DON'T PUT EVERYTHING INTO THE SOCIAL MEDIA BASKET
Platforms can disappear, but your domain name can outlast them all
☕️ If you're loving HEAVY METAL EMAIL, you might want to think about taking things to the next level. You can do that by becoming a paid subscriber, showing your appreciation with a cup of coffee via Ko-Fi, Venmo (@Seth-Werkheiser), Cash App ($ethwerkheiser), or PayPal, or even treating me to an album from my Bandcamp Wishlist. Every bit helps keep the metal fires burning!
P.S. I’ll be in Brooklyn NYC next week, Friday, Feb 24th - let’s hang.
-SETH WERKHEISER
Our home base is a “link in bio” list of sites of other places where we rent space on DSPs, YouTube, and various social media platforms.
We’re just a bunch of kiosks at the mall, our vibes / vision / brand are stuffed inside a pre-built container hoping to get the attention of anyone walking by.
Yes, the kiosk is cheap and easy, and there’s the allure of all that foot traffic.
But a storefront / website gives you more creative space, more credibility, more flexibility and control.
Forget the “nobody even goes to websites anymore” garbage.
Imagine a big media outlet with a website wanted to cover your next video shoot.
They’d have a photographer on site, and a writer. Big web feature. Behind the scenes photos. Talk of the new album.
They put all those photos and text on their website.
They’ll post about your story on social media so everyone comes to their website.
Now you, the label, the publicist, and all the other sites link to their website, to find out about this new video and talk of your new album.
Yeah, or you can just do that yourself.
It might not be as pretty, or as grand, but what are you gonna do?
Wait around for a big outlet to cover you?
Spend hours posting every day on social media platforms that only let you reach 5% of your fans?
You’re already posting a dozen photos on Instagram from the video shoot, with 200 word captions.
PUT IT ON YOUR WEBSITE.
When people visit your website they can learn more about you:
They can fall madly in love with you and your vision!
They can watch your videos without seeing SUGGESTED VIDEOS from bands with much higher creative budgets than you!
They can BUY YOUR MERCH, AND PRE-ORDER YOUR RECORDS.
Give your fans a reason to visit your website, because these social media platforms won’t be around forever.
In 2006 MySpace was the biggest music site in U.S.
In 2008 it was AOL Music (I know because I worked there, and we got foam “WE’RE #1” hands).
Neither are a blip on the radar today.
Own your space: set up a website today and control your brand.
Own your face: set up an email list today so you can speak directly to your fans.
WEEKEND TASKS
Here’s four things you can do before Monday:
Twitter is shutting off SMS 2FA, so now you’ll need to start using an authenticator app (the iPhone has one built in). This is crucial to avoid getting locked out of your Twitter account.
Buy a domain name from Hover (that’s a referral link), and set up a site on SquareSpace this weekend. Need a WordPress site? Hit up my buddy Tom at I Heart Blank.
Take a look at ‘100+ ChatGPT Prompts For Musicians’ (thanks, Bill Meis). Messing around with ChatGPT is like having your own personal writers room; you get to riff on ideas (prompts), the computer gives you some copy, then you shape and mold them into good stuff. Let a computer write the first draft of your emails, pitches, social media captions, and subject lines.
Collaborate! Think of other businesses / brands / bands that have a similar target audience and think of ways to work together.
LISTEN UP
The new ‘Anthronomicon’ from Ulthar hits like a bowling ball to the face at a kids birthday party, and ‘Distractions’ from See You Next Tuesday? Last time they released an album (2008) the iPhone was just a year old, so most of us were still using iPods.
Email me: seth@heavymetal.email
-SETH WERKHEISER