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INSIDER SECRETS OF THE NEW MUSIC BUSINESS...

HOW TO GET MORE EXPOSURE,


MORE FANS, AND SELL YOUR
MUSIC ONLINE

BY J U S T I N S M I T H
1

INTRODUCTION
In the summer of 1998 I picked up Jeff’s Epiphone E350 hollow body electric guitar.
Jeff is my godfather who I was living with in high school. Unbeknownst to me at the
time, I never stood a chance of learning to play that thing due to the unbelievably high
action caused by the guitar sitting in storage and slowly warping over the course of sev-
eral decades. Nonetheless, I still wanted to learn to play the guitar.

1
A few months later for my 15th birthday, Jeff and his wife got the guitar fixed
and signed me up for lessons. That was my first step step towards a wildly successful
career of rock stardom. Spoiler alert: I am not now, never have been, and no longer
have any particular desire to become a rockstar. However, rockstar seemed like the
only logical career path when I was in high school.

My friends and I rehearsed relentlessly to become successful musicians by sitting


around in my buddy John’s basement smoking weed and drinking pretty much any
kind of booze we could get our hands on. Occasionally we would even pick up our in-
struments and jam for a few minutes before rolling another joint.

We were dedicated to becoming rockstars and very diligent in our practice. We


got high every weekend and Monday through Friday we would regularly skip class to
get in some extra practice smoking and drinking at the mall.

So that’s why I decided to write this book. I want to help you better understand
how to quit your job or drop out of school, smoke a bunch of weed, and practice play-
ing an instrument if you feel like it, so that you too can live the life you’ve always
wanted.

Okay obviously I’m joking.

Over the next 20 years my attitude and behaviors changed pretty dramatically.
After finishing high school and taking a little time off to party, I decided to go to col-
lege to study classical music and jazz. Eventually my interests evolved and I became
more interested in the business side of the music industry. I moved to a city just out-
side of Nashville, TN called Murfreesboro to attend Middle Tennessee State Univer-
sity, which is widely known for having an excellent Recording Industry program.

I learned all about the music industry as I completed my Bachelor degree in Re-
cording Industry Management at MTSU. While working on that degree, I did about
everything I could to learn more about how the music industry works. I took on intern-
ships in just about every aspect of the music industry, and I managed the social media
presence of a country artist named Josh Thompson who ended up landing a couple
hits on Billboard’s Top 10 Country chart.

2
After finishing my degree at MTSU, I went on to get my MBA at the University of
Tennessee, where I had the opportunity to work with AC Entertainment (one of the
largest concert promotion companies in the South East, and the company that started
the Bonnarroo Music Festival). It also just so happened that while I was working on
my MBA, Sony Entertainment asked the UT College of Business for help creating and
implementing an online marketing strategy for 14 time Grammy nominee, Martina
McBride.

Due to my previous experience in the music industry, I was chosen by my peers


to lead the project. It was a great experience, and turned out to be quite successful. At
that time I considered staying in Tennessee to pursue a career in the Country Music in-
dustry, but instead I opted for something a little more exciting.

After grad school, with no money and no job, I decided to pack up my car and
drive to the west coast. I arrived in San Diego, CA on January 1, 2011. I was completely
broke at the time, but through a series of unexpected circumstances ended up connect-
ing with some young guys that had recently made millions of dollars online with a very
simple business model.

The model revolves primarily around email marketing, and it can be applied to
any industry and virtually any business. For the past several years, I’ve been helping
small business owners and entrepreneurs make millions of dollars by applying a very
simple email marketing strategy to their existing businesses.

My passion for music has inspired me to adapt the model to the music industry,
more specifically independent artists with limited budgets and no record label sup-
port.

It used to be the case that the only way to really have success in the music indus-
try was to get the support of a major record label that could get your album distributed
into stores, finance a professional sounding recording, and funnel a bunch of money
into promoting you and your music.

That’s just not the case anymore.

3
The Internet has made music infinitely more widely accessible than it was 20
years ago. People aren’t even buying music in stores anymore. Most people are pur-
chasing digital downloads online or streaming it directly using Spotify or YouTube.

It no longer requires tens of thousands of dollars to produce an album.

Independent artist can produce their own recordings on their laptops. And in
turn, that’s made booking studio time more affordable than ever.

The days of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote new artists


are over. While that’s still common practice for major labels, it’s not at all necessary
for the average musician.

By following the simple, PROVEN formula that I’m sharing in this book, you’ll be
able to get more exposure, sell your music online , and grow your fanbase for next to
nothing.

Now of course, you will have better results if you have some money to put into it,
but you can at least get started even if you’re flat broke. Then you can scale up as you
start to see some money coming in.

