Divulgação De Música - O Que Todo Artista Necessita Saber

Music distribution: What every artist needs to know

First of all thanks to Chris Robley for this article.

Distributing music is about more than making something available; it’s about making an impact.

Whether you’re about to release your first single or you’re a Grammy-winner putting out your 20th studio album, you need distribution for your music, plain and simple.

The songs have to move from A to Z, from here to there, from you to your listeners. The problem is your listeners access music in dozens of different ways, in hundreds of different places. That’s where music distribution comes in.

Let’s break it down.

What is music distribution?

Google tells me that “distribution” is:

• the action of sharing something out among a number of recipients.
• the action or process of supplying goods to stores and other businesses that sell to consumers.

Music distribution is both of those things. A third-party such as CD Baby takes your music and handles:

• Physical distribution, making your CDs and vinyl available to a network of record stores (both online and “brick and mortar,” the kind you can walk into).
• Digital distribution, making your music available to download platforms and streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora Premium, Amazon, etc.
• Additional monetization services, helping you earn money for the usage of your music on YouTube, Facebook, in TV shows, and more.

Why do I need a distributor for my music?

Another way to ask this is, “Why can’t an unsigned artist get their songs onto Spotify and Apple Music directly?”

To put it simply, you as the artist are not their customer. Your fans are their customers. These companies don’t want to take on the substantial customer service and development burden of dealing directly with millions of musicians. That’s where distributors come in.

At CD Baby, our principle client is YOU — and we create the systems, artist tools, communication channels, and informational resources you need so you can upload your music ONCE and make it available worldwide in a successful way.

Imagine having to create separate accounts and upload your music and artwork files for each and every digital music platform! Imagine the accounting headaches! Imagine the emails in your inbox!

CD Baby serves as a buffer between the creator of the music and the outlets that make that music available. But more importantly for you, we save you — the artist or label — a ton of time and work.

The ten most valuable aspects of music distribution through CD Baby

“Valuable” differs depending on your needs of course, but there are ten high-level benefits CD Baby provides to musicians:

1. A wide partner network of DSPs and media outlets

You want to make sure that when your music gets out there, it gets OUT there, worldwide, in every possible place listeners are looking for you. CD Baby will deliver your music to 100+ services, so you can rest easy that you’ve got coverage.

But let’s be real. To varying degrees based on your genre and location, most of your activity is going to come from a handful of giants.

Some of the most important digital music services in the United States are:

1. Spotify – The leader in interactive music streaming, with both paid subscription and ad-supported options.
2. Apple Music – Apple’s powerful on-demand streaming service, with a heavy focus on curated playlists.
3. iTunes – The biggest player in the music download business since its launch in 2004.
4. Amazon – The undisputed giant of online retail has both download and subscription streaming options.
5. Google Play – The easiest way to access digital music with an Android device.
6. Tidal – Offering high-fidelity digital music and exclusive content at a premium to subscribers.
7. YouTube – Though known as a video platform, YouTube is actually one of the dominant players in music streaming and discovery.
8. Pandora Premium – The paid interactive offering from the popular internet radio service.
9. Deezer – An intuitive interactive streaming service competing for global listeners.

That being said, many of the other services we’re partnered with are big outside of the US, and you definitely want to make your music available in those places, even if you don’t see much activity on those platforms initially. Platforms rise and fall in popularity with some frequency, so be everywhere and you won’t miss out.

2. Speedy (but verified) music delivery to digital platforms

CD Baby has long-standing relationships with the big digital music platforms, and we’ve developed a distribution system that combines fast delivery with manual (human!) inspection of every release, so if you spelled a track title incorrectly or listed the wrong publisher for a cover song, we’ll catch it!

Yes, CD Baby can deliver your music to our digital partners in a heartbeat, but are you really rushing your release so quickly that you need it live RIGHT NOW with zero strategy?

