I knew I needed a mailing list for my music promotion. Every music blogger out there will tell you “YOU NEED A MAILING LIST”. Once I found my mailing list solution, I knew it was time to strategize and plan.

While I agreed it was important when I first started, I didn’t know too much about what I could really accomplish with Aweber. It’s not just about collecting an email and shooting out a newsletter.

I read some articles and became convinced that my mailing list promotion needed attention and not treated as just another tool.

Here is a collection of awesome articles to get your mind thinking on different ways to approach your mailing list promotion.

Email Marketing Insight

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger: How I Use Email Newsletter To Drive Traffic and Make Money

1. interesting example of an email cycle
2. customizing your welcome email
3. creating themed updates for promoting your artform
4. adding promotions throughout a sequence of emails

Michelle Bowles from Top Rank Blog: 5 Top Email Marketing Tactics for 2010.

1. creating viral campaigns
2. monitoring open rates and click rates
3. engaging new subscribers

Sonia Simone from Copyblogger: Why Email Marketing is Dead (And How to Bring It Back to Life)

1. focusing on what your fan wants or needs
2. email is “a more intimate medium than RSS”

Invest In Your Music

Invest time into your list. Build your list over time and finally market your music to people who are actually interested in what you do. They did sign up, didn’t they?

I recently switched over to Aweber as my solution for my mailing list. When I began blogging, I settled for a simple opt-in WordPress plugin that would add some value to my subscribers.

The problem for me was the free plugin was limited and sometimes would have problems with random updates. I’ve been researching mailing list solutions and found some reasons why it is very important for your development.

Test For Yourself

I signed up for multiple mailing lists of websites that I enjoyed and found interesting things. I analyzed what I liked and didn’t like about their mailing lists: frequency of updates, or just too damn pushy and salesy.

My music operation is a business. I have made that distinction and its time to treat it as one. Reading some great posts by internet entrepreneur David Risley got me thinking about not just purchasing business tools but applying them.

If you don’t find ways to market your music with business tools then you are hurting yourself.

The view of the mailing list changed for me. I used to work crappy sales jobs and everything was about leads. I don’t want to be “that guy” because I have been on the receiving end of some horrible practices. This form of labeling made me not take my subscribers for granted, but reward them. Build relationships.

Aweber To The Rescue

I signed up for Aweber and was mad I didn’t do it earlier. The main reason early on I didn’t get it was I didn’t want to spend any money. I was just cutting corners and settling for passive email subscription services with limited features, such as Feedburner, just to save a buck.

Some of the features include:

1. Videos explaining the different ways you can use their multiple features to improve
   your business.
2. Sign Up forms are easy to customize and install on your blog
3. Email Web Analytics allow you to track if people are actually clicking and reading your
   emails or clicking on your products
4. Email Newsletters are easy to assemble and there are html templates to make your
   newsletter shine if you choose
5. Follow Up Autoresponders are a great way to send a sequence of emails personalized
   for your subscribers
6. Publish your email newsletter to Twitter

The service runs about $19 a month, with some low introductory offers for new subscribers. Paying for a high quality service like this is worth it. It is also the kick in the ass most musicians need. If you are paying for something, you want to get your money’s worth. Get active!

Reasons I See Value For a Musician Blogging:

1. Welcome Message: Send new subscribers a welcome message with some articles you think they will enjoy. Introduce subscribers to your website, or some aspect of your site you think they may have missed. Cover your ground
2. Autoresponders to the rescue: sending a sequence of emails that can introduce every
   subscriber to your music catalog. Old albums and new albums can receive the same
   attention
3. Newsletters can be sent on whatever timetable you like: daily, monthly, weekly. Test the
   right timetable that won’t annoy your subscribers
4. Split Test Messages: see which subject lines people are clicking more, or which messages
   are being opened. Maybe your music is great but your headlines suck.
5. See Sales Generated By Subscribers
6. Create Anticipation: while music is being created you can build anticipation for the
   future release in hopes of stimulating sales and blog visits.
7. Everyone has an email account: building your reach and not just relying on passing
   social networks

I like to promote services that I actually use and Aweber is one of them. It’s never to late to improve and I learned my lesson. Build your list as your traffic rises and don’t wait. Your mailing list is your asset that needs to be developed.

On that note, (shameless plug) feel free to sign up for Hip Hop Distribution’s monthly newsletter. The Sign up is located on the top right sidebar.

The ultimate goal is creating a music marketing plan that works. Music 2.0 has offered an amazing amount of options and tools for independent musicians. The one thing I have realized is that every music operation is unique in its own sense.

Finding the right mixture is dependent now on the expectations of the artist. I’ve put a big emphasis on blogging for my Label in hopes of reaching value in time to come. Maybe its my Finance degree yelling at me to keep investing in this stock that is bound to take off.

The reason I find value is monthly visitors keep increasing and digital sales are coming in slowly but surely. The key component is converting sales. It’s a common problem many internet marketers face with monetizing their blogs and its a big issue for musicians. How can we become creative and use successful principles in relation to our music?

