SoundLantern is like a "YouTube for Audios"  -- Sound Lantern Users can broadcast their audio content to the masses!

If you have any music you created or any audios come upload them to www.SoundLantern.com

Enjoy people, spread the word about SoundLantern!

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=231888
Registering only takes like, 5 minutes. I'll love you forever if you do. :D
ID: noraesonagi

<3 FINALS OR BUST!

Here in the US Calvin Harris is not as well known - at least not yet. Judging from the outstanding live performance at the Bowery Ballroom this should change soon. His songs are somewhere in the electro/indie/funk/dance-pop genre, and they are always great tracks to dance to. No wonder, as he "created disco" (title track).

The venue was sold out way in advance, and I was happy that I got my tickets early. Luckily the sound system at the Bowery Ballroom works perfectly for Calvin Harris' sound. Bass pumping, synths with catchy hooks giving that specific CH sound. With his very energetic show he proved that dance music can be extremely infectious, I was dancing throughout the whole show. He played almost all songs from his current album. My favorites were "Colours" (which is live even better than on record), "This Is The Industry", "The Girls", "Acceptable In The 80s", and certainly "Disco Heat".

If you have a chance to catch him live, I definitely recommend it. Lots of fun, and you'll certainly dance your ass off!

Ike Barnes from the beatcreators.com asked me a great question. This is such a good question I'm going to answer it here online. Here's Ike's question "If Sam Walton was a music producer what things would he do to advertise build a brand as a producer?" Here's My answer:

To create a brand, Sam Walton would tell music producers to put a face with the music. This explains why Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Kanye West, and the Neptunes, have jumped on the mic and in front of the camera.

Every Brand Name Has A Logo
For music producers their face and personality is their logo. When you think of Timbaland, you think of a guy that can beat your _ _ _ with his fists and his kick drums! Timbaland turned himself into a logo. The New York Times confirmed my theory on Timbaland in an article they published about titled 'Can He Make Himself A Star'. The article discusses how Timbaland made hismself a brand name. Here's an excerpt:

'Timbaland has never seemed very comfortable in front of the camera, and collaborators have occasionally complained about his gruff mixing-board-side manner. Nonetheless over the last year or two he has redoubled his efforts to achieve pop stardom, even if he’s not well suited for it. He has been writing himself into the hit songs he produces, turning his clients into duet partners. He spars with Justin Timberlake on “SexyBack” and “My Love” and flirts awkwardly with Nelly Furtado on “Promiscuous” and with the Pussycat Dolls on “Wait a Minute.”'
New York Times read the article here

Timbaland is now a household brand name and he has made himself a logo. He is trusted by millions. Every producer has a brand name. Their brand name is simply whatever they call themselves. For example, mine is Jamille Luney. Missy's is Missy Misdemeanor Elliot. Making a brand name is easy, but creating the logo takes work.

Developing Your Logo (You)
I'll let you in on a personal note. I used to live in Florida and while living there I put on a lot of weight. This did not work with my brand name. So I moved from Florida and all that was negative and lost the weight. Timbaland realized the same thing years ago. Remember when he was heavy? Yeah. Your stage name is your brand name and your body is a living logo. The music is your product.

Market Your Logo, Not Just The Music
To an artists what I stated above sounds tasteless and corporate. However, Sam Walton's response would be, 'I'm a business man, I know how to make money.' Sam did and he sold a lot of music in his stores. Why do you think Timbaland makes so many appearances in music videos and spits his tracks? Some argue their music can speak for itself. They are correct it can. However, there are millions of other indie producers saying the exact same thing. Walton would tell you before Wal-Mart and Sam's Club could speak for themselves as stores, he spoke for them. You will have to do the same.

How To Put a Face With Your Music
With today's technology it is much easier for producers to put their face with their music. You may not be able to afford a video shoot like Timbaland and Missy, but computers can manipulate video environments. Soulja Boy first made the 'Crank That' dance in his basement with a video camera and broadcasted it on YouTube. The whole world started doing it and you know the rest.

