I’ve always praised benefits of using a newsletter to promote your music, but this article give a bit more detail into how to go about it.

First, there are tons of different providers out there that can send out your email newsletter. Some are expensive while other like cafepress.com allow you to make one free if you sell products through them. Although this isn’t EVERYTHING you could do it is a good starting place.

Define letter – is it going to be strictly about your band or other acts in your genre? You might be able to pick up other readers/listeners who weren’t aware of your music, but know other acts if you go broader.

Develop a schedule. Are you going to do it daily, weekly, monthly? Whatever you choose does not matter. The most important part is to stick to it, once people get to reading and enjoying your newsletter, they’ll expect to receive it on time, all time. How much content will it contain? Are you going to have one page or six pages? Try to make content same size each issue.

Theresa, from Budget Dial ( www.budgetdial.com ) says "I recently started a Living on a Budget newsletter because so many people who are coming to me to save on their telecommunications costs. So a frugal living newsletter with tips, ideas was a natural offshot. I am able to use my experience being frugal and share it with my customer and readers.

The top reasons why it's so important to have a newsletter:

- Keep in contact with current customers.

Even if a customer has purchased from you in past, if you don't keep in contact with them you may loose them to someone else in your industry. They may not always know about your latest specials or new products, so it's important to let them know. As your business grows, it becomes impossible to email each and every person that's ever purchased from you, and a newsletter can take care of this problem while still keeping it on a personal level.

- Announce parties, specials and new products