What is a Fan Mailing List?

There is quite a bit I write in this blog where I assume you have a fan mailing list. Due to recent events both in my Real life and online I no longer carry that assumption. So I am going to take this time to talk about your fan mailing list and mailing lists in general. Talk to most any Internet marketer and they will tell you that your list is gold. Now a marketers list is quite a bit different then your fan list but in many ways they act the same. You build your list of people who want to hear from you and deliver information about yourself or product (read your music) to them. Before reading the rest of this post you may want to read my Street team post. Think about how you want to organize your fan mailing list based on these 2 posts.

One of the key things you will want to do with your mailing list is make it a 2 way communication. Rather that is a E-Mail address that you or someone on your team responds to or a web presence where comments and messages can be sent. SO how do you build this list? Well the first thing you want to do is add family and friends who enjoy your music and support your music. If you have an online presence anywhere add a subscription field. Offline anyplace you play live offer some way for fans to add their name and contact information. One band here locally couldn't get anyone to help with this one night and asked everyone to put their contact info on bar coasters and bring them to the stage. From that example I think you will agree you always have a way to help your fans get added.

So you have your list now what? Lets think about how often we talk to our friends and as a result think about them. Your friends that you talk with everyday you kind of always assume they will be there. Your friends you talk with once a week you start to get concerned about if a couple weeks go by. Your friends that you talk with once a month you don't begin to wonder about till after a few months go by. Anything less often then this is not a friend and you don't usually concern yourself about them. So now that we have thought about our friends how do our fans relate to this? Well your good friends support you through thick and thin. Your greatest fans support you through thick and thin. Do you see the similarity yet? No matter how hard you try you will never be able to build a connection with every single fan, but those you do will be there when everything else goes south.

Great now we have our mailing list and we have decided how often to send out mailers so what to say? I have noticed being on a few lists myself that many small time bands only inform me of their shows or major events. I years ago was a member of Alyssa Milano's fan club. Once a month she got on the forum and if there was nothing major to say she would throw out stupid things. As Pheobe on Charmed I remember one of her posts was "what power would you want if you were a witch?". Her fans would organize a once a year party to get together and she more often then not made an appearance even if it was only 5 minutes (The year I joined it was in CA after that I didn't pay attention). I left the fan club before it cost money and after she became too busy with non-profit organizations. Before I left though she said due to time restraints it would be quarterly that she would post in the forum but she still took the time to read as much as possible of her messages. Now you tell me did she build a connection with her fans and build up a strong fan base due to that.

So let me ask you is your fan mailing list the list of a no name band or a major player in the music field? How you answer this will be how you treat your fan mailing list. How you treat that list will show how confident or not you are. As a fan of many different types of media I know I want to know more then just when you are playing your next show. I want to know where to buy or download your music, when you add a new online presence and where, what other musicians you like and why, interviews, Q&As, even if you have written a short story or poetry. I am sure if I sat and thought about it that list could be added to quite often. And the more I get to know what you stand for and who you are the more I am going to want to know. So are your fans just a means to get live show attendance, album sales. Or are your fans a way to get exposure, add new listeners and turn them into fans, in general spread the word. If you get a great or not so great write-up in the new media you can usually leave a comment. Wouldn't be great to have 5000 fans leaving comments everywhere that you are talked about, and wouldn't that show that you are just as big in music as Alyssa Milano is in acting?

What other things can you think of that your music fans would love to know about? Comment below and help give other musicians ideas.