Is SMS marketing worth it for musicians, venues on a budget?
SMS or text marketing can deliver strong results, particularly with younger audiences and within certain genres. But is SMS marketing worth it for musicians, labels and venues of a tight budget?
Is SMS marketing worth it for musicians and venues of a tight budget?
SMS open rates often run as high as 90% and more. That is double or more what you might expect from a good email campaign
Unfortunately SMS marketing is not free or almost free like email.
Bulk text messaging typically costs 4.5 – 5.5 cents per text depending on your plan and volume. So I don’t usually recommend it for musicians, labels, music venues and promoters on tight budgets.
How good is your email list, really?
Before spending money on text messaging, work harder to get all that you can out of your email list.
- Make it easy for fans to sign up online and at a show.
- Offer incentives to sign up like free downloads or merch table discount.
- Promote email sign ups on your social channels.
- Make every email worth opening using strong subject lines, contests, discounts, first access to tickets, and more. Use your imagination.
- Use data to measure your results and improve.
I do recommend collecting phone numbers now alongside email addresses so you have them if costs come down – which some believe they will – or your budget increases. Most email and fan capture systems like Bandsintown and your email provider offer the option to ask for phone numbers alongside email addresses.
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of the Skyline Artists Agency
My company Adva Mobile provides mobile marketing services for Artists, including text, email, CRM and More. We charge $19 per month for 500 texts (plus free unlimited email and everything else), about $0.038 per text and $0.03 per text over 500.
For musicians and venues with limited budgets, it is advisable to prioritise optimising email marketing strategies for a higher return on investment.
Bruce, you make a compelling argument about the cost-effectiveness of SMS marketing for musicians and venues on tight budgets. Your suggestion to focus on optimizing email lists and strategies first is practical and wise.
Collecting phone numbers alongside email addresses is a great idea, as it provides a foundation for potential future SMS marketing efforts. Your emphasis on using data to measure results and improve email campaigns is also spot on.
One potential addition to consider: exploring alternative messaging channels, like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, which might offer more affordable options for reaching fans. However, your cautious approach to SMS marketing is well-reasoned, and your advice will undoubtedly help many musicians and venues make informed decisions about their marketing strategies.
Great insights, Bruce! As a representative of Webgurukul IT Training and Placement Institute in Nagpur, I completely agree with your assessment of SMS marketing for musicians and venues on tight budgets.
Key takeaways:
SMS open rates are impressive, but costs can be prohibitively expensive.
Optimizing email lists and strategies should be the primary focus.
Collecting phone numbers alongside email addresses is a great way to future-proof marketing efforts.
We couldn’t agree more! At Webgurukul, we emphasize the importance of maximizing email marketing potential before exploring more expensive options like SMS marketing. Your advice to focus on building a strong email list, making every email worth opening, and using data to measure results is spot on.
Thanks for sharing your expertise! We’ll definitely keep these insights in mind for our own marketing efforts and recommend them to our network of musicians and venues.
I have to disagree—SMS marketing is far more effective than email when it comes to direct-to-fan engagement.
While your article makes some valid points about email marketing’s ability to deliver detailed content and its longstanding role in digital marketing, it overlooks a crucial reality: today’s fans are constantly on their phones, and SMS provides a level of immediacy, visibility, and engagement that email simply can’t match.
I say this not just as someone who studies marketing trends but as a music executive and artist with over 15 million views. I’ve seen firsthand how direct-to-fan communication impacts engagement, sales, and fan loyalty. After years of using both email and SMS, I can confidently say that SMS consistently delivers better results.
Let’s break this down.
1. Open Rates & Visibility – SMS is Unmatched
One of the biggest issues with email marketing is that it relies on fans actively checking their inboxes—and hoping your email doesn’t get lost in spam or buried under a pile of promotions. Even if it does land in their primary inbox, the average open rate for email marketing hovers between 15-25%, depending on the industry.
Compare that to SMS, which boasts a 98% open rate. Not only that, but 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of being received. That’s an insane level of visibility that email marketing simply can’t compete with.
