Insanely Crazy Independent Music Promotion Ideas That Actually Work

If you are an independent musician, then I know that coming up with great music promotion ideas is one of your main goals. Gone are the days where rappers, musicians and artists have to rely solely on record deals to make the big bucks, in fact who the heck wants to right? With the rise of "The New Music Industry" the possibilities of success are literally limitless.

One of the most effective ways to market yourself and your music is through social networking sites as well as having your own website. But, the trick is driving traffic to those sites and social network profile pages. Fortunately, through the use of search engine optimization, this is not an impossible music task. Using strategically placed words, phrases and title tags throughout your site will definitely help you to achieve these results. Get your link out there. Post it on your MySpace page, your Twitter profile pages, your friend's pages and exchange it with others.

Another way to achieve this is by placing your music for sale on sites that cater to independent artists trying to maximize their online exposure. For example sites like CDBaby, TuneCore and Even Amazon are great for this. These sites list your CDs for sale and end up giving you a pretty fat chunk of the profits. This is a relatively new music promotion idea but quite a few artists are reaping the benefits. Remember, this is in addition to offering your music for sale on your own site.

When making your CDs, include a barcode on the package. This way, you can offer local music stores the opportunity to sell your album. Local music stores tend to be particularly favorable to Indie musicians from their area. In addition to music stores, contact non music stores and retail outlets as well. I know one band in our area that has their music for sale in Starbucks and they sell a good amount of music ever day. So be creative with this stuff, independent music promotion doesn't have to be difficult, you just need creativity and the drive to succeed.

You should also look into getting a MySpace page if you don't already have one. MySpace music is a powerful tool for unsigned artists and independent music promotion. You gain maximum exposure and it will cost you absolutely nothing at all. You can't beat that!

Another crucial thing to do is to simply include your web address on every piece of material that goes out. This will ensure people get the word out about your site. Your website will be your connection to the world around you. Keep it current and up to date, no matter what. Keep it interesting and constantly changing. No one wants to constantly visit a boring site that always has the same images, info and music on it.

I made light of it at the beginning of this article, but if your ultimate goal is to get signed then with hard work and dedication it will happen, but you have to show the labels that you are serious. Implement the above techniques into your online music promotion routine and you will be on the track to raking in profits and hopefully fame and fortune! Keep in mind that you are always learning. Don't be afraid to seek help for problem areas but most importantly, stay extremely positive!



For more great music marketing and music promotion ideas visit http://www.SellMusicOnlineLikeCrazy.com.




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Using Online Tactics to Promote Your Music

Music promotion is no longer as simple as it used to be. At the same time, it can be far more profitable. If you know what you are doing, you can get music distribution from some of the most popular services such as iTunes and Amazon MP3, enabling you to reach a global market and increase your earning potential. While playing live shows, throwing in the occasional cover track, and mastering your songs to perfection, are still necessary, they are no longer the beginning and end of getting the word out. Online tactics are essential for making the most out of your online audience.

Start a website. This may seem like a no brainer, but nevertheless, you should not treat it as an afterthought. Incorporate a blog into your presence on the World Wide Web and keep it stocked with frequent updates. An article on how to write a song or a video post of you and your band in the recording studio go a long way in establishing the type of connection that you want with your audience. Do your best not to avoid this crucial step.

Embrace the power of freebies. Many bands have seen success giving away music on their websites. While this may seem counterproductive to what you actually hope to accomplish in your music career, it is in reality a wise marketing move. The bands who have tried it report that their fans usually take care of them any way, whether it be in attending live shows or offering donations. Some even use the "name your price" option, where users may download for free or pay what they think is fair for the music. Fans appreciate nothing more than when you entrust them with the power to decide.

Think outside the PC. A website is vital to your growth and success, but in order to be successful, you have to start thinking outside of your personal computer. Some technology experts anticipate the PC to go away in the next decade or so, speculating that handheld devices will take over. You want to be ready for these devices as they grow in popularity. Get listed in the iTunes store. Start your own Smartphone application. Embrace any sales venue that allows users to download your music to an iPod or MP3 player.

Don't forget social media. Profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are a great start for your social networking efforts. However, it is not enough to create one. You must keep it active to grow your friends list and keep interest in your work thriving.

