Category: sethwCategory: sethw

Rick Rubin had quite a media tour a few months back, but it’s a quote from this 2014 interview that stuck with me:

“Everything was trying to make something cool to play for our friends that they would like.”

When you change this to “make something cool to post on social media,” you’re in trouble.

There’s a chance it might take off. But most likely most of your fans won’t even see it.

Social media algorithms are designed to limit your reach.

That’s why you should have an email list that your fans can subscribe to.

You can call email lists old fashioned, but so are vinyl records, and everyone who buys them online gets a receipt and shipping info delivered direct to their email inbox.

Send an email to your fans more than once a month. It’ll be okay, your fans signed up because they wanted to hear from you.

Instead of posting a funny meme on social media, message it to a friend.

Call a buddy and tell them you’re sending them something to check out.

Set up a Zoom call with your creative community and make art together (like my friend Robin does, every other Friday with her Creative Drop-In).

Make cool stuff, and show it to your friends without social media.

I love this quote from Rick Rubin.

“Everything was trying to make something cool to play for our friends that they would like.”

You run into problems, though, when you turn this into “make something cool to post on social media and hope people see it.”

Yes, there’s a chance it might take off. A slight chance. Hell, there’s a slight chance your existing fans will even hear it.

Better to have an email list that your fans can subscribe to, so when you make something cool, you can send it out and know that most everyone on your list will see it.

Maybe they won’t open it – things happen, people are busy. That’s why you send an email more than once a month, because people don’t open every email. Just the way it is.

So email your fans. Email it direct to friends. Call a friend and tell them you’re sending them something to check out.

Make cool stuff, show it to your friends.

Just make sure your friends actually see it.

When you share your super cool DSP playlist placement on socials, you know like maybe just 2% of your audience sees it, right?

I’m not saying don’t share it on socials.

I’m saying you should also put it on your website.

Next week you might not be on that playlist, and then no one will even know you got such a cool placement.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Start a new post
2. Embed the audio player (here’s how with Spotify & Apple Music)
3. Make sure people know they can pre-order your new album, or buy a shirt, or see you on tour.

Once you’re done, send a newsletter and link to the news post.

Drive your fans to your platform, not a 3rd party site.

When you drive your fans to that cool playlist you’re on, they see this (as of Tuesday, August 29, 2023):

This is great for Asking Alexandria, Avenged Sevenfold, Corey Taylor, Nita Strauss… but, oh wait… you’re #62 on that list? Ooops.

And hey – if you’r a photographer, a writer, a crafter, an artist, whatever – this applies to you, too!

Own your wins. Keep a record of them. These wins are leverage to get more fans to your site and hopefully buy merch, your music, or tickets to your next show

Here’s the slowest, least-scalable way to grow your email list – “just ask, man.”

Want to reach a new audience that could help grow your fanbase?

Ask to be on a podcast.

Offer to write a cool feature for someone’s site that you like.

Did you make friends on a Discord? Don’t be a jerk, but maybe ask for someone to check out your newsletter on occasion.

Meet someone in real life and hit it off by talking about your art, your business, your offering? “Hey, I write about this stuff all the time, here’s the link to sign up for my newsletter.”

Have a cool back-and-forth on social media in the comments. DM them and ask them to subscribe.

Have a QR code on your merch table – people who sign up for your email list get 10% of their purchase, or a free sticker.

Neil Mason (LinkedIn) spent $3,000 on a photo booth to set up at shows. It runs on an iPad and captures people’s email addresses:

Since purchasing the photo booth, we’ve averaged 80 emails captured per show.

We’ve played 63 shows in 2023, with 62 to go.

80 x 63 = 5040 emails

I know not everyone reading this is in a band, or if you are, maybe you’re not interested in setting up a freaking PHOTOBOOTH, BUT… take these ideas and run with them.

Do interesting things, meet interesting people, and, on occasion ask them to check out your stuff.

Someone is pretending to be senior editor Tom Breihan of Stereogum on Instagram and ripping off bands.

“A month or two ago, I heard about an Instagram account that was posting and contacting bands in my name. This account was hitting artists up for $100, promising some kind of coverage on (Stereogum).”

When social media platforms make it easy to impersonate anyone (the fake account has 2,800+ followers), then drag their feet in fixing the situation, whose side are they really on?

Thankfully Tom Breihan has a little site called, ummm… Stereogum to let people know about this scam, but even with the clout of being a senior editor of a site founded in 2002, the scam account is still active:

“I’ve reported this fake account to Instagram several times, and nothing has come of it. My colleagues have reported it, too. I don’t know how common this kind of scammer is on Instagram, but it’s apparently very difficult to get through to anyone at the company to put a stop to their activities. I’m applying for a verified account, too, which feels ridiculous when I don’t actually post on the platform.”

This happened to Rolling Stone and Billboard writers earlier this year. The Avenged Sevenfold social media accounts were hacked, too, pushing out fake festival cancellations.

Thankfully Tom at Stereogum can post on their site about the scam.
Same with Rolling Stone. A7x sent out a note to their email list.

It’s 2023, people – make sure you have an official channel where you can communicate directly with your audience.

• Have an email list and a website, and turn on all security options for the service you use (Mailchimp, Squarespace, etc)
• Turn on domain name auto-renew so you don’t lose your website
• Use all the security functions on your social media, too
• Don’t reuse passwords – get your team on 1Password

Seriously – if someone were impersonating you or your business, what would you do?

What if you get hacked, like when Elder lost access to their Facebook account with 78,000 followers?

Maybe you won’t get impersonated, or hacked, but what if you get BANNED, or plain old locked out of your accounts?

And if you won’t listen to me, listen to Vince from Metal Blade:

“Creators, musicians, etc. need to use multiple platforms – patreon, twitch, youtube, etc. Any individual platform, for any reason, can ban you for a reason you may never even know.

Have a dedicated website. Have an e-mail list.”

Have a space on the internet for your project. Have an email list. It’s the only direct communication you’ll with your fans when (not if) your social media accounts go down.