March 2012


The contacts listed are sorted into FIVE sections.
    1. Publications that will REVIEW your music
    2. Radio Stations/Shows that will PLAY your songs
    3. Labels, Vendors and Promotional Services that will help you to SELL your CD
    4. Sites where you can UPLOAD your band's MP3s or videos
    5. Helpful Resources for recording artists

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SECTION ONE: SITES/PUBLICATIONS WHERE YOU CAN GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED

All About Jazz
1693 Meadow Glen Dr. Lansdale, PA 19446
www.allaboutjazz.com
Jazz & Blues magazine/resource. You must become a member to get a review. Check our website for our list of reviewers.

Independent Music Promotions
James james@independentmusicpromotions.com
www.independentmusicpromotions.com
If you would like your band to have a feature, interview or review, please contact me for approval and submission details. You can submit via Music XRay as well, where I offer many artist services. All artists with professional quality music will be accepted and all genres are accepted as well.

Substream Magazine
PO Box 1059, Delaware, OH 43015
Jameson Ketchum jameson@substreammusicpress.com
www.substreammusicpress.com
A bi-monthly music and lifestyle magazine that focuses on discovering and sharing the best in new music, fashion and entertainment. By the time the mainstream media decides to cover it, Substream has already beat them to it! We are the industry and fan's "go to" resource for discovering the next big thing. In our eyes and the eyes of our readers, Substream describes something that the "mainstream" may dismiss. It doesn't mean that the "mainstream" will always ignore it, it just means that they haven't really embraced it yet. That is where Substream steps in and fills the gap. Our writers and staff are young adults from all over the world that are passionate about music and pop culture. We are the fans. This our lifestyle and the lifestyle of our readers are our peers. This is why Substream is so widely accepted: our readers TRUST us! We feature Punk, Rock, Pop, Harcore, Metal and Alternative music.

FratTunes
frattunes@gmail.com
www.frattunes.com
Hip Hop and Dance music blog. Send your song files to our e-mail address.

Adaras Magazine
8297 Champions Gate Blvd. #372, Champions Gate, FL 33896
PH: 866-502-5987 FX: 866-799-3305
Jahi Asad info@adarasmagazine.com
www.adarasmagazine.com
An online publication focusing on new talent in the fashion/entertainment industry. We don't do music reviews, but we do have feature articles on artists.

Vandala
Box 22001, Vernon, BC V1T 9L7
PH: 250-309-1299 FX: 250-545-4822
www.VandalaConcepts.com
Our Vandala Ezine and blog brings top independent music, interviews, reviews, news, events and more to fans with a 100% unique honest spin! Check our website for Submission Guidelines.

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SECTION TWO: RADIO STATIONS, SHOWS AND PROMOTERS

2.1 RADIO - STATIONS AND SHOWS

radio reddit
www.radioreddit.com
Internet radio where votes determine who is included and heard in the live streams. Once a song is approved by our song approvers (who simply check that what you uploaded is in accordance with our upload policy), it will be chosen at random to be played on radio reddit. There is a new uploads block on radio reddit and your song will most likely make its stream debut there on the day it is approved. On average you song will be played on the stream within one week after uploading. All music that is uploaded to radio reddit is played on the streams and available in the discover section. Artists have control over what genre their songs belong and whether or not they are downloadable.

SH ROCK
PH: 609-270-4646
Jim Santora info@shmusicmedia.com
www.shmusicmedia.com
An internet radio station playing Hard Rock. Metal and Progressive Rock. Please check our website for submission information.

HKGFM
www.hkgfm.net
Hong Kong based internet radio station. We have an international listenership in over 150 countries, reaching millions of listeners every month. Our service is divided up into eight distinct channels to cater to a broad range of music tastes, moods and occasions, giving our listeners as great a range of listening options as possible including an Alternative/Indie channel.

WFKU
Jacob Bouchard wfkuradio@gmail.com
www.wfku.org
We play the newest Dark and Dance music and fulfill your musical lust for the sinister and mysterious.

Radar Radio
Level 15, 50 Goulburn St. World Sq. Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia
PH: +61 (0)2-9375-1041 FX: +61 (0)2-9367-5557
music@radarradio.com.au
www.radarmusic.com.au
We're dedicated to supporting the best in Australian new music. Use our online form to submit your music.