Don't let online promotion tactics scare you off. It's as simple as getting the word out. And if you believe in your music, then there should be nothing else you would rather do.



Billy Joe is the leading provider of music distribution services. Get your music heard with music promotion on iTunes, AmazonMP3 and many more.




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Promote Your Music With Myspace - A Few Unknown Techniques Revealed

It's 2007 and the internet and other technologies are having a huge impact on our world as musicians. Promoting your music and yourself or group has become easier and more effective than ever. Distributing your music has also become easier and more profitable than ever.

But not every musician is aware of the new technologies available to them, nor have they kept up on the developing trends and upcoming changes. In 2007 and beyond, we're only going to see more reliance upon digital technologies and the internet to promote ourselves and sell our music.

As for promoting ones self, there are numerous ways to do it online. For local promotions, it's still effective to hand out flyers and spread the word-of-mouth, but you still need an online presence to promote your music. If you're trying to gain the attention of potential new fans local and beyond, you must get involved with some online promotion.

Myspace is the best place on the internet to promote your musical project. It has the largest network of users interested and/or involved with music in the world. It's easy to get friends on there and very simple to send out mass bulletins to your fans so they know when your next shows are, where they are, and whatever else you might want to promote, including new music you've just released.

If you don't have a Myspace page (or several) for your musical project, then you are really missing out. Having a Myspace page is practically mandatory these days, and you must get one ASAP if you're still don't have one. The first question a fan will ask you is "What's your myspace page?" It used to be, "Do you have a Myspace page?," but anymore it is expected that you have one. Don't let down your fans, go to Myspace and sign up, but first, read the rest of this article so you don't make any foolish mistakes.

There are a few little known tricks to working Myspace properly to get the most out of it, so listen up as I share those with you.

When you get a profile with Myspace, make sure you sign up for an "Artist Profile," otherwise you won't be able to upload your songs onto your page and your page won't be setup right to promote yourself. To do that, go to http://www.myspace.com, and once there, click on the small link on the upper right hand area of the page that says "Music." Once you are at that page, click on the link in the upper right hand area that says "Artist Signup." Just follow the instructions from there and your account will be setup in seconds.

That's just the beginning though. After you've setup your artist profile, you should really setup another profile as a normal account. This is the main type of profile available on Myspace, and is easy to find once you go to their main webpage.

The reason you want to do this is so that you have maximum exposure and flexibility for promoting your project on Myspace. Each of the two account types have different abilities within the Myspace realm. These abilities limit some of the things you're able to do, and when you have an account of each type for your musical project, you will have the ability to do anything possible within the Mypace realm. The features of each account have only grown more different over the years and I expect this trend to continue, so be sure to get a normal profile now if you don't already have on.

If you didn't know already, Myspace has recently added the ability to block friend requests from bands. This really hurt a lot of bands and groups as far as promoting on Myspace goes, but you can completely work around this problem just by creating a second normal profile to reach people who have blocked friend requests from artists. Not to mention, you will get a lot more fans by showing up in the search and browse results as an artist and as a "normal profile." It's quite likely that you'll be able to double your friend requests by doing this.

Once you have your normal profile, be sure to promote your artist profile on there so people will add you as a friend on both profiles and get a chance to listen to more of your music. Also, be sure to add a song to your normal profile from the songs you uploaded on your artist profile, that way this page is also very clearly promoting your music.

If you know html code, create a direct link within your normal profile that people can click on easily and immediately to access your artist profile and become your Myspace friend. If you don't know html code, just look up "create html link" on a search engine to get the html code you need to create such a link.

Now listen up, because here's one of the most overlooked tricks for taking full advantage of Myspace.

A lot of musicians have their own website. This can be useful, but it's not really necessary with Myspace. There are many advantages to using Myspace rather than using a website. Myspace is free and is within the biggest and best network for promoting your music. It also allows you to permanently befriend thousands of people on this network and communicate with them easily and conveniently for promotions and other reasons. Lastly, your fans are probably accustomed to using Myspace and understand how to search within it and to get the most information from your page. They don't have to try to figure out how your website works and hope they find what they're looking for in relation to your music. And because of this, you're more likely to gain fans and get their attention.

But taking full advantage of Myspace is difficult when your web address (URL) is a Myspace address. Not only are many of the names you may want already taken, but it's hard to verbally tell people your web address and have them remember it. The trick is to buy a domain name and redirect so that when people enter your web address, they land on your Myspace account page.