FRAPS is a computer program that allows you to record yourself playing video games. With FRAPS you can record yourself playing a video game. Add music to it later and bam you have a real video! Get creative with it.***FRAPS runs on Windows***

Wondershare DemoCreator is a screen recorder. A screen recorder is a computer program that allows you to record what is on your computer screen. After you record it converts it into a video. You can record yourself making a beat, a Powerpoint presentation, surfing the web, etc.... It also allows you to add sound, music, narration, images, animations and more. You can make a very realistic 3d music video!

Quality Video Camera: If you can afford a quality video camera, then invest in one. Make your own reality TV show be creative and think outside of the box.

Webcam: Most laptops and computers come with webcams. Some are better than others so be careful. If you cannot afford a good video camera, the webcam can be of some help. FRAPS and DemoCreator is extremely cost effective and affordable. It is our first recommendation. Use the Webcam for live footage.

Where To Market Your Logo
The answer is on your own web page, not your MySpace but YOUR OWN WEB PAGE! Most music producers do not have one. They rely solely on their MySpace or Facebook pages. They are correct, they do need a MySpace and Facebook pages to market. However, they must have their own as well. Mine is jamilleluney.com, Timbaland's is Timbalandmusic.com, yours is yourstagename.com.

Both Timbaland and I have MySpace pages, as does everyone else. However, we also have our brand name pages (i.e. jamilleluney.com and Timbalandmusic.com). Remember your name is a brand so you better own that domain name!

How To Market Your Logo
The first step to marketing your Logo is buying the brand name domain. This puts your name on the web and on Search Engines. Next, create your brand name web page. Upload pictures of you (your logo) on your web page along with your product (music) and music videos (FRAPS,YouTube). Link your brand name page back to your MySpace, FaceBook, SoundClick, YouTube, WeMix, and other pages.

After this market the same way you would as if your were an independent recording artists. I covered that earlier in another post. Click on the tab 'For Independent Recording Artists'.

By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst

My first successful page was my soundclick page. I received over 30k plays on that page and even teamed up with a fellow hacker and came up with a nifty way to hijack people's comment boards. That little trick basically put me on soundclick's blacklist. Any time I would try to upload a new track, it would never get approved! So this, along with the ever changing politics of soundclick forced me to retire my page.

Then it was on to findapix, which proved to be good for nothing more than flirting with a few Asian chicks. I was in the beginning stages of yellow fever then. It was defunct in no time. Then, in the summer of 2005, my Pinay girlfriend convinced me to become an active member of friendster. That site proved to be good for nothing more than exchanging recent pics with friends. Again, a site saturated with Asian females. By the end of 2005, she would use that site (along with her pictures) to shove a pitchfork through my heart.

Then it was on to the latest monster of social networking, MYSPACE. I created a personal page and started dating almost immediately. Those times were interesting, to say the least, albeit in a life altering, disgusting way. Put it like this... I have stories! Anyway, on Oct. 13, 2006, I met the woman I am currently with still to this day. I'm a faithful guy so, needless to say, the dating stopped.

I then created a myspace focusing on my music. I needed to get my music career back on track and, at the time, myspace was the best launching pad for that. All seemed well. I progressed to the point of 2.6M plays, over 1M profile views and over 5.3K fans/friends (my current stats). Yet the popularity and activity dwindled day by day. It's so bad now that I'm LUCKY if I get a single message from the 5,000 people I'm supposedly connected to. So, not being one to abstain from further exposure, I created my own web page at makellbird.info, along with the 20 other sites I signed up with, and currently imeem seems to be the most active site I'm a part of. I literally get around 100 messages daily! So, I ask you... with all the fake profiles, non-responsive people, countless security measures, and anti user friendly aspects of the site... Is Myspace dead or dying?

If you feel so inclined... myspace.com/makellbird

Internet Marketing is very much a matter of trial and error. However, there are a few musts for independent recording artists. Independent recording artists must have the following types of web pages:

1. Their own website

2. MySpace music page

3. Facebook page

4. Soundclick page

5. YouTube page -- post interviews, performances, videos, and communicate with your fans

Link all of your pages together as well, so people can jump around. Obviously you will have to have pictures made to post on these web pages. You may want to invest in a good video camera, I stress the word good!

