Membership tips for musicians

Do your fans believe in what you’re creating? Do you have social media followers bursting at the seams to hear your latest track? Or do you have listeners who want early access to your concerts and events? If you’ve grown a devoted fan base who love your music, want to connect with you on a deeper level, and who are excited and willing to pay for that access—Memberful might just be the perfect option for you.

Though it’s harder now than ever to build a sustainable career in music, we’ve seen multiple artists successfully implement membership to power their fanbases -- for instance, Beat Academy uses membership to share exclusive resources on producing, songwriting and mixing.

Ready to follow in their paths and connect with your audience, share your music, grow your fanbase, and leverage your passion while also driving revenue? Check out our top tips for musicians who want to build a successful membership site.

Get to know your competition

Who are you sharing the stage with? At first glance, competition may sound like a negative thing but it’s the perfect place to start once you’ve decided to build a membership site for your music.

What type of exclusive content are other musicians offering fans? What social channels and forums do they use to engage with fans? What are they doing that you’d like to emulate? What are they not doing that you think would make your offering stand out?

Another more immersive way to get to know your competitors is by signing up for their membership or fan club. This way you get to see first-hand what they’re offering and what the overall experience is for their fans. You’ll learn the ins and outs of offering exclusive content, plus, it’s never a bad idea to support your fellow musicians. Indeed, why not go 'the whole hog' and look to collaborate with other musicians? Collaborating with others in your genre or in related genres can help you expand your reach to a new audience, and find and engage with new fans.

Offer free as well as exclusive content

Setting up a membership program through Memberful makes it easy to save your most exclusive content for your most devoted fans. However, it’s also important to keep creating free content as well.

Think about your free content as a way to draw in fans, giving them a sneak peek of some of the benefits they’ll receive once they sign up for your membership. Once they see the value in what you’re sharing, they’ll be more likely to sign up for a subscription.

Offering 'freemium' content, or giving your audience educational materials without a paid subscription, builds trust and equity with soon-to-be members. A great example is Ivan Corraliza of Beat Academy. Ivan gives away quality freebies to potential consumers, enticing them to take his membership for a 'test drive'. One of these gifts is a sample packet, that contains loops and sounds people can download for use in their own projects, which has been Ivan’s biggest lead generator.

Exclusive content may include early access to new music, video or merchandise, for only your most dedicated fans. This can help build loyalty among your fan base. You might also like to share personal stories, or insights about your music-making process, or behind-the-scenes content. This helps create a more personal connection with your audience and can help them feel more invested in your music and creative endeavour in general.

Keep fans engaged

Remember that creating your membership program is just the beginning. To grow your audience and keep your fans engaged you’ll want to continually optimize the fan experience. This means keeping the feedback loop open through forums, surveys, and social media so you know exactly what your fans are looking for when it comes to your membership offering. Take the time to respond to messages and comments from your fans. This shows that you value their support and are willing to engage with them.

You’ll also want to think about new and exciting ways to keep fans involved -- these strategies from our membership handbook are a great place to start. For example, if you’ve been offering exclusive music video content but your fans are asking for the option to have one-on-one guitar lessons, it might be a smart move to add the option for one-on-one lessons.

You might consider hosting virtual concerts or live streaming sessions on your social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. This allows your fans to interact with you in real-time and creates a sense of community around your music.

The most important aspect of any successful membership site is remembering that you’re exchanging value for value because, as Ivan shared with us, “That's the similarity between having a good song that impacts peoples' lives and a service or product that does the same thing.”

Conclusion: Using membership for musicians

If you’ve grown a devoted fan base who love your music, and who are excited and willing to pay for that access, then membership -- perhaps powered by Memberful -- might just be the perfect option for you. Many other musicians have done it and so can you!