Week 7: Music Success in 9 Weeks - How to Build Your Mailing List

Music Success in 9 weeks week 7 How to build your mailing list has a sub heading -  "The most critical aspect of your career in this rapidly changing business" - Ariel Hyatt.

Amen Sister!

This past 9 weeks of the course I have been thinking about all these principles and working with and applying them to my client's music. This morning I was auditing a new client to look at how I could help them generate more income from their music. All their social media channels were superb, well executed with great graphics, video, pictures and space for a two way conversation with fans. However when I asked them if they had a mailing list set up, they said they hadn't really thought about it and had not created any ways in which fans could sign up to their site. So they really had no way to contact fans directly and measure to see the rate at which the emails were opened. Simply put, they just needed to convert their social media fan base into an email list to create direct contact.

Let me introduce you to a simple equation:

The Size of your Email List = The size of your income.

I know many of you will be thinking how is this so? Are you sure? Surely it's not that easy? In many ways it is that easy and also not that easy - one of life's little dichotomy's! It is important to create rapport, let your fans know what you are doing, how they can access your music, where you are playing live and what merchandise they can buy from you. In week 6 we looked at the benefits of newsletters and creating relationship so this week, it's all about building that mailing list.

Here are my top  ten tips:

1. Start with the people who love you already: Friends, family & neighbours. The people who will turn up to your gigs when it's snowing and stand at the back and smile at you. Go through your email list and ask each one of them if it's ok to be put on your mailing list? If they say yes ADD THEM! Please don't spam them though - it's so annoying to receive unwanted email.

2. Give each person a give away - most fans appreciate a free MP3 or exclusive video in exchange for their email address. Engage them and show them some love.

3. More Give Aways - Create special merchandise competitions. Next month one of my clients - Marc JB will be giving away special Bimbo Jones T-Shirts that he has just had printed up - check out his website: Marc JB. He gave them away at Glastonbury this year much to everyone's appreciation so the exclusive T- Shirt will be available again!

4. Fan Mobile Numbers. This is such a great service. Many Fans these days feel comfortable giving their mobile phone numbers in exchange for messages and band information that come straight to their phones. With all the different social media channels connected to our phones from Twitter to Facebook, this is an acceptable way to build the fan base and growing in popularity. This is becoming a MUST for musicians. Try BroadTexter for example. They claim their service makes fans feel special and I would agree. 

5. Work hard on your list. Schedule in one or two hours a week (or more if you can) to build this list. Rome definitely wasn't built in a day. This year I had a goal of getting 500 Linked in relationships all of which have become part of my mailing list. I have slowly built this list and just this week achieved that goal. These are people who I work with and value and have met through networking, reading their blogs and creating relationship with. I am very grateful for each and everyone of them. 

While I was in New York in November I realised the power of being consistent and doing a little every day. Over coffee one day, music consultant Rick Goetz kept stressing this and how imporatant it was for musicians to be consistent. Studies prove that people buy from people they like and trust, you cannot just expect people to engage with you so talk to them, let them see what you are doing, create conversation, include them in your process, tell your story and build your email list.

6. MySpace - Currently there is some doubt about the future of Myspace (word on the street) my top tip today is email everyone of your fans personally on MySpace and ask them if they would like to join your mailing list and Facebook pages.

7. Use a service to help you like bandletter.com or FanBridge.com.   These services power up your newsletter and fan bases. I use Fan Bridge and am really happy with the service that I receive.

8. Make sure your Widget is Working on your website/blog and if you haven't got one - get one now for instant building of your fan base. Please feel free to sign up to mine - see the right hand side of my blog.

9. CD Baby Email List. For those artists that sell their music through CD Baby, go through the lists of fans that have already bought from you and ask their permission to sign them up to your list too. These people are very special as THEY HAVE BOUGHT PRODUCT FROM YOU BEFORE! They are VIP's! These are some of the Fans that are most likely to buy from you again.

10. Swap Details. As always, have your business card or postcard ready to exchange with new fans (if they ask for your details) and set up your electronic business card that you can send mobile to mobile at the ready. You never know who you will meet or who is interested in your Art and Music. Always ask for their details and when you swap cards remember to add their details to your list. Set yourself simple targets and obtainable targets. As our aim is 1,000 true fans start with 100 and build from there with dates in which to be achieved. On tour or sharing live music dates with other artists? Maybe swap mailing lists? Again don't spam but people love new music and they might appreciate similar genres to yours.

One of our company strap lines is "All things are Possible". I truly believe that you can indeed build a large fan base of true fans who will support you and monetise your music with lots of hard work and care. I would be interested to hear any new ways in which you have built your mailing list and how it has brought you success. This list is just to fire your imagination and give you a vision t indeed build that Mailing list.

To quote Kevin Costner in the film "Field of Dreams" - "If you build it they will come". Build that website, place those widgets, collect those emails, build that fan base and creating a living!


Good luck and let me know how you get on. All things are possible!

Sally J Freeman

sally@lovelivemusic.co.uk

twitter.com/lovelivemusicuk