Let’s plan this out. Let’s spend some time so you can take advantage of all the opportunities CD Baby can offer, including:

• Pre-sales on iTunes and Amazon
• Pre-saves on Spotify
• Pro marketing campaigns
• Editorial consideration
• Strategic physical distribution
• Robust metadata delivery

More info about many of these items to follow. In short: Slow down and plan smart. You only get one chance to release this music to the world.

[But okay okay, sure, if you just got the masters for your album and you want the music live by Friday, we’re not going to say no.]

3. Trust and reliability

In 1998 we revolutionized the independent music industry, giving artists without a label their first chance to reach a worldwide audience on their own terms.

Since our founding we’ve knocked down the barriers to both physical and digital distribution, as well as:

• sync licensing
• YouTube monetization
• Facebook monetization
• publishing rights administration
• effective online music marketing
• and so much more

All of this is done with one mission in mind: empower artists, let them keep their rights and decide what’s best for their own careers, and pay them every single week. We’re immensely proud of the service we’ve provided for two decades now, and every day we feel honored by the 650k+ musicians who’ve entrusted us with one of the most important things in their lives, their own music.

Because of that history there is trust, experience, expertise, and influence — all used on behalf of you the artist to open up new opportunities as the music industry continues, inevitably, to change. This is why we’ve proven to be the industry leader time and time again.

4. A sensible fee structure

There’s a cycle of growth and decline for every music release. This is the nature of things.

You don’t want to pay a large annual fee in order to keep your music on digital download and streaming platforms once sales for that older material are on the decline. Those annual fees can add up; the larger your catalog gets, the more you pay each year to keep all your music available.

You definitely don’t want to feel the pressure ten years down the line to drop another few hundred bucks in annual fees, otherwise your older stuff which is no longer selling that well is gonna get removed!

The smarter approach is to release a lot of music, build your catalog over a lifetime, put all that music to work for you, and NOT worry about annual fees. That’s why CD Baby partners with you; we only make money when you do (beyond our initial setup fee, of course).

One of our clients explained why CD Baby’s fee structure makes the most sense for artists in an article called “CD Baby is the only company to share the risk of your release with you.“

5. Robust services

With CD Baby’s standard distribution, you get much more than digital distribution to outlets like iTunes and Spotify.

With CD Baby, you get digital distribution plus:

• physical distribution of your CDs or vinyl
• warehousing of physical product and direct-to-fan order fulfillment
• YouTube monetization
• Facebook monetization
• sync licensing
• free online marketing tools
• and more

With our CD Baby Pro Publishing package you get all of that plus worldwide publishing rights administration, helping you collect global publishing royalties that would otherwise be very difficult (if not impossible) to collect without a publisher, including:

• All mechanical royalties from Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming sites. These are generated from every single stream
• All international mechanical royalties from download stores like iTunes. These are generated from every single sale
• All performance royalties from streaming services (like Spotify), radio, TV, live concert performances and much more
• Global YouTube publishing administration for any video on YouTube that contains your music
• Hundreds of other sources of songwriting and publishing royalties from around the world

6. Clean and detailed metadata assurances

All indicators point to the fact that we’re approaching an era where digital outlets will demand correct and thorough details about every track on their platform, including songwriter info, publishing splits, and more.

Luckily for you, CD Baby has been requesting this kind of information from our artist and label clients for years and years. While that might take you a few more minutes to complete the submission form, it also means you’ve taken care of something that will almost certainly be required by digital services down the line.

7. Curatorial and editorial reach

We don’t just send your music to our partners and wish you the best. We want to find the most noteworthy releases, the best new music, the overlooked gems of our catalog, and tell the world about it.

Here’s how:

• Hundreds of thousands of music-buyers receive our Discover Music newsletter.
• We manage a number of genre and mood- based playlists on Spotify, and you can submit your music for consideration HERE.
• WE feature unique artist stories on our DIY Musician Blog and DIY Musician Podcast.
• We also have a team that is dedicated to finding and promoting the best new releases to our digital partners’ editorial teams, seeking opportunities for official Spotify playlist placements, iTunes banners, and more. You can submit your music for consideration HERE.

