As an unsigned/independent artist I’m always looking at sites that have a big listener base rather than just being for music makers.

I also like sites that are bit more friendly when it comes to promotion.

Some sites are very static, some need a lot of attention.

Some are worth the attention and some aren’t.

Stereofame is weird, I enjoy it. It’s quite in your face though.

The longer you stay on the site, the more attention you seem to get.

But it does generate genuine listens. It’s free to upload 5 songs and offer them for sale.

You get signed by labels which are run by listeners who score points by getting you listened to and getting you higher in the charts.

It’s a neat idea.

And if anything it’s another place to host your music for free.

Here’s my widget below, I score points if you click it and sign up.

The more points I get the higher position I get, the more listeners I get again more points.

I’m not asking you to click it(ahem) but merely showing you how the game works.

Musician get’s points by being downloaded, listens, sending and receiving messages etc
Listeners score points by signing artists, promoting labels, listening to tunes etc

Check it out,

http://www.stereofame.com/back_bone_shiver

Strange I thought as I’ve not been to that site for some time.

To cut a longish story short, I messed up over there by adding all my songs at once.

If you’ve been to the TheSixtyOne then you’ll understand.

If not then I’ll tell you.

TheSixtyOne is a site where you upload you’re music and listeners bump a song – to bump a song costs the listener points. The one who discovers you first gains a better reputation as a listener.

More about TheSixtyOne

It’s a great site, really cool idea and works for both artist and listener.

Problem for me was I messed up and uploaded too many songs far too quickly.

So anyway I get some comments on my wall over there this morning and one of the nice listeners pointed me toward this site, http://www.passivepromotion.com/

It’s a really niceley written site containing articles about quite a lot of OMD’s and music sites.

To put it simply, investigate a site before you upload your music.

Make sure it fits you and wether it’s worth the effort – I know the temptation is there to throw your music all over the net and sit back, fingers crossed and wait for the people to come to you.

Truth is that just isn’t going to happen.

You need to involve yourself – find a site that,

1. allows you to involve yourself in a way that suits you.

2. that you enjoy participating in.

Find as many ways as you can to get heard – be cheeky.

Now being cheeky is not the same as being rude or trolling, spamming or being ignorant.

—Direct Contact Email a music site—

If you do email a site to get a review,

1. make sure your music is easy to get to.

2. Can you send them a CD or MP3

3. Use your first name and try and be personal in your dealings.

4. Be polite – be aware that a lot of these sites, as with this one are for the most part run as a hobby/side project.

5. Have a lot of information – don’t make or try an make someone find the information – personally I won’t.

6. Before you send mp3s or as in point 5 a lot of information send an enquiry email.

I’ll give you an example of an email that I hate.

‘Hi, we’re a band in a country got a cd here’s our myspace page have a listen we’re ace thanks’

Your first email should be polite – enough information to find out if the site is interested and short enough that it doesn’t feel like a life story – check you’re email before you send – keep it light, sometimes the emails I get feel like a demand for attention. If you don’t recieve a reply then carry one,  if you do then follow it up.

—Going into forums—

Forums, ha yeah grrreat fun – I used to like forums and still use them for finding out bits and peices of information.

My favourite one is the forum over at synthedit – everyone seems to be very polite and easy going.

A lot of other ones seem to be full of bile, contempt and usually one fat headed idiot who sneers at your grammar and wotnot.

To be fair though I’ve had quite a bit of success down that route – forums if they are played right can bring you a lot of listeners and a loyal following but they can also take up way too much of your time discussing topics that are nothing to do with what you went there for.

Flame wars, trolling, spam, lurking, discussion, promotion…

Which one of these gets you noticed?

Well a flame war will do the trick! Now I’m not advocating a flame war but if you’re in the right about something and someone steps up to try and start a flame war don’t back off, take them on.

Never start a war though – unless the person who started it is there for the taking.

Trolling will just annoy the hell out of people – it’s as bad as spamming.

Both will lead to flames and are counter productive.

Self promotion is fine but keep it to a minimum – put your website in your signature.

If you’ve got a cd out put that there too.

And if you’ve got some good news about your music post it. Once. Just because the first one isn’t read doesn’t mean a second one will…

The best way to promote yourself is to involve yourself in the discussions, review tracks, be active and use you’re time wisely – don’t start a flame war – they’re ultimately boring in the end.

Being a face who is seen all the time without being seen to live on the site will get you noticed. Especially if you engage in decent conversation and always have a valid point to ask/make – simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’, ‘what he said’ comments are worthless, be active, be vocal and be entertaining.

Forums take up a lot of time though.

—Blogging—

I use this site to rid myself of musical thoughts away from my ‘music’

Production ideas and techniques.

Just all the junk in my head.

It’s a way of keeping my head awake when I’m not being ‘Back Bone Shiver’

But blogging about you music can be fun and informative.

If you have a lot of fans it’s a way of including them in what you do.

But try and do it in a way that engages the reader, a series boring self congratulatory, self promoting, repetative articles about your navel gazing will not do the trick.

Be original and be honest. Update regularily and try and tie it in with your social networking sites, but in a way that’s friendly.

If every post and update started with ‘gig 09.02.09 the lambshank cardiff’ or’new song available’ then you’re reader will just get a snow blindness to what your doing.

If you blog about all things to do with what you do and throw in some other personal stuff, ideas, thoughts, brain farts etc you’ll engage the audience.

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Ok that’s enough now I’m hungry bye…