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

That is what marketing it is all about for the independent recording artist.  Arista can afford to have pictures of Usher in every magazine, on every billboard, and on thousands of posters.  YOU CANNOT!!

You have got to get your name to the top of those Yahoo and Google searches so people can find you.  They can find Usher on T.V and in every video.  They can find you on the Internet.  THEY MUST BE ABLE TO FIND YOU WITH EASE!!  People have short attention spans.  Fans should not have to dig through thousands of MySpace pages trying to track you down.  They won't, would you?

First step to Search Engine Optimization is to make a good web page (yourbandname.com), get a Myspace Music page not the regular MySpace page (myspace.com/yourbandname), get a FaceBook page, Youtube, Soundclick, WeMix, make a blog (wordpress.com/yourbandname or blogspot.com/yourbandname or do both) and link all the pages TOGETHER.  This means put a link to each page on each page so people can hop around.  This also bumps you up the search index (we're optimizing).

On your main web page (yourbandname.com), make sure your Meta tags, title, and description are clear.  They will not appear on the web page itself but in the coding.  If you registered with CD baby, they give you a web page and templates to choose from so this is done for you.  If you're not good with web design find somebody who is or a company you trust. You don't have to worry about Meta tags on pages like MySpace, Facebook, or Wordpress.  They do it all for you.

Continue to research Search Engine Optimization.  I just gave you an introductory crash course.  Search Engines will continue to evolve with technology and so will you.

Other Internet Social Networks (ex) WeMix.com

There are a lot of other on line social networks and web pages you can create. For example, Ludicrous and some other industry vets have created WeMIX.com for independent artists and producers to promote and network. Be on look for more on line communities like MySpace and Facebook.

Blogging --- I recommend Wordpress.com

Pick a topic that has nothing to do with music at all, but something you are interested in and know a lot about. Use your music as background ambiance music, don't forget to post a link so they can find it. Jill Scott's music used to be a Real Estate companies hold music before she became famous.

AVOID MASS EMAILING

Everybody hates SPAM, I know I Do. If you want, have a mailing list people can sign up for.

Catchy Hook

A catchy hook (chorus) is one of the easiest ways to market a song. I know, all of you think you have a catchy hook. However, how many of you would have come up with the Soulja Boy hook? The Soulja Boy Dance? I hate that song and dance but it is sooooo catchy. It stays in my head all day.

This is how Soulja Boy was able to market himself on the Internet and get discovered. People heard the song once, but it stuck in their head all day. I keep using him as an example because he used Internet marketing and that is what you will be doing.

***It's easier to make a catchy hook with a hip hop track as opposed to a ballad. Ballads have a lot more words so you need to be careful***

Web Site Visits Are As Important as Sales

Here is the biggest secret. Website visits are as important as sales. Record labels look at whose getting the most visits on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and others in addition to who is selling. SoulJa Boy was averaging over 10,000 plays on MySpace.

If you have a MySpace music page, every time somebody visits you get 1 play on your music player. Don't play yourself (i.e try to visit your page 1,000 times a day). It won't help because they check computer IP address. They're looking for artists who are getting hits from all over the world! Not your own home.

***Another Example of Why Internet Visits Matter: A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. She made a website and posted videos of her dancing. MTV came to her!!***

Time magazine gives the breakdown on Tequila's visits and Internet numbers in this article. Here's an excerpt below:

Nguyen—or, oh, fine, Tequila—may be the least lonely girl on the Internet. She has more than 1.5 million MySpace friends. Her MySpace profile has been viewed more than 50 million times. Her self-published single, the profane and attitudinous F___ Ya Man, now playing on her MySpace page, has logged 13 million spins. (To listen to it is to hear the sound track of a million parents' dreams dying.) She gets somewhere from 3,000 to 5,000 new friend requests every day. She is something entirely new, a celebrity created not by a studio or a network but fan by fan, click by click, from the ground up on MySpace.