TBFM Factor - Total Biker FM
www.tbfmfactor.com
A competition that is set over 15 weekly knockout weeks. Music from 10 bands each week will get airplay on the Sunday Show on Total Biker FM and then fans get to vote for one week on which band deserves a place in the final. After 15 weeks, a final place is given to a wildcard, which will be the highest voted for runner up from all the knockout stages. On week 16 the epic final takes place. All 16 bands get featured on air on a special 4 hour show and then all week during all regular shows while fans vote again for the best band of the competition. The winning band will receive some great prizes including the top prize of an exclusive one album record deal with American label Ripple Music. Bands genre must fit into the Rock/Punk/Metal category or sub genres of them. Bands must have original music. Covers/tributes are not counted sorry. Registration closes on 31st March 2012 and the competition gets under way on June 10th 2012 with the grand final in September.

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2.2 RADIO PROMOTERS







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SECTION THREE: SERVICES/VENDORS/LABELS THAT WILL HELP SELL YOUR MUSIC

3.1 SERVICES - PROMOTION/PUBLICITY

Working Brilliantly
PO Box 3457, Idyllwild, CA 92549
PH: 951-659-2452
Jennifer Thorington admin@workingbrilliantly.com
www.workingbrilliantly.com
A boutique PR and licensing company geared in helping independent artists rise to the top. To submit your material for representation please use Sonicbids!

Grit PR & Consulting
14300 NE 20th Ave. #102-364, Vancouver, WA 98686
Laurena Marrone gritpr@gmail.com
www.gritpr.com
We offer low-cost services to artists in the areas of publicity, marketing and promotion. Our commitment to our artists continues to exceed expectations and shatter preconceived notions about those on the "business" side of music and the arts.

UBOHAMMER
1914 11th St., Sacramento, CA 95811
PH: 916-519-8196
Aaris A. Schroeder ubohammer@gmail.com
www.ubomag.wordpress.com
Promotes underground, unsigned and independent artists and performers through media. We are a public relations, marketing & event organizing service.

ToCo Talents
4th Fl. Kong Ling Bldg. 102 Jervois St., Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
info@tocotalents.com
www.tocotalents.com
Specifically created to provide new and established artists a complete suite of services within the Asian Region including live bookings, music licensing, developing and implementing targeted marketing plans (with the artists) using social, online and traditional media, negotiating sync licensing deals, artist sponsorship, regional management.

AudioSocket
3518 Fremont Ave. N. #400, Seattle, WA 98103
PH: 206-701-7931 FX: 206-264-7916
www.audiosocketmusic.com
Licenses the best independent music to film, TV and new media in a fun, creative and efficient fashion.

The Management Agency
www.themanagementagency.com
Committed to providing the very best in development support, production and marketing for artists, ministries, and other businesses needing professional services so they can focus on what they do best. Our services include artist management, artist development (all aspects), tour management, promotions & marketing, concert & event promotions, website design, world-class production services (audio & video), branding & logo development and social network & fan development. We have over 30 years' experience in church and ministry business administration, Christian education, worship team training & development, and in the management and administration of tours (domestic & international), events of all kinds, non-profit consultation services, and artist development, administration and management.

Funky Dumpling PR
20 Jay St. #1004, Brooklyn, NY 11201
PH: 212-488-5210
info@funkydumpling.com
www.funkydumpling.com
Created with a twofold purpose. The first and foremost, to seek the largest amount of possible exposure for the music presented to us by artists and record labels. Secondly, Funky Dumpling believes in highlighting up-and-coming artists, artists with original points of view, innovative sounds and often an unconventional approach to what makes great music. Regardless of the type of campaign you choose, no matter the size of the press reach you require, Funky Dumpling is committed to achieving, as well as surpassing, the set goals for each client. We deal only with Electronic/Dance music and Hip Hop artists.

IndiePower.com
PH: 818-505-1836
info@indiepower.com
www.indiepower.com
Started by industry veterans to further the goal of helping develop the cutting edge of new artists and labels with innovative marketing and talent. Combining 25+ years of valuable experience with an arsenal of talents and a passion for breaking albums and artists, Indie Power is about to add a few new pages to the history books! @indie_power

The Musicians and Authors Media Group (MAMG)
1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
PH: 212-810-1151
Forrest Casey info@musiciansandauthors.com
www.musiciansandauthors.com
Promotes the works of established and emerging musicians and authors through our custom promotional print and website programs.