8. Accessible artist support

We’re approachable. You can get a hold of us. We have a detailed online Help Center so you can get your questions answered 24/7. You can email us and we’ll respond quickly. And yes, you can call us to talk on the phone (during PST business hours).

We also host frequent artist meetups and organize two big DIY Musician Conferences, one in Nashville and one in Valencia, Spain. Come hang out in person!

9. Strategic release options

As I mentioned above, with a few months’ notice and smart planning we can work together to get the most out of your releases.

Some of our strategic release options include:

• Targeted physical distribution with advance notice to one-stop distributors and catalogs, letting them know that your CDs will be available, where you’re touring, etc.
• setting up pre-sales and pre-saves so you can get your fans to actually DO something with your music before its release
• getting songs into our sync licensing catalog for both pre-licensed options and pitching to music supervisors
• editorial pitches (as mentioned above)
• and much more

Pre-sales on iTunes and Amazon allow you to capture download sales in advance of the release (usually a month in advance, though the window can vary). Your fans get one “instant grat” track at the time of the pre-sale, and then their card is charged and they receive the full album download on the release date. All pre-sales are tallied as first day sales, so you greatly increase your chances of charting.

A pre-save campaign on Spotify is similar to a download pre-sale campaign. Your fans click “pre-save” and your new track will be saved to the listener’s queue. On the drop date, the music will be there waiting for them to hear it. Pre-saves can really boost your first day streaming activity, which juices the Spotify algorithm and helps your chances of being placed in algorithmic playlists such as Release Radar and Discover Weekly.

Pro marketing campaigns through Show.co (available for free to CD Baby clients) give you an elegant and effective way to drive specific action with your music, videos, news announcements, and more. These campaigns are easy to create, and can help you:

• build your Spotify following
• boost streams on Spotify
• increase plays on YouTube
• encourage engagement on SoundCloud
• grow your email list
• and more

10. Development for the future of the music business

We’ve been around, broken down barriers, and continued to expand our industry-leading services, paying artists every single Monday for twenty years.

Part of the reason why we’re the most trusted independent music distributor is because we’ve always kept our eyes on what problems will face musicians tomorrow, and what opportunities will arise as the industry keeps shifting.

With CD Baby, you know we’re always looking for new ways to help you make money from your music.

CD Baby gives you so much more than just digital music distribution

CD Baby offers the most valuable music monetization services (not just distribution) in a way that makes the most financial sense for indie artists. I’m really proud that we’re now celebrating our 20th year at the forefront of independent music distribution, offering artists without the muscle of a major label the chance to reach listeners through:

• Digital distribution to DSPs (“digital service provider”) such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, TIDAL, and more
• Physical distribution of CDs and vinyl to over 15k record stores worldwide
• Online order fulfillment for direct-to-fan sales
• YouTube monetization
• Music publishing administration
• Sync licensing
• Free online music marketing tools used by the major labels
• And more

I hope you’ll consider us for your next release, because yes, we can deliver your music lightning-fast to 100+ music platforms, but mostly for all the other stuff we provide — the extra reach, the manual metadata inspection, the strategic release options. That “other” stuff is anything but extra. It’s the difference between making something available and making an impact.

Ex WMG's Lança 'Humble Angel Records' Novo Streaming 'Indie Label'

Former Head of WMG's Global Playlist Strategy Launches Humble Angel Records, New Streaming-First Indie Label

How do you run a record label with no budget?

This is what Kieron Donoghue, former vp of global playlists strategy at Warner Music, faced upon launching the major's streaming-first imprint Artists To Watch last March. In fact, WMG’s overall A&R expenses actually jumped by 19 percent year-over-year in 2017, from $810 million to $964 million -- but Artists To Watch saw none of that investment.

“I had zero budget for anything, so no marketing, press or PR campaigns,” Donoghue, who joined WMG in 2014 and built its Topsify playlist brand, tells Billboard. “The only route to market I had were the Topsify playlists that I curated, and of course the songs that I signed still had to find homes in the appropriate playlists.”

In other words, Artists To Watch was a low-cost, singles-driven experiment to see what types of artists and songs could thrive in a multi-tiered playlist ecosystem, where WMG-owned Topsify coexisted and competed with analogous brands owned by Spotify, Apple Music and other services.

