A lot of bands and musicians do a great job of getting email addresses at a show, on tour, or even exchanging a free Mp3 for an email address.

But they let the list get cold by only sending them two emails a year.
One promoting your new album or tour and then one during Black Friday because you're hoping to sell some merch.

A big problem musicians have with emailing there list is they say "Oh, I don't want to spam them or annoy them."
But you need to remember a few things...

If someone gave you their email address they are essentially giving you permission to contact them again because they want to hear from you. So you shouldn't feel like you are annoying them when you send them an email.

The second thing is if you only email your list to promote things, you're basically like that friend we all have that never keeps in contact and only sends a message when they want something.

And that's exactly what you are doing when you come from out of nowhere and try to sell your album via email.

This person might have been drunk at your show and they don't even remember how they got on your list in the first place!
So what you should do is send people weekly emails.

Take advantage of the fact that you're a musician in a band and you're living a life that most people will never experience.
They don't know how to write songs, or what its like to go on a tour or play a show in front of people. They really have no clue.

So what you can do is instead of only sending them promotional emails every week. You can send an email that says "hey we're working on a new song here's a video from our rehearsal space."

Or check out this crazy story from a show we played this month. You could even start a conversation with them and ask them about their favorite band. Try and connect with them!

It doesn't have to be long maybe 200-400 words, or you could even just link to a video if you don't like writing. But it keeps that connection with your fans so that they look forward to seeing your name in the inbox. It keeps them "warm".

So when you do want to promote and album or sell merch they will be much more likely to open your email and they'll be much more likely to buy from you because they like you.
Growing your fanbase is all about building and maintaining relationships. When you have an email list that you can do that very easily with only about 20 minutes per week.

So if you haven't emailed your list in the last few months go and send 'em some love today.