Helping independent artists, like yourself, have success in the music industry is
something I’m very passionate about. Our world is evolving, and the advent of the
Internet has made it so people all over the world can connect with one another with in-
credible ease. For musicians, this means that you can easily connect with people that
will love and appreciate your music.

My number 1 goal with this book is to help as many musicians as possible see
how easy it really is to grow a following online, and to show them exactly how to do it.

That’s why I’ve made this book free to you. And I highly encourage you to share
it with anyone else that you think will appreciate it.

It’s much easier to demonstrate certain parts of this strategy in video form than
it is to explain them in a book. For that reason, I have put together an in-depth step by

4
step video course that you may want to check out. (you can access the course at
https://www.musicpromotionmachine.com )

Some people won’t need the videos. If you already have some experience with
web design, email marketing, online advertising, and any of the other elements of the
strategy outlined in this book, you may not need the videos. This book alone might be
enough for you. However, the video course is always an option if you find that you
need a little bit of additional help.

In any case, I’m glad and you made the decision to download this book. I hope
you find the music promotion strategy outlined in these pages to be helpful in acceler-
ating your success and career as a musician.

5
2

THE STRATEGY
In this book I’m going to cover a simple strategy that you can implement right away to
get more exposure, grow your fanbase, and sell more music and merch online.

I’m going to show you how to set up a music promotion system that will run 24/7
on autopilot.

6
Countless independent artists have already used this exact system to get more
fans, sell more music, and even get their music on Billboard charts. And the system
will run automatically, even while you sleep.

This music promotion strategy revolves primarily around building an email list.

Why email? And not Facebook, or YouTube, or Twitter, or Instagram?

Because quite simply email is going to be a lot more valuable to you, and you’re
going to have a lot more control. When you’re building an email list of fans, you’re
building an asset that’s going to allow you to reach your fans any time you want. When
you have a new album coming out, you can send out a series of emails to your fans let-
ting them know about it.

The bigger your email list is, the better. Every time you add someone to your
email list, you’re adding one more fan that you can notify about any upcoming shows,
album releases, new band t-shirts, etc.

So you might be thinking, “I can post that on Facebook and all my fans will see it,
right?”

Wrong.

How many bands do you follow on Facebook? And how many of their new posts
do you see?

You might see a few, but I can almost guarantee that it’s far less than 10%. The
problem with relying on third-party platforms like Facebook and YouTube is that
you’re completely at their mercy.

First of all, they’re generally going to cater to advertisers first and foremost.
That’s completely understandable. It’s how they make money. People that are paying
to have their posts boosted on Facebook are going to get precedence in people’s news
feeds over your posts.

7
On top of that, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other social platforms change
their algorithms all the time. You could be having great results with YouTube. Then
they change the way they serve content to their audience and suddenly you lose the
majority of your daily views. This type of thing happens all the time.

Now that’s not to say that you shouldn’t be promoting your music on Facebook
and Youtube. I love Facebook and Youtube. They are tremendously powerful plat-
forms for independent artists to promote their music.

But your #1 focus shouldn’t be getting more Facebook Likes or YouTube subscrib-
ers. Your #1 focus should be getting your fans’ email addresses.

When you add a new post to Facebook, you can consider yourself lucky if 10% of
your fans see it. When you send an email to your email list, you can rest assured that
the vast majority of those fans will at least see the email. They might not open it, but
they’ll at least see that they’ve received an email from you. And they’ll see the subject
line of the email, which is often all you need.

Emails are simply better for staying connected with your fans than Facebook,
YouTube or any other social platform. Think about it. When you check your email in-
box, do you at least check to see who emailed you? And do you at least read the subject
line of the email?

You might not open the email and read it, but I bet you at least read the subject
line.

Keeping in contact with your fans, via email is much more effective than any so-
cial platform out there. And you have complete control.

The email list that you build is yours. You aren’t at the mercy of the algorithm
changes of third party services. Your email list is an asset that you own and that you
can use anytime you want to to reach your fans.

And just in case you’re thinking, “Yikes! It would take forever to email all of my
fans!”

8
Don’t worry. That’s what your email autoresponder is for. It allows you to email
all of your fans at once, and you can also set it to send out emails on autopilot.

Using an email autoresponder ensures you’re fans will be hearing from you on a
regular basis. This helps you build a connection with them, and keep them updated
with album releases and upcoming shows.

And that can be happening all while you’re on tour or vacationing in the Ba-
hama’s. Those emails can even be going out to fans while you’re sleeping.

Parts of The System

Landing Page - This is the webpage that you’re going to send people to so they
can sign up for your email list.

