Beehiiv for Music Artists

Most music artists operate in a B2C (business-to-consumer) model: promote the music, drive streams, sell merch or concert tickets, and hopefully turn a profit.

But what if there’s a smarter way?

The Jay-Z Samsung Deal: A Lesson in B2B

In 2013, Jay-Z made $20 million before a single fan streamed or bought his album.
Samsung paid for a million downloads of Magna Carta Holy Grail, bundling it with their Galaxy phones. That wasn’t B2C. That was B2B (business-to-business).

No fans had to open their wallets. No streams were needed. Yet Jay-Z walked away with a massive payday. Why? Because Samsung wanted access to his audience.

Artists as Ad Platforms

Today, you can do the same. If you have a newsletter, you already have what brands and fellow artists are willing to pay for: attention.

• You could charge other artists to be featured in your newsletter

• Run affiliate campaigns and get paid when your audience takes action

• Offer banner ad space and get paid on open or click performance

This is where Beehiiv comes in.

What Beehiiv Offers Artists

Most email platforms let you send emails. Beehiiv lets you monetize them.

• Built-in ad network
• Built-in affiliate network
• Campaign management
• Performance tracking
• Fraud protection
• Payment disbursement

Think of it like YouTube, creators focus on making content, and the platform handles the ad sales, affiliate links, and payouts. Beehiiv does the same, but for email newsletters.

Why This Matters in Music

Every ad campaign artists run starts by targeting fans of similar artists. That targeting data has value, but only the platforms benefit from it.

• Run ads on Spotify targeting “fans of Kendrick”?
  Kendrick doesn’t get a dime.

• Run YouTube ads to fans of SZA?
  She sees none of that ad spend.

But with Beehiiv, the audience belongs to you, and so does the value. You can finally be compensated for your influence.

The Vision

If just 20% of artists on Spotify used Beehiiv:

• Ad money could circulate between artists, not platforms

• Artists could monetize their audience directly

• Affiliate partnerships would be artist-to-artist, brand-to-artist

• Email would become a new revenue stream, not just a marketing tool

Final Thoughts

Artists need to stop thinking only B2C. Music is a business, and businesses thrive when they operate B2B.

Beehiiv gives artists the tools to monetize their audience, just like YouTube did for video creators.

This isn’t just about newsletters. It’s about flipping the model.

Take a Tour of Beehiiv's Platform: Beehiiv.com - 30 Day Free Trial + 20% Off for 3 Months