Are you about to release a song/album/merch/tickets/anything – give it to your community first!

Simple rule: If you are going to charge money for something (such as merch), give first access to ALL members (free included) – you don’t lose any money but the free fans feel special by getting first dibs. This works especially well for a merch drop or tickets to a show/tour. If you aren’t going to charge money for the thing you are promoting (such as a song or video), give a snippet to free members but only give it to paid members. This works especially well for singles/albums/music videos!

This is the best and easiest win-win for both you and the fans! You are already going to promote on socials that something is about to be dropped, so while you promote it why not tell people that if they want it now they can join your community! We have seen this work with countless artists!

Example: Take Michael Minelli for instance, he made 150 1-of-1 shirts that he hand tie-died and he sold 135 of them to his community before he ever released them to the public! He still sold the same amount and made the same amount of money, but it made his community feel like it was worth being a part of!

More Early Access Examples: