A step-by-step list of the best online resources for independent musicians to use.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 6:39PM Note: this list was compiled by me between 2008 nd 2010 and is geared toward non-performing musicians. Also, it's not perfect, so if you have additions, please suggest them!
BEFORE YOU EVEN TAKE STEP 0, READ THIS:
An Introduction to the Self-Released Album. This four-part series on Musician Wages is awesome and should tell you just about everything you need to know, except, of course, how to write a surefire hit song!
http://www.musicianwages.com/the-self-released-album/
STEP 0 - COPYRIGHT YOUR SONGS AND JOIN ASCAP, BMI OR SESAC
It’s a cruel world, so before you do anything make sure your legal I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. You can read about performance rights organizations (ASCAP, etc.) here; for copyright info, go here.
copyright.gov
Use the electronic form to save money and speed the process. Save even more money by registering collections of works (an album), if practical (you have to be sure about the songs you’re going to include!).
ASCAP - I went with these guys, no particular reason.
SESAC
STEP 1 - GET STARTED BY READING THESE BLOGS
They will help you to begin wrapping your brain around the complex, daunting and, at times, overwhelming world of DIY music.
Ideas for set-it-and-forget-it promotion. KILLER.
Written by the guy who does passive promotion, but for his own music, sobering, because he breaks out revenues.
Music Publishing and Songwriting
Very informative blog about music business by Berklee prof and publishing heavy Eric Beall.
Packed with useful info and insight.
I just discovered this recently, but it seems to be really good.
STEP 2 - GET SOME FEEDBACK (OPTIONAL)
If you play your songs for your friends and family they’re going to say they like them. The rest of the world? Who knows? So, before you really invest in this music thing and to help you decide which songs to put the most effort behind, here are some ways to get feedback (hope you have a thick skin!).
If you only do one thing, put some songs up on Broadjam. The base membership is free and for every review you submit of other people’s music you will earn one review credit to others review yours, which means one of your tunes will be put into rotation for others to review. Within a few weeks, you will have lots of reviews of your stuff and you will have heard lots of other people’s stuff. Plus, the process of reviewing is helpful, I think, as it really forces you to think about music critically. Sadly, the Broadjam community does not take kindly to brutal honesty, so most people tend to award three stars to stuff. My advice: pay attention to the four/five-star and one-star reviews, but only if they are accompanied by thoughtful notes.
Do you feel tough? Is your skin thicker than an T-Rex’s? CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH? If so, try Soundout. It’s not perfect, not by a long shot, but for $30, you can be reviewed by 80 people, whose collective wisdom will be presented to you in a PDF report. Click here for a review of the service.
More on this service later, but it’s also a cool way to get feedback. Here’s a link to a great post about using Jango to “focus group” your music.
STEP 3 - “BUILD” YOUR WEB SITE
Every independent artist should have a Web site. Sadly, Web sites are hard to build, so I recommend used services that simplify the whole process, yet don’t limit you should you decide to get more ambitious down the road.
Google’s free blogging service is your best choice for a site that will offer decent functionality and be able to handle loads of traffic. You can even set up Google Analytics (if you can figure it out!) for accurate stats.
The original service for bloggers, as far as I know, and a great one. If Blogger is your Toyota, this is your Lexus, but still basically a service for blogs and not full Web sites.
These days, it seems like EVERYONE is using Wordpress, and why not? It looks pretty great. You can either use their free templates or hire a Worpress programmer to build you full functioning Wordpress Web site. Expect to pay at least $2500 well-spent dollars.
This is what I use, and while it may not offer as much flexibility as Wordpress, it’s better for me because it’s easier. With a Squarespace account, you can set up a simple Web site like the one you’re on now, or get more ambitious by either learning HTML or hiring a Squarespace developer. Either way, Squarespace hosts your site, so you don’t have to bother with this yourself. Customer service is THE BEST and reliability is TOP NOTCH.
STEP 4 - UPLOAD YOUR MUSIC SO PEOPLE CAN STREAM, DOWNLOAD OR, GOD FORBID, BUY IT. (MORE ON PHYSICAL LATER)
Most web sites services aren’t set up to let you host your music on the site. Rather, you upload it to a hosting service, then place a player on your site.
To me, bandcamp is the best music hosting site around for streaming and direct sales. They are rock solid, offer great service, only take 15% of sales (otherwise they are free), let people download low-fi or uncompressed files, offer cool, embeddable players and on and on. Really, they’re the best. But what if you want to let someone hear a track without giving the rest of the world access to it? Consider:
Not free, but worth every penny, I think. Best feature: private links, which let you grant access to a track or tracks via a simple email link. Slick. The players also let you highlight places in your track of special notice. For example, you could annotate your track with stuff like “start here for killer guitar solo” or “my best bridge ever.”
STEP 4.5 - DISTRIBUTION TO iTUNES / AMAZON
If you want to get your songs onto iTunes and Amazon, just choose either one of these services. I’ve tried both, and they both rock, but pick only one (you can always switch).
