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Why I have an
Email List: |
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From my earliest concerts in Seattle back in
the mid-80s, I've kept a mailing list of the folks who come to my
shows and would like to receive notice of upcoming concerts, new CDs,
various projects or events that I dream up. I've always felt that
there is a responsibility involved in being trusted with personal
addresses and phone numbers and I have never shared or sold any part
of my mail list because of that. |
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In this age of corporate takeover of
practically everything, radio, tv, newspapers, it is more and more
difficult for independent artists to find ways that we can afford to
advertise our work. Therefore, having a direct link to the folks who
value what we do is extremely important. I think of my mail list as
almost a lifeline. Being able to send you notice - and your support
over the years in responding - is the very thing that makes it
possible for me to continue writing and singing for a living. |
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It would be a wonderful thing if I could send
only email notice and get a strong response. After all, it's free and
wastes no paper or trees. But there are a few things that keep that
from manifesting quite the way I'd anticipated. Mainly, SPAM. We are
all overwhelmed with the uninvited email advertisements that flood our
mail boxes daily. As a result, many use tight filters and naturally,
even those who would genuinely like to hear from me, forget to put my
address in the "acceptable"
column. A great many of the emails
I send out come back. Next, people change email addresses quite
frequently and of course, do not think to send all their favorite
folkslingers an address change. Those come back, too. Finally, there
are always the unpredicable things that happen to emails in
cyberspace. Who has not lost a few emails or not received some that
were said to be sent? It's a big ol' mystery. Oh, one more thing, many
of you have never given me your email address in the first place. If
you don't recall whether you have or not, please send it just in case.
(though I MUST have your physical address also or I have no way of
listing you and don't know where I'm sending emails.) |
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What I usually do before a concert is to send
out early email notice. Then two or three weeks out from the show, I
send a postcard. Also, Twice in the last four years I've mailed out a
full blown newsletter of stories, pictures, silly tales, etc. I don't
do this very often because it costs me thousands of dollars. |
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One thing I can assure you of is this: I will
never share my mail list. So your privacy will always be honored. I
hope you'll sign up so I can let you know now and then that I'm still
singing and maybe even talk you into coming out to listen. |
Yer ol' fren,
~Michael |
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Once
Again: |
your
email address is safe with me.
I NEVER share my mailing list. |
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