In the past year and continuing into 2026, the internet has seen many people moving away from social media and moving over to platforms like Substack to engage with their audience by focusing on long-form written content instead of the algorithm. Often, Substack writers offer longer and more in-depth versions of their articles and blog posts for their paid subscribers. Substack is seeing a rapid growth in users, which sparks the question: 

Can newsletters and direct communication from the artist to the fan replace the algorithm for good?

The Benefits of an email newsletter and artist-to-fan communication

1. Direct Communication

The great thing about an email newsletter is that when you send it, it is guaranteed to land in the recipient’s inbox. With this form of communication, you are not dependent on any algorithm. With social media, we frequently notice changes in the algorithm, and as digital marketing specialists often need to adapt to these changes and analyse why certain posts have not reached as many people and performed well. 

With a newsletter, you don’t need to worry about statistics like reach. You also don’t need to think about whether the algorithm sees enough value in your content to show it to your target audience. Nowadays, as digital marketing specialists, we approach content creation with what works best on the platform first, instead of prioritising storytelling. A newsletter gives you the freedom to show people exactly what you want to show them, which leads to the next point.

2. Creative Control

For your newsletter, you and/or your team have full creative control over the content and customization of your newsletter. You can work with mixed media, like photos, videos, audio, text, and links. You can decide on the typeface you want to use, how much or how little you want to write, and what visual side you want to portray. 

This could potentially be sending behind-the-scenes content and more personal updates to your trusted fanbase. It is really up to you to create the newsletter according to your requirements and wishes. 

3. Promotion

Have you ever subscribed to a newsletter of an artist because they have just announced a new tour and you don’t want to miss when the pre-sale starts? Have you ever gotten a newsletter from an artist where they promote their new album, and you knew about it before everyone else who saw it later on social media?

That’s because email newsletters work great for things like ticket sales, album promotions, and merchandise. You can immediately inform your audience about your projects, and everyone who has subscribed to your mailing list will definitely get an email about it.

That also means you can directly implement important links that, for example, lead people directly to the ticket sales page without any detours. Or you include the pre-save link to your upcoming album in the newsletter so that your audience can directly click on it and pre-save it on their favourite streaming service. 

On social media, especially platforms like Instagram, you have to go to the artist’s profile first and then often come across a Linktree after clicking on the link in their bio. You then need to choose the correct link you are looking for. This is often where you lose people. A newsletter makes it a lot easier for you to guide your fans towards the things you want to promote and offers a higher click-through rate.

If you haven’t set up a newsletter yet, now might be the time! Feel free to reach out if you need help with this, or another part of the digital world.

By: Ninette Nassenstein, Digital Assistant