Back On the Book! Music Success in 9 Weeks. Chapt. 7

My new music is coming very soon and I want to release this project in the smartest way possible so I decided to dive back into my Music Success in 9 Weeks book. If you've followed my blog you know that I have been keeping this book as a resource and sharing the information with you as I study and apply it.

Chapter 7 is all about creating a monthly email Newsletter. Apparently, email is still the best way to maintain fans and create revenue from them. However, you have to go about it in the right way. The author recommends building rapport with your email list by offering a free MP3 when then sign up, sharing personal (non-music related) experiences with them, inviting them to meet up with you, and asking them to participate in surveys so you can learn exactly what they want to hear from you.

When sending your Newsletter, keep your subject line short and include the person's first name. In the body of your newsletter tell a story and don't be afraid to be raw. Plan your topics ahead of time. Just like you do with your Blog in Chapter 6. Once you have built rapport, consistent communication and trust with your email list you can include a call to action like buy show tickets, merch items, or to buy your music online.

Building your email list will take time, but start by going through your inbox/outbox and inviting friends/ family/ people that you have previously connected with and email them to ask if you can add them to your list. Otherwise doing a list trade/ promo with another artist that may have a similar fan base to you is another strategy. For me, this part is exciting because I meet all kinds of people on the boulevard every day selling my CD and at least twice a day I meet someone who gives me their email address.

With my new project, Manifest Hustle vol. 1 I want to gain attention and also weed out who is not really a part of my true core fan base. I want to see how many actual fans I have. According to this book, 500 true fans is enough to get things really moving. This chapter is also really interesting because I have only had one fellow rapper ask to put me on his email list but I see how it is a real step towards being professional, building/keeping fans and creating revenue.

I see a lot of people going about it backwards, they finish the music, then post it on social media and try to get random people interested without having made any prior relationships. The key is, don't even try to sell anything to people until you have a list of targeted people who have some sense of who you are and trust you.

This chapter has a lot of great resources as far as where to go and how to make it happen like FanBridge, Nimbit and ReverbNation. Creating a monthly newsletter can be intimidating. For me I have so many different emails I'm a bit overwhelmed with the idea of going through them all for contacts, then deciding which address to have the Newsletter sent from, or do I create a new one entirely? These are my challenges but I'm confident I will figure it out. The advice the author gives is the block off about an hour each week to dedicate to building your email list. It's all about consistency. As always stay tuned! Music coming soon I promise!