One of the best ways to keep your fans informed about what’s going on with your music without annoying them to death by over-posting on Twitter and Facebook is to send out an email newsletter on a regular basis — bi-weekly or monthly usually works best. If you’ve never done a newsletter before, it doesn’t need to cost anything. In fact, you may already have some sort of newsletter tool with whatever service you use to manage your email list. Check with your provider and see if one is available.

The benefit of using a newsletter program, instead of just typing text and inserting pics into the body of an email and calling that a newsletter, is that you come across as more professional. Plus, the newsletter template looks better and is much easier on the reader’s eye. And you’re usually offered a variety of templates to choose from, so you can find one to suit your tastes and musical style. If you’re more computer savvy with things like HTML code, you can design your own newsletter with certain newsletter software tools.

If you don’t have this type of program and don’t want to spend money on one, you have options. Perhaps the most well-known is MailChimp, which gets high marks from most users and has been used by plenty of independent musicians over the years. MailChimp has paid monthly subscription plans, but their Forever Free plan will suit many acts. As the name suggests, you’ll never have to pay a penny. Of course, limitations exist on Forever Free. It allows up to 2,000 subscribers. If you have more than that you’ll need to sign up for a monthly plan. MailChimp is a good place to start for newer or part-time bands, but if you’re an established act with a large following and thousands on your email list, you may want to start paying or look elsewhere for free options.

A good place to look would be Phplist. You’ll need to be a bit more tech savvy to use this service, as they don’t hold your hand and walk you through all their features. Phplist is open source software and there’s no limit to the amount of subscribers.

If neither of these options work for you (although there’s no reason to think they shouldn’t), most companies that offer email marketing services charge for their services, but offer free trail periods, usually between 15 and 30 days. so, it’s not really free in the long run. Still, the world of email marketing and newsletters is worth exploring, as it can be an effective way to satisfy you fan base’s desire to know more about your ongoing career, as well as a way promote shows and sell any new merchandise and CDs you release.