This type of page is often referred to as a “squeeze page”, because you’re “squeez-
ing” information from someone before sending them on to the next page.

That next page is typically referred to as the “thank you page”.

Thank You Page - The page where you deliver the offer or incentive that was of-
fered in exchange for your fan’s email address.

Offer/Incentive - People that are already your fans would likely join your email
list simply because they want to receive notifications from you; however, a lot of the
people that will be landing on your squeeze page will have never heard of you or your
music before.

You have to give them a reason to join your email list. You have to offer them
some type of incentive in exchange for their email address.

This can be accomplished by offering some free downloads.

Email Autoresponder - The email autoresponder is simply a software/database


that stores all of your fans’ email addresses or other contact information. This way you
can easily send out email notifications to your entire list.

9
The autoresponder can also be set up to send out some automated messages af-
ter someone signs up to your email list.

Traffic - Targeted visitors to your landing page that are likely to be interested in
your music.

In this book, I’ll explain how to set up this whole system so that people who will
likely enjoy your music, but have never heard of you before, will find their way to your
landing page and sign up to your email list.

Once someone has joined your email list, you’ll be able to start building a connec-
tion and share your music with them. This will lead to a dedicated following of die
hard fans that will come to your shows, buy your music, and support your music ca-
reer.

So that’s a basic overview of what the strategy is. We’ll get into more detail in the
next few chapters.

10
3

THE TOOLS
There are several tools and resources that I recommend for getting best results with
this system, which I’ll share with you in this chapter. If you would like a detailed expla-
nation of how to set all of this stuff up, I highly recommend that you check out the
video course I’ve put together. (you can access the course at
https://www.musicpromotionmachine.com )

11
Inside the course we’ll take a much deeper dive into this whole system, how it
works, and how to get the best results. I demonstrate exactly how to set up the entire
system, so you can easily follow along, even if you have no technical knowledge whatso-
ever.

Alternatively, if you feel pretty comfortable with doing all of this on your own,
this book by itself should give you enough guidance to a least get started promoting
your music online.

Now let’s go over some of the recommend tools for making this system work.

Must Have
The only tool that you absolutely must have for making all of this work is an
email autoresponder.

An email autoresponder is an online database that will store all of the email ad-
dresses that you collect, and it allows you to send out mass emails to your entire email
list with the push of a button.

The one that I’m recommending is GetResponse. There are several reasons I’ve
chosen GetResponse as the email autoresponder that we’ll be using in this course.

1.) It’s very inexpensive. It’s only $15/month, and you can click here to get a
free 30 day trial

2.) It’s incredibly easy to use. Anyone can get started with GetResponse without
any technical skills or experience whatsoever.

3.) It includes a customizable landing page builder. You will need to have a sim-
ple landing page to send your visitors to so they can sign up to your email list.

4.) GetResponse includes some very helpful automation tools that will allow you
to get this system humming along on autopilot.

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Recommended Tools And Resources
NameCheap

NameCheap is a domain registrar. This is where you can purchase a domain for
your website or landing page.

A domain is the web address that you will send your visitors to. In other words,
it’s your .com

If you already have a website for your music, you probably already have a do-
main. It’s typically going to be something like www.YOURBANDNAME.com

Registering a domain is very inexpensive. Most domains on NameCheap are


only $10 a year. Any landing pages you create within GetResponse can be hosted on
your custom domain.

If you choose not to register a domain, you can host your GetResponse landing
pages on a URL that get response will provide you.

It will be something like YOURBANDNAME.getresponse.com rather than simply


YourBandName.com

Having your own domain is very inexpensive, it’s more professional, and it’s eas-
ier for people to remember than the much longer one that GetResponse provides.

So that’s why I recommend registering a domain, but if it is technically optional.

DreamHost

The next thing that I recommend is hosting.

When I say hosting, I’m referring to a server that hosts your website. A server is
simply a computer that is made specifically to store your website files on.

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Think about it like this.

If you build a website, all of the files that make up your website have to be stored
on a server. Your domain will be connected to the server, so that when someone types
your domain into their web browser, the web browser will know where to find the files
that belong to your website. This will allow your website to be displayed for the visitor.

The main benefit of having a hosting account is that it will allow you to create
much more customizable landing pages than using GetResponse alone. You will also
be able to create many different landing pages.

Being able to create multiple landing pages makes it easier to create geo-targeted
email lists. By that I mean, you can have different email lists for different cities that
you perform in regularly. So if you have a show coming up in Los Angeles. You can
send out emails specifically to people that live in Los Angeles informing them about
the upcoming show.

Creating multiple landing pages also allows you to test different designs and con-
cepts to optimize for better results. Testing multiple landing pages against one an-
other will ultimately help you get more fans for less money.