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3.2 SERVICES - LABELS, DISTRIBUTORS AND ONLINE VENDORS

Music Fan Forever
Gary Milholland gary@musicfanforever.com
musicfanforever.com
Sell your music as a living box set to make your fans become fans forever! Signup is free. Keep 80% of your selling price!

Black Mountain Productions
PO Box 91941, Henderson, NV 89009
PH: 702-568-7108
label@blackmountainproductions.net
www.blackmountainproductions.net
A full service music production and artist development organization. We scout the globe for new and unique talent. We Celebrate the indie artist from all areas of the music industry; from individual vocalists and bands to the "novice" or "seasoned" songwriter. Black Mountain considers all types of material in the following genres: Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, Rock, Alternative, Adult Contemporary, Dance-Techno, Latin, Country and Instrumental Jazz.

Boss Big Entertainment
PO Box 1582, Mobile, AL 36633
PH: 251-424-2477 FX: 888-505-5802
Janice Pritchett music@bossbigent.com
www.bossbigent.com
Composed of a group of experienced musicians, promoters and music industry executives that have united to take talented Hip Hop artists to the next level. If you think you have what it takes to make it in the music industry please send an e-mail with samples of your music and a brief bio. You can also fill out our online form and upload your bio along with three of your best songs.

Indieheaven
5016 Spedale Ct. #181, Spring Hill, TN 37174
www.indieheaven.com
The leading independent Christian musician/artist resource agency serving thousands of indie artists non-stop since 1997. Indieheaven provides a comprehensive set of tools for bands, singers, songwriters, musicians to promote, market and distribute their music and display their content on a safe, professional and established website. Indieheaven also is an online music store, where fans of Christian music can purchase physical CDs, and digital songs/digital albums made available by members. Members are paid 100% of the gross sales of their music, which furthers their music missions.

Suburban Noize Records
1317 N. San Fernando Blvd. #385, Burbank, CA 91504-4272
frontdesk@suburbannoizerecords.com
www.suburbannoizerecords.com
Specializes in Punk and Underground Hip Hop. Submit your demo using our online form. Please enter the information you'd like publicly displayed with your track. Your demo will not be posted immediately and is subject to review. All songs must be in MP3 format. If you upload artwork please make sure the file is no larger than 300px by 300px.


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SECTION FOUR: SITES WHERE YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR BAND'S MP3s OR VIDEOS

restorm
Hardturmstrasse 253, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland
PH: +41 (0)44-880-00-05 FX: +41 (0)44-880-00-06
contact@restorm.com
www.restorm.com
License your music for films and advertising or sell it to your fans. We charge the lowest commission worldwide. a music platform designed to help your work in the music industry. With our professional and completely free tools, you can earn money online, generate more attention for your music, and save time all at once. restorm.com brings together all actors of the music industry. Artists, labels, promoters, media representatives and music lovers can all share their passion for music in one place.

INgrooves
444 Spear St. #213, San Francisco, CA 94105
PH: 415-489-7000 FX: 415-489-7049
www.ingrooves.com
We provide non-exclusive sync licensing support to our label partners. Record labels signed to INgrooves benefit from the creative and well connected licensing team. The licensing department works with top music supervisors, ad agencies and game developers to synch songs from the catalog into innovative projects. Please read our submission details before sending in your music (if you don't follow the instructions we have listed, your music will not be listened to).

MusikPitch
1512 Dallas Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
PH: 615-290-5702
support@musikpitch.com
www.musikpitch.com
Submit your original music for movie trailers, background music, commercial music, advertising jingles and other custom music contests. If your song wins, you get paid.

Club Mixed
121 Honor Oak Park, London, SE23 3LD UK
PH: 020-8291-3600
contact@d-rom.com
www.clubmixed.com
The first streaming site geared towards independent DJs, producers and labels and offers free, unrestricted access to over 12,000 new tracks from labels across the globe, plus releases the new mix albums they've created from them - not only through Clubmixed but also via 600 + further distribution channels, including iTunes. DJs have the freedom to create any mix they want, confident that everything is licensed and all production talents are rewarded.

