Aaron Turner of Groovy Kaiju
Money Maker
Groovy Kaiju (Aaron Turner)
TRAININGS COMPLETED:
- The Buddy System
- Run A Successful Crowdfund
- Selling Tickets for Live Shows
- The $1-A-Day Traffic Plan
- How To Get New Fans Daily (Fan Finder)
- Ones & Zeros 101
- How To Create Your Brand
- Make Merch That Fans Want
- How To Turn Listeners Into Real Fans
- Email Marketing for Musicians
- FREE + S&H Funnel Strategy
- How To Profit From A Launch Campaign
- How To Generate Sales Year-Round
- Grow Your Email/Text List
- Spotify Field Guide
Tell us about your A-Series:
For Ascending Customers, Here's How I run my A-Series:
1. Fan-Powered Merch Drops: I run an annual survey in my Email Fan Club asking fans who have already bought merch, what future merch they'd actually buy and at what price. Then, I turn the winning ideas into a big merch drop every two months.
2. Paid Monthly Subscription (Patreon): My monthly subscription gives fans access to my entire back catalog, exclusive live recordings, and one-of-a-kind merch. Every 6 months, I invite my most active free fan club members to level up and join the paid expanded version of my fan club.
3. "Funky Fan Favorites" Offer: After fans join my Email Fan Club through my Free + Shipping CD offer, I follow up with a special deal on my most-loved merch items, but this time with free shipping!
4. Fan Club Super Signature: Every fun email I send ends with a friendly P.S. that gently reminds fans of the things I mentioned above so they can ascend whenever they are ready!
Tell us about your Promotional Calendar:
Based on 2023 survey feedback, my promotional calendar was:
February 2024: Most Popular Album Cassette Tape Launch (Monster Tape Zero Tapes)
April 2024: Groovy Kaiju Artist Plushie Launch
May 2024: Premium Screen Printed Groovy Kaiju Shirts
July 2024: New Album Drop (Radical Reptar CD & Tape Release)
September 2024: Most Popular Album on Vinyl (Monster Tape Zero Vinyl)
October 2024: Testing Album Drop for Side Project (Aviscerall)
November 2024: Kaiju Club Survey & Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale
December 2024: Prep for Next Year & Completely Free Digital Gifts for All Fan Club Members
Tell us about your FSH funnel:
I run both warm and cold F+SH funnels through email and Meta Ads, offering my most popular album for free ($9.99 shipping). The price covers the CD, shipping, payment fees, and Third Party Logistics fulfillment, leaving about $0.30 gross profit per CD.
Customers can:
- Pay their own price on the CD
- Grab upsells (cassette/vinyl upgrades, more CDs, stickers, keychains)
- Save on shipping with more items
Ad Strategy:
- Live performance with offer
- Skateboarding clips mixed with music
- Retro console playing album (iPhone filmed)
- Casual, personal copy using Cialdini's principles and AIDA formula
FSH funnel landing page
Tell us about your album launch:
Simple weekly structure:
Week 1: Album Cover Reveal, Release Date, Physical Formats announcement
Week 2: Tracklist Reveal and personal story/meaning
Week 3: Early Release for Top Supporters (Physical and Download Only)
Week 4: Official Release (Physical and Download Only)
Week 9: Streaming Services Release
Tell us about your product launches:
Notable launch: Groovy Kaiju Plushies
- Found supplier through Alibaba
- Used ChatGPT for initial design ideas
- Sent "foreshadowing" email showing my personal plushie collection
- Engaged with fans about their collections
- Sold all 60 plushies ($35 each) in about 2 months
Tell us about your physical merch:
Launch Process:
1. Foreshadowing, nurturing email
2. Sales email
3. "Three days left" email
4. "Last chance" email
Example: Monster Tape Zero vinyl launch included:
- Sales numbers
- Behind-the-scenes content
- Creation stories
- Early development thoughts
Tell us about your digital merch:
All albums include Digital Download and Bandcamp code via Shopify app EDP - Easy Digital Products. Features:
- Digital downloads attached to product variants
- Automated license key generation
- Customer access through order page
- Separate email with download/code information
Revenue overview (last 12 months):
Merch (Shopify): $120,481.62
Shows: $17,852.24
Streaming: $9,468.67
Paid Membership: $1,352.03
Bandcamp: $287.25
Tell us about your highest performing revenue drivers:
My F+SH Funnel is definitely my biggest revenue driver! It's become the fuel for growth for my business, and I pretty much revolve everything around it. It's provided me with a controllable and scalable way to decide how fast I want to gain new fans, and it's a constant stream of opportunity to test new ideas, explore new things, and grow my business into something that actually is able to provide income for me to live off of!
Financial Overview:
Gross Revenue: $73,649.76
Net Revenue: -$5,520 (due to scaling loan)
Current monthly net profit: $1,634.34 (last 3 months)
Lastly, please tell us why you think you should be a finalist for the Money Maker Award:
I should be a finalist because my music and business are building a sustainable direct-to-fan connection where my fans and I provide financial support, personal stories, good vibes, and awesome experiences for each other. From plushies to cassettes to vinyl, every launch has been inspired by my fans and crafted to make them feel like they're part of the journey. This year, I took risks to scale up, tested new ideas, learned from my mistakes, and created a system that's now finally consistently profitable and deeply personal to me and my fans! I'm honored and beyond thankful for everything this hard work, honest connections, and fun music have been able to build! Not just for me, but for everyone listening to and supporting my artistry!