Pages

Friday, April 24, 2009

Twittad

Want to advertise your new album?
You looking for a different way to get the word out?


Why not try an ad on Twitter. You can go to the twittad web site and set up a ad for your music in very little time and get it seen By a lot of people. You can do many things like how long you want to run the ad, how much you want to pay for the ad and get it out in the the world of twitter.

You can click on the banner on the side bar of this blog and soon be on your way to a new area of marketing and advertising your music.

You will be hitting a fast growing social network. Why not give it a try its only a matter of time before every one is doing it. Why not be the First?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Band Mix

This is a good site if you are looking for musicians to add to your band. The band mix web site is like a help wanted ad section for bands. If you are looking for a bass player or a keyboard player or what ever you can think of this is the place to look. You have your own area you can set up with things like: A spot for music, band profile, photos, video, gear, gigs and comment board or blog.
The site is search able by postal code so you can look for others in your area with ease. You can also look at other bands and take a listen to their music to get an idea if you might fit in or if there is some one you might like to get into your band.

I think this site has good options for a starting point to build or rebuild a band. many different types of music you can look through and listen too as well. There is also a good list of other tools offered to each person, band or profile that is put up.

Very easy to get started and easy to use.

What are your thoughts on BandMix.ca ?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Rate Your Demo

This is a very cool site for getting your music reviewed. They have a hand full of categories of reviews. They take a little bit of time to go through them as I am sure they get lots of submissions and it all takes a bit of time. You can send in one, five or 10 songs to have rated. You can also get a video review where they get on a camera and give you feedback. This is all a paid service though. The costs range from $8.00 too $100 depending on what you want rated.

There is also a spot on this site to see how your doing with a rating system in place where people can vote you up or down. They also have a blog for chatter and feedback.

A very good idea in a clean, simple and sharp looking web site. A great way to get an idea on what others think of your work. Give them a quick look you might even find a band or artist that you would like to listen to that they have rated. Just pop on over to www.rateyourdemo.com

Monday, April 6, 2009

Blip.fm

This is a newer site and so far i am having a blast. What it is is something like Twitter but with music and about music. When you sign up you basically become your own Radio DJ. You can find songs to build a play list that you can share with friend or who ever is looking for music. You can follow other DJ's and see what they are listening to. There is also a option to link you blips to other networks like Twitter, Friend Finder and a bunch of others.

You can also add you own songs if you have them set up some place with the proper ID tags. The tads are like the tags used for RRS feeds and Itunes.

This site has the possibility to be a great tool for sharing hat your listening to and some of your own music.

Now if they come out with a banner or a widget you can add to your other web sites this would be an great extra link for people to get an idea what you like to listen too.

So far I like this site and the possibilities that it has as a great tool.

i have added a sample of the feed you can make and add any place with a few quick clicks on the blip.fm site. It is on the side bar of the main page of this blog.

Are you on there yet and if so what do you think of it so far?

Reverbnation

This site is great for new bands and artists. It has a lot of features that are easy to use and share. It is both a free site and you can pay about $35.00 for an upgrade that gets your music out there a little bit more.
The basics of what you get:
- A band profile page
- Photo gallery
-A music player
-Concert and gig list page
-Comments page
- Video gallery
-Mailing list tools
-a large selection of marketing tools
-A spot for press releases
-A media kit
- and many more

The nice thing about this site is it is also a Face Book application that you and your band members can all add to your face book page / profile.

With a paid membership you also get the added feature of having your music posted on the top 5 song down load sites like iTunes, Zune, Amazon and a few others. You also get your band high lighted more often on the main page and in the over all listing of all the bands on the site. Plus other features.

Reverbnation is also great with the marketing tools you get to use. You can make all kinds of widgets that you can place in web site, emails, news letters and can be passed around. Some of the widgets you can build are:

Tune packs - these let you spread samples of you songs around in many ways
Fan club widgets - these let people pass around the word about your band and help build you mailing list for news letters and event highlights

There are so many ways you can use these that its hard to even start listing them all. The best thing is signing up to their news letter, they let you know when they are bringing new tools for you to use.

Use also get a great tracking feature that lets you see how you music is doing. Either by sales, down loads, or listens.

So far the only con I have is not having the time and some better songs to put out for people to hear.

You can see an example of one of the tune widgets on the side bar of the main page of this blog.

What pros and cons do you see with ReverbNation?

Sunday, April 5, 2009

CD Baby

Cd baby is a great place to sell your music. They have been around for a good amount of time now and have a large catalogue of music too choose from. If you can think of a type of music they have it and ship right to you or your fans.

The basics of the site is very easy to navigate. For artists or bands looking to sell and track you music they have a package to fit your needs. You pay a small fee to set up a sales page that has all your information and gives you a place to sell you music around the world. They also have a host of other products and services that a band or artist can use.

once you have a page and are up and running they ask for a minimum amount of your CD and hold them to ship out for you. The nice thing is they never get rid of you even if you only sell 1 CD a year.

You can opt into news letters and other great things that they cover.

CD Baby is a well established place for music and I think one of the best places to start selling your music world wide.

I will dig deeper into all the things and benefits of CD Baby a little later.

What do you think of CD Baby? The pros and cons of what they can offer you as a band or artist?

MySpace

Well I am going to start with a site a lot of people use and know MySpace.

This is one of the best places to start if you are a new band or artist looking for place to start and build a network or fan base. It is very easy o set up and get started with. You have a basic lay out that is very easy to customize. There are many places that do these for free just take a look at some of you favorite bands and you will see little adds like Pimp My Profile. These type of sites give you options on how you want your my space page to look.

The myspace page for musicians is great and has a bunch of great options. The basic ones to get you going are things like:
- a built in music/ mp3 player.
- slide shows and a video players
- a friends list
-comment lists ( both on the page and for each song listed)
- a blog
- show and gig lists
- a great network news and alerts feature
and much much more

When I started my page there just over a year ago you could only load and post 4 songs. But just in the last week or so you should be able to now show off up to 10 songs. You can also add art work for each song as well as notes or lyrics. You also get the option to give the songs away or keep them locked and only playable on your site. You also get to see how many plays each song has had and a counter to see how many people have viewed your page.

The over all features are very easy to master and will have you zipping along in no time.
If you do not have your own web site and are on a budget this is a great free tool to start things rolling with.

My page with in my space needs some work and a bit more time to fine tune and work better for my music, but I am happy with what i have going so far.

So those are the pro that I see with MySpace.

What do you think of myspace as a starting point for new bands or artists?

About This Blog

Hello And welcome to the Indie Sound Promoter Blog.

What I hope to do is cover some information on the different on line tools that new bands and artists and find and use to promote their music.
Over then next while I will cover things like social networks, music hosting sites, places for t-shirts and things, as well as other helpful places and things you maybe able to use.

I'll also be looking for feedback and your thoughts on each of the different sites or new ones you may have come across. As well as share some music and a few laughs.