Read the rest of the article at Time.com or click here.

T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers

No don't sell them, give them to your family and friends. Have them wear them as much as possible. T-shirts make people ask questions. Bumper stickers are hard to miss. The more people see your name, the more likely they are to Google it on the computer.

Give Away A Song For Free

Every now and then give a song away for free. This gets people listening to you. Pick a catchy song, they'll play it in the car with their friends. Next thing you know they'll be visiting your web pages looking for more.

New Technology = New Way To Market

Technology is constantly improving and so is marketing. In 1990 nobody marketed on the Internet because most people did not own computers. Now it's the only way, and almost every home has at least one computer. Be on the lookout for the next technological improvement. Technology defines marketing. Example: Cell phone marketing with Ring Tones.

Ring Tones

BillBoard magazine tracks ring tone sales. Click here to see for yourself. Take your most catchy song and turn it into a ring tone. Put it on your phone, your mom, dads, sisters, cousins, boyfriends and anybody you can find. Next time your dad is golfing with his buddies give him a call. His friends may not like it but they will remember it.

Ever have a friend whose cell phone rang all the time and you hated the ring tone? Still remember what it sounds like don't you? My point exactly, you did not forget the ring tone. In fact you may even catch yourself singing it. That's marketing baby!

They may not even like your ring tone. However, if everybody starts using it and talking about it people assume it's hot. I call it the Jessica Simpson effect.

If you're distributing your music through CDbaby, you can sell ring tones. A couple of the companies CDbaby distributes to allows artists to sell ring tones. One of those companies is 3guppies.com

Internet Radio

It's the newest thing so jump on it. Get your music on some Internet stations. Radio is on it's way out. When you get in your car do put in for favorite CD? Do you plug in your ipod or Mp3 player? Hell yes. People spend less and less time in the car. Gas is almost $4.00 gal so nobody can afford to spend a lot of time in the car.

Everybody is on the computer. Jump on Internet radio and become friends with on line DJ's. Let them remix some of your songs and put them on their mix tape. It's great publicity, just make sure you copyright your music first.

Work With An Industry Producer For $100 or Less

Yes You Can! Trackmasterz is a big name. When you Google them you can see they've worked with Beyonce, Nas, Alicia Keys, and others.

To help aspiring artists they came up with Trackmasterz.com. Independent recording artists can lease beats from trackmasterz and are allowed to sell it with their vocals 10,000 times. Trackmasterz still owns the right to the beat. If a major label wants to use the song they have to buy the beat from Trackmasterz.

On your MySpace, CDbaby, Facebook, etc.. you can say you were produced by Trackmasterz. This will help attract more traffic to your web pages and move you up higher on the Internet search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Yes, it works. It's a quick read and a great book. In order to succeed in the entertainment industry you have to visualize making it and believe it daily. Doubt cannot stay in your mind. If it enters, kick it out!

In Conclusion

We're in the digital era. Television will be completely digital by February 19, 2009. Radio will soon follow. Does Arista records still make cassette tapes? No they don't. Distribute your music digitally, don't waste money having CD's pressed unless it is for a promotional venue or giveaway. Market your music digitally. Stick to the Internet and keep looking for new technology. As technology changes new markets and marketing approaches are created.

By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst

SEO What?
The reason most independent artists aren't succeeding is because they're thinking like major record labels.  As a result they're distracted and completely overlooking what will make them or break them in online marketing, Search Engine Optimization.

Major record labels are going broke as we speak, do you really want to follow in their footsteps? In the past labels have used huge marketing budgets to create and sell artists. Independent artists should not concern themselves with this. Those huge budgets are now bankrupting them. Instead independent artists should think free marketing, the Internet. Do not pay for ads. Focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the age of the computer, online music sales, and the independent artist. The biggest example of this is Soulja Boy, a complete online phenomenon. He marketed himself online and got the whole world singing his song.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Now that you've made the decision to only sell your music online (no CDs), take that would be CD money and invest it in your home studio. Your marketing should be online and virtually free. Marketing online is simply a matter of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which 90% of people think they know how to do. The remaining 10% are smart enough to know they do not know how and they hire somebody to optimize their web pages. Then they go on to become millionaires like Soulja Boy even if their product (music) was
_ _ _ _.

