3 Easy Ways For Producers To Build An Email List

Let’s be real; email marketing is not the most glamorous aspect of being a music producer. It might not even be on your radar at all. But at the end of the day, we have to remember that though we are creatives first, we are also entrepreneurs 💸

Building a solid email list of potential artist customers is an essential component of creating a successful, sustainable beat selling business. 

Every contact you add to your list should be looked at like as a seed. With the proper amount of time and watering, that seed can grow into a full scale beat-buying oak tree 🌳 

With that in mind, here are three easy ways to build your email list as a music producer:

#1: Manual Reach Out

It’s no secret that reaching out directly to artists on social media platforms can be a good way to sell beats and make connections.

This should be a weekly part of your marketing routine. But sliding into an artist’s DMs with “let’s work” should not be the only interaction you have with them.

If you manage to get their email address after you hit them up, don’t just send beats off to them and hope for the best. Add that email address to your list for further reach out down the line.

You can create this list in Excel or Google Sheets to keep track of everything. If you want to get a little more serious, you can sign up for an email marketing service like Mailchimp or Aweber and import your contacts there. 

Mailchimp is a good option if you’re just starting out as it’s free to use up until you amass a list of 2,000 contacts.

Another way to manually build your email list is to reach out to new followers you get on social media or Beatstars.

Check out their profile to make sure they’re an artist, and if so shoot them a quick DM saying something like: “Thanks so much for the follow. I see you’re an artist!  I’d love to send you an example of my work.”

It’s best practice to let them know that you plan on sending them follow up emails to give them the option right off the bat to “opt out”.  Otherwise, it's more likely that someone will flag you as spam and hurt your email deliverability rates 🙅‍

#2: Drive Traffic To A Lead Magnet

A "lead magnet" is a free product or trial offered in exchange for contact info in the hopes of converting that person into a paying customer. For the music producer, a "free product" might come in the form of some free beats or a free sample pack.

If you’re unfamiliar with funnels, check out Producergrind’s interview with Gabe from Legion Beats. Gabe made over $1 million selling beats with a sales funnel made on a platform called Clickfunnels.

A lead magnet doesn’t have to be as in-depth as creating a whole sales funnel; it can be as simple as sending people to your Beatstars Pro page or custom website where you can offer free tagged versions of your beats in exchange for an email address.

A ton of producers do this and it’s definitely still an effective way of growing your email list.

You can get people to your lead magnet using paid online ads, but you can also do it for free by placing the link to the lead magnet on your social media platforms, YouTube videos, etc.

#3: Ask Your Customers For Referrals 

After someone buys a beat from you, shoot them an email and ask them if they know any other artists who might need beats as well.

Give them some value in exchange for that info. Maybe a free lease, or an upgrade to a more expensive lease type.

If you offer mixing and mastering services, you could mix and master the song they make with your beat for no charge. Get creative!

The bottom line is this: artists know other artists and they can be a great resource for you while building your network 🤝 

---

Producers can grow their email list and sell more beats by 1) directly reaching out in DMs, 2) driving traffic to a lead magnet, and 3) ask asking existing customers for referrals. Water each seed, and you'll eventually have a forest of beat-buyers 🌳 

No matter how good your marketing tactics are, if your beats are 💩 you’re not going anywhere. If you’re having trouble with sound selection and composition, be sure to check out Producergrind’s extensive library of Drum Kits, Sample Packs, MIDI and Drum Loops to level-up your production game ASAP.