The basic $15/month plan with GetResponse limits you to only 1 landing
page. That’s all you need to make this strategy work, but having the option to create
multiple landing pages will help you get better results.

You can get a reliable hosting account with DreamHost for only $10 per
month. So it’s not going to break the bank, and it’s well worth the investment.

WordPress

If you decide that you want to be able to create multiple landing pages and have
pretty much limitless customization options, you’ll want to install WordPress on your
hosting account.

14
Wordpress is a user interface software that makes it easy for anyone to build a
website without knowing anything about coding. It’s 100% free, so no added expense
there.

Thrive Architect

Thrive Architect integrates with Wordpress and makes it super easy to create
nice looking landing pages that are completely customizable.

The landing page builder that comes with GetResponse is certainly adequate for
getting this system in place, but Thrive Architect will give you so many more op-
tions.

In my opinion, the customizable landing pages you can build with Thrive Archi-
tect simply look better that the ones you get with GetResponse.

Thrive architect can be purchased for a one-time fee, or you can have access to it
along with a ton of other cool stuff that Thrive offers for a monthly membership fee.

Those are the tools and resources that I recommend for your music promotion
strategy. If you would like to see exactly how I set all of this stuff up, click here to
check out the video course I’ve put together.

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4

COPYWRITING
When you’re trying to promote anything, whether it’s music, a car, or laundry deter-
gent, what you’re really trying to do is communicate a message with the goal of per-
suading someone to do something.

In order to do that effectively, you need to be able to craft your message in a way
that will compel someone to take action - to buy something, to subscribe to an email
list, to click a link.

16
The act of crafting this type of message is called copywriting. Copywriting is sim-
ply the act of writing text for sales and marketing purposes.

Why should you learn about copywriting?

In order to get anyone to sign up to your email list, purchase your albums, or
even want to read any of the emails you send out, you need to understand at least a lit-
tle bit about copywriting. This way you can convey your message in a manner that’s in-
teresting to your audience and compels them to take action.

A common mistake that many musicians make with email marketing, is that they
focus too much on “pushing” their music to fans.

You don’t want to come across as being “salesy” or overly-promotional. That will
turn people off and you won’t have much success with any of your marketing efforts.

Instead of “selling” you should focus on giving value to your fans. That will al-
most always result in more sales.

So how do you do give value instead of selling? Well, let’s take a look at a couple
of short email examples.

Bad email example:

Dear Fan,

I have a new album and I want you to buy it.

I would really like to have your money, so buy


my album.

Also, please tell all of your friends about my


album so I can have their money too.

The album is really great and everyone who

17
listens to it likes it a lot. I’m sure you’re going
to love it too!

==> Click Here To Buy It Now

Sincerely,
Broke Musician

What would you think if you received an email like that?

You would probably be turned off immediately.

People don’t like to feel like they’re being “sold”.

Writing emails like that is not only a waste of time, but it could also lead to a lot
of people unsubscribing from your email list. And you’re going to lose out on a lot of
potential sales, both now and in the future.

So how can you write a better email?

Dear Fan,

First of all, I really want to say THANK YOU!

As my way of saying “Thank You” for all of your


support, I want to give you an early bird discount
on my new album that’s coming out next month.

The album is going to be priced at $9.99 on iTunes,


but today I want to let you have it for only $4.99.

That’s a 50% discount!

And as an added bonus, I’m going to throw in

18
3 additional exclusive tracks that you can’t find
anywhere else...

Absolutely FREE!

==> Click Here To Download The Album At 50% Off

Thanks again for all your support.

I hope you enjoy the album.

Sincerely,
Smart Musician

What makes that email so much better?

Primarily because you’re not coming right out of the gate ASKING for something.

Instead you’re OFFERING VALUE.

Even though the goal is still to get them to buy your album, you’re framing the
message in such a way that you’re GIVING them something (a 50% discount and exclu-
sive tracks) rather than ASKING for something.

Now instead of being put off by an email that’s selling, the fan is receiving an
email that is offering value in the form of a discount and some free exclusive tracks.

The result?

You’ll sell more albums, get fewer unsubscribes, and you’ll maintain higher open
rates on future emails. That all, of course, correlates to more money, more exposure,
and more fans.

And what did you have to do to improve your results?

Simply learn some very basic copywriting.

19
Write Casually
When you’re sending emails out to your list of fans, it’s important to write in a
way that’s engaging and will keep their attention.

Remember, you’re not writing a technical manual for how to operate a kitchen ap-
pliance. You’re trying to build a connection with your fans and sell your music.

Boring and confusing copy is going to put your readers to sleep. You need to add
a little personality when you’re writing your emails. Write like you speak. Not like you
were taught in English class.

