50 Newsletter Ideas for Musicians

A newsletter is the one channel where nobody else's algorithm decides whether your fans see you. It is also the channel most musicians abandon after three sends, because "what do I even write" is a real question at 9pm on a Thursday. This list answers it fifty times. The ideas are grouped into five sections of ten, and each one comes with a line on how to do it. Most of them end with a download code, because for a Bandcamp artist a code is the best thing you can put in an email: it costs nothing, it is trackable, and it gives the reader a reason to click. It is a sibling to our 100 content ideas for musicians, which covers social and everything else.

Two housekeeping notes before the list. If you do not have a mailing list yet, Bandcamp's community tab already emails everyone who follows you or has bought from you; our guide to Bandcamp messaging covers it, and every idea below works there too. And if you have never generated codes, read the download codes guide first; Bandcamp has Mailchimp and Constant Contact help articles for merging one code per subscriber.

Release news

1. The announcement. Title, date, artwork, one sentence on what the record is, pre-order link. Nothing else. Save the story for the next send.
2. The pre-order opens. Send the day it goes live with a code for the lead single so people can hear something now.
3. Release day. Short, warm, one link. Say it is out. Say thank you. Put a code at the bottom for anyone who cannot buy this month.
4. The week-after. A real number ("312 of you bought it") and a code for the B-side or a live version, as a thank-you.
5. The single before the single. Tell subscribers about the next track a day before it goes public. Being first is the whole reason they subscribed.
6. Tour dates with a per-city line. "Leeds, 14th, the venue with the good sound" reads better than a poster. Ask people to reply with their city and you have your routing for next time.
7. The reissue or remaster. Explain what changed and why. Include a code for the original so people can compare.
8. The vinyl is here. A photo of the box open on your floor. Tell people how many there are.
9. The last chance. Pre-order closing, the sale ending, the last ten copies. One send, the morning of.
10. The release schedule for the next six months. Even rough. It gives people a reason to stay subscribed.

Behind the music

11. The phone demo next to the master. Two links, thirty seconds each. The gap between them is the story, and nobody outside the list gets to hear it.
12. One song, one email. Where it started, the line you rewrote fifteen times, the take you kept. Pick your least obvious track.
13. The lyric sheet with the crossings-out. A photo of the notebook page. Transcribe the final version below it.
14. What the studio looked like. One labelled photo of the room. Musicians on your list will save it.
15. The influence email. Three records you were playing while you made this one, with a Bandcamp link to each so the click supports another artist.
16. The mistake that stayed in. The door slam that became a snare, the laugh at the end of the take. People love these because they are true.
17. The collaborator interview. Five questions to the person who mixed it, played on it, or drew the cover. Tag them and they will forward it.
18. The gear, and why. Not a list. Three pieces and the reason each one is in your life.
19. The song that did not make it. Explain why, then attach it behind a download code. An outtake is the most newsletter-shaped content there is.
20. How the title happened. Every title has a story, even "we could not agree so we picked the street name."

Fan appreciation

21. The milestone thank-you. A hundred subscribers, the first sold-out show, the thousandth Bandcamp follower. Name the people who got you there where you can.
22. Reader of the month. Ask someone three questions by reply, publish their answers with permission, send them a code for something they do not have yet.
23. The replies email. Quote three real replies from the last send. People love seeing their words in an artist's newsletter, and it teaches everyone else that replying works.
24. The fan art issue. One piece, the artist's name, where the idea came from. Never crop a signature.
25. The cover version. Someone recorded your song. Ask, credit, link their page, and send them a code.
26. The photo from the show. The crowd, not you. Ask people to find themselves and reply.
27. The "where you are" map. Tell subscribers how many countries the list covers and which city surprised you. Ask the far-away ones to say hello.
28. The birthday of the record. One year on, what happened, what you would change, a code for anyone who joined the list after it came out.
29. The no-ask email. No link, no code, no news. Just thank you, once in a while. The reply rate on these is absurd.
30. The street team shout-out. The people who put up posters, ran the merch table, drove the van. Codes for all of them on release day.

Offers and codes

31. The subscriber-only code drop. One code per subscriber via mail-merge, or a link to your GetMusic release where each reader claims one. The second option tracks itself.
32. The first-fifty. Paste fifty codes into the email and let the fast readers win. Say how many there are so nobody is surprised.
33. The back-catalogue code. Your superfans already bought the new one. Give them the record they missed from four years ago.
34. The Bandcamp Friday pair. One send two days before ("this Friday, Bandcamp waives its cut, here is what is on the page") and one the morning of. Our Bandcamp Friday checklist has the timing.
35. The day-after code. For everyone who missed Bandcamp Friday: the record, free, one per person, via your GetMusic link. These are next month's buyers.
36. The limited-time discount. A percentage and an end date in the subject line. Then the reminder on the last day, which outsells the announcement.
37. The merch drop. A photo, a price, how many you made, and a code for the album tucked into every order.
38. The bundle. Tape plus shirt plus a download code for the friend they keep mentioning. Say that last part out loud.
39. The contest. "Reply with your favorite track and why." Everyone who replies gets a code. The point is the conversation.
40. The referral code. "Forward this to one person who would like the record; the code at the bottom is for them." A code is the cheapest way to grow the list.

Community

41. The listening party invite. Date, time in two time zones, the link. Then a one-hour-before reminder. Our guide to Bandcamp listening parties covers running one.
42. The friend's record. An artist you love just released something. Tell your list why, link their Bandcamp, and take nothing for it. It comes back around.
43. The local scene issue. The venue that closed, the promoter who books everyone, the band that should be bigger. You are documenting something nobody else will.
44. The question email. Ask one question and nothing else. "Which song should we open with on this tour?" Read every reply.
45. The playlist swap. Ask subscribers for one track each that sounds like your record, build the playlist on Bandcamp, and send it back to them.
46. The show report. Written the same night, before the feeling fades. Who came, what broke, the moment that worked.
47. The book, film, or place email. Something non-musical that fed the record. It gives people who share the interest a way in.
48. The AMA. Collect questions by reply for a week, answer the best ten in the next send.
49. The year in review. Numbers, honestly: shows, sales, streams, what it cost. Musicians on your list will forward this one.
50. The plan for next year. Where you want to be, what you would consider enough, and what you need from the people reading. End with a code and a thank-you.

How to use this list

Pick one idea per fortnight and put the dates in a calendar. Alternate a giving email (a code, a story, a thank-you) with an asking email (a pre-order, a show, a sale), and never send two asks in a row. Keep every send short enough to read on a phone in a minute. When you run dry, come back here or to the 100 content ideas and pick the next one.