24 Jan
 - 
Guide

An Artist’s Guide to Building a Mailing List

An Artist’s Guide to Building a Mailing List

For artists, building and maintaining an email list is vital to keeping your audience easily informed about your work. With direct communication, you can share upcoming performances, sales, and fundraising updates without relying on third-party platforms who own your data.

Why Email Lists Matter

  • Contacting your email database is free.
  • When you collect an email address, you own that first-party data.
  • Email contacts typically show higher engagement than those on social media. There is less noise to cut through.
  • You can track metrics like open rates and click-through rates to understand performance.

Tips to Grow Your Email List

Ask for Signups

Sometimes, the simplest approach is the most effective. Simply ask people to join your mailing list. Whether you're engaging with fans on socials, at live events, or just networking, let them know that email is the best way to stay up-to-date with your work. 

Provide Incentives

Encourage signups by offering incentives like early access to releases, tickets or exclusive merch giveaways. Ensure these perks provide actual value rather than gimmicks, showing your commitment to rewarding your closest community. 

Simplify Signing Up

Make it easy for fans to sign up to your mailing list and share their contact info by providing clear, accessible signup links. Use links in your social media bio and use in-built tools such as the ‘un:hurd Fan Hub’ to collect email addresses. 

Offer Exclusive Content

Drive subscriptions by offering exclusive content accessible only to email subscribers. This could be a special message post or video that provides unique insights or previews. Ensure this content is truly valuable, demonstrating to potential subs why it's worth joining your list.

Seek Collab Opportunities

Expand your audience by appearing as a guest on podcasts or get interviewed by blogs or media outlets. This puts you in front of new audiences that are also music fans.

Cross-Promotion

Collab with similar artists and brands to cross-promote each other. This can include newsletter takeovers or social collabs, enhancing your reach.

Deliver Valuable Content

Focus on what your audience wants and sees value in, whether it's insight into the artistic process, beautiful visuals, or an under-the-hood personal view of you. Understanding and meeting your audience's needs will not only grow your list but also keep subscribers engaged and connected to your work.

Tools to try

Un:hurd FanHub: Create a microsite to showcase your bio, links, releases and more. In ‘Community’ you can collect emails and phone numbers. Create a Fanhub

Mailchimp: Known for its user-friendly interface, Mailchimp is perfect for beginners. It offers customisable templates and analytics to track performance. Explore Mailchimp

Feature.Fm: This platform allows you to easily collect fan data through Pre-save campaigns and competitions. Pro members can get 3 months for 50%. Explore Feature.Fm

Laylo: The platform combines landing pages, messaging, link tracking, and more to empower musicians, with the tools to drive more sales and streams around their most important moments. Pro members get 10% off. Explore Laylo

Ready to build your email list and connect with more fans?

Head back to the un:hurd app and start collecting email addresses today by exploring the FanHub feature. It's free to Pro members so start your free trial if you haven’t done so yet!

Not an un:hurd user yet?

Join thousands of independent artists who are using un:hurd to streamline their music marketing and maximise their impact. Sign up today!