Digital Syndicate Network (DSN Music)
PH: 702-608-7128
www.dsnMusic.com
Providing independent artists a global platform to showcase their content via digital media. Alternative, Metal, Punk and Hip Hop.

TopBlip
support@topblip.com
www.topblip.com
Upload your videos - all of 'em! Get the exposure and recognition you want, need and deserve. Best part - you get to have some fun, make some friends and win legit prizes and CASH MONEY along the way! Showcase your skills and find new talented peeps to collaborate with on TopBlip.

Tudou
PH: +86-21-51-702-372
customerservice@tudou.com
www.tudou.com
The first user generated content and video sharing site launched in China where users can upload, view and share video clips.

JukeBoxAlive
311 Montford Ave. Asheville, NC 28801
PH: 828-232-0016
Will Cumberland cumberland@jukeboxalive.com
jukeboxalive.com
Our Advanced Jukebox Player protects your music from being digitally downloaded, yet allows fans to hear your music online. This creates exciting possibilities for you to present yourself to new audiences without being ripped off.



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SECTION FIVE: SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Talkic.com
378 Eglinton Ave. W., Toronto, ON M5N 1A2
PH: 416-200-7227
David Katz talkit@talkic.com
www.talkic.com
Looking for a place to share your music? If you want your music to make a difference, please consider free social network Talkic.com, where contributing to topics benefits causes. Talkic is a topical way to make new connections and a free way to click for a cause. When sharing your music, pictures, thoughts or links across different topics, you're also clicking for the charity of your choice as Talkic donates 1.1 cents every click to your choice of more than 20 charities from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Musicians, once your songs are up, I tweet and post your tracks to other social networks as well (please remember to create a musician profile so that you can share your songs for change).

Rock City Club
www.rockcityclub.com
Whether you just formed a band yesterday or you are an artist that has twenty years in the music biz ... we created the world's only "Social Music Network" to work with the millions upon millions of undiscovered and unsigned artists and bands around the globe. We have truly leveled the playing field for musicians to finally expose and distribute their music content to a worldwide audience.

Imasongwriter.Org
support@imasongwriter.org
www.imasongwriter.org
Online community for singers and songwriters. Tech savvy musicians and singers are available to you to help you complete a musical project. Let's say you are a songwriter but not a singer - then you may hire a singer from the site to sing and record the vocals of your song. The same is true if you would like a guitar solo placed in your music. Anything you may need musically can be found on the site (instrumentalist, musicians, singers and even studios to fine tune your recordings).



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SECTION SIX: HELPFUL TOOLS AND RESOURCES FOR YOUR BAND

6.1 RESOURCES - GENERAL

Hollywood Music in Media Awards
Brent support@hmmawards.com
www.hollywoodgignetwork.com
The HMMA is currently accepting submissions of your music for Nomination Consideration! Nominees are announced monthly and published on the HMMA main website. Get your music to the HMMA today! HMMA nominees and winners enjoy a red carpet walk in front of press and media at the annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards Gala in Hollywood, CA as well as exclusive global promotion on digital music compilations that only HMMA offers!

Alabama Music Office.com
4810 Watermelon Rd. Northport, AL 35473
PH: 205-349-9523
Jerry W. Henry jerry@alabamamusicoffice.com
www.alabamamusicoffice.com
The Alabama Music Office (AMO) was founded to promote Alabama music and musicians. AMO provides Alabama's largest music database which is used as an information clearinghouse for the Alabama music industry.

TuneFund
10 Pine St., Cold Spring, NY 10516
PH: 646-580-6020
Greg Remillard greg@tunefund.com
www.tunefund.com
A crowdfunding platform for musicians to raise money for career related expenses like recording, video production, touring, marketing and merchandise.

The Noise Network
223 Park St., South Melbourne, VIC 3205 Australia
PH: +61-3-9690-2551
Tim Cashmere tim@thenoisenetwork.com
www.noise11.com
Produces daily video content featuring the day's music news, editorial, biography and artist interview features. With a long established credibility within the music industry, The Noise Network works directly with all major and independent record labels and promoters in Australia as well as labels, publicists and promoters in the USA and UK.

