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Leigh Cara

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a back porch house concert with my former trio Sequoia South
Featured Post

How our email list made us $5K in 2 weeks (with no music out)

Hey Reader, We didn't have a record. We didn't have a viral moment. But my former trio had an email list. And that list made us $5,000 in two weeks. Here's exactly how we built it—from bar gigs to house concerts—with no songs on Spotify. What We Actually Had (Spoiler: It Wasn't Much) My former trio had a unique sound: three-part harmonies tight enough to make you stop mid-drink. But no recorded music. No streaming presence. No fancy marketing budget. So we asked ourselves: What can we offer?...

A hand is holding a laptop.

Hey Reader, Picture this... You've just dropped your new single and sent a newsletter to 2,000 fans announcing it. You're excited, maybe a little nervous, waiting to see the downloads roll in. But only 200 people actually see your email because the other 1,800 got filtered to spam or blocked entirely before they ever reached an inbox. This isn't bad luck or some algorithm conspiracy against indie artists. It's what happens when you send mass emails from Gmail, Yahoo, or any other free email...

Analyzing stock charts with a stylus.

Hey Reader, I had a conversation with one of my agency clients last week that I can't stop thinking about. He's incredibly talented, hardworking, and dedicated to his craft. But when we hopped on our call, instead of talking about his upcoming single or the amazing feedback he's been getting from his superfans, he immediately launched into questions about his social media analytics. "What's the average growth rate you see across all your clients?" he asked. "Am I growing at a normal rate?...

grayscale photo of woman covering her face with her hand

Hey Reader, I got a question recently from an artist who said: "I want to deepen my connection with fans through email, but I'm just not sure what I'd even be saying. I don't have any merch or upcoming shows, and honestly, I don't think my life is that interesting..." Can I tell you something? Every single artist I work with thinks their story isn't interesting enough. It's one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves, right alongside "I'm not good enough" and "Nobody wants to hear from me." But...

Quick heads up: This email contains affiliate links for Kit. You won't pay anything extra, but I do earn a small commission if you decide to try them out. This helps keep the Beyond the Algorithm newsletter free and lets me keep sharing the marketing strategies that actually work for indie artists. I only recommend tools I genuinely use and believe in - promise. Hey Reader, I got a question on Threads recently that made me realize I need to spell this out more clearly: "What email platform do...

The word "email" is spelled out with letter tiles.

Hey Reader, Picture this: You're standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, staring at 47 different options. Your brain starts to fog. Do you want the heart-healthy one? The protein-packed one? The one that tastes like childhood? Five minutes later, you walk away with nothing. This is exactly what happens when you send your fans a newsletter packed with multiple calls to action. The Problem Every Artist Faces I see it in every inbox I audit: passionate artists sending beautifully...