Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

This week's Liner Notes is a mixed stream of consciousness that came from a whirlwind month.

Introducing new gear to live shows

The newness of new gear can create stress for your next gig. I say this as the proud owner of a Behringer XR12 digital mixer, a recent purchase. I've always known that even the best sound guys sometimes struggle with mixing live sound–now I understand why. Knowledge of signal flow, acoustics, and mixing all come into play. Here's what I learned about introducing new gear.

Put in the work ahead of your next gig before introducing a new piece of gear. Read up, watch tutorials, test, and keep things simple. Lucky for me, I was only dealing with two vocal mics, one guitar, and one monitor at my first two shows with the new mixer. Everything went well–thank gods. 😅 🔊

Going outside the comfort zone

These past few weeks have been all about going outside the norms of my comfort zone. It wasn't by design, but merely the product of timing and good fortune. I recently founded a new ensemble in which I'm the lead vocalist and frontman, something I've always wanted to do, but a bit nerve-racking nonetheless. I also organized two private shows with Delmark recording artist Johnny Burgin and performed at the Querétablues Festival with him. All of this meant coordinating with local venues, musicians, house concert hosts, and festival organizers. There's also the matter of learning about 90 minutes worth of music. None of this is foreign to me, but it has felt like a lot all at once. It's all inadvertently pushed me outside of my usual comfort zone. The lesson here is that it's supposed to be like this when we're moving forward and doing bigger things.

Adventures in e-commerce

I'm remorseful that I've spent so much time playing and working in this new music biz with little to no merch offerings. This past month, I tip-toed back in with the creation of seasonal items for the Halloween / Dia de Muertos season (Spooky Mugs). If you've not sold merch before, or if it's been a while since you last introduced new merchandise, it's worth starting slow and simple. I say this because e-commerce can get complicated very quickly. When you launch an online shop or sell through an existing online shopping platform, it's important to keep a close eye on your initial sales. Pricing mishaps, payment issues, confusing taxation rules, and more are all part of the adventure. But if I can do it, so can you.

​​Here's my latest offering, available for a limited time only​.

Building and using an email list to grow your audience

In a recent conversation with J.R. Richards, the original singer of Dishwalla, expressed the importance of an email list. Wow, I thought to myself, this guy has arguably had the highest level career one can hope for, and he's preaching the importance of an email list. I say it all the time, but it still hits home when a music artist of Richards' caliber chimes in on the matter.

Next week, I'll talk about ways to leverage your list, but I'll start here at ground zero. You can't leverage what you don't have. For now, just know that an email list can be huge for your music, no matter where you are in the grand scheme of music.

First and foremost, remember that your email list should be permission-based. That means you ask everyone if they'd like to be part of your email list. The quality of your list is paramount because it's all about building an audience that truly cares about your art.

Here are 8 of my favorite tips for starting and growing your email list.

1. Sign up for an email service like ConvertKit and create an email sign-up form. This form can live on your website or a ConvertKit landing page. Bookmark it on your phone.
2. Tell everyone who might be interested in your music and art that you use email as the #1 way of letting friends, fans and supporters know what you're up to next and where it's happening.
3. Pin a post to your social media to let followers know that the #1 way of supporting you is joining your email list.
4. Offer easy ways for people to sign up at your gigs. QR codes work great for this or you can send them to your website or social media. Just make sure your sign-up form is prominently displayed. Remember that bookmark for your phone (see #1)? I sometimes take my phone out gigs and let people use it to sign up.
5. Offer a free download of an unreleased song. This can even be a demo, as long as it's good. You can offer other free downloads with signups, like lyric sheets, poetry, images, etc. Get creative.
6. Create and explain the benefits of joining your list. Sure you'll let subscribers know about upcoming gigs, but offer perks such as sneak peeks, advanced previews, behind-the-scenes content, early access, subscriber exclusives, etc. Again, get creative.
7. Be and give as much of yourself as you can. Subscribers love this.
8. Put a sign-up link in the bio of all your socials.

FYI – Liner Notes emails sometimes include affiliate links, such as the ConvertKit link in this email. This means if you purchase using the link, I get paid a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Thanks! Your support = Love 💟

Peace, love and more cowbell,
Robonzo

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