• SEND YOUR FANS AN EMAIL, PLEASE

    Seven things your band could send to your email list after a big show: 1. Photos of setting up, playing, and hanging out afterwards. 2. A handful of the photos you took with fans, and the super cool people you met backstage, like that guy that wears yellow glasses and writes about heavy metal email […]

  • 40% OF THE BANDS PLAYING FURNACE FEST HAVE AN EMAIL LIST

    Of the 90 bands playing Furnace Fest later this week…– 46 bands have a website (51%)– 23 bands don’t have a website, but use a “Link In Bio” service (25%)– 36 bands have an email newsletter (40%) Of the 36 bands with a newsletter, just three sent me a solid “Welcome Email,” while the others were plain […]

  • MORE HAND TO HAND COMBAT

    “I would also send DMs to new Twitter followers, thanking them for the follow and letting them know about my newsletter,” says Dylan Redekop Since Twitter and other social media networks love throttling your reach when you include a link in your post, experiment with sending DMs to new followers, or maybe people that regularly reply […]

  • WORK WITH WHAT YOU GOT

    Less “I need more subscribers,” more “my current subscribers need my best work.” As Seth Godin says, if fans ain’t talking, you need to change, or find new fans.

  • ELABORATE, PLEASE

    Don’t assume the level of your fans’ love for what you do. Don’t assume they lack interest in how you operate and work. You don’t have to JUST announce the essentials (the facts) of what you do. For example, if you have a new album coming out, you can send an email campaign with the […]

  • HAND TO HAND COMBAT

    Nobody knows everything you’re doing. Most of your followers don’t know about your next course, your next photo session, your next tour, your new shirt. Here’s some wild things you can do: ➡️ Reply to someone who leaves a comment with a link➡️ DM someone and let them know about your new project➡️ Email someone […]

  • GET STARTED TODAY

    Easiest platform to start building your email list? Substack. Sign up, give it a name, upload a logo, add a tag line, and you’re done – now you’ve got a landing page. It’s a start. It’s not forever. If you outgrow it, fine. Export your subscribers and go somewhere. But compared to other offerings, I believe […]

  • NOT ALL FOLLOWERS ARE FANS

    This from CHRIS DALLA RIVA’s piece called ‘Your Followers are not Your Fans.’ “Your followers – and maybe even your listeners – are not necessarily your fans.” Riva goes heavy into analytics, but at the surface level, people who follow you on social media are not destined to be your email subscribers. People who LIKE […]

  • YOU AIN’T THEM

    A friend is thinking about getting started with coaching calls. They got a top 15 album to their name as an independent artist. A coach’s name came up (let’s call them Susan) and how much they charged, which was around $250 to talk about (let’s say) playing professional poker. “Well,” my friend said, “I can’t […]

  • KEEP POSTING

    “Experiment, find what works for you, and do more of that.” That’s from Justin Welsh, in a post called ‘Algorithms are F*cked. Now what?’ Let’s break it down: Experiment: don’t copy the way people post and expect the same results. Truly experiment with everything, in every way that you promote your work. Video, audio, song, […]