Industry news & advice blog

There are 4 billion daily email users, with this number expected to reach 4.73 billion by 2026. While social media is a great audience discovery tool, converting followers into fans using solely social media simply doesn't cut it. The solution? Email marketing. Unquestionably, it's the number one way to directly reach your fans, without relying on social media's unpredictable algorithms to do so. Here are a few tips on how to grow your mailing list as a musician.

5 ways for musicians to grow their mailing list

Offer incentives
Exclusive incentives are a powerful strategy to attract new subscribers to your growing mailing list. There are various ways to go about it. You can choose to provide subscribers with exclusive content they can't access anywhere else. This can range from a weekly personal update to exclusive music downloads. By restricting access and prioritising exclusivity, you create a sense of hype around your mailing list and its community, which goes a long way toward boosting sign ups.

Another way to get your fans to sign up is to offer limited edition merch that's only available to your mailing list community. Not only does this strategy effectively drive sales and cultivate an aura of exclusivity, but it also places a significant emphasis on fostering a sense of belonging and community among your fans.


Encourage sign-ups at the merch table
Sometimes, you just need to go for guerilla-style marketing to boost your subscriber numbers. Have a sign up form at hand while you're at shows and manning your merch table. By using this method, you're not only interacting with your fans while they check out your merch offerings, but it also increases the likelihood that they'll come back to see you at your next show in that particular city.


Actively promote your list
Having a mailing list is all well and good, but what's the point of having it if you're not promoting it? Use social media to reel people in and encourage them to become mailing list subscribers. Share WHY joining your mailing list will benefit fans, and include a direct link to your sign-up form. Periodically reminding your followers that your mailing list community exists is a good strategy, as it ensures you're consistently getting new subscribers.


Optimise Email Sign-Up Forms
There's no worse way to discourage potential subscribers than a complex email sign-up form. Pay attention to the design, fonts, text size and sign-up form placement to maximise conversions. Experiment, A/B test, and see what works best with your audience.

You can also integrate your email marketing platform with your Amplify smartlink to make the most of your smartlink. And don't forget to make your email sign-up forms mobile-friendly. Remember, mobile accounts for 59.45 percent of online traffic, so mobile optimisation is key to increasing sign ups.


Segment your list
As your mailing list grows, segmenting your mailing list depending on how engaged your audience is, where they're based, and so on can help you deliver more targeted and relevant content. If you're touring a particular country and sending a promotional email to promote your tour to everyone on your mailing list, you may unknowingly be spamming the segment of your audience based in other countries, and prompting them to unsubscribe. Remember that personalised messages go a long way towards keeping your audience interested and engaged.


This is a guest post from Amplify, an all-in-one platform that helps artists market their music, connect to their superfans, and supercharge their career. Join the 100,000 plus artists already using Amplify to start promoting your music, engaging with your superfans, and earning a sustainable income today.