The Metal Crew
www.themetalcrew.com
We started out working with record stores to promote Metal for a month each year as March is Metal Month. After a couple years, we wanted to find a way to celebrate Metal every month. Here we are.

Notion Music - You Are Next
2302 W. Meadowview Rd. #200, Greensboro, NC 27407
PH: 336-275-2994 FX: 336-275-9654
www.notionmusic.com/youarenext.html
As a leader in music notation tools for cutting-edge artists, Notion Music is always thinking ahead about what's next for composers, songwriters, and musicians. Now, we'd like to help expose forward-thinking artists of all ages to the world with our YOU ARE NEXT campaign. Potential exposure could include full-page print ads in top music and technology magazines, banner ads on high traffic industry sites, attention through social media, features on our site with links back to you, free gifts, and more ...

ONErpm
getfeatured@onerpm.com
www.onerpm.com
Sell your music on Facebook. Distribution to iTunes and 70+ other stores globally. In addition, every week we highlight and up-and-coming artist on our blog and social media communities. We also promote artists on our home page and on banners throughout the site, and pitch stores like iTunes to prominently place our albums and artists in their store. We consider a variety of factors when promoting an album, including editorial preferences, sales performance, recent media coverage, and other fan engagement data, such as the number of Facebook likes an artist has. To be considered, please send an e-mail to the above address.

Festival Network Online
www.festivalnet.com
There's nothing like a live performance! FNO lists more than 7,000 events throughout the U.S. and Canada seeking performers, from local & regional to national & international. @_festivalnet Search by 22 different music genres, event attendance, zip code radius & more. Plug in festival dates with club dates.


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6.2 RESOURCES - EDUCATIONAL

MusicianWages.com
www.musicianwages.com
Our articles discuss not just how to be a musician, but how to make a living as a musician. There are many resources about the music business, but this website is about the musician business - for those who create the music.

Music Marketing Manifesto Blog
John Oszajca john@musicmarketingmanifesto.com
www.MusicMarketingManifesto.com
Advanced strategies, secrets, tactics and tips on selling your music online. @JohnOszajca




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6.3 RESOURCES - TOOLS

setlist.fm
www.setlist.fm
A wiki-like service to collect and share setlists. Search, add and edit setlists embed them into your website and get personal tour and song statistics. All for free! You've been to a concert recently? Yes? Now show us your love and add the setlist ... or whatever you remember!

HARO
info@helpareporter.com
www.helpareporter.com
Every day, HARO brings nearly 30,000 reporters and bloggers, over 100,000 news sources and thousands of small businesses together to tell their stories, promote their brands and sell their products and services. Since its inception, Two Cats and a Cup of Coffee under its mark HARO has published more than 75,000 journalist queries, has facilitated nearly 7,500,000 media pitches, and has marketed and promoted close to 1,500 brands to the media, small businesses and consumers. HARO is entirely free to sources and reporters, and unlike a majority of social media services, is independently owned and funded and has been profitable since day one. In addition, HARO serves as a vital social networking resource for sources, reporters and advertisers who use the service.

CDstands.com
30 Compton Way, Hamilton Sq. NJ 08690
PH: 609-689-1711
Scott Clark info@cdreview.com
www.cdstands.com
We manufacture our own line of CD boxes for artists to sell their music at shows or in stores.

Hostbaby
5925 NE 80th Ave. Portland, OR 97218
PH: 888-448-6369
hostbaby@hostbaby.com
www.hostbaby.com
The best place to host your website/domain! Powerful artist tools including blogging, calendar, mailing list, selling merch, and streaming audio. Integrate your site with Facebook, Twitter and more! No design skills are needed. We have hundreds of professional design templates. Sell your music through CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, Rhapsody + over 15 other music sites!



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6.4 RESOURCES - ORGANIZATIONS

Music Heals
#400-1788 W. 5th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6J 1P2
PH: 604-742-1750
kellie@musicheals.ca
www.musicheals.ca
We are a group of music enthusiasts and lovers who have come together to help raise awareness of the healing powers of music. The Music Heals Charitable Foundation supports a wide range of music therapy services to communities in BC and across Canada by providing ongoing funding for those agencies that develop and use music therapy.




