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- The Club List, Issue #12: Inboxes and Battlefields
The Club List, Issue #12: Inboxes and Battlefields
Kodi McKinney
August 16, 2024
Welcome back to The Club List, a newsletter about making a business out of what you love.
Today, I’m going to give you some things to think about with regards to how we all use our inboxes these days. If you’ve been wondering if you’d benefit from a newsletter of your own, the answer is yes! And if you’ve never had to be a professional with email, this will help a lot. I’m going to get out of my own way and let the letter do the talking.
The Club List is powered by beehiiv, the best newsletter platform I’ve ever used. Want to try it out? This link will give you a 30-day trial and discounts past that. I may make a small commission from this.
Inboxes and Battlefields
I talk a lot about using what you rent (social media, streaming platforms, etc) to push to what you own (mailing lists, merch). But why does having a newsletter work, if you have something creative to tell people about?
Well, let’s unpack it for a moment.
The good thing about email is, it’s the one place where anything you’re interested in can still dependably reach you without having to rely on an algorithm. (Well, unless you subscribed to texts for an extra 10% off. You didn’t subscribe to the texts, did you? It’s okay to send STOP. I believe in you. Texts are a safe space.)
The bad thing about email is, marketers (like me) have figured this out. And the results can be nightmarish.
I’ve started a professional email inbox from scratch twice in the last 10 years. The first time was when I co-founded Marauder, in 2015. The second time was in March, when I realized I needed a clean email that wasn’t [email protected] if I was going to have a consulting practice. If I hadn’t done that, I would have spent a solid month unsubscribing from promo newsletters just to have a usable space.
This noise is understandable. For brands and artists, emails still convert, even when other platforms don’t. People open them. No algorithm needed - you opted in at some point (hopefully), and now you get the email. Do people read them closely? Not always, but they read them! People also have to work from their emails, and people often have intense anxiety about their emails.
And yet, I know the email world is its own peculiar black box to most, partly because of the mystery on the other side of a sent note. But it doesn’t have to be.
So how do you handle being part of the noise, if you’re an artist?
Keep in mind some good rules of thumb about email:
*People aren’t ignoring you (unless they are)
A figure I commonly heard pre-Covid was that music writers get over 300 emails a day. Not just at the big sites. All of them.
That, however, was before the era of daily newsletters seeming like a good idea.
Today? My personal email, which purposefully does not involve my daily working life, got about 300 total in the 24 hours before I drafted this newsletter. I purposefully do not get email updates from social media networks. If I did, that would be an extra 30-50 a day. Most of these are notes on stuff to do from event newsletters, or from companies I let exist in there. I’m not even counting spam. Please don’t make me.
And that email isn’t even getting demo submissions, or industry pitching of any kind. If it did? That figure would go up to 500-600, among people I’ve spoken to who get that sort of thing.
So, people probably aren’t ignoring you, if you’re pitching them on something you’re doing. However, with that said…there is a rule of thumb among the US music industry specifically that goes, “No answer is one way to say no.” I don’t subscribe to this, and it’s a very US-specific thing, but it’s real. Yet, not everyone is like this.
Don’t internalize when you don’t hear anything back. Just keep going. You can’t know why you don’t hear more if people don’t tell you. Learn to read the data you’re getting back. One unsubscribe is not a huge deal. 2% of your base unsubscribing is. Restrain your ego, and then pay attention.
And also remember: the point of sending an email is not always just to get a reply. It’s to have people see that you sent one. To jog their memory about what you’re doing. And if they are going to be compelled to engage with you, it will come, in and out of your inbox.
*People can reply whenever they want
Unless it’s for daily work tasks, email is anarchy. Not in the awesome, community-centered, “we make our own rules for mutual benefit” way that I fully support. I’m saying this in the “everything happens so much, and why is that barrel on fire?” way. You know, the anarchy your parents warned you about.
This means that you may get a response back in 24-48 hours. Or, you may get a response back in 3 months. I can tell you from my time managing publicists that once in a blue moon, you’d get an article written about a project because the editor replied to an email from 6 months ago. Who is to say?
*…But, against all odds, it works
If I had a quarter for every time the in-house team couldn’t understand why their agency team was prioritizing email marketing, I’d never have to pay for laundry again. The fact is, email marketing works.
