The e-mail mailing list is one of a singer’s most valuable and commonly used tools. With a few keystrokes we can update our fans and contacts about our musical achievements. On the other hand, mailing list faux pas are some of the easiest ways to irritate the valuable contacts in your database. If you are looking to start a mailing list, or just want to brush up your etiquette, here is a rundown of the basics. Watch for an upcoming column, featuring issues that are more advanced.
Building your list
People you know
People you know will, at least at first, make up the bulk of your list. They are also the people most likely to be abused by bad mailing list manners. Rule No. 1, now and always: ask before adding.
When you’re first starting out, the easiest thing to do is send a friendly mass e-mail to all your contacts asking if you can add them to your list. (Some people ask for responses only if addressees don’t want you to add them. This isn’t likely to get you in trouble, but technically, it is unsolicited and puts you on the wrong side of anti-spam laws.) You can add the people who write you back with the go-ahead to your “Mailing List” or “Newsletter” group in your e-mail address book. This technique is also good when you receive a large batch of e-mail addresses—for example, when the director of a production cast you join sends out mass e-mails.
As you meet new people in person, it’s easy to ask someone with whom you’ve just exchanged e-mail addresses: “I have a little newsletter I send out when I have a big upcoming performance. Is it OK if I add you to my mailing list?” Almost invariably they say yes, especially if they have a list as well. (They will certainly expect you to reciprocate your subscribership. If you don’t want your inbox flooded, you might consider having a secondary e-mail address to give other mail blasters.) The only drawback to asking permission in person: If a contact’s permission status comes into question you have no “paper trail.” Again, probably not a problem you will have to deal with, but legally it’s better to have an e-mail from them requesting a subscription. You can get around this by automatically sending confirmation requests to all new addresses.
People who attend your performances
Always have a mailing list sign-up at every performance. If it is a solo performance or somewhere you have enough clout, leaving it on a front table or with ticket takers is the most effective way (especially if you can give a reminder at intermission), but even just mingling with the audience afterwards with your list and a pen will do the trick. Most people who like you enough to approach you afterwards will ask when your next performances are anyway, which is your cue to break out the signup sheet.
Your website
Your website should have a way for people to sign up to get your latest news. You never know who will come across you online, and random Web surfers from around the world can become some of your first true fans. You can invite them to subscribe, either by sending you an e-mail, or, for the more tech-savvy, filling out a form.
Issues & Etiquette
Address privacy
The No. 1 thing you can do to incite the wrath of your contacts is display their e-mails in a way other recipients can read. This puts those contacts at risk of having someone else on your list harvest their e-mail for his or her own purposes, usually to send the unfortunate harvested contacts spam. Otherwise, certain contacts—especially higher-ups, celebrities, and people who have trouble with stalkers or unsolicited suitors—might not want you to give out their personal e-mail address without their approval. Address harvesting, often well intentioned but sorely misguided, is far too common among musicians, a group that is by necessity self-promoting.
Check with your e-mail hosting server on how to send e-mail with “undisclosed recipients.” If nothing else, you can send the mail blasts to yourself, and BCC (blind carbon copy) all the addressees, which makes them invisible to other recipients.
Frequency
The No. 2 misstep is e-mailing too frequently. For most of us who either work in proximity to a computer or carry smart phones, an e-mail is an interruption of our day. Different subscribers have different preferences about how often they want to hear from you. A rabid fan would be happy to get a message from you every day. Other acquaintances can barely tolerate getting mass e-mails at all, but don’t want to offend you by unsubscribing.
You can take two main approaches to frequency. One is to send out a monthly newsletter in which you describe all your performances and other announcements for the upcoming month. The other is to e-mail only before a major performance or a string of performances, possibly sending a reminder the day before something big. The former plan is safe because it keeps your correspondence to a minimum. The latter technique garners a higher success rate in getting people in for specific performances.
If you want to stay in contact more frequently, consider blogging, posting MySpace bulletins (or similar features on other networking sites), or adding an updated news page to your website, something that readers can check at will, rather than have something forced upon their inboxes.
Geography
You will probably have subscribers in different geographic areas. The question is whether you should send notices pertaining to live performances (which is most of what we will be sending) only to people in the area of the show, or to inform everyone.
If you used to live in Chicago but have since moved to New York City, your friends in Chicago might get tired of getting e-mails about performances they can’t attend. On the other hand, if you only send to your New York City crowd, you stand in danger of falling out of touch with your Chicago fan base, and missing them if they happen to be in New York City that day. Furthermore, friends and fans often pass information about your performances to their contacts in your location.
Your choice depends largely on how much of your calendar you spend “on tour.” I have tried both ways, and currently I prefer to send my e-mails to everyone. This is a lot easier to manage (especially because people move and I can’t keep track of where everyone is), and it keeps me from falling out of touch. I justify this by trying to make my e-mails interesting to everyone. I try to include items that everyone near and far can enjoy, such as additions to my website, and keep it a real newsletter, rather than just a plug for my concerts.
Unsubscribe
If you e-mail to a mailing list you must have an unsubscribe option. This is in accordance with anti-spam laws and helps keep you on the good side of contacts who may not be interested in reading your mass e-mails but who don’t have the heart to tell you. You can do this in various fancy ways, such as including a link to a form on your website, but for the less geeky the easiest thing is to write at the bottom of the page, “To unsubscribe, please reply with the subject line ‘Unsubscribe.’”
Your mailing list may be a thing of delicate etiquette, but it is a core tool in your self-promotion kit, a tool classical artists use more widely all the time. Following a few simple principles can yield the best return for your efforts while stepping on as few toes as possible.
Amanda’s Tech-Savvy Tip: Best Layout for Easy Reading
Most people are not going to read to the end of a long mail blast. The way people skim the contents of their inbox, you’re lucky if they get to you at all.
What does this mean to us?
Make good use of your subject line. “East Coast Tour” is more productive than “Amanda White Update!!!” no matter how many exclamation points you use. Even if you’re sending a monthly newsletter, try placing a strategic highlight or two in the subject: “February Newsletter: Tosca in Hoboken” for example.
If you have something important to say, say it at the top. A large portion of your readers will not make it to the bottom.
Keep the layout clean. People are not inclined to read large blocks of text on a computer screen. They should be able to glean vital information easily with a quick skim. You can explain your project, but immediately before or after, run down a bullet list of the vital stats: what the show is, date and time (include day of the week, it’s easier for people to remember), venue (with link and address), admission price, and maybe brief directions or the nearest subway stop or cross street.