A lot of people don't realize this is possible, nor how cheap, easy and powerful this trick is. It's totally worth buying a domain name to do this. It costs less than $10 per year to register a domain and if you get it from Enom or GoDaddy, they can help you redirect the domain to your Myspace if you don't know what you're doing. Having a domain is a more professional way to promote your music and it's much easier to communicate to your fans.

These tricks have proven extremely effective for me and I'm sure they'll work for you too. Make sure you do this right away.



Brandon Robertson is "The Home Recording Guy." Sponsor of The Independent Musician Source.

As a studio owner and veteran musician he's an expert at making great sounding recordings in home environments and on a low budget. He's teaching musicians all of the world how cheap and easy it is to record themselves and avoid wasting time and money at recording studios. His love of independent music has driven him to do whatever he can to support DIY and independent musicians everywhere.

He's the author of two current books that every musician should read or listen to, including "The Ultimate Home Recording Guide For Anyone On Any Budget," and "The 22 Proven Secrets For Saving Tons Of Money When Buying Music Equipment."

His books are available at: [http://www.Guide.EasyRecordingHelp.com]

He also has a Free Audio mp3 Course that every musician should hear about promoting, recording and distribution available at [http://www.Your.MusicianPartner.com]

Home site: [http://www.IndependentMusicianSource.com]




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Indie Music Promotion Email List + Google Traffic = More Music Sales

Indie music promotion strategies are the same as the music promotion techniques used by major artists. The main difference, however, is that indie musicians do not have as much financial resources at their disposal as the major record labels do.

As an indie artist, you may not get your music advertised to millions via the various forms of offline media, such as in a TV, radio or magazine. You might not even be able to afford to be able to create your own CDs to sell at gigs. But the good news is that no-matter how limited your resources, you can still reach a large audience and make good money using indie music promotion strategies on the Internet.

Whether an indie musician or an artist with a major label behind you, the primary aim of the online music marketing techniques is the same: to develop a relationship with fans to help make sales. When you have developed a relationship with people, it is then much easier to make sales from them.

OK, so let's look at how indie musicians can promote their music on the Internet by using search engine traffic and an email list.

The Email List

The email list is the best way to make sales of your music. Now, when I say "sell your music", this does not have to be CDs that are sent through the post - this can simply be MP3 files that are downloaded.

The email list is such a powerful resource to use in order to make money from your music. It is especially important for indie musicians who do not have all the promotional resources in the world at their disposal.

The email list is so powerful because the people that have joined your email list have an interest in your music - otherwise they would not have signed up! Even with a small list of subscribers, you can make good sales if you handle your email list correctly.

The email list should be used to develop a relationship with your fans. You should be encouraging discussions of music in general with them, asking their thoughts, giving them cool members-only gifts and special offers, and announcing general news in the music world that is likely to interest them. When you have developed a relationship with the readers of your email list and have gained their trust, then they will be so much more likely to buy your music and merchandise when you promote this to them.

Many bands just use the email list as a way of sending out the monthly newsletter. A monthly newsletter is very important (and you should have one), but I think the contact with your fans should be more frequent than the just monthly newsletter. The communication does not always have to be about promoting something. Just sending out general emails to discuss interesting topics is a great way to develop a rapport.

OK, great, "but how exactly do I build my email list if no-one knows about my band in the first place?!" I hear you ask.

Fear not, we will get on to this. But it is important for you to first understand that you should have a means to capture the email addresses of your fans before you start an indie music marketing campaign.

So presuming you have your own website with an email opt-in box in the sidebar, we can now get down to business with getting people to your website. This will be done by using search engine traffic.

Search Engine Traffic

Having your website rank highly on Google for certain keywords can do wonders for your exposure. The good news for musicians is that it does not cost any money to get a high Google ranking and it can be relatively easy to achieve high rankings for certain keywords.

I am sure if you type in your band or musician name into Google, your website will already appear on the first page if you already have a http://www.yourbandname.com domain or social networking page that is. This is great, people who already know that your band exists can now click through to your website and learn more.

But what if people don't know that you exist yet?

It can be very powerful to have your band website appear on the front page of Google for a wide range of search terms other than just your band name.