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SECTION SEVEN: THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE

7 Effective Strategies To Get Your Music Noticed

by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan authors of "The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician"
© 2013 All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission


In some music business schools, they still give students assignments that go like this: "Assume that you have one million dollars. Make up a marketing plan on how to promote a band."

Here's a realistic assignment: "Go to MySpace. Pick a band. You have zero dollars. Now go promote them."

Although most bands would like to have the kind of budget to promote their latest album on TV, radio, and billboards, they are more likely to have just enough to print up posters for the next gig. And yet indies can get the kind of attention that major label acts get. You just need to plan appropriately and implement a few tried-and-true strategies.

Here are seven effective strategies to get you and your music noticed. The good news is they're easy on the pocketbook and can be acted on today. All they take is a bit of time and some thought about how to get your music directly in front of the people that are likely to be your new fans. While they may not have heard of you yet, if you follow these strategies, they will.

You have one thing to do before you get started, though. It's the one thing that every band must know: who's the audience for your music. What are their ages? Where do they hang out? What do they do? What are their interests? Who are they? The better you know your target audience, the easier you'll find the strategies are to implement and the greater the return on your planning.

Once you know your audience, dig in.

SEVEN EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES

1. The Standing-Out Strategy
2. The Piggybacking Strategy
3. The Agent Strategy
4. The Multi-Tasking Strategy
5. The Long Haul Strategy
6. The Street Team strategy
7. The Stay-Tuned Strategy

1. The Standing-Out Strategy
The first thing most musicians think of when they want to promote their music is to get it reviewed by a music publication or played on the radio.

Don't start there. Publications and media that cater solely to music are probably the hardest place to get your music noticed.

The competition for attention in music publications and sites is overwhelming. For instance, National Public Radio's "All Songs Considered" receives 200 to 300 CDs submitted a week. Out of that, there are only eight that get featured. And those are sandwiched in between other songs, and played just once. The same is true with music reviews. Although they are good for getting quotes for your press kit, it probably won't get you many new fans, since it's a music review in a pile of music reviews.

Instead of focusing on music publications and media, think in terms of audiences. Put your music where it will stand out from the crowd. As an example, consider one of the biggest sellers in the early days of CDBaby.com: an album about sailing. Instead of following the crowd and sending the album to a music magazine, the band instead cleverly sent their album to a sailing magazine.

The sailing magazine, which wasn't used to receiving music, much less an entire album dedicated to exactly what the magazine was about, ended up getting reviewed in the magazine. The band's CD stood out. It didn't have to compete against stacks ad stacks of other CDs to get noticed. And because the magazine had a large audience and the CD got a great review, sales shot through the roof.

This is what we call the standing-out strategy, and the great thing about it is, there is room for everyone. While your music is in a musical niche, targeting the people that like that kind of music directly, represents only one, highly competitive channel for your music. By putting your music where there usually isn't any, your music can get noticed.

2. The Piggybacking Strategy
When you're not well known, the quickest way to get the word out there is to piggyback on something that people already know about. One the best known forms of piggybacking is listing out the bands you "sound like" on your web site. This gives new listeners a clue as to what to expect by drawing on what they already know. Of course, another popular piggybacking tactic is to cover a well-known song. Often, these covers become your initial best-sellers. But they also act as a gateway. If listeners like your version, they'll likely check out your original material.

But piggybacking on other bands or cover songs isn't the only thing that you can piggyback on. You can piggyback on anything that already has an audience.

For example, our own band, Beatnik Turtle, wrote a song called "Star Wars (A Movie Like No Other)". It summarized the entire original Star Wars trilogy in a single song. Around the same time, StarWars.com released a video mashup tool and so we decided to make a video for the song. The video ended up getting played over fifteen thousand times thanks to the active community at that site. That popularity led to it getting picked up by Atom.com which in turn led to it being aired on SpikeTV to celebrate the Star Wars 32nd anniversary.

Current events and popular culture provide opportunities for piggybacking as well. When a topic is hot, a large number of people will be searching for information about it. For instance, The Brobdingnagian Bards, a Celtic Renaissance musical duo, are always looking for trends to ride, so when the Monty Python musical Spamalot got popular, they posted a blog entry about Spamalot and also mentioned that they covered a Monty Python song previously. The post got a ton of hits, got them noticed by new fans, and resulted in sales.