While the venture was not a failure per se -- Artists To Watch releases have attracted nearly 55 million streams on Spotify to date -- the concept lasted no more than half a year. According to its corresponding playlist, the last Artists To Watch release was in Sep. 2017, and the entire sublabel reportedly closed down upon Donoghue’s departure from WMG a month later. (WMG did not respond to a request for comment by press time.)

Today, Donoghue is revamping his streaming-specialist bent on his own terms with the launch of his new indie label, Humble Angel Records. The label's first signee is Jazz Mino, an electro-pop singer-songwriter who has already caught the attention of Austin Daboh (senior editor at Spotify UK), and whose single “Crush” -- a cover of Jennifer Paige’s 1998 song of the same name -- just surpassed 100,000 streams. Mino’s first release on Humble Angel is another cover, this time of the 1984 song “Together in Electric Dreams” by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey.

Anyone can submit music for consideration to Humble Angel via a simple Google form (similar to how Spotify fields submissions for its global EDM playlist brand mint), signaling a more democratic approach to A&R. “Labels tend not to even start looking at an artist if they don’t have huge social media numbers around them,” Mino, who currently has around 39,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, tells Billboard. “My manager and I have built our careers by ourselves for so long, and it’s great to have someone like Kieron on board who’s just as enthusiastic about the music as we are.”

One of the key benefits of running a streaming-first label independently, rather than under a major or corporate umbrella, is identifying and reacting to artists and opportunities with greater agility. “The biggest lesson I learned [from Artists To Watch] was that you have to move fast,” says Donoghue. “You have to act fast to find new music and artists just as soon as they publish a song online -- act fast to reach out to them, put a contract together and then sign them. Major labels can take weeks if not months to negotiate terms, draw up legal papers and so forth, whereas Humble Angel Records is designed to do it in days, sometimes hours.”

Moreover, major labels are still obligated to drive sales of physical and download formats -- 22 percent of WMG’s revenue in 2017 came from physical sales -- while Humble Angel will focus all of its marketing efforts on streaming, although the label will still make its releases available for fans to download.

Transparency and efficiency of payments will also be a key focus for Humble Angel. According to Donoghue, his label's standard contract will offer at least double the average royalty splits of what major labels provide, and will pay artists monthly instead of once or twice a year (Humble Angel is partnering with Stem to handle distribution and revenue management).

Without direct access to the Topsify ecosystem, Humble Angel is also free (and, for the sake of survival, required) to experiment and strategize around a wider variety of playlists across streaming platforms.

For instance, Mino had recruited electronic producers Oliver Nelson and Ben Benim to remix her first two singles, leveraging a typical remix strategy in the EDM world for the purposes of supporting more consistent release schedules and mutual promotion across artists’ fanbases. For some of her upcoming singles, however, Mino will be releasing her own acoustic versions instead of third-party remixes -- an approach that Donoghue previously implemented at Artists To Watch with MARC’s single “Show You The Light." Mino understood the power of this strategy to expand her reach beyond the chill-pop playlist silo and into truly untapped audiences, as “people who listen mostly to acoustic music might not immediately buy into what I’m creating and sharing with my fans,” she says.

As for specific stats, while Donoghue sees potential value in all sources, he places particular importance on metrics like the percentage of listeners who stream a song from their own Saved Music collection on Spotify -- which lends deeper insight into passive versus active listening habits. On the other hand, skip rates are more arbitrarily defined, and might bog artists and managers down too deeply in unnecessary detail. “I much prefer to focus on volume of streams and where those streams came from, instead of digging in the weeds for some magic formula that may or not exist when it comes to skip and save rates,” says Donoghue.

Skeptics of the streaming-first label model may point to the downside of concentrating all of one's energy into a single revenue source -- particularly one like streaming that hasn't yet proven to be profitable on the platform level, and will only become more privy to the volatility of tech stock performance as Spotify's public offering approaches.