The fact is, you really don’t need to worry too much about using grammar and
punctuation the way that you were taught in English class.

That doesn’t mean it’s okay to misspell words and throw punctuation out the win-
dow completely. It simply means that you shouldn’t let rules about grammar get in the
way of writing engaging emails that are will keep readers interested.

Write casually like you’re talking to a friend.

If you were emailing a friend to let them know that you’re band is playing a show
this weekend, how would you write?

Would it be stuffy and formal?

Like…

Dearest Charles,

You are cordially invited to attend a live performance put


on by my band, Homeless Hooker.

The performance begins promptly at 8pm Eastern Standard


Time on the eve of May 14....

20
No. You’re not going to write like that.

You’re probably more likely to write something more like...

Hey dude!

My band’s playing at Whiskey a Go Go tomorrow night


at 9pm.

Come check us out!

There’s a bunch of kick ass bands opening for us that I


know you’re really going to dig...

Plus they’ve got a bunch of great drink specials. Jack


and Coke’s are super cheap...

Now, which of those email snippets do you think would be more engaging to
your readers?

Probably the second one right?

The point is we’re not trying to win any awards for grammar here. We’re simply
trying to communicate a message to our fans, and the best way to communicate that
message is to make sure it’s interesting.

Speak To One Person


Another important tip that will help you write engaging copy is to write as if
you’re speaking to just one person.

This will make the reader feel as if you’re speaking directly to them and not to
your entire email list.

21
Of course they know logically that they aren’t the only person reading the email,
but the email will still feel a lot more personal.

So let’s take a look at that email snippet from the last example, but with a few
slight tweaks to make it sound a little less personal.

Hey Everyone!

My band’s playing at Whiskey a Go Go tomorrow night


at 9pm.

You should all come check us out!

There’s a bunch of kick ass bands opening for us that I


know you’ll all really dig...

Plus they’ve got a bunch of great drink specials. Jack


and Coke’s are super cheap...

It’s a lot less personal, right?

When the email feels like it’s written just for you, there’s almost a feeling of obli-
gation. Like it’s really up to you to show up and help support the band.

That feeling kind of goes away when it’s written for everyone.

Don’t you feel a little more like, “Ehh... I really like the band and want to support
them, but I’m sure plenty of other people will show up”?

Try it out for yourself and I’m sure you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Write in a casual manner and speak to one person, like you’re writing an email to
a friend.

22
Your emails will be much more engaging, you’ll be able to sell more music and
merch, and you’ll be able to get more of your fans to turn up to your shows.

A.I.D.A.
Every piece of copy you write should follow this simple 4-part formula.

A.I.D.A
Attention: Grab their attention
Interest: Create interest, by being interesting
Desire: Build desire - make them want what you have to offer
Action: Make them take action

Here’s an example of the AIDA formula applied to an email:

(NOTE: You can get a more in-depth breakdown of the AIDA formula inside
the video course)

ATTENTION

Subject: Did Stevie Wonder And Eric Clapton Have A Love Affair?

INTEREST: CREATE SOME INTEREST BY PRESENTING INFORMA-


TION ABOUT WHAT IT IS THAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER, AND DO IT IN
A WAY THAT COMPELS THE READER TO CONTINUE READING

What would happen if you took the soulful melodic keyboard of Stevie Wonder
and combined that with the rockin’ blues guitar of Eric Clapton?

You might get something like “DFJ”

That’s one of the tracks off our full length album that’s now available on iTunes,
but don’t waste your money!

23
DESIRE: MORE INFORMATION, BUT THIS HAS INTENT. AT THIS
POINT WE’RE GIVING THE READER REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD
PURCHASE THE ALBUM.

That album’s 10 whole bucks on iTunes...

Now we’re not saying that it’s not worth $10 (in fact, we’d
estimate that it’s probably worth about a gazillion dollars)

But why pay $10 to get the album on iTunes, when you
can get it right here, right now for half that?

That’s right!

We really appreciate having you as a fan, so we want to


give you 50% off on our full length album.

This is an exclusive offer that’s only available to our email


subscribers.

ACTION: A SIMPLE, DIRECT STATEMENT THAT INFORMS THE


READER HOW TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP TO GET THE ALBUM

==>> Click Here To Get The Album Now For Just $4.99

We hope you enjoy it!

Talk soon,
Dr.B and the Ease

At this point you should at least understand what copywriting is. I’ve introduced
you to some basic copywriting principles that you can apply when setting up the sys-
tem outlined in this book.

24
Remember, copywriting is an art form, just like playing an instrument or writing
music. You will get better at it with practice, so be sure to do that!

