by Jason Paul JohnstonAs an independent musician myself with an upcoming album, I'm looking for the best way to harness the amazing power of the web to get my music out there and heard by the masses. It seems like there are hundreds of music marketing tools on the web and the list is growing every day. Some sites will make the indie musician feel like it is the secret portal into universal stardom (Don't believe the hype - btw). Most are not an end-all solution, but rather just one more way you can get yourself and your music in front of people who might care. These are my top ten Free sites that can be used for marketing your music:
Twitter :: There is too much hype about twitter, but it can be a good way to stay in constant contact with your fans and friends (in 140 characters or less). Use it to promote shows or many artists will tweet from shows to remind last minute "maybe" guests.
Myspace :: It is slipping from its dominance in social networking, but still king in terms of musician pages. If you are a musician right now you must have a myspace. Use it for promoting shows, free streaming of your music and interactive connection with fans. Now, myspace friends do not necessarily make fans but you can utilize tools like the bulletins help eventually monetize the relationship. (Like come to a show or buy a song) Make sure you sign up as an artist here not just a regular person (because we are different you know...)
Reverbnation :: Great site for making a free e-mail mailing list and widgets to promote your music. If you do a lot of gigs, adding shows is so easy here compared to the other sites. There are some paid services there as well, but I'm not sure they are worth it. Like with all of these sites, you can't blame them for trying to make an honest living! But use all the free services first before you pay out. One great tool is to advertise a free download just for signing up as a fan - you can get my new single "Willows Motel" FREE by clicking here. (See it works ;)
Nimibit :: Free widget for selling CD's, digital downloads and e-tickets with fair commission based pricing. This is the only sales widget you can use directly on Myspace. Caution: Do not get locked into digital distribution with any company who (in the fine print) say they will remove your songs from iTunes if you stop paying their monthly or yearly fee. There are better ways like CDbaby.com
Gydget :: A free widget that can be used for streaming audio and video. The key here is how easy it is for fans to put this widget on their own social networking site (facebook, etc.) and therefore spreading the word virally.
Artistdata :: The tag line is "Musicians should only enter data once." I agree. Once you get a few of these sites even changing the date on a show becomes and hour job. Artistdata.com allows you to enter blogs, your status or concert dates only once and then update other sites of your choice like myspace, facebook, purevolume, sonicbids and twitter. I find it is still not as easy as it makes it out to be, but it's a step in the right direction.
My Band (For Facebook) :: If you are on Facebook and especially if you already have a Reverbnation setup, the My Band application will do everything that Reverbnation will do, except it's all in facebook and much easier for your music to spread from profile to profile. Sign up for Reverbnation first and it will sync your profile.
Broadjam :: There are free and paid options. The free option still allows you to create a mini site, upload and sell songs, and submit to industry opportunities (for a fee).
iLike :: iLike is very active as an application in facebook (45 million users), but is not that same thing as facebook. Like many of the others, you can post songs, but these songs can be "dedicated" to people on their facebook profiles that give it some viral strength. You can also use iLike to post across some of the other music sites.
Last.fm :: For original songs, this is a great way to get some internet radio play. Make sure you sign up in the artist/labels section here so you can upload your music for the world to hear and gain some new fans along the way. The bad thing is that Last.fm is not that active in Canada because of the monthly user fee Canadians need to pay. But it is a great way to penetrate the US market and get paid for play if you sign the agreement.
It would be impossible for an indie musician to keep up with all ten of these sites. You should pick a game plan for how you will focus your fans. Maybe pick one or two sites where you make the most money from downloads and that has the most up-to-date info. Then use the other sites to point to these focus sites. In the end, all these sites will come and go so I think it is really important for a musician to have their own website with their own domain name and steer people back to that site for sales and connections. Now go and upload some songs and pictures and let the world hear your music!