But Donoghue claims that specialization coupled with operational flexibility will be a valuable asset for his label, in a music industry landscape that refuses to slow down. “Our focus is going to be on doing one thing and doing it extraordinarily well,” he says. “It makes sense to focus our efforts first and foremost on streaming, because we know the streaming music ecosystem inside out and we believe this is what's going to deliver growth over the coming years.”

As Receitas De 'Music Streaming' Cresceram 53% Em 2017

Music Streaming Revenue Increased 53 Percent in 2017, Digital Services Report

U.S. digital revenue grew 15 percent in 2017 to $6.5 billion from $5.65 billion, driven largely by a 53 percent increase in streaming to $3.4 billion from 2016's total of $2.2 billion.

That's the prediction of the Digital Media Assn. (DiMA), which represents music streaming services and other digital music providers that account for 95 percent of U.S. digital music revenue.

"Digital streaming has saved the record industry, with ad-supported and subscription music services driving a third consecutive year of increasing revenue," the org said. "As the music industry comes together for Grammy Week, the continued increase in digital music revenue is a clear sign that smart policies encouraging innovation and investment benefit everyone."

Those statistics are from a forthcoming report, "Streaming Forward," coming via DiMA and research firm, MIDiA.

Spotify Reavalia Regras Para Dar Aos 'Remixadores' Mais Respeito

Spotify Reworks Rules to Give Remixers More Respect

Music is one of those art forms that sits at the cutting edge of technological development, and yet the industry itself is often slow to catch up. It took the Grammys until 2014 to consider work with samples in every category, and it wasn't until 2016 that the awards institution made free mixtapes and releases eligible for consideration.

Even Spotify, who arguably leads the charge in the streaming revolution, has only now changed its rules to credit remixers for the streams their remixes garner. Until now, only the original artist received the streaming numbers, and the remixer's popular songs list on their page wouldn't reflect popular remixes streamed either.

"Remixes are a major part of the way music evolves in the 21st century," Spotify said in its official announcement. "They build bridges between genres and they connect cultures around the world. Now Spotify is making some changes designed to give remixers the credit they deserve."

Spotify also interviewed famed and Grammy-decorated remixer Louie Vega to talk proper remixes from start to finish. Read all about it on Spotify's website.

Os Indicados Ao Grammy Atingem O Top 40 Da Billboard 200

Billboard 200 Chart Moves: 'Grammy Nominees' Series Scores 24th Top 40-Charting Album

On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 27), Camila Cabello arrived at No. 1 with her debut solo effort, Camila. The set earned 119,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Jan. 18, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 65,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the rest of the Billboard 200:

Various Artists, 2018 Grammy Nominees – No. 22 — The long-running Grammy Nominees series collects its 24th top 40-charting album on the Billboard 200, as the 2018 Grammy Nominees compilation bows at No. 22. The set earned 17,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Jan. 18, according to Nielsen Music. The entirety of that sum is driven by traditional album sales. On the Top Album Sales chart, the title launches at No. 4, and on Compilation Albums at No. 1.

The 2018 Grammy Nominees album features 21 tracks that celebrate the nominees of the 60th annual Grammy Awards, including Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic,” Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” and Kenny Chesney’s “All the Pretty Girls.”

The series, which began in 1995, has visited the top 40 with each of its 24 titles in its main series. (In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were a few genre-specific compilations -- like 1999 Grammy Rap Nominees -- that did not hit the top 40.)

Collectively, the 24 installments of the main Grammy Nominees series have sold 9.58 million copies. 

— Black Veil Brides, Vale – No. 14 — The band’s new studio set starts with 24,000 units (22,000 in traditional album sales), granting the act its fifth consecutive top 40-charting effort. On Hard Rock Albums, it debuts at No. 1 -- their first leader.

— The Cranberries, Stars: The Best of 1992-2002 – No. 16 — Following the death of The Cranberries’ lead singer Dolores O’Riordan on Jan. 15, the band’s greatest hits collection Stars: The Best of 1992-2002 debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 16. The set, released in 2002, earned 22,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 18, according to Nielsen Music (up 1,843 percent). The album sold 8,000 in traditional album sales (up 7,129 percent). Stars is the group’s highest-charting album since 1999’s Bury the Hatchet hit No. 13.

