How do you build an email list as a musician?

Why do you need an email list if you have followers?

Because you can't reach your followers when it counts. A post reaches whoever the app decides to show it to, and an account can be lost overnight. An email reaches everyone who said yes, and it's yours if you change platforms. Our first 1,000 fans guide covers why this matters more than any follower count.

In our work, the gap is rarely knowing that a list matters. It's that most artists don't have one. Even artists who've gigged for years often have no way to contact the people who came. And the strongest money stories we've seen, artists earning directly from fans every month, have their own list or fan community underneath.

What are the rules on emailing fans in the UK?

The rules are short, and worth getting right before you collect a single address. This is our plain reading of the guidance from the UK's data regulator, the ICO. Read their page for anything unusual.

• Only email people who said yes to hearing from you. A tick box, a signed sheet or a form that says what they're signing up for. Being in your phone contacts, following you or emailing you once isn't a yes.
• There's a narrow exception for people who've bought from you. If someone bought music or merch from you and you offered them a clear way to say no to updates at the time, you can tell them about similar things. Give them the same way out in every email.
• Never buy or borrow a list, and don't ask fans to send you their friends' addresses or forward your emails on.
• Say who you are and give a way out. Every email needs your name and a working unsubscribe link or reply address. When someone leaves, take them off and don't add them back.
• Direct messages count too. The same rules cover texts and messages on social apps, so a mass DM to people who never asked is the same as a mass email.

The regulator says its guidance is being reviewed after a 2025 change in the law, so check their page once a year.

Which tool should you use?

The simplest one that does three things: a sign-up form or link you can put anywhere, an unsubscribe link in every email added for you, and an export so the list is never stuck in one place. Most mailing list tools are free for a small list. If you sell music direct, your store may already keep a list of buyers and followers you can write to. Use one place, not three.

Set up the sign-up page with one line on what people get, and that's all. Ask for an email address and a first name, and maybe a town. Every extra box loses people. The town is worth having, because it tells you where to play.

How do you get people to sign up?

Mostly in person. In our work, lists grew where someone took names in the room at a gig, far more than anywhere else. Online sign-ups trickle in. A good night with a sheet and a sentence from the stage can do more than a month of posts.

At every gig:

1. Say it from the stage, once, near the end, while people are still glad they came: "There's a sheet by the merch. Sign it and I'll send you the new song before it's out."
2. Have the sheet and a code. A clipboard with a pen, and a printed code that opens your sign-up page, for people who'd rather use their phone.
3. Put the promise on the sheet. The words at the top are their consent, so they need to say what they're agreeing to.

> Sign-up sheet (copy this) > "Get the new music first. Sign up and [your name] will email you about new releases and gigs, about once a month. You can unsubscribe any time." > Columns: First name. Email. Town.

Type the names in that night or the next morning, then send the welcome email straight away, while they still remember the gig.

Online, use one sign-up link everywhere: your bio, your website, the end of every video, and the thank-you after anyone buys from you. Give people a reason to join now: an unreleased demo, early tickets, or the new song a week before everyone else.

What should the first email say?

Send it the moment someone joins, and make it sound like you. It sets what the list is, so keep it short:

> Welcome email (copy and change) > Subject: You're in > Hi [name], thanks for signing up [at the gig in Leeds / on the site]. Here's the thing I promised: [link to the demo / early tickets]. I'll write about once a month with new music and gigs, and that's it. If you ever want to reply, I read everything. [Your name]

The last line matters. Replies are how a list turns into fans who'd come on day one.

What should you send, and how often?

Once a month is enough for most artists. Pick a day and keep to it, because a list that hears nothing for six months forgets who you are.

Each email has one main thing and one ask:

• A new song or video, with a line about where it came from.
• A gig, with the date, the town, the ticket link and why this one's worth coming to. Kimberly, our founder, keeps every artist's gig news to their Instagram and their monthly email, so the list is where the gig announcements actually reach people.
• Something from behind the scenes: a lyric you're stuck on, a rehearsal photo, a voice note.
• An early chance at something: tickets, a signed copy, a limited run.

Write it like a message to one person. Short paragraphs, one link that matters, and a question at the end if you want replies. In the month before a release or a gig, one extra email is fine. Every week isn't.

How do you know it's working, and when do you clean it?

Watch two things: how many people open it, and how many reply or click the one link. Don't worry about the exact percentage. Watch whether it goes up or down from one month to the next. If replies are falling, the emails are probably reading like announcements. Make the next one shorter, more personal and ask a question.

Once or twice a year, remove people who haven't opened anything in a long time. It feels like losing fans, but they weren't reading anyway, and a smaller list of people who open is worth more than a big one that doesn't. Before you remove them, send one last email asking if they still want to hear from you.

Where this fits

An email list is the fans part of artist development: the place followers become people you can reach. Your first 1,000 fans has the bigger plan around it, and how independent artists make money shows what a list makes possible later. If you're gigging, how to promote a gig has the three-week ticket plan the emails go into, and how to get gigs as an independent artist covers finding the rooms where the list grows.

• Artist development: what it is, what it costs, and how to tell it's working
• How to get your first 1,000 fans (not streams)
• How do you promote a gig and sell the tickets?
• Instagram for musicians: what is it actually for?
• Bandcamp Friday: how to prepare for 4 December
• How do independent artists make money?
• How to get gigs as an independent artist: the first rooms

FAQ

Do musicians really need an email list? Yes. It's the only way to reach everyone who's said they want to hear from you, whatever happens to your social accounts. Start small: twenty names you can reach beat two thousand followers you can't.

Can I add my friends and contacts to my mailing list? Not without asking. In the UK you need people to say yes before you send them updates. Send each of them a personal message with the sign-up link and let them choose.

How often should a musician send emails? About once a month, plus an extra one around a release or a gig. Regular and short beats rare and long.

What should I give away to get sign-ups? Something they can't get anywhere else yet: an unreleased demo, early tickets, the new song before release day, a voice note. It doesn't need to cost anything.

Is a paper sign-up sheet at gigs allowed? Yes, if the words at the top say what people are signing up for and that they can unsubscribe. Type the names in quickly, and keep the sheet safe or shred it once they're in.

What's a good open rate for a musician's newsletter? There's no single number to aim for. Compare each email with your own last few. If fewer people open or reply over time, shorten the emails and make them more personal.

Should I use a newsletter tool or my music store's mailing list? Whichever you'll actually use, as long as it can export your list. If most of your sales come through one store, its list of buyers may be the easiest place to start.

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