Tunecore.com (better for high sales volumes)
CDBaby.com (better for low sales volumes)
STEP 5 - GET YOUR EMAIL HOUSE IN ORDER
If you’ve done your Web site right, you’ll have a place where people can read about what you’re up to, see photos of you, hear your tunes and watch videos. But what if someone actually stops by and wants to become a fan? You gotta get EMAIL. Why? Because it remains the most personal way to engage with people who are interested in what you’re up to as an artist. To do email right, use an email service (several are listed below) and build a list. For list creation, you have to choose between an Opt-In approach vs. Opt Out. Opt-In just means people are approaching you via email or other means and asking to be put on your list. Opt-Out means you start with a list and let people unsubscribe if they’re not into it. My advice is to start with Opt-Out, but only with your email contacts who really know you, then shift to Opt-In.
I have not personally tried this service, but I have read good things. Plus, it’s free!
I tried this for a while and found it very complex. They have since simplified the service some, but it remains daunting. If you’re going to try to be as big as U2, go ahead and hire some geeks and have them run your CC stuff, otherwise pass. Oh, and DO NOT sign up for a “discounted” six month period or whatever. If you change your mind, your SOL, as Constant Contact will keep your money. Go month-to-month until you are SURE you like these guys. One last piece of advice: if you have a problem, don’t bother calling them or emailing customer service. Tweet your issue. Hard to believe, but true, they will respond faster and with more fervor. Pretty shallow, if you ask me, because they care more about what potential customers think of them than paying customers.
Stay away. Confusing to use and terrible customer service. Truly, would you rather tear your hair out or engage with your fans? If the former, go with these guys. If the latter, read on.
Mailchimp is compelling for two reasons: 1) it’s free and 2) it offers unbelievable service in the form of live chat. But, and it’s a biggy, should your list grow, Mailchimp’s fees go from chimp to King Kong. But you gotta be sending out a lot of emails for the Chimp to become a less-than-compelling deal. For me, pay as you use truly sealed it.
STEP 6 - PROMOTE THYSELF
With a web site, hosted tunes and an email service to personally engage with those who show interest, you’re ready to actively seek out fans. Here are some ideas:
Duh.
Duh.
YouTube
Duh.
Probably best for gigging musicians, but I plan to use these guys regardless. Here’s how they describe themselves: “Ariel Publicity is a New York based digital firm that connects artists to blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations and social media sites. Over the past 14 years our firm has represented over 1,500 musicians of all genres.” Their cheapest package is $2,000, but probably worth it. Stay tuned for more info as I come across it.
For finding licensing opportunities, sonicbids seems solid, but they offer EVERY GIG under the sun, meaning it’s up to you to determine the quality of the opportunity. I’ve been a member for a year, but have not used them much. But, they’re pretty cheap, so...
If you want to get your songs licensed or covered by other artists, I think this is the best avenue. It’s not cheap -- $300 per year -- but for your money you get access to a team who has contacts with the major publishers. If your material passes muster with Taxi, they will forward it on and it will be listened to because it came from Taxi. The per submission cost is $5. I’m pretty sure they offer in-depth reviews of your submissions, too. As a Taxi member, you also gain admission to the annual Taxi Road Rally, which is supposed to be a networker’s dream. If you visit the Taxi site, be forewarned, it’s a nightmare of relentless promotion. For an honest review of Taxi, click here.
Back in the good old days, if you wanted to get your music on the radio you just bribed the station. It was called payola, and while it was/is illegal, I’m sure it continues to be a standard practice for the Guys With the Big Bucks. What of the poor independent sap? Jango! Yup, Jango is legal pay-to-play. You simply create an artist account, upload the tracks you want to have played on Jango’s radio network, and pony up! $100 gets you 4,000 plays over the course of a few weeks. You can accelerate or slow your plays, as well as geo-target them. Best of all, listeners will occasionally comment or even send you their email. Pretty cool, but be careful: once you sign up, Jango happily bills you for 4,000 plays a month, so you have to cut them off manually.
This is a cool music discovery site. You post your tracks and if they catch on, thesixtyone continues to play them, but if they don’t, all quiet on the western front. The best way to get some listeners and comments is to be an active listener and commenter yourself. Here’s a cool post on how to use thesixtyone: What Artists Should Know About thesixtyone.
STEP 7 - PACKAGING/REPLICATION FOR YE OLD PHYSICAL CD
If you’re going to go pure digital, please skip this section. But if you’re going to make a CD, you might as well make it a nice one, and the best service I know of is Oasis CD. They have tons of choices, killer quality and great customer service. If you don’t what to print 1,000 CDs, consider KONAKI.COM or CDPRINTEXPRESS.COM, which let you print as few as one CD.
This is the service I used for Deep Salvage, a four-song EP I did with a friend, and I was very pleased with the result. Oasis CD is not cheap, but they’re not expensive either, when you consider that you are getting true CD replication (plain duplication can lead to playback problems) and pro-quality printing.
I’ve used these guys for one-off packaging, one-off CDs and both, and they are great. No, the quality of the printing is not what you would find on a retail CD at Starbucks, but it’s pretty damn good. Pricing is under $5 per CD, or less, depending on quantity, packaging and printing choices.
Super innovative service in that the per unit price is only $1 for 1-to-100,000 units. You can even have them drop ship your stuff, so you never have to worry about storing a mountain of CDs. The catch? One-size fits all, in that all CDs are packaged in a standard jewel box and all artwork must conform to a standard template.
STEP 8 - BOOK A ROOM AT THE CHATEAU MARMONT AND PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR