Creative Ways to Market Yourself

Most artists use social media to market their music. 📱

They post snippets, plan rollouts, flood their Stories, record TikToks, share behind-the-scenes clips and drop YouTube videos.

At this point, you’ve probably seen artists drop twenty versions of the same snippet just to promote a single song.

And don’t get me wrong, those strategies can work.

But I believe it’s worth looking for new ways to show up online, something unique to you, something few people are doing, either because it’s harder or it takes a bit more thought.

One of those ways is building an email list.

I run an email list for my producer community, and I’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is.

It lets me connect with my audience in a way that’s impossible on social media, more personal, more direct and more meaningful.

In my opinion, getting an email from you once or twice a month feels special for your fans.

It’s not just another post lost in the feed, it’s something personal, straight from you to them. 💌

What an Email List Actually Is (And Why It’s Powerful)

An email list is simply a collection of people’s email addresses, fans who chose to hear from you directly. 

It’s your own private channel.

No algorithms. No feeds. No hoping the platform shows your post to 3% of your followers.

When you send an email, it lands straight in their inbox, and 100% of your audience has the chance to see it. 👀

And here’s the part most artists miss: you actually own that traffic.

Those emails are yours. You can export them, back them up, move them from Mailchimp to Mailerlite or Substack anytime.

Unlike Instagram or TikTok - where your reach can vanish overnight - your email list is platform-proof.

That’s what makes it so powerful, you’re not just building followers.

You’re building direct access to your biggest supporters. 🤜🤛

How to Get People to Sign Up

Here’s the thing, nobody wakes up thinking,
“Today I really want to join a mailing list.” 😅, like... let's be real.

So if you want people to sign up, you’ve got to make it feel exciting, like they’re getting access to something special.

Technically, it starts simple: they just fill out a small form with their name and email.
Once they hit submit or subscribe, their email goes straight into your platform - Mailchimp, MailerLite, ConvertKit - whatever you’re using.

But here’s where most artists get it wrong, they just drop a link saying “join my mailing list” and expect people to care.

Nobody cares about “a list.”

People care about what they get by being on it. 💌

You need to create a reason, something that feels exclusive, personal, and rare.

Something that makes them think, “If I don’t join, I’m missing out.”

Here are a few ideas:

• Exclusive content - “Join my list and get unreleased demos nobody else hears.”
• Behind-the-scenes - “Twice a month I send raw studio moments I never post on socials.”
• Early access - “Get my next single before it hits Spotify.”
• Direct updates from you - a quick note about what you’re working on, thinking about, or feeling lately.

Make it personal. Make it sound like you’re talking directly to them.

And place your signup link everywhere, in your Instagram bio, YouTube descriptions, even in your track descriptions on SoundCloud.

The easier it is to sign up - and the cooler it feels to be on that list - the faster it will grow.

And once it starts growing, you’ve got something way stronger than followers:

you’ve got direct access to your real fans. 💛

What to Send in Your Emails

So, people joined your list. 📧

Now what?

Don't worry, you don't need to become copywriter overnight, writing long essays with fancy headlines and marketing tricks. 

Your emails don’t need to be big and fancy. They need to be real.

Imagine this: you’re in your studio late at night, halfway through a new track. The hook hits different. It’s not finished yet, but it’s got that feeling.

You bounce a 40-second demo, drop a few words about what inspired it, and send it to your list.

Or maybe you just tell them what your week looked like. A photo of your messy desk, your notebook full of scratched-out lyrics, and a short voice memo of you mumbling ideas.

It doesn’t have to be polished, it just has to be you.

One time, you might even send them a secret vlog - that would be crazy - an unlisted YouTube link nobody else will ever see.

Talk to them like they’re sitting next to you, like they’re part of your circle. Because now, they kind of are. 🤝

And when your listeners feel like they’re getting something only they have, they’ll stick around, not just for the music, but for the connection.

How to Keep It Consistent Without Burning Out

If you treat your mailing list like another social media platform, you’ll burn out fast.

This isn’t about posting every day or forcing content just to stay “active.”

Consistency doesn’t mean constant.

It just means showing up regularly in a way that feels natural to you.