— Chris Young, Losing Sleep – No. 60 — The album surges 184-60 with the chart’s largest percentage gain (up 105 percent) as the set benefits from further sales generated by a concert ticket/album sale redemption promotion.

— The Beatles, 1 – No. 114 — The Beatles’ hits package 1 celebrates its 300th week on the list. The former No. 1 -- which was released in 2000 and steps 106-114 on the latest tally -- has racked up more weeks on the chart than any other Beatles album. The Fab Four’s runner-up is Abbey Road, with 249 weeks. It is followed by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (219), the act’s self-titled set (known as The White Album, with 184) and the best-of set The Beatles 1967-1970 (182).

1 is also the 20th album to spend at least 300 weeks on the list, and follows Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, which hit the 300 threshold on the Jan. 20-dated chart.

The all-time longevity champ remains -- and will likely remain for many years to come -- Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, with 937 weeks. The runner-up is Bob Marley and The Wailers’ greatest hits set Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers, with 505 weeks. Among all greatest hits sets, The Beatles’ 1 is one of just six titles with at least 300 weeks on the tally.

1 spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in late 2000 and early 2001 and has sold 12.87 million copies in the U.S. Since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991, The Beatles’ 1 is the band’s biggest selling album, the fourth-largest selling title overall among all acts, and the best-selling greatest hits album. Ahead of 1 on Nielsen’s best-sellers list: Metallica’s self-titled album (known as The Black Album) with 16.71 million, followed by Shania Twain’s Come On Over (15.7 million), Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (15.13 million) and then The Beatles' 1.

Hans Zimmer Vai Compor A Trilha De ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’

Hans Zimmer to Score ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’

Hans Zimmer has been tapped to score the upcoming superhero movie X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The film marks the directorial debut of writer/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Martian, Deadpool) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and Jessica Chastain. Kinberg is also producing the project with Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects), Hutch Parker & Lauren Shuler Donner (Logan). 

Zimmer’s involvement was mentioned by actor Evan Peters on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. We previously heard that the composer was scoring the film this past December, but it was unclear whether he would be sharing scoring credit with anyone else. Zimmer has previously scored the Kinberg-produced sci-fi movie Chappie and Kinberg-scripted Sherlock Holmes. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set to be released on November 2, 2018 by 20th Century Fox.

Como Você Deveria Usar Um 'email list' Entre Os Lançamentos E Shows?

How should you use your email list in between new releases or gigs?

Setting up an automated (and authentic) stream of emails that will interest your fans.

Email can be a drag. I write a bit on how to make the most of it here. But in this article, I want to dig in with you. Deep dive style.

Let’s start with a simple question: How do you use your email list in between projects?

I mean, it’s easy to send an invite to your next show or to tell people about your newest album, single, or video release.

But what about in-between that stuff? And how can you write and send emails without having it take up a ton of brain power and time? (Every time I knew I wanted to send a newsletter out, I would take an entire afternoon thinking, outlining, writing, editing, testing links, re-reading, sending.)

A plan to rock your email list for over a year

It starts with a content-creation challenge…

Write 30 emails.

(You’ll see why and what to write in a minute).

There are a bunch of ways to do this. You could take one day and just bang out all 30. Part of what took me so long every time I wanted to send out one email was that I really needed to focus and transition into email-writing mode to do this. Writing a bunch at once came WAY more easily than writing one at a time. Another way to bang out 30 emails is by writing one email a day for a month. Or by taking downtime on a tour and have all your bandmates each write 5-10. Either way, set a serious goal.

Reminder: you’re just writing these emails, you are not actually sending them… yet (we’ll get to that in a second).

If you’re using MailChimp or another email system, it helps to write these in Word or Pages first before formatting them. Formatting and posting take different brain power, and for now you want to focus on the writing, not the technology.

