CD Baby recently asked artists to share their thoughts on what you can do to annoy fans, great read. Much of it falls into the Spam category.

Sending a event invite everyday is definitely too much.

I personally disagree with the comment about retweeting a fans compliment, that it is a waste of a tweet. I think it is important to show what others do think of your music, a honest fan comment can go a long way. You don’t need to retweet every compliment, but pick a few really good ones.

There is always the question of emails, how often? Once a month, once a week. I feel it all depends upon what you have to say. If you have nothing really new then don’t push more than once a month. But, if you just released a new album you could have something new and interesting once a week. When you do send out your emails be sure to watch your results, look at unsubscribes.

What do you find annoying?

CD Baby artists share their thoughts.

We dispense a lot of advice on the DIY Musician Blog, but every once in a while it is nice to listen to our artists, too. So we posed this question on the CD Baby Facebook page– “Musicians, what is the absolute best way to annoy your fans and make sure that your promotional efforts are an utter waste of time?”

Overwhelmingly, artists were concerned with excessive promotion and the misuse of social networking and email lists. In other words, SPAM!!! Here is a sampling of just a handful of the responses:

Philip S Allen Post about your event 20 times a day on your page.

Nichole Choice Spam them! If you say “no” to my last 20 event invites, am I not inconsiderate to invite you to a 21st? What if I know you live on the other part of the world? Would I not be inconsiderate to invite you to my local gig next Saturday night? I greatly appreciate personalized vs. mass marketing…

Elyse Belladonna Spamming! Sending too many emails, facebook messages/invites, or myspace messages/invites is sure to make people eventually just start hitting ‘delete’ and tuning you out entirely. Messages and invitations need to be well-timed and brief, with all of the essential information clearly laid out. I’ve learned the hard way that unnecessary messages to fans don’t help a band/artist – they actually hinder your success by making people resent you for being annoying.

Inger Klekacz on behalf of fans: make sure not to coordinate with the other bands splitting a bill with you, and all create separate events for your show, and all invite us to all of the events. so awesome.

Mike Vial Retweeting a fan’s compliment of your music on Twitter. (Waste of tweet.)

David Blumberg The “constant update” – AKA spam is a quick death to a group. Also, don’t constantly hawk a product, or people will loose interest in it. Also, constantly asking for help without showing deep appreciation for that help is a quick death in interest.

Matt Eaton Constant email updates. Give me once a month…NOT twice a week.

Tony L. Kollman Only tweet and post on Facebook when you want something. “Show this Friday!” “New merch! Buy now!” If you want to annoy your fans, be sure to never tweet anything of substance, only promotional spam. Additionally, you can publicly complain about how few people came out to your last show or talk about how crappy the crowd was the other night.

Danny Vinson Use the blink tag in all your HTML e-mail messages.

And a few interesting tips that aren’t about SPAM.

Fritz Frisbie As a venue owner I see Bands making WAY too many fliers for shows. I’ve tossed more than a few trees worth after the fact.

Bea Platt Romano Talk too much – play too little. And poor patter to boot! Gotta keep the show moving……

Heather Sticka Be snarky.

Christopher Richard Chamberlain Playing in a small club with your volume turned to eleven!

We want to hear what you think, too. Feel free to comment in the section below. Also, if you’d like to interact with us on Facebook, check us out at www.Facebook.com/CDBaby

-Chris R. at CD Baby

via How to Annoy Your Fans: The CD Baby Community Weighs In | DIY Musician.