Marketing Online Successfully
Successful online marketing is simply a matter excellent of Search Engine Optimization. Why? If your web pages are optimized correctly, people will find you online even when they are not looking for you. Major record labels can afford to pay MySpace an obscene amount of money to put Chris Brown's picture all over MySpace login pages. This forces users to look at Chris anytime they want to access they're MySpace page.

Independent artists cannot afford this. Instead independent artists need to focus on getting as many web pages as possible, linking them together, and optimizing them in such a way that search engines pick them up easily. The more space you take up, the harder you are to miss. This is why you need as many pages as possible. You MUST HAVEyour own web page (yourname.com). In addition, you need online community pages like MySpace Music, YouTube, FaceBook, Friendster, Imeem, WeMix, SounClick, etc... Link all these pages together, meaning people can click on one page and get to another. This helps bump you up the search index and you're making yourself a bigger target.

Why Isn't It Working?
If you're one of those people who has already done all of the above and is still wondering why people have not found you, I recommend examining the structure successful web pages. I was in the same boat as you. I started looking at web pages that were coming up high on Google and Yahoosearch indexes. I'd also check out they're coding to see how they had structured their page. You can do this by right clicking on a web page and scrolling down to 'view source'. Look at the Meta tags they used, the websites description and their use of grammar, the websites title, sub-pages, sitemaps, web link structure etc...

Little Microscopic Details
A lot of this is trial and error and some things are so small you would never think they could hinder your rank on search indexes. For example, take web links. When you post a weblink on your web page make sure the link opens up in a new browser. This way people don't leave your web page. Many little details like this are overlooked and as a result create one big problem (your page does not coming up on major search indexes). I encourage you to read a book on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of even take class. SEO is constantly changing with technology and emergence of new scripting languages. Keep your eyes, ears, and minds open to change.

By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst

Check out any of these sites for music, news and updates for Double-F!

MySpace

Reverb Nation

Imeem

Soundclick

iLike

Garage Band

Pure Volume

Click on the Link 2 Hear UNO.VS.ALL's muxtape

unovsall.muxtape.com/

OK, maybe it's more nuanced than that. My love affair with popular music is sustained by the pulsing and growing body of well-crafted and well-produced music but the real thunderbolts -- those moments of inspiration, transcendence, and sheer gratitude to have had ears -- come from young singers whose unique message, voice, and breath transform into an auditory arrow, piercing my soul and beckoning me to once again "get on board" for my musical journey.

No doubt we all have our favorite troubadors over the years. My list may be longer, starting as it does in the 50s. To name a few: Buddy Holly, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, J. D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Elton John (with Bernie Taupin on his shoulder), Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, David Gates (yes, him), and the list goes on.

Most of these names, of course, are familiar to all of us -- that's one of the less than ideal artifacts of pop music, at least until recently. If we were hearing their music, these artists had already reached a level of acceptance and promotion by the labels. Until this 21st century, when did we ever have the opportunity to "discover" a young troubador first practicing their licks and finding their voice from a bedroom in their parents' home or from their college dorm or even from a "van down by the river." God bless Chris Farley for that last one.

But these early glimpses, these first drumbeats now echo through the internet and reach us (or those of us who do some exploring) long before a label can intercede and work their particular and sometimes nefarious "magic." This direct connection between artist and fan represents yet another example of the internet turning business and culture upside down -- another victory of grassroots marketing.

I find myself eager to wade into the new ways that young artists (even older ones) can share their music and artistic vision via the internet. In coming blogs I'll continue the list of my favorite troubadors -- young artists whose voice and songs helped shape their generation. More importantly, I hope to share with you some new names -- raw, exuberant talents projecting their musical perspectives in the shared nooks and crannies of the World Wide Web.

