The Musicians Hustle with Alice Hollywood
Building a fan base, Building your email list.
Tip 1: Setting up your mail
The most important thing, and you’ve probably heard it a million times, is your email list.
Set up a place to create your newsletters for your most dedicated fans to hear more from you.
I have done this via my website which is ran through Wix. There are a few ways you can do this. I know a lot of people are using a platform called mail chimp.
Wix has a built in feature, so this is more cost effective for me as I don’t have to pay an additional fee.
They have various templates so you can play around and jump on whatever style works best for you that week.
You don't want use your personal email address for this or your business email. You want to have a different email address for your fans. You can set up a free one on various sites such as yahoo, however, I'd advise you to purchase a personalised account with your own domain name this will look far more professional. Ie, I send out my newsletters via wix with my email fans@alicehollywood.co.uk attached.
I’ve set up a personalised email account through names.co.uk after purchasing my domain name from them for my website www.alicehollywood.co.uk
Tip 2: exclusive club
Leading on from tip number one. Now you have a place to send your fans/followers to hear more from you, this needs to feel like an exclusive club. For example, you have a show coming up you make sure your email subscribers are the very FIRST to know! You’re releasing a new single/EP/Album make sure they are the FIRST to have the opportunity to purchase from you. To be the first ears listening to your track. You can even send them clips of your early day recordings and get feedback from them. Make them a part of your journey. Side note; very important ( Make sure you’ve copy written your material before you do that ). I doubt if they are a fan they'll try and steal this from you but as you build we all know hatters can jump on board so its best to protect yourself from day one!
Tip 3: Do Not spam your fans
Do Not spam your fans! And at the same time do not go cold turkey on your fans. It’s about building great relationships with them. What they don’t want is to not hear from you for months on end and then all of a sudden it’s hey will ya buy my track? You’re not going to get a very good response this way. Think of these relationships in a very real every day kinda life. For example if you have a friend you haven’t spoken to in years and then your like hey can you just do me a favour? They probably aren’t going to give you the best response. This is no different. I have unfortunately had to do this from time to time for health reasons, life happens and we have to roll with things. However when I return I would only start with a simple request for my fans to listen to my music. You don't want to start pushing your sale speech on them!
Bonus Tip: Gigs
Gigs!!! Make sure you have an old school note pad, or an IPad. Have people sign up after or during your gig. Mention it on the mic. If you have a single out you can exchange your track for their email via a free download on your website. You can check out mine here for reference -https://www.alicehollywood.co.uk You'll see it currently says join Alice's Army and receive a free download of her debut single. There's the perfect exchange you've provided your music and they've paid with their email. Their email is currently worth more to you than money. Reason being if they have come as far to give you their email address they are most likely into your music and want to hear more from you. They will be the first ones to purchase a ticket to your next gig, be the first to purchase your merchandise, tell all their friends to buy your next single. As long as you take them on the journey with you and look after them they can become a true fan for life. Which is the ultimate goal.
Bonus tip 2:
Just start! Even if you only have a few of your emails from family members. Start there even if it’s just your mums email or your partners or ya best friends. Start and then it becomes a real thing for you and you’ll feel more confident to ask others once your sending out mail on a weekly basis/ every other week or once a month. These are the people who care about you and your career the most so I for one am going to look after them the best I possibly can.
I hope this was helpful I’ll be sharing a different topic every other week. Next in the musicians hustle is all about Branding. Let me know if there’s a topic you’re stuck on and I’ll be sure to cover it. I’m very excited to be bringing on a few special guests on the musicians hustle! If you are an artist or a manager in the music industry wanting to share your tips and tricks on the music biz please don't hesitate to drop me an email to info@alicehollywood.co.uk with the title The Musicians Hustle Guest. And We can arrange that! :)
We’re here to help one another navigate the chaos of the music biz and life as an entrepreneur!
Have a great week and remember to be kind, be fearless, be you!
Ciao, From Your UK Solo Artist Alice Hollywood x