Here’s how to split the 30 into different kinds of emails, covering different topics:

1. First ten emails: Grab 10 of your favorite songs and write a short (2 paragraphs, tops) essay on how you came up with the lyrics, what the recording process was like, or some anecdote about the tune. Then, of course, link to that song on iTunes or Bandcamp or wherever you sell your music. That’s 10 emails.
2. Next ten emails: The next 10 emails you’ll write will tell your story. Not just “I was born here and went to college here.” But 10 little secrets or moments about yourself or your past that people don’t know yet. Pro Tip: The first place to look for these moments is in transitions. Where were you deciding something, choosing to live in one place over another? Choosing one job over another? One guy over another? If you can come up with 10 of these, you’ll have a great bunch of content emails ready to go. Bonus points if those memories inspired a song. Again, you can link to your own music.
3. Next five emails: Next, write five emails about what you love to do most. For example, this may be touring. Here you can share a specific story or two from your past tours, and/or sell tickets to your upcoming shows if you have any. Include photos, videos, anything. Pro Tip: ideally, you will send readers to a page on your website that is kept current so you can automate this email and not have to change it… see below. You won’t want to say specifics in the email, like “Come to our show February 23rd,” but instead “we’ve got a show coming up and you can get tickets here [link to your SHOWS page on your website].”
4. Last five emails: Lastly, write 5 emails asking your fans their opinion of something. You can create a poll, ask them their opinion of songs they want to hear next, or what their favorite song you play live is, or what the next video should be.

[Side note: if writing this much content sounds super daunting, then hop onto one of the most productive, results-generating workshops you’ll ever be a part of and bang it out there. Click here to enroll in the inspiring productivity program MX4!]

Now, once you have 30 emails, you can schedule these to go out once a week, or once every two weeks. If you do the latter, you will have created awesome content to send to people for over a YEAR.

They don’t need to be in order. In fact, I’d mix them up just a little. The story series can be just that, a series. And you can let people know what you’re doing. “Over the next few weeks, I would like to share some stories I haven’t shared anywhere else.” In between, you can pepper some of your other emails based on where they fit into the story.

Now, let’s talk about how to AUTOMATE all this!

What about new subscribers?

In a perfect world, your list is growing. You’re playing out and telling people about your email list and requesting that they sign up. You are sharing the signup link on social media.

So how do the new subscribers get all 30 emails? You can automate. All of the main email list providers like MailChimp allow you to do this, depending on the plan you have. I PROMISE this is worth the small monthly fee to have it set up (if your platform doesn’t offer it for free).

Automation is just that, automatically sending emails for you. This is different than scheduling because instead of sending an email on a specific date, the email program is sending emails out drip-style over a specific length of time. You can have a whole welcome series automated, making sure the new subscriber knows where to buy your music and how to find you live. Then you can assign the delay on each of the 30 emails… so 2 weeks after the person subscribes they get email #1. Two weeks after that email is sent, they get sent email #2. And so on and so forth. So it is not date-dependent.

Pro Tip

I would schedule all of these emails for the same day of the week, say, a Tuesday. I do this for when I want to send out a real-time update. Like something cool happened or I have a big last-minute show I want to share with my whole list. I don’t want people to get two emails in one day from me, so if I know that my list gets the automated emails on Tuesday, I can schedule my blast for Thursday.

Yes, it’ll take some time to write these emails, BUT once they’re done you’ll have some great content to build relationships with your fans, and hopefully make some sales.

What about authenticity?

If you’re concerned that your emails won’t feel as “real” or “you” if they’re not sent hot off the press, then take a look at how you’re writing them. Just because you’re using a marketing strategy doesn’t mean you have to sound like a marketer.

Keeping it present is important, as in, I write each of my emails as if I’m about to press send. Additionally, I also write each of my emails as if I was writing to ONE fan. I don’t say “hey guys” because chances are, each person reading my email is actually alone, by themselves. I say things I’d say in person. Because, after all, we’re all people, wanting to connect.

Let me know if you have questions about automation. I love diving into this newfound love I have and would be happy to geek out on it with you! If you liked this article, please share with your networks!