By now you’ve probably noticed the purple badges dotted around Mixcloud. Thousands of creators are now using Creator Subscriptions to build their own inner circle of fans who directly support them, plus the music and artists they play. In this series, we explore tips and tricks for getting the most out of Creator Subscriptions, inspired by our creator community.
Whether you’re an artist, DJ, radio show host or podcaster, asking your fans to support you may not come naturally. After all, we’re all in this for the love of the culture, right?
Let’s take a second to think about that. Now more than ever, creators are empowered to use the internet to fund their projects and keep creating on their own terms. ‘Crowdfunding’ is the not-so-new normal. If an entrepreneur on Kickstarter, a gamer on Twitch or a vlogger on Patreon can do it, you can too.
It’s hard to stand out in the music industry and cut through the noise. If you’ve managed to inspire people to keep listening to your shows and found your audience, you’ve already done the hard work! Next step is to offer those listeners a way to get closer to the shows they love listening to by supporting you.
The good news is it’s totally possible to do that without coming across as needy or spammy. It comes down to building deeper human connections. As long as you stay authentic to who you are as a creator, are clear about what you’re offering and remind people consistently why their support matters, you might be pleasantly surprised who out there wants to join your fan club.
Keep these five tactics in mind to do it right:
Shout out in your shows 🗣
When is the most effective time to reach your listeners with your message? While they’re listening!
Consider giving a friendly nudge to your fans on air. To let people know they can support the show they’re listening to. If you’re used to talking in your shows, this should be easy for you to slip into the mix.
In the podcasting world, this approach is the norm. At the beginning of each episode of fictional podcast Welcome to Night Vale, for example, the creators include short spoken segments promoting their members’ club and live shows. As well as offering fans exclusive content and involvement in their storylines. Why not switch up the script by highlighting your most recent Subscriptions Exclusive at the beginning of your public shows?
When you’re talking about Creator Subscriptions remember to mention what kinds of things you’re doing to create extra rewards and get closer to your fans. Things like Exclusives, upfront tracklists, giveaways or competitions.
Create an audio ident 🎶
If talking in your shows isn’t your thing, why not create an audio ident or jingle?
An audio ident is a short piece of recorded audio. It often includes music or sound effects and get across key information to your listeners. This is big in the world of radio. Radio stations use iconic, memorable audio idents to communicate clearly to their audiences.
Hugely popular Mixcloud profile Club Killers include a clip at the beginning of each show shouting out their Creator Subscriptions offering. The clip is under 15 seconds and gets the key details across before they launch into the mix for the week. Raising awareness through this approach has brought them a dedicated inner circle of supporting fans.
Celebrate your supporters 🎉
Another effective way to get your fans’ attention is by giving shout outs to the people who are already showing their support.
Listen to the beginning of this Kono Vidovic show, where he shouts out the newest member of his fan base:
Think outside the box as to how you can make your supporters feel special. Consider running opportunities for subscribing fans to feature in your shows – whether that’s through guest mixes, shout outs or requests.
Keep nurturing these human connections and building your community by talking and engaging with your fans in the comments or through Mixcloud Posts. The more people see you care and are putting in extra effort, the more likely they’ll want to get involved.
Keep shouting on socials 🤳
People following you on social media already have an interest in what you’re doing. So don’t be afraid to talk to them about it.
Speak to your fans in whatever way feels authentic to you. This might mean getting creative by designing your own artwork, shouting about quality content or getting in front of the camera to talk directly to your fans.
Take your followers along with you on a journey and you’ll inspire more people to directly support your creative process. The important thing is to be consistent. Doing one or two posts isn’t going to cut through the noise.
The truth is that people see so much content in their feeds everyday. They need to see things over and over again before they get the message. Whenever you upload a new show or have something interesting to share, remind your fans they can support you to do more.
Link it in your bio or website ✔️
If people are coming to your website or social media pages, you’ve already got their attention. The easier you make it for them to find out how to support you, the more likely they will.
Simply drop your Creator Subscriptions page link in easy-to-find places, like your social media bios and website, and you can let this page do the explaining for you.
You could also add section or “Support me” button to your website that links directly to your Subscriptions page.
Take a hint from independent stations like Brooklyn Radio, Folk Radio and Soho Radio who all use their websites to promote their Subscriptions pages with banner ads.
Creator Subscriptions is a way for DJs, radio stations, curators, podcasters and audio creators of all kinds to get closer to their fans and offer them more. To join as a creator, register your interest here.
As we continue to grow Creator Subscriptions, our mission is to get more fans directly supporting their favourite creators, emotionally and financially. We’re doing this by learning from and listening to our creator community. Do you have ideas or feedback on how we can make Creator Subscriptions better? We’re listening.