You should try to get your website ranked highly for more generic terms such as the genre of your music, the geographical area of your band, the type of gigs you perform etc. This way people who are trying to find a new artist in a certain part of the world can find you with a generic search such as "New Jersey Punk Band' or 'Rock Music Gigs in Ontario'.

For certain keywords on the Internet, it can be very hard to rank for them. But music related keywords are much easier to rank for because they are not directly related to selling a certain product. Also, most musicians are not aware of the Internet based indie music marketing techniques that can be used to help them to rank highly on Google.

For example, it would be hard to rank highly on Google for terms related to buying an iPhone as many businesses are in competition for these terms, but competition for music related terms are going to have much less competition.

Think of as many relevant keywords as possible that people could type into Google in order to help them stumble across your band. Then you can try to make your band website (or separate blog posts on your website) rank on the first page of Google for as many of these keywords as possible.

You may find it impossible to rank for very generic terms such as 'indie band' or 'rock music', but more specific terms such as 'indie band Pittsburgh' or 'wedding band Cambridge' or 'singer-songwriter similar to Nelly Furtado' will be more achievable.

In order to rank highly for a certain keyword term you need to have this keyword phrase appear a few times (or at least once) in the text of your website and you also need to have other websites on the Internet linking to your website using your keyword as the anchor text link.

The anchor text is the keyword you wish to rank for, and appears as a link that is highlighted in blue and underlined on a webpage. If many other web pages around the Internet link to your website with this keyword, then Google will rank your band or musician website highly for that term.

The link to your website from another website on the Internet is known as a backlink. The more backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank.

Then as you get more and more traffic to your band website from Google, you will start to build you email list, develop a relationship with more fans, and make more sales.



The author is an internet marketer whom teaches musicians how to promote themselves online. Learn more about how to apply online music marketing techniques to promote your band, visit the Band WordPress Theme website.




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Music Promotion Plus Points Use Google+ and Sell Music Online

So you're a music artist/band and you've got your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social media sites signed up to. But are you on Google+?

If not, you're missing out. Big time.

Google+ is one of the fastest-rising social networking platforms. 21 days after its launch on July 2010, it had 20 million hits. In September, it already had 25 million registered users - not bad for a fledgling and super-new website.

An artist/band needs to deal with digital music distribution so they can make their names and talents known, and eventually sell their music online. If Google+ can do this, go ahead and sign up!

Why Choose Google+?

1. Higher ranking

Google+ is a product of Google itself; no wonder search results for Google+ users are THE first on-screen results. This is great because music promotion totally comes into play - isn't it exposure that artists and bands desire? So keep on top and sign up.

2. Advantageous features

Case in point: singer-songwriter Daria Musk. With the free Google+ features, specifically Google Hangout, Daria Musk was able to hold a virtual concert for fans and new listeners from around the world. With a core market and a niche fan base, Daria Musk was able to capitalize on making her music relevant; and such exposure was her stepping to to selling songs, sell albums.

What To Expect:

1. Band pages

Be legit - create a band page. You should create one right away - URL and band name - and have your own musical digital footprint. Select the category 'Arts, Entertainment and Sports' and you're all set.

2. Circles

As THE core function of Google+, having Circles means that you can follow anyone without their approval. You may also customize it to your needs - Circles for close friends, Circles for clients, Circles for fans, et cetera. Yes, use this as a tool to associate yourself or your sound to an artist you identify with. You never know, fans of this artist may discover you and you get that chance to sell your songs to them.

3. Hangout

Similar to the functions of Skype, Google Hangout allows you to use this free video conferencing service to showcase your music. Face time with fans and future fans alike? Utilize Hangout and make waves, again, a chance for music promotion.

4. Photos

Fans can't get enough of photos. But make sure not to over-expose yourself or you'll end up with a mean backlash. With Google+ too, it has the easier platform to upload photos. It's also connected to Google+ mobile apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems. Now uploading photos to your Google+ profile goes in seconds and everyone's updated right away.

5. +1

The counterpart of Facebook's Like button, the +1 button allows you to rate any page and makes your page rank higher in Google searches. Sweet integrated engagement marketing and music promotion tool right there!

Google+ is an effective music promotion tool you should use.



For more information about Music Promotion, please visit: jmddistribution.com




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