Independent musician and manager Blasko recently wrote on LinkedIn on the power of an emails in music marketing - if you focus on real engagement rather numbers. He then dug deeper with Music Biz Weekly Podcast cohost Michael Brandvold.
Blasko wrote:
You are a collector, not an owner.
A 10,000-person mailing list sounds impressive until you realize the average click-through rate is often 1–3%.
A 10K mailing list with a 1% CTR is the digital equivalent of throwing a huge party where 9,900 people eat your food, drink your booze, and leave before helping you take out the trash and wash the dishes.
Attention does not equal action.
Subscription does not equal loyalty.
Reach does not equal influence.
And “owned audience” has become one of the most romanticized ideas in modern marketing because the raw subscriber number creates the illusion of power.
But the metric that matters is not: “How many people are subscribed?” It’s: “How many people change their behavior when asked to do so?”
That’s the real audience.
The problem is that newsletters are built like announcements rather than as an emotional connection.
They function like: “Hey guys, here’s the thing.”
Instead of: “This matters to YOU because…”
Stop treating the audience like a database. Give the audience identity, not information.
Information gets ignored.
Identity gets defended.
People click through when the action reinforces that identity.
The real asset is not the list.
The real asset is your influence.
Because if your “owned audience” disappears the second you ask them to do something, then you never owned their attention in the first place.
You just have a collection of spectators."
Watch an listen here and or on your favorite podcast platform.
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