Hip Hop Distribution

The Value of Aweber for Online Musicians

posted on January 6, 2010 in Email Marketing for Musicians, HHD History with 29 Comments  

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.

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Author:

My name is Mario Mendoza and I am music maker, music marketing fanatic and digital content strategist. I work with musicians looking to increase their online presence and spread the word about their talent.
  • http://eleetmusic.com eleetmusic

    Great post Mario. I've been toying around with a few mailing list managers lately (mailchimp, campaign monitor) but have yet to decide on one that I like. Thanks for pointing out Awber. I think I'll go ahead and give it a shot. Hope all is well with you. Have a great day!

    Best,

    Kevin

  • http://www.genyrockstars.com/ Greg Rollett

    You wrapped it up nicely. We teach a lot about autoresponders and creating a sales sequence and nothing is better than Aweber. Their customer service is on point and now their new form templates have made the forms more attractive for any musician to put on their site.

  • http://twitter.com/colortheory Brian Hazard

    Last year I decided to try AWeber, and was only able to get about half of my mailing list over. They require that each subscriber opt in again, and many of them never got the email. I decided to use ReverbNation's FanReach instead, and have been completely satisfied with it. They keep each subscriber unless they opt out. Most importantly, subscribers actually receive all the emails. Plus, it's free, though I pay $9.95 a month for their expanded FanReach Pro option, which provides demographic info on each of my subscribers as well as links to their social networking profiles.

    Brian Hazard
    Passive Promotion
    http://passivepromotion.com

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  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Thanks Kevin. I was curious about mail chimp too and it was between those 2. Aweber ultimately won for me because of more reviews and descriptions for their services, and by some reccomendations of pro bloggers I respect.

    I know you got some great ideas for some mailing list marketing. Look forward to seeing how eleetmusic uses it.

    Hope you are having a great day as well

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Thanks for sharing your experience Brian. I'm just not personally a fan of Reverbnation and prefer my own control over my mailing list for multiple projects.

    The opt-in I don't mind because at least I know someone is not on my list by mistake. Thanks for providing another option for indie artists to benchmark and comparison shop if they like.

    Each music operation runs at a different level, and finding the right fit is important.

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Thanks Greg. Your service is nice, I could see some very valuable lessons taught about music marketing and email management

  • http://twitter.com/rosshagan Ross Hagan

    Thanks for the info Mario! I was wondering if you (or any of the commenters) had looked at Fanbridge as an option? The pricing looks good and I wondered whether it would be a good option for musicians as it is tailored towards them (as apposed to bloggers). Does anyone have any experience with Fanbridge?

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Hi Ross, thanks for comments. I am familiar with them but I passed on Fanbridge because they were a fairly newer service, I believe founded in 2007. Aweber has been around since 1998 and has had a nice reputation that I found suitable for me. Fanbridge might offer a great service but for me I needed some history to see opinions.

    I would definitely like to hear more about and Fanbridge experiences and will look into more info……thanks for stopping by

  • http://powerofmore.net Sean Smith

    Man I feel your pain Mario… I just recently made the switch to Aweber as well after some very frustrating and bad experiences with GetResponse. I love their Blog Broadcast feature and am eager to take advantage of it. I'm working on a new design layout for my blog currently and intend to mirror the design in the Aweber blog broadcast tool so my subscribers continue to receive my brand. Good Stuff!

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  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    thanks for sharing your experience Sean, it's good to hear you found a solution to your problem. The blog broadcast feature is nice and I really can't wait to develop a great strategy to maximize the experience for my subscribers. Good luck with your redesign and nice blog, BTW. I subscribed to your RSS

  • http://powerofmore.net Sean Smith

    Outstanding! Thanks, I appreciate the feed back. I have some mad graphic design and flash animation skills. I own a successful multimedia development firm which contributes to my ability to design a good site. My current design was something I threw together to celebrate the holiday season, but now that it has passed, it is time for a change.

    Anyway, I've bookmarked your blog as well and look forward to any internet marketing help I can give you! From one musician to another (I've been playing the trumpet since I was 6.), it's great to see you sharing your passion with other. Keep up the great work!

  • http://powerofmore.net Sean Smith

    Outstanding! Thanks, I appreciate the feed back. I have some mad graphic design and flash animation skills. I own a successful multimedia development firm which contributes to my ability to design a good site. My current design was something I threw together to celebrate the holiday season, but now that it has passed, it is time for a change.

    Anyway, I've bookmarked your blog as well and look forward to any internet marketing help I can give you! From one musician to another (I've been playing the trumpet since I was 6.), it's great to see you sharing your passion with other. Keep up the great work!

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    That sounds awesome, you have a great amount of experience and info to share, which is refreshing to hear. The design looks good.

    Thanks for checking out the site, appreciate the bookmark. I will definitely Stumble and bookmark some of your articles. I wouldn't mind checking out some of your trumpet skills, creativity exists in so many forms. Feel free to email me anytime. Much success

  • http://powerofmore.net Sean Smith

    Thanks Mario, I'll definitely do the same!

    I'm sure I have some recordings of my playing around somewhere. I'll have to find them and convert them to a digital format and send them over.

    It is a pleasure to meet you! Keep on blogging!

  • http://powerofmore.net Sean Smith

    Thanks Mario, I'll definitely do the same!

    I'm sure I have some recordings of my playing around somewhere. I'll have to find them and convert them to a digital format and send them over.

    It is a pleasure to meet you! Keep on blogging!

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  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Glad to hear, thanks for the comments

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Glad to hear, thanks for the comments

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Glad to hear, thanks for the comments

  • http://www.hiphopdistribution.com/blog Mario Mendoza

    Glad to hear, thanks for the comments

  • John Gilliat

    Thank you for your post, it really helps as I’ve also been trying to save a buck trying to use phplist for my newsletter management. (and others) And It’s been very frustrating trying to configure it and tweak it to manage my needs. I’m currently looking at Reverbnations FanReach Pro vs Fanbridge. I may have another look at A-weber however I like the fact that FanReach & Fanbridge are geared specifically to musicians. If anyone has any experience with FanReach & Fanbridge, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

    Cheers,
    John Gilliat – http://www.johngilliat.com
    Ottmar with a Twist, Passionate and Fiery Rumba Flamenco Guitar

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