It’s arguably the strongest weapon at any show promoter’s disposal. Did you get on the mailing list? Cool, you’re finding out about their next 3 months of shows every couple weeks, minimum. And you’ll probably like it. Same goes for a band telling their signups about tour dates or vinyl releases. Same for an artist doing a gallery run and looking to tie other things into that.
It works like crazy for companies who want to push investors into funding them. Guess where private investors live? Their email, and then LinkedIn when they want a distraction or to feel good about themselves. Get the quarterly update newsletter right, and things can really fall into place.
Yes, there are things about saying email marketing is really powerful that makes it sound like a Dad Take. But truly, it’s one of the last parts of modern communication that hasn’t been programmed to death, which means it’s sincere. That’s worth its weight in gold.
They fixed this ages ago, but I’ll still name a name. In the 2000s, the Washington Post had an unsubscribe problem. You could get on their daily update, but getting off of it was weirdly impossible for a while. You might click unsubscribe, but the emails would just keep coming.
I had this issue (I read the site regularly! I didn’t need the emails! Make them stop!). I looked into it, and so did a lot of other people, at the time. The unsubscribe function was broken.
This is still an issue now in the modern newsletter era. Either you’re on a few lists at once and unsubscribing has to be done several times, or operators will let you but then display this bizarre kind of separation anxiety. No, I do not want to get an automated email 24 hours later asking me to take a moment and say why I unsubscribed. No, I don’t want a “Wait! Before you go…” email. No, don’t reach out to me directly afterward and ask me why I would do that.
The modern inbox is noisy. You should feel welcome to make it less noisy at any time. Protect your peace. Touch grass.
And because I see this too frequently: if your newsletter is anything remotely work-related, do not send it on a weekend. Especially on a Saturday night, or a Sunday. I got one I’d just signed up for at 10:30pm on a Saturday once, and you have no idea how fast I smashed the unsubscribe. People’s inboxes are quiet at that time, but it’s for a reason.
Show respect, get respect.
I genuinely believe everyone should have a newsletter if they do creative work. It may not be flashy. It doesn’t have to be weekly, or even regular. It may not get a lot of reactions right away. But when you’re contacting people who already like you, their inbox is less of a battlefield and a little more friendly. And that’s a nicer thing than you might think.
One Thing You Can Use Today
On the subject of touching grass:
A study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah suggests that a 40-minute walk in nature enhances executive control capacity. In other words, it refreshes the brain’s ability to do complex mental processes and boosts cognition.
This study shows a clear difference in quality from a 40-minute walk in urban areas.
This is an old-timey idea going back to Thoreau, but the study context is robust and shows something important:
When you don’t quite have it all together, you might benefit from finding a forest to chill out in. Failing that, find a huge park.
This is advice I’ll be reminding myself of, as much as you.
Track of the Week
Nox Novacula - “No Forgiveness”
One personal frustration I have with post-punk or goth-adjacent bands, which is otherwise a world I love: so, so many monotone singers who think it makes them sound like vampires, while not having the clarity of delivery that Joy Division or Bauhaus brought to the table. Nox Novacula does not have that problem. Their entire new album Feed the Fire is a gripping listen, but this is a perfect primer in 3 all-too-quick deathrock minutes, with riffs and dynamic vocals to spare.
List of Clubs
These are the kinds of clubs I’d like to be in around NYC! Wherever you might find music, art, or a compelling experience under one roof, that’s a club to me. I only list clubs I’d enjoy going to. If I list a client, you’ll know.
Friday, August 16 - Bri Carter @ Pianos
CLIENT SHOW! Bri’s album release show for her local NYC audience is upon us, and with the tightly-crafted hyperpop edge she brings to her work, it’ll be a fun night. She’s got a bright future ahead as a performer and as a producer.
Friday, August 16 - Nox Novacula @ TV Eye
A rare instance where the band I’m featuring as Track of the Week also happens to be in town tonight, which I genuinely didn’t know upfront. Even better: they’re playing a late gig, so you can absolutely crank up the distortion after Pianos if you’re like me and wild enough to hit both. Synthicide never misses.
Sunday, August 18 - Caribou @ Jefferson Block Party (RSVP)
Totally free Sunday afternoon dancing with one of the finest dance music makers of the last 15 years. You know you want in on this.
Thanks for reading! And now, an image of me in the club…