In the meantime, why not begin your own exploration through two leading sites for the new world of music distribution: MySpace.com and SoundClick.com.

BEST OF:

Deezer: Απεριόριστη μουσική απλά και ξεκάθαρα. Αναζητάτε όποιον καλλιτέχνη ή κομμάτι θέλετε και το ακούτε. Μπορείτε να δημιουργήσετε δικές σας playlists, ενώ υπάρχει και η δυνατότητα να δημιουργήσετε έναν έξυπνο ραδιοφωνικό σταθμό που σας προτείνει κομμάτια ανάλογα με τις προτιμήσεις σας. Αρκετά μεγάλη ποικιλία τραγουδιών και πανεύκολο περιβάλλον χρήσης

RUNNER-UPs:

Q-Trax: Ξεκίνησε πολύ δυναμικά ισχυριζόμενο ότι είχε συμβόλαιο με τις 4 μεγαλύτερες δισκογραφικές του κόσμου (πρακτικά όλη τη μουσική παραγωγή εκτός από κατι ελληνικά ποντιακά και νησιώτικα), αλλά κατέληξε σε φιάσκο, όταν αναγκάστηκε να παραδεχτεί ότι ήταν ακόμη στις διαπραγματεύσεις... Anyway, τη σήμερον έχει -λέει- 25 εκ τραγούδια, οπότε μπορούμε με σιγουριά να πούμε ότι είναι η πληρέστερη πλατφόρμα δωρεάν μουσικής. Το κατεβάζετε and that's all! Λειτουργεί ως πρόγραμμα P2P.

Last.fm: Από τις πολύ δημοφιλείς υπηρεσίες για δωρεάν μουσική. Λειτουργεί κυρίως ως σταθμός ο οποίος παίζει τραγούδια ανάλογα με τις προτιμήσεις σας και μαθαίνει από το γούστο σας. Μπορείτε να δημιουργήσετε και δικές σας playlists, ώστε προσθέτοντας κομμάτια εκεί να ακούτε μόνο τα τραγούδια που θέλετε.

Jamendo: 7500 δίσκοι και 4500 καλλιτέχνες είναι διαθέσιμοι σ' αυτό το εύχρηστο project που βασίζεται πάνω στα Creative Commons. Στην ίδια γραμμή κινείται και το Opsound, ενώ το Freesound Project αποτελεί forum ανταλλαγής αρχείων υπό CC, οπότε εκεί μπορείτε να βρείτε και πολλούς ερασιτέχνες καλλιτέχνες.

Soundclick: Αν και λίγο δύσχρηστο γιατί απαιτεί πολλά clicks το soundclick έχει μεγάλη ποικιλία και είναι παραμετροποιήσιμο ώστε να μπορείτε να το φέρετε στα μέτρα σας.

Magnatune: Για έναν περιορισμένο κύκλο διαθέσιμων καλλιτεχνών και τραγουδιών το Magnatune σας δίνει τη δυνατότητα να ακούσετε δωρεάν απεριόριστα τη μουσική τους και αν επιθυμείτε να την αγοράσετε προσφέρετε όσα θέλετε με κατώτατη τιμή τα 5 δολλάρια/δίσκο. Ακριβώς επειδή οι καλλιτέχνες πληρώνονται μόνο όταν κάποιος αγοράσει τη μουσική τους και μάλιστα σε χαμηλή τιμή, το Magnatune δεν έχει μεγάλη ποικιλία, αλλά σίγουρα είναι μια καλή προσπάθεια.

Ποτέ δεν είπαμε ότι δεν μπορείτε να βρείτε ό,τι μουσική θέλατε στο ίντερνετ πανεύκολα. Τώρα όμως μπορείτε να το κάνετε και νόμιμα. Αν γνωρίζετε και άλλο αξιόλογο site στο είδος drop us a line.