Copywriting is an invaluable skill that will help you with all of your promotions.
Take the time to learn about it and apply it to all of your marketing efforts.

25
5

YOUR EMAIL LIST


Fan Generation Funnel
To build your email list, you’re going to need to set up a “fan generation funnel”.
This is called a “funnel” because you’re “funneling” prospective fans through a series
of steps that will weed out people that aren’t interested in your music, and capture the
email addresses of those who are.

26
The simplest version of this will have 4 main components:

1.) Squeeze Page - A simple landing page that has 1 single purpose - get your
fans’ email addresses. This is where new fans will be able to sign up to your email list.

2.) Autoresponder - An online software that serves 3 primary functions:

1. It allows you to capture and store all of your fans’ email addresses. You will
integrate your autoresponder with your squeeze page. Whenever a fan enters their
email address on your squeeze page, that email will be collected and stored auto-
matically in your autoresponder.

2. Send out mass emails to your entire list with your autoresponder

3. Set up an “autoresponder series” of emails to be sent out to new fans auto-


matically when they join your list

3.) Incentive - You need to offer fans something in exchange for their email ad-
dress. I recommend some free tracks that they can download immediately

4.) Thank You Page - A simple page that the fan is redirected to after they en-
ter their email address so they A.) know that they’ve successfully completed the proc-
ess of signing up and B.) can receive their free downloads, which will typically be deliv-
ered on the Thank You Page

Elements Of A Squeeze Page


All 4 components of the fan generation funnel are essential, but you’ll want to
pay particular attention to the squeeze page. The layout, design, and text on your
squeeze page are all going to influence a person’s decision as to whether or not they’re
going to join your email list. For that reason, you need to understand how to create a
landing page that will get fans to take action and sign up to your list.

First and foremost, make sure that you don’t give people multiple options.

27
One of the most common mistakes people make when creating a squeeze page is
that they don’t focus solely on getting the email address. They give an option for the
fan to enter their email address, but they also give them the option to listen to music
on Spotify, subscribe to a YouTube channel, “Like” on Facebook.

Don’t do that!

Your squeeze page should have two options:


1.) Enter email
2.) Leave the page

That’s it.

It’s okay to send people to Spotify, Facebook, or Youtube. But do that after the
fan has already signed up to your email list.

So you’re squeeze page serves 1 singular purpose, and that’s to collect email ad-
dresses.

The best squeeze pages are usually very simple. They are clear and concise, and
they don’t have a lot of fluff.

It is possible to create a good squeeze page that has a lot of information, images,
and videos on it, but I don’t recommend that when you’re starting out.

Keep it simple.

All you need is a Headline, a sub-headline, and an sign up form.

Headline - Your headline should be something that grabs the visitors attention
and helps them immediately understand what the page is about.

Sub-headline - This will give the visitor a little more information. What you’re
offering, why they should sign up, and how to do that. Your sub-headline should be
clear and concise. It should only be one or two sentences at most.

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Sign Up Form - The field where a visitor will submit their email address. This
integrates with your email autoresponder

Sales Funnel
Getting your fans’ email addresses is great, and that’s our primary goal with this
strategy. Once you have a fans email address, you can stay connected and generate
revenue with future promotions.

But just because you can email a fan in the future, doesn’t mean you should
waste this opportunity to promote something right away.

Take advantage of the fact that your fans are seeing your Thank You Page as soon
as they sign up to your list. This is a great place to offer your album at a discount, so
you can actually make a few sales when people first join your email list.

In the video course I’ll demonstrate exactly how to set up your sales funnel us-
ing PayPal, so you can sell your music as soon as someone signs up to your email list.

Click Here To Follow Along As I Set Up This Entire Funnel Step By Step

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6

SENDING EMAILS
There are 2 basic types of emails that you’ll send out to your fans.

There’s your autoresponder series, which is a series of emails that are sent out
automatically when a fan signs up to your email list.

And there are broadcast emails, which are one-off emails that you send out to
your fans at a specific day and time.

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The emails that you add to your autoresponder series should be “evergreen”,
meaning that it shouldn’t matter if a fan receives them now or six months from now.
Those emails should be equally relevant to a fan regardless of when they sign up to
your email list.

Time-sensitive emails, on the other hand, should be sent out as broadcasts. Some
examples of time-sensitive emails would include: upcoming shows, album releases,
limited-time promotions, etc.

“How Frequently Should I Mail?”


One of the most common questions I get is, “How often should I mail my fans?”

The answer is that there really is no set mailing frequency that’s right for every-
one.

Remember that your primary goal is to build a relationship with your fans. This
means that you want to be sure that they are continuing to open your emails, that
they’re engaging with your emails, and that they’re getting value from the emails.

