PROFITABLE MUSICIAN: FEM FRIDAY EDITION

September 25, 2026

Happy FEM Music Friday!

Yes this is our FEM Friday email, usually sent to female artists and advocates only, but I'm sending it to everyone because this news is important.

Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) dropped a BOMBSHELL on September 21...and the shot was heard around the world.

We now have to PAY to put links in our posts on Facebook and Instagram!

According to my sources, what this means is that Meta is allowing ZERO links in posts on Instagram and 2 free links per month in posts on Facebook. If you want more, you have to purchase a Meta One subscription.(and they're not cheap)

So what does this mean for music artists like you and me who have been using your FB Page and IG Account to promote your music, your shows and your offers?...

Well, it means more of the same from FB and IG that we've had to adapt to over the past 10 years - Pay to Play.

Am I surprised? No

Around 2018, we started to notice a throttling of organic reach. Even if you had thousands of followers, it became very difficult to reach them with your content without paying for ads.

In 2023 they added Meta Verified subscriptions which granted access to the blue checkmark "trust badge". You could no longer go through the verification process and earn your blue checkmark. You were forced to pay a monthly fee.

In 2026 Meta quietly added global subscription options like Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus. Nobody really paid attention until this morphed into Meta One this past Monday.

Now, for the simple act of sharing a ticket link, streaming link, merch store link, or link to a product you want to tell people about like a favorite book or even another artist's song, to an audience you already earned...will COST you.

Now let me be clear. I'm not complaining. Meta has every right to do this. It's their platform that they built.

And, while we can be bummed about it, and long for the 2010s when using social media to build an audience was easy and uncomplicated...we have no right to protest. The signs have all been pointing here for years.

So what's the workaround?

If you've been relying on social media to connect with new listeners and to engage with fans, I want to encourage you again, as I have done for years now, to focus on building your email list.

Your email list is the home for your fans that you built yourself. It's not a rented platform like FB or IG where they can keep jacking up the rent.

With an email list, you retain ownership of those connections and you can take them with you wherever you go - Mailchimp, Bandzoogle, or my personal favorite...Kit - if you want to move you just pick up your house and all it's contents and move. No one can stop you and no one can keep you from doing it.

It's true ownership.

An email list offers you the ability to connect with your people anytime you want and send them anything you want WITHOUT paying extra or being suddenly told you have to pay to play.

Just like the old "when is the best time to plan a tree" story suggests, if you haven't started building your email list yet, today is the time to start. Connecting with fans on social media is only going to get more expensive and onerous.

The good news?

I've been quietly and diligently building something to help you with this behind the scenes. And I can't wait to unveil it in a few weeks.

I'm creating it because I know building an email list can be intimidating. And I know that the pressure to email the list you've built consistently can feel like a hamster wheel if you don't have a system and a lot of help.

My goal with this new project is to create a multi-faceted solution to the problem of emailing your fans and a panacea to the pay-to-play Meta woes and documented toll social media can take on mental health

More info to come. For now, get on the waitlist to be the first to get more info and get special goodies when it launches in about 10 days.

Always in your corner,
​<3 Bree

PS: If you prefer to read FEM Friday on Substack, you can Subscribe Here​

You're reading the Profitable Musician Newsletter, FEM Friday Edition. This Friday newsletter is created for Female Artists & Advocates, and focuses on our mission to amplify quality music by Female Artists & Female-Fronted Bands in all genres and help them build a thriving music career and solid business. If you'd like to unsubscribe from FEM Fridays but still receive our regular Wednesday Profitable Musician Newsletter, click here and we'll note your preference.

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