I want to take a pro active approach and test out different ideas that will take time but will be worth the effort. The first experiments will involve building Mailing list exchanges and affiliate marketing opportunities.

Mailing List Exchanges

Every musician needs a mailing list. Nothing new here, but we have to think about what do we want to get from our mailing list?

The discouraging thing for many new bloggers is building a mailing list takes some time and then they neglect its importance. I want to plan networking with fellow bloggers and exchange mailing list opportunities and let the test begin.

Step 1 involves you getting to know fellow music bloggers and establishing relationships. The main reason I see this as a good move is we got to think like an artist on a tour. Most tours have several opening acts that are the warm ups for the big show. The opening acts generally are in related genres and the opening acts benefit from the exposure to the bigger fanbase.

Why not treat our mailing list with a Pandora mentality? “If you enjoyed this song then you might enjoy hearing this band”. The key here is not whoring it out. Work with artists whose music you enjoy and brainstorm with these musicians. Offer to promote their song/album, blog article in a newsletter in exchange for the same effort. The power here lies in the numbers: building stronger exposure and branding while establishing a fanbase and networking.

Your blog visitors are just as important as your mailing list subscribers. These assets were built from your hard effort, now its time to put them to work for you.

The plan now involves talking with hungry musicians like you who are willing to share exposure. Take time to find the right partnerships. Power in numbers.

Affiliate Marketing and Music

Affiliate marketing provides a great way for you to get some extra income for your music operation. You essentially promote other services or products and in exchange get a commission. Many bloggers use this to make some extra money to cover hosting costs and promotion. I promote only products I use, so I feel comfortable promoting it and relaying my experience with it.

I am looking to flip this script and have other people promote for me. Affiliate promotion is ready for the music arena. This is not new but I personally have never been offered the opportunity to promote a musician’s cd and am shocked. The incentives through Amazon and iTunes affiliates provides a low commission rate, thus low incentive for people to promote.

As my label emerges, I would love to reward faithful fans with a commission for promoting my album. You share some album sales but may gain long term customers and loyalty. Who knows, even promoting an affiliate in your newsletter. Earn a commission while rewarding someone who is helping you. Monetize where you can and do it in a Ron Burgundy manner, “Stay Classy San Diego”.

Giving away some money to affiliates is not a bad thing. You would have to hire a street team for that kind of promotion and pay some money anyway. Share the wealth and watch your sales expand. The one thing I will be looking for is finding how to set up your own affiliate program or better solutions to establish this plan.

Why Is This Important for My Band

Judge what fits right for you in your operation. Some musicians use multiple blogs to promote their band while others prefer traditional methods. Do what you feel comfortable with. Most musicians play multiple roles to increase chances for success. The important part is finding what you enjoy and working hard at that goal. Build a fundamental business, with strategies in place, and watch your expansion take place.

The planning now begins and building these relationships with fellow musicians to stimulate sales and exposure. Selling music is just one aspect of a music operation for many bands. Build equity through your blog and use that leverage to expand on your ideas.

When your music is online, you want to collect as many email addresses from your fans. I had some tracks that I wanted to use to give away as a free promo. If you don’t have a mailing list setup then this will give you an idea of some free options. I needed a way to collect emails from fans in exchange for some free music. Once they sign up I could inform them with some newsletters with new releases and free music. I chose two different options:

1. WordPress Double Opt-In Manager Widget
2. Bandcamp

WordPress Double Opt-In Manager Widget

The WordPress Double Opt-In Manager Widget allows you to add a widget to your blog and collect emails. Here is a list of some of the great features:

1. Subscribe to your mailing list from your blog
2. Send a welcome email to each new subscriber
3. Saves the subscriber details to your WordPress database
4. Customize sign up form
5. Schedule your emails to be sent weekly, monthly or whenever you update your blog
6. Users can update their subscription and unsubscribe easy
7. Can automatically delete users who don’t confirm their subscription within 7 days

Our free music strategy we worked on the other day now comes into effect. Stimulate some sign ups and create some website exclusive music that can be downloaded if they sign up. Great way to provide a unique piece of work exclusive to those who sign up. Download the plugin and upload it to your plugins folder. Activate it and customize your message.

Bandcamp

If you don’t use WordPress but want another way to give away some free music and gather emails then I would suggest using Bandcamp. Upload some of your free albums, ep, or singles and Bandcamp takes care of the rest. They provide you with free promo codes for you to share your music on various social networks. In exchange for downloading music, your fans have to give their emails to be sent the link. Quick solution to building a free mailing list. Bandcamp even allows you to export that email list to whatever future email software you plan to use.

Here is an example of a free ep we uploaded. We are currently testing its online results.

Free marketing options don’t have to look cheap and spammy. You control the messages, and appearance with these great tools. There is no reason why any band that wants to sell music online can’t begin their mailing list campaign. These new sign ups express interest in your music and are a valuable asset to your music operation. Reward fans and give yourself a better chance of selling your music.