JEFF GRETZ OF ZAO TALKS HEAVY METAL EMAILS

We talk MySpace, running the bands' online marketing, and scheduling emails

Hello, SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE CLUB folks!

This is the first official “email newsletter” from your pal Seth, and it’s an interview with Jeff Gretz who plays drums in Zao, along with From Autumn to Ashes, and a million other projects (including the killer ZOMBI and Friends). 

This interview supports the purpose of SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE CLUB: to learn how folks in music and the arts are using email marketing to connect directly with their fans - let’s go!

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You joined Zao before Twitter existed, right? 2005?

Yeah, 2005. Pre-Twitter. Even Facebook and YouTube were still off the grid, at least for bands. That was the Myspace era.

I remember having REALLY big arguments with a lot of people surrounding the band at the time, and with other bands, about not letting go of an actual website. My argument was, “if this MySpace thing goes down we lose all contact and are starting from scratch.”

Then Zao went dark for a bit when MySpace actually went down, and wiped everything out. By the time we came back everything had shifted and we were playing catch up, and still are to an extent.

Back to the original question about Twitter; we still struggle with that one. Just don’t have the time or energy to devote to those algorithms. Can’t tell if it makes a difference for a band like us or not. 

How long have you been working the online marketing side of things for the band?

Pretty immediately after joining. It was a case of one, seeing it needed to be done and in an involved way, ie the band itself, not some marketing team answering messages and questions, and two, nobody else in the band really wanting to do it or having the time. The job has stuck with me to this day. I really don’t mind, though.

You don’t have to disclose exact numbers of course, but how do socials perform vs email? Sales, clicks, “engagement,” etc. again, totally fine to be general about this.

They all feed into each other. We don’t worry so much about the click counts or the engagement. We do find that the more we engage - even if it’s with trolls - that it all helps beef up everything. 

I think people tend to pay a bit more attention because of the engagement from the band.  Email list is good for the real diehards, especially when it comes to new releases and big announcements like shows. But I feel like the social thing helps people find out we are still active in the first place, which then feeds back into stuff like them being on the email list.

How do you grow your email list? I know there’s a subscribe box on the website. Anything else beyond that?