• English-speaking GREEK READERS: - You might like the creative discussion in the blog post "The Archetypal Muse - Goddess in the poem “Blood of Love” (by Odysseus Elytis)" for philosophical and literary aspects of the lyrics / poem.
• ALL blog posts about Mikis Theodorakis (and my remixes of his music) are accessible here: http://omadeon.wordpress.com/category/theodorakis/
• Another high score in the Top 100 charts is the recitation (and translation) of Elytis' poem "Primal Paradise"; a revived chart position: No. 13 in the Top 100 Soundclick charts of Talk/Poetry:

(click on the image to hear the recitation -and to read more)

.

Bless Up! My post from last week is when I uploaded the "Boogie & Bop" ep from 02' to my Soundclick music page. After the first day, the tune "Play it Back Again" was at #24 on Soundclick Dancehall charts. Now today, a week later-the track has risen to #1! See it for yourself at this link. I kept Bulletins going on MySpace to announce to all my friends the songs's progressions as it climbed the chart. People kept listening in and it made it to numba 1! And it can't go any higher than that, can it? So biggup to all those who checked out the tune, and here's the link so you can play it back one more time!!!

More Love-
C

http://www.unsigned.com
http://www.soundclick.com
http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com
http://www.purevolume.com
http://www.garageband.com

You can even go as far as being genre specific or location

http://www.indieiniative.com
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au

These are just a few of the many, many places you can get your music heard, & it’s FREE!! You can also do a general Google search for other sites that offer free music profile pages. So get out there & start uploading!!

Having said all that, it’s very easy to get lost in a climate where everyone wants to be famous & everyone wants to be a musician. If you are serious about your music the best thing you can do for yourself is make a STANDOUT demo. Naturally this costs money but there are a few things you can do to keep your costs to a minimum;

* Focus on your writing before you go anywhere near the studio.

* Make sure you have more than enough songs to choose from. It’s not always the case that the first songs you write should be on the demo. Songwriting is something that develops & gets better with time so write as much as you can & be brutally honest. I’ve known many artists who rushed the writing process & ended up having to do several demos. It’s a waste of time, money & it can damage your confidence. With the right material your demo will stand the test of time & it won’t have to be updated every few months.

* If you think a song is just ok, chances are so will everyone else. Choose songs that you feel strongly about & that you can deliver.

* Work on the tracks you’ve chosen BEFORE you go to the studio. Make some rough recordings on your home computer or recording device. Listen to it carefully & work out where you can improve things, what works & what doesn’t. You will lose time & money if you go to the studio just hoping things will fall into place.

* Choose your recording time wisely. Many studios offer cheaper packages if you book an 8-hour day. This is a great package for a band recording various instruments. For a vocalist this can be too taxing on your voice & you may not get the best results so make sure you are up for it. Not everything works on the first take!

* KNOW YOUR PARTS!! Learn your words & know your parts before you get to the studio. This is not a rehearsal folks!

* If you put all these things into place your demo may very well end up being something that can be turned into an EP. In that case you’ve just forgone the “demo” stage & you’re on your way to being an independent artist.

Next time we’ll discuss “the demo versus the EP”. For now remember, Rifunit says - If you don’t have anything good to say…SING!!!

The site recently started "Myspacing" itself, adding personal profiles, blogs, picture uploads, as part of the services they offer. And if you have music on the site, your personal profile and music site are automatically hooked up! You can even add your own music to your personal profile, which I'm sure some of the more obsessive statistic neurotic nuts over there would bemoan that every time your page is hit, your song is played and you, in effect, "game the charts" (the freaks over at the old MP3.com bbs use to go gaga over this kind of stuff). To which I say...if that's what's keeping you up at night, son, you and your wittle olde PC need some down time.

Anyway...

I really like the crowd over at Soundclick. So far, I've encountered some mature, nurturing folks over there. The men who've asked to be my "friend" are friendly and gentlemanly, not sleazy and skeezy as they are, for the most part, over at Myspace or Yahoo360. The women I've been have been warm and supportive, without any kind of cattiness or snarkiness.

On top of that, they seem to really like my music:

And if that wasn't enough...

Now, if I could just translate that all to...

eh, never mind...

If you are interested, here's my soundclick page. Enjoy...

D-Tags: Music, My_Music, Musings