But piggybacking isn't always about how to get publicity. It can be for a good cause as well. Grant Baciocco of Throwing Toasters put together two compilation charity albums called Laughter Is a Powerful Weapon, with music donated by himself and many other well-known comedy artists. The money from one went to the Twin Towers orphans fund and the other went to the Red Cross for Katrina victims.

3. The Agent Strategy
Most bands start out promoting and representing themselves because they start out small. But it's human nature to think more of someone when they have someone acting on their behalf. In fact, it's been shown to be true in various psychological and sociological studies. Even if you're just starting out, find someone to represent you and you'll have more successes.

Having an agent is even more useful during negotiations, because they can be as tough as they want to. If you negotiate for yourself and you give the other side a particularly hard time, they might start to dislike you, rather than your agent.

4. The Multi-Tasking Strategy
The musicians that have the most success don't just rely on one project for their income. Most of them work on many things beyond playing live, selling albums, and selling merchandise.

For instance:

- Jonathan Coulton participates in the Popular Science magazine podcast at popsci.com and licenses his music.

- Brad Turcotte of Brad Sucks maintains multiple Web sites including stripcreator.com and also licenses his music.

- Grant Baciocco of Throwing Toasters writes and produces the multiple-award-winning podcast "The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd," does voice-over and acting work, and produces a podcast for the Jim Henson Company, among other projects.

- George Hrab is a drummer in a popular cover band that plays at weddings and corporate events, writes and produces his Geologic Podcast, and has written a book.

- The members of Beatnik Turtle have day jobs, run IndieGuide.com, and write books like The Indie Band Survival Guide and articles like this one.

Not only do musicians like these have a lot of projects going on, they use the projects to promote the others.

5. The Long-Haul Strategy
While major labels had to focus on making one-hit-wonders because of their business model, that was never the best situation for the musician. Furthermore, it's not even similar to the way that most businesses work: build their name over the long term, and eventually get consistent income over time. A band or artist can be just like any other business that starts out small, and eventually becomes solidly established.

For example, in 2001, Brad Turcotte released his first album online as a downloadable set of MP3s. The money he made from this allowed him to do a run of CDs, which got him another surge of new fans. Later, he released the source tracks to his music, this time making new fans among people who enjoy remixing songs. After he packaged the best remixes into another CD, he got a new surge of fans who loved both the remixes and the original material. By the time he released his second album, it not only did well in its own right, it generated interest in his previous albums.

6. The Street Team Strategy
Today's artists are more connected with their fans than ever. And in these days of social networks, word of mouth is many times more powerful than it's ever been. Every fan you have is connected to many more people, and sometimes, all you have to do is ask in order to get their help in spreading the word. A street team in the past was all about putting fliers in coffee shops. Today, with the Web, they can distribute your music to new fans, get the word out about your shows through their social networks, or even get people to sign up to your mailing lists.

The key to a successful street team, is to be explicit in asking what it is you want them to do. Then, be sure to give them the tools that they need to be successful. And of course, reward them for their help. If you need some practical advice on how to create and manage a street team, there's step-by-step instructions here.

7. The Stay-Tuned Strategy
Before radio DJs head into the commercials, they announce what they're going to play after the break. This keeps people tuned in during the break. You can adopt the same technique. Always talk about your next project when you talk about your band, whether you're talking to the press, your fans (your blog, Twitter, Facebook), or other musicians.

Here's why:

- Your fans will keep tabs on you until that next project is released.

- The press might ask questions about your upcoming projects and write future stories.

- It gets people involved: If you don't announce what you have planned, you might miss out on a fan that can help.

- It keeps your own band members motivated and working toward the same goals.

So it helps to have a sound bite on the tip of your tongue about what you're doing next. Movies have trailers, and a band should have announcements of what's to come.

As you can see, many different strategies are available to help you get noticed. There are no rules to this new music business, so we suggest experimenting with as many strategies, projects, and ideas to see what works best for you and your music. When you find something that works, keep it up; and when you find something that doesn't, just move on.

Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan are authors of The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician, The DIY Music Manual, and founders of the free and open musician resource, www.IndieGuide.com


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