Your emails should be interesting and engaging to your fans. At the very least,
your emails should be informing them of things they want to hear about, like upcom-
ing shows and album releases.

If you can’t send out emails every single day and keep them interesting and en-
gaging, then you don’t need to be sending out emails every day.

If on the other hand, you can write creative and interesting emails every single
day, and your fans are enjoying receiving those emails, keep up the good work.

You want to send out emails just often enough that your fans are getting value
from them and enjoy receiving them from you.

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But don’t go too long without sending emails either. This is especially important
when a fan has just discovered you and your music. You don’t want to let them forget
about after they discover your music for the first time. That’s a big reason why you
want to have an email autoresponder series in place.

So in terms of frequency, I would say as a general guideline, try to mail at least


once a week. Mail as frequently as once a day if you want, but only if you can keep
your emails interesting and engaging.

Initial 7 Day Autoresponder


You can build out your autoresponder series to send emails every day, every
other day, once a week, whatever you like.

You can set it up to send for the first 7 days after someone sings up to your list, or
you can set it up to send emails out for 500 days.

It’s really up to you, but I recommend at least setting your autoresponder to send
out emails for the first 7 days after someone joins your email list.

Why?

Because this is a critical time, when fans are most likely discovering your music
for the first time. If you don’t capitalize on that, many of those people will forget about
you.

There are 2 general types of emails that will go out to your fans. There are promo-
tional emails, and there are strictly “value” emails.

Promotional emails are the ones where you’re clearly selling something. You may
be promoting an album, merch, whatever.

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On the other hand, sometimes you’ll send “value” emails. These emails can still
have major benefits to you, like new Facebook fans, YouTube subscribers, followers on
Spotify, etc., but they aren’t asking your fans to buy anything.

If you email your fans about a new music video that you’ve just uploaded to You-
Tube, that would still be considered a “value” email. Even though you’re technically
promoting your video, you aren’t asking for any money, so I wouldn’t consider it a
“promotional” email.

When emailing your fans, you want to alternate between promotional emails and
value emails. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t send promotional emails
out for 2 or 3 days in a row. It just means that you shouldn’t send out only promo-
tional emails for weeks at a time.

You may have a number of things in mind already that you would like to promote
to new fans. The most common thing would be an album download of course.

Not only is the first 7 days a critical time to make sure your subscribers don’t for-
get about you, it’s also the time where your new fans will engage with your emails the
most. You’ll want to capitalize on that by promoting something that you can generate
some revenue from.

I recommend that you continue to promote whatever album you were selling in
your initial sales funnel. Most people aren’t going to buy it when they first sign up to
your list, so you’ll want to remind them about it and continue offering it at a discount.

In the video training I’ll show you how to segment your email lists, so that
only people who do not purchase your album will continue to receive emails promot-
ing it. That way fans don’t continue to receive emails about albums that they’ve al-
ready purchased.

In addition to promotional emails and value emails, there is one other type of
email. Your welcome email.

Your welcome email will just go out to your fans one time, welcome them to your
email list.

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This is a great opportunity to provide some value, as well as to promote you’re al-
bum(s).

Most of your emails should have one singular focus. If you’re selling an album,
don’t link to a YouTube video or Facebook, just link to a page where they can purchase
the album.

In the case of the welcome email, I recommend promoting your album. But it’s
also a good time to link to all of your social platforms and blog if you have one. And
you should also let them know a little bit about what kind of emails they will be receiv-
ing from you, so they know what to expect.

There’s no steadfast rule about what your first 7 day autoresponder series should
look like, but here’s what I recommend:

DAY 0 (IMMEDIATELY ON SIGNUP) - WELCOME EMAIL

DAY 1 (24 HRS LATER) - VALUE EMAIL

DAY 2 - VALUE EMAIL

DAY 3 - PROMOTIONAL EMAIL

DAY 4 - PROMOTIONAL EMAIL

DAY 5 - VALUE EMAIL

DAY 6 - PROMOTIONAL EMAIL

That’s a quick rundown of some things to consider when sending emails to your
fans. If you want a more detailed explanation, check out the video training.

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7

TRAFFIC
Once you have your fan generation funnel and autoresponder set up, it’s time to start
getting new fans to your squeeze page.

But first before you do that, it’s a good idea to test your funnel to make sure eve-
rything is working correctly.

35
Be sure that when you enter your email address in the email field on your
squeeze page, your email address is being added to the appropriate list that you set up
in GetResponse.

Make sure that you’re being directed to the correct thank you page after you’ve
entered your email. If you’re selling an album on that page, go ahead and go through
the process of purchasing it to make sure that’s all working correctly as well.

