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Improve Your
Musical State! ™

Basic Internet Promotion

By David Barber

How do you use the Internet to get your music "out there" to people who would otherwise never hear you or buy your CD? It's not rocket science. It just takes time.

Here are some of the steps that my company uses to get this off the ground. Obiviously there's a whole lot more that can be done, and as the Internet continues to grow/change new opportunities present themselves frequently. Every band should assign one member to spend one hour a week promoting the act online. In a few months the results could be impressive.

Here's where to start:

Get a website. Your site should have downloadable MP3 music files for people to listen to, a Biography, Photos, a short description of what kind of music you play (yes, you need to decide what genre you are in.) and a page for links. The better your website is the more professional your band looks. There's tons more you can do with your website, but this is a short intro. For more info. contact the professionals at: Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

Make sure the Search Engines can find you. Go to each of the big ones (Yahoo, Google, AOL, MSN, Altavista, etc.) and search for your band name. If your website link does not come up then you need to submit it to them. There is usually a "add url" or "submit site" link, in small type, somewhere near the bottom or fringes of the search page. Entire books have been written on search engine optimization and many people work full time trying to figure out how the search engines work. How they determine who comes up on top of the list changes constantly, so let's just leave it at getting listed, for now.

Swap links. All you have to do is ask other compatible bands, venues where you play, and businesses that you frequent, if they want to swap links. Most places will glady do so. One of the newer (and most important) search engine ranking factors is how many other websites have links to yours. The thinking is that if lots of other sites are linked to yours, then your site must be pretty important. Out of Courtesy you should link back to anyone who links to you.

Get hooked up with the big music websites. You'll need 3-5 songs in MP3 format, a photo, a bio, and a bunch of other info about your act. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for random people to stumble across your music. Therefore, it should be easily accessible on as many different sites as possible. A few of the other big ones (at the time of writing) are Vitaminic.com IUMA.com and Garageband.com. To find more, just type "Music" into any search engine. New sites pop up (and disappear) almost every day, so see what you can find.

Get hooked up on the regional music websites. If you're reading this, you should already have your music/link on ColoradoMusic.org. If not, what are you waiting for? There are dozens of others in this market, just search for "Denver Music." Get your photos on RockOnColorado.com. Every bit helps.

Get hooked up on genre specific websites. There are sites for the blues, for metal, for folk, and everything else. They're easy to find, just throw your genre into the search.

Make sure your CDs are easy to buy online. Sure, you should sell them from your own website, but they should also be available on Amazon.com, CDNow.com and all the rest. CDBaby.com can get your music onto iTunes. Any good distributor should be able to get your CD available at a variety of online locations. For more info on this, visit this link: Selling your CDs online

When you run out of websites to get listed on, (look again, there's always a new one out there) Start hitting the message boards and newsgroups. Post all your shows a few days ahead of each one. If people don't want to know, they don't have to read.

Use Email!! Collect email addresses from your fans every chance you get and tell them about your shows and music. For more on this please read this article.

Traditional publicity. Flyers, Posters, postcards, and advertisements are great ways to promote your website and your act. Anything you print (business cards, CD tray inserts, promo kits, etc.) should have your website address on it. Make sure that address is also mentioned in newspaper and magazine interviews as well. Make sure you are sending out regular press releases and that the newspapers and magazines where you are playing have your gig info. in time to run it in their colums/listings section, at least.

Get creative. There's no end to the clever ways you can bring people to your website, get them to hear your music and, hopefully, buy a CD.

It's not that hard. It just takes some time. If you don't have the time yourself, hire a company to do it for you. Here's a good one: Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

If you know of a link that should be on this page or wish to report a dead or broken link,
please contact the COMBO Webmaster: Click Here

Design by JR Media, Maintenance and Hosting by Commotion Music Promotion


Improve Your Musical State! ™ Get On our Email List	Basic Internet Promotion By David Barber How do you use the Internet to get your music "out there" to people who would otherwise never hear you or buy your CD? It's not rocket science. It just takes time. Here are some of the steps that my company uses to get this off the ground. Obiviously there's a whole lot more that can be done, and as the Internet continues to grow/change new opportunities present themselves frequently. Every band should assign one member to spend one hour a week promoting the act online. In a few months the results could be impressive. Here's where to start: Get a website. Your site should have downloadable MP3 music files for people to listen to, a Biography, Photos, a short description of what kind of music you play (yes, you need to decide what genre you are in.) and a page for links. The better your website is the more professional your band looks. There's tons more you can do with your website, but this is a short intro. For more info. contact the professionals at: Commotion Music Promotion, Inc. Make sure the Search Engines can find you. Go to each of the big ones (Yahoo, Google, AOL, MSN, Altavista, etc.) and search for your band name. If your website link does not come up then you need to submit it to them. There is usually a "add url" or "submit site" link, in small type, somewhere near the bottom or fringes of the search page. Entire books have been written on search engine optimization and many people work full time trying to figure out how the search engines work. How they determine who comes up on top of the list changes constantly, so let's just leave it at getting listed, for now. Swap links. All you have to do is ask other compatible bands, venues where you play, and businesses that you frequent, if they want to swap links. Most places will glady do so. One of the newer (and most important) search engine ranking factors is how many other websites have links to yours. The thinking is that if lots of other sites are linked to yours, then your site must be pretty important. Out of Courtesy you should link back to anyone who links to you. Get hooked up with the big music websites. You'll need 3-5 songs in MP3 format, a photo, a bio, and a bunch of other info about your act. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for random people to stumble across your music. Therefore, it should be easily accessible on as many different sites as possible. A few of the other big ones (at the time of writing) are Vitaminic.com IUMA.com and Garageband.com. To find more, just type "Music" into any search engine. New sites pop up (and disappear) almost every day, so see what you can find. Get hooked up on the regional music websites. If you're reading this, you should already have your music/link on ColoradoMusic.org. If not, what are you waiting for? There are dozens of others in this market, just search for "Denver Music." Get your photos on RockOnColorado.com. Every bit helps. Get hooked up on genre specific websites. There are sites for the blues, for metal, for folk, and everything else. They're easy to find, just throw your genre into the search. Make sure your CDs are easy to buy online. Sure, you should sell them from your own website, but they should also be available on Amazon.com, CDNow.com and all the rest. CDBaby.com can get your music onto iTunes. Any good distributor should be able to get your CD available at a variety of online locations. For more info on this, visit this link: Selling your CDs online When you run out of websites to get listed on, (look again, there's always a new one out there) Start hitting the message boards and newsgroups. Post all your shows a few days ahead of each one. If people don't want to know, they don't have to read. Use Email!! Collect email addresses from your fans every chance you get and tell them about your shows and music. For more on this please read this article. Traditional publicity. Flyers, Posters, postcards, and advertisements are great ways to promote your website and your act. Anything you print (business cards, CD tray inserts, promo kits, etc.) should have your website address on it. Make sure that address is also mentioned in newspaper and magazine interviews as well. Make sure you are sending out regular press releases and that the newspapers and magazines where you are playing have your gig info. in time to run it in their colums/listings section, at least. Get creative. There's no end to the clever ways you can bring people to your website, get them to hear your music and, hopefully, buy a CD. It's not that hard. It just takes some time. If you don't have the time yourself, hire a company to do it for you. Here's a good one: Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.
	If you know of a link that should be on this page or wish to report a dead or broken link, please contact the COMBO Webmaster: Click Here ( Home \| About COMBO \| This Just In... ) ( Join Us \| The Scene \| How To \| Contact Us )
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