then all that work has gone to waste! Don’t be this person, trust me it is a very real story that I have seen happen time and time again. By having an email list you have control and no matter what happens on your social accounts you will always have access to your fans, on your terms.
Your fans are already primed to receive information from you
Fans that have signed up to your email list are already invested in you as an artist. This means you’ve already done the hard work to get them on the hook and now they want to know more. What is more for them to do than receive as much as they can from you? Yes, there is a line between harassment and keeping people up to date so make sure you get this right! If your fans have given over their information and email this is more effort than a follow on social media. It means they want the exclusive, so treat these people well. These are your avid fans and can really be beneficial when it comes to doing a gig and getting numbers through the door. Give them exclusive content, competitions and more. They want your exclusivity so give it to them!
You can sell tickets and merchandise while calculating a profit
When your email list is working its magic and you are starting to push out content, you will start to get to some key numbers that can come in handy for the future. Each email campaign you do will have an open rate and a click rate. This means that when you send out an email campaign about tickets to your show or a new piece of merchandise you will know how many people are actually going to see it, be interested in clicking and then retarget them to push them to buy. Let’s do some simple maths as an example.
For example, you send out an email promoting a new piece of merchandise which costs $25 per item:
100,000 email subscribers with a 10% open rate = 10,000
Of that 10% (10,000) only 8% click on the link to purchase merchandise = 800
From that 8% (800), 50% purchase the item of merchandise = 400 people x $25.00
Total predicted revenue for one email campaign = $10,000
So, now you can see why this become instrumental to your business as a musician. It could be a huge source of income with little input.
Here are a few simple ways to get started building a 1000 person email list:
- Open a Mailchimp account here.
- Integrate this into your website – a simple ‘sign up here for updates’ will do.
- Have an incentive for people to input their email. E.g. get sent your new single.
- Shout about your email list at shows, social media and more.
- Run a competition or ad’s to get your email list up to 1000 fans.
To answer the title of this blog, if it is still relevant to develop an email list, in short, yes. Don’t knock it and any savvy artist knows how important an email list really is.
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