Newsletter vs. Email Marketing (THEY ARE NOT THE SAME!)

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Newsletter Platforms vs. Email Marketing: What Musicians Actually Need

You've been asking me about Substack. Everybody's telling you that you have to be on Substack, and now you're wondering if you really need to be on another platform. Let me break this down.

Substack is a newsletter platform, and there's a big difference between a newsletter platform and an email marketing tool. Most musicians need email marketing, not a newsletter.

The Key Difference

Email marketing is about sending updates to your audience. You're announcing a new song, promoting a show (perhaps only to people in specific zip codes), or selling merchandise to past customers. You're segmenting your list and targeting specific groups. If you are trying to sell a skateboard deck, you may only send it that email to those people who've bought from your store before, because those are the most likely ones who will buy it.

A newsletter is a regularly updated publication where your goal is to get subscribers who pay you monthly for your writing. I run Music Marketing Trends: I deliver two newsletters per week, a free one and a paid one. The paid version is essentially a written version of what we discuss on the respective membership feed video on YouTube. The free Tuesday edition is usually a YouTube video on my channel or something I’ve been thinking about all week that I write down quickly.

Why Substack Isn't For Most Musicians

Substack is expensive once you start growing. Yes, you can make money from it, but unless people are willing to pay $5-8 per month for your content, you're probably losing money. They've actually made it harder to find their pricing now, but I know what my friends pay, and it’s not cheap.

I use Beehiiv (the platform you're currently reading this newsletter on) because you pay a flat fee based on subscriber count, and the subscription fees are yours (minus processing). There's another reason I use it, but hold, we’re gonna hold that thought and return to it later.

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