Maybe that’s once a week, maybe it’s once every two weeks, maybe once a month when you’ve actually got something worth sharing.

What matters is that your audience knows you’re still there, and that when you show up, it feels real.

Because your emails don’t need to be perfect.

They just need to sound like you.

Write them like you’re talking to a friend, not pitching to a crowd. Share the things you’d want to receive: a spark of inspiration, a little update, a glimpse of your world. 🌍

And if you miss a week? No one’s keeping score, so just relax.

That slow rhythm is what makes your mailing list different from the noise of Instagram or TikTok.

People don’t expect you to be 24/7.

They just want to know that when you do land in their inbox… it’s worth opening.

Tools That Make It Easy (Even for Beginners)

The good news is, you don’t need to be a tech wizard to run an email list. 🧙

There are plenty of platforms built for beginners that make the whole thing super simple.

I’ve tried a few myself.

At first, I used Mailchimp, it’s popular, it works, and it’s easy to start with.

But... once your list starts growing, it gets expensive fast.

And honestly, some of their practices are kind of shady, like quietly charging for inactive contacts etc.

That’s why I switched to MailerLite, and it’s the one I recommend. 💎

It’s beginner-friendly, clean, and way more transparent about pricing.
It lets you:

• create sign-up forms and landing pages
• design beautiful emails with drag & drop
• schedule campaigns and automations
• and see exactly who’s opening and clicking

Plus, if you ever outgrow it, you can just export your list as a CSV and move it anywhere you want, because remember, those emails are yours.

If you want something even more minimal, you can also try ConvertKit (great for creators who want simple text-based emails) or Substack (perfect if you want to write longer updates like blog posts).

But honestly?

If you’re just starting out. go with MailerLite. It does everything you need, and it won’t punish you for growing. 📈

What You Should Pay Attention To (My Perspective)

When it comes to mailing lists, the goal isn’t to send something every day or every week just to stay “active.”

What really matters is whether people are actually opening your emails. 📩

The main number to watch is your Open Rate.

That’s the percentage of people who opened your email.

So if you’ve got 100 people on your list and your open rate is 20%, that means 20 people actually opened what you sent.

If you see your open rate dropping to 3% or 5%, it’s a sign that something’s off, maybe your subject lines are weak, maybe your emails are landing in spam, or maybe your content stopped feeling personal.

That’s why it’s worth reading up on how to avoid the spam folder:
skip all-caps SUBJECT LINES, avoid spammy words, don’t overload links, and keep your tone natural. 🌱

And that’s the second thing: write your emails the way you naturally speak.

If you’re sarcastic and type in lowercase like you would on Instagram DMs, do that.

If you write tidy, polished essays, do that.

If you ramble in one big messy paragraph, that’s fine too.

The point is to make your emails feel like you, not like something generated by AI or some cold corporate template.

And every now and then, clean your list.

Most platforms (like MailerLite) let you filter out people who - for example - haven’t opened a single email in the last 6 months.

If someone hasn’t clicked in half a year, they’re probably gone, and it’s better to let them go than to drag down your stats.

Remember: you’re not chasing numbers, you’re building connection.  🔗

Wrapping It Up

Building an email list might not feel as exciting or flashy as posting snippets on Instagram or trying to go viral on TikTok, but in the long run it’s one of the most powerful things you can do for your career.

Social media reach comes and goes, algorithms shift, feeds get crowded, and even the strongest posts can disappear in the noise within hours.

Your email list, on the other hand, belongs entirely to you. 📉

It’s a space that you control, a direct line to the people who actually care about your music and want to be part of your journey.

These are the listeners who will stream your next single on release day, share your songs with their friends, and support you even when the hype fades everywhere else.

You don’t need to make it complicated or stressful.

Start small, collect a few emails, and treat those people like real humans, talk to them, share your world, and let them in. 

If you build it with intention and authenticity, that list can become the foundation of your fanbase. 🙌

And one day, when algorithms slow down and trends move on, your email list will still be there, quietly holding the core group of people who are ready to show up for you every single time. 🚀

Hope one will give you some new perspective on marketing as an independent artist.

If you are looking for some high quality beats, I got you.

Take care,

Baxon 👊