Stream and Destroy, Courntney Barnett, The Downbeat

Hey, friends – time for another three emails that I rip open and examine for your benefit. This week I try to offer some ideas you can steal and use for yourself.

SUBJECT LINE: ‘Asking Alexandria, Slipknot, Scorpions’ from Stream N’ Destroy

CLINICAL SUMMARY: This newsletter from Ryan Downey covers a lot of data in the heavy music world – stream and video plays, sales #s; lots of “insider baseball” stuff.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: I’m featuring this email for all you writers out there. If anyone could just link to a bunch of interviews and articles they’ve written, it’d be Ryan. But he had something else to offer – insider knowledge, insight, patience (he’s been doing it for years), and friends in the business who’d appreciate an informative email like this.

YOU have insider knowledge and insight, too! You don’t just write posts and interview bands, you are on the cutting edge of culture, and I’m not just saying that to be dramatic – music industry careers have started in mosh pits and VFW halls.

The shows you attend, the access you already have – it’s easy to take that for granted, but there’s a lot of people who won’t ever go “backstage,” or be on a tour bus. Share that experience with them.

ALSO:

• ‘125 Newsletter Ideas That’ll Impress Your Readers For Sure’ from Send In Blue – obviously not the most metal site around, but some good ideas in here.
• ‘27 Newsletter Ideas You Can Use to Engage Your Readers’ from Active Campaign

SUBJECT LINE: 🔵 Only one week until Things Take Time, Take Time 🔵 from Courtney Barnett

CLINICAL SUMMARY: While Courntney Barnett may be a heavy metal icon, but it’s very metal to credit everyone involved (see the links to the poster designer and photographer)! It takes a team – which got me thinking…

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Consider doing a collaborative newsletter – not everything needs to be a solo endeavor.

Maybe you’re friends with an artist, and you’re a writer, and neither of you want to start a newsletter on your own. You could start a newsletter about album art. If a videographer and a photographer started a newsletter about music videos? Hell yes, sign me up.

And hey, most podcasts are started by two people – why not a newsletter?

The cool thing is it doesn’t have to be directly about your main project. It’s easier to get people to sign up for a newsletter about horror movies or baseball than it is… your band. Lots of metal fans already love horror movies, but they don’t know about your band (not yet).

Consider starting a newsletter for something adjacent (and more popular) to what you’re doing, and then you’re able to promote your main project just by association.

SUBJECT LINE: THE DOWNBEAT: Live in London TICKETS from The Downbeat, which is Stray from the Path drummer Craig Reynolds and his (award winning) podcast and clothing brand.

CLINICAL SUMMARY: All three links here go to the same thing – the ticket site. That’s how you do a call to action.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. In a basic sense, the above example could be a post on social media – image, text, link.

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Event Reminder Emails: 5 Effective Strategies’ from Beefree
• ‘Events Newsletter Design Gallery and Examples’ from MailerLite