Why Do Musicians Need to Build a Mailing List?

A lot of you are probably too young to remember the days of fan clubs for your favorite musical acts.

In the past, you would sign up for one of these fan clubs and receive a regular newsletter with details about the band. This would include upcoming tour dates, information about the music that they’re working on, interviews, and other tidbits of fun information.

Nowadays, technology has replaced the need for these fan clubs. Your fans can connect with you and receive all the information that they want through your social media postings and emails. In fact, the use of email is often overlooked by musicians.

If you don’t already have a mailing list, then it’s time to get started. While a strong social media following can go a long way towards increasing your online presence, an email mailing list is a wonderful tool to have at your disposal.

For those of you that think you don’t need a mailing list, then it’s about time you discover the importance of email marketing for music.

Email Gives You Direct Access to Your Fans

With an email list, you have direct access to your fans. Almost everyone checks their email on a daily basis. But, they may not check their social media accounts as often. This varies between people and age groups, but email typically remains the most effective way to reach people.

So, with an email list, you get direct access that you can’t get from social media. Also, you can make your emails more personable than your social media post.

Your social media posts are made public for the entire world to see while your emails are only going to people that are already interested in your music.

Social Media May Not Last Forever

If you pay attention to trends in social media usage, you’ll notice that some platforms are more popular than others. It’s difficult to predict which social media network your fans will be using in several years. So, if you devote all your efforts to building a social media following, you could end up wasting your time.

Just look at the recent growth of Instagram. It’s the fastest growing social media network, but in a few years, the next generation will likely be using a social media platform that hasn’t even been created yet.

You also need to think about demographics. Facebook is starting to skew towards an older audience. Unless your target fan base is older than 40, you’ll want to use Instagram and Twitter.

These problems are not an issue with an email list. It’s universal. Even if a social media platform collapses, you’ll always have your mailing list.

People Are More Likely to Respond to Emails

Another advantage of using email to market your music is that people are more likely to respond to emails. For example, if you post an offer on Facebook, only a small handful of your fans may take advantage of the offer.

So, if you have a message or an offer that you want your fans to see, your best option is to send an email. Though, you’ll first have to build your email list.

Email Lists Are Easy to Build

Luckily, email lists are easy to build. You don’t need to spend a fortune or devote all your time to posting on social media. Instead, you just need to add an opt-in form on your website or create a fan magnet. For help with these steps, make sure you check out some of our other articles.

If you have no clue how to begin creating an email list, then you’ll enjoy the following video. This video explains how to use MailChimp to begin building your email list. For this, you’ll just need a website:

The bottom line is that your social media account doesn’t replace the need for a website. You need to use the same online marketing techniques that any business uses. This includes the use of email lists.

Social media is unpredictable. There’s no telling whether Facebook and Instagram will still be popular in the coming years. A website and your mailing list are not going anywhere.

Now, some people will say the opposite. They’ll say that email can be just as unpredictable as social media. For example, when Gmail became the popular replacement for AOL email accounts, a lot of businesses found that their mailing lists were no longer full of correct email addresses.

While there is some truth to that, the people that actually enjoy being a part of your mailing list will update their email address to avoid missing out on new emails.

So, if you don’t have a mailing list, it’s time to get started. Give your fans a way to stay updated about new music or tours. Use a mailing list to increase your music marketing efforts.

Source: ArtistPR Music Marketing