In my experience, I’ve sent out mass emails with exclusive content, only to see a fraction of my audience engage. Meanwhile, when I send out an SMS with the same content, the engagement rate skyrockets. It’s clear that fans see and respond to texts faster than emails.
2. Response Times & Engagement – SMS Drives Immediate Action
It’s not just about open rates; it’s about engagement. The average response time for an email is around 90 minutes—and that’s if it gets a response at all. Most emails sit unread, ignored, or deleted.
With SMS, the average response time is just 90 seconds. People are far more likely to respond to a text than an email because it feels personal, urgent, and direct. That kind of immediate interaction is invaluable for any artist or brand looking to drive fan engagement.
From personal experience, I’ve sent out last-minute SMS messages announcing surprise merch drops and VIP meet-and-greets, and the response was instant. Fans don’t just open the message; they click, engage, and buy—all within minutes.
3. Noise vs. Personal Connection – SMS Feels More Exclusive
Fans are bombarded with marketing emails every single day. Even if they signed up for an artist’s mailing list, they’re also receiving newsletters, promotions, and updates from countless other brands. It’s easy for an email to blend into the noise and go unnoticed.
A text message, on the other hand, feels personal. Fans aren’t getting as many SMS messages from brands as they are emails, so when they receive a text, it stands out. It feels exclusive—almost like a direct message from the artist themselves.
As an artist, I’ve had fans personally respond to my SMS campaigns in a way that rarely happens with email. They see a text from me, and they feel connected—like they’re part of something special. That kind of one-on-one engagement builds real fan loyalty.
4. Higher Conversion Rates – SMS Drives More Sales
At the end of the day, marketing is about results. Whether you’re promoting new music, selling tickets, or pushing exclusive merch, SMS outperforms email in conversion rates across the board.
According to industry data:
SMS click-through rates (CTR) range from 19-30%, while email CTR typically sits around 2-5%.
SMS campaigns see 10x higher engagement than email campaigns.
SMS marketing generates 29% conversion rates on average, compared to just 3.26% for email.
I’ve personally seen these numbers play out. When I launched a limited-time merch drop, email generated some sales, but SMS completely sold it out. Fans clicked the link, made purchases, and even shared the text with friends—driving more engagement than any email blast ever did.
5. Real-Time Communication – Perfect for Music & Events
Another key advantage of SMS marketing is its real-time nature. Email is great for long-form content, but if an artist wants to announce a surprise drop, send a last-minute event reminder, or notify fans of a flash sale, SMS is the fastest and most effective way to do it.
Imagine an artist needing to remind their fans about a show happening tonight. With email, there’s a high chance that fans won’t see it until it’s too late. With SMS, they get the message instantly—and act on it.
I’ve used SMS to send out last-minute ticket reminders, and within minutes, fans were buying tickets and showing up. That’s the kind of power real-time marketing has, and email simply doesn’t offer that level of immediacy.
Where to Start? Try ADVA Mobile for SMS Marketing
If you’re an artist or music brand looking to tap into the power of SMS marketing, ADVA Mobile is a great resource to explore. They specialize in direct-to-fan mobile marketing, helping musicians connect with their audience through personalized text messaging, mobile landing pages, and fan engagement tools.
I’ve worked with different marketing platforms, but ADVA Mobile stands out because it’s built for artists. It’s designed to grow fan relationships, increase sales, and make sure that when you have something important to share, your fans actually see it.
Final Thoughts – Why SMS Wins for Direct-to-Fan Marketing
Email marketing still has value, especially for long-form content, newsletters, and in-depth promotions. But when it comes to direct, immediate, and effective fan engagement, SMS is simply the better option. The numbers don’t lie—higher open rates, faster response times, stronger engagement, and better conversion rates make SMS the most powerful tool for artists and brands looking to truly connect with their audience.
As someone who has built a career in music, marketing, and fan engagement—with over 15 million views to back it up—I’ve tested both methods, and SMS wins every time.
If your goal is to cut through the noise, foster stronger fan relationships, and ultimately drive more sales and signups, SMS marketing isn’t just an option—it’s a necessity. If you’re serious about making an impact, I highly recommend checking out ADVA Mobile and seeing how it can transform your marketing strategy.