Once you’ve tested out your funnel and you’re sure it’s working the way it’s sup-
posed to, you’re ready to start sending traffic to your squeeze page.

There are a lot of ways to do this. Some of which you can do right away without
spending a dime on advertising.

For example, you should be collecting email addresses at all your shows.

People attending your live shows are the most targeted audience that you’re ever
going to get. Not only are these people that are interested in your music, they are also
clearly the type of person that’s going to get out of the house and come see you live.

Even if they didn’t initially come to see you, you know that they’re the type of per-
son that enjoys live music as a form of entertainment. If they’re willing to sign up to
your email list at your show, you know they obviously like your music too.

Getting people to join your email list at your shows doesn’t have to be compli-
cated. Simply let the crowd know that you’ll be hanging out at your merch booth after
the show, and they can sign up to your email list to get some freebies and to be noti-
fied next time you’re are playing in the area.

You can simply use a good old fashioned notepad and manually enter those
email addresses into get response later.

Alternatively, if you want to get fancy, you can pull your squeeze page up on an
iPad and have them sign up right there on the spot.

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It’s up to you how you do it. Just be sure that you’re getting fans to sign up to
your email list at all you’re shows.

Now as far as promoting your squeeze page online, there are many ways to do
that, but easily one of the best ways that I’ve found is using Facebook ads.

There are a lot of benefits to using Facebook ads. First of all, you can start with a
really small budget. You can get great results with just $5 or $10 a day. There are hun-
dreds of millions of people on Facebook, so scaling is easy once you start getting good
results.

Facebook has a lot of great data about the people on their social network, includ-
ing music interests, and demographics like the area that they live in. Using the Face-
book ad platform makes it easy to get your squeeze page in front of the people that are
most likely to be interested in your music

Inside the video training, I demonstrate step by step how I’m using Facebook
ads to generate new fans for a band for less than $1 per new subscriber. Seriously, less
than $1 per subscriber. Think about that. Once someone’s on your email list, how diffi-
cult do you think it will be to earn that $1 back?

You could have a flash sale of your latest album and charge just $2 and you
would have doubled your money on what it cost you to get that subscriber.

How much do you charge at the door of your shows? $5 per person? $10? How
much merch are you selling?

My point is, it’s probably easy to see that getting new fans for under a buck each
can be very profitable.

Click here to get access to the video training and follow along as I set
up a Facebook Ad campaign.

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8

WRAP UP
So that’s the simple system that you can use to get more exposure, grow your fanbase,
and sell your music online.

Start by creating your squeeze page using GetResponse or Thrive Architect.


Be sure to create a Thank You page as well, so you’re fans will know when they’ve suc-
cessfully entered their email address.

38
I recommend that you also take the opportunity to promote your latest album at
a discount. That way you can generate a little revenue that you can put back into adver-
tising.

If you’re using Thrive Architect, you will need to be sure to integrate it with
the appropriate list in GetResponse. If you’re using GetResponse to build your land-
ing pages, then the you are already integrated, you just need to select the appropriate
list when prompted.

Collect fan email addresses at live shows and promote your squeeze page using
Facebook ads to start building your email list.

Then you can use your email autoresponder to connect with fans and build rela-
tionships with those fans.

By cultivating your following, you will build a fanbase of diehard super fans that
will spend a lot of money to see you perform live, buy exclusive merch, and download
your albums. Those diehard superfans are also likely to share your music with all of
their friends, which will grow your following even more.

At the beginning of this book, I told you that I would outline this proven-
effective, music promotion strategy for you. I also mentioned that this would be
enough for some people to follow along with an implement on their own.

However, I realize that you may not have much experience with marketing and
you may not have a lot of experience with some of the more technical stuff involved.

That’s why I’ve created this step by step video course that you can get access
to right now, so you can follow along with me as I set this entire system up for a real
band.

Not only will you see how I set everything up, you’ll also:

• See how I get new fans for less than $1 using Facebook Ads
• Learn how to build an army of diehard superfans that will support your career
and share your music with friends

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• Create geo-targeted email lists to build followings in the cities you perform the
most
• Craft the perfect squeeze page to get more people to join your email list
• Automate the whole process
• And much more!

So if you’d like to build an automated fan generating machine that will help you
get more exposure and sell more music 24/7, even while you sleep, click here to get
access to the full step by step video training.

If you decide to get access to the course, I’m sure you’re going to love it!

In any case, I hope you’ve found the information in this book helpful. Be sure to
put it into action right away, and I have no doubt that you’ll have a much larger follow-
ing in no time!

Thanks for taking the time to check out the book.

I wish you the best of luck in your music career!

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Copyright © 2018 by JMS Digital Media Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or


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dressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

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