Indie music promotion has no limits when it comes to creative ways of promoting a band. I’m sure by now that you have tried many different strategies and continue to use techniques that are working for you. In this article I will cover an often overlooked but extremely effective tool that you should start using today for your indie music promotion. I am talking about the autoresponder, which is also known as a mailing list but has built in features to make promoting much easier.

Search online for an autoresponder service. Some are free but I find that the paid services are much better and are worth every penny for what you can get from them. The monthly costs are low and it makes your email list much easier to use during your promotion efforts.

Now that you have an autoresponder lets go over how to use it. Generate a web form and install the html or javascript into your website, blog, and band promotion sites. Potential fans will have an opportunity to sign up to your list when they are browsing over your site. It is very important to give something away for free in exchange for their name and email. This gives the customer an incentive to sign up. I suggest you give away a free download of one of your songs. This is a great form of indie music promotion as more people will become familiar with your music and you will have email addresses to post updates about your band.

Now that you have a list of fans that continues to grow a couple of great things are happening. One, you are gaining more fans of your music, and two you have access to every one of them. With your autoreponder you can set up emails to be released on future dates. You can set up immediate broadcasts of your messages that can also be connected to all of your social networking accounts. You write one email and it will be sent out to thousands of people. As your fan base grows you wouldn’t be able to keep up with sending emails individually.

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Some people who are interested in design love decorating their personal things, rooms and houses with items that interest them. For music enthusiasts, pieces of memorabilia or promotional materials from their favorite bands can be used as decorative items.

Printed Stickers – Often times, bands resort to sticker printing as a method of producing creative marketing prints. Stickers are good marketing tools because they can be put in many flat surfaces like walls, cabinets, doors, notebooks and guitar. Band stickers appear in different sizes and designs. These kinds of prints may include images related to music, motivational texts, or band photos. Fans and supporters may display these stickers anywhere they want.

Poster Prints – Creating band posters is very common among music bands. These posters are used to promote a band’s shows, gigs, concerts and other musical activities. It is also a creative idea to put the design of a band’s album cover. This way, a specific band will be able to promote their music to people. Poster prints are bought by fans and kept as memorabilia. Most of the time, people bring their favorite band’s poster for autograph signing. In addition, band posters can also be used as decorations in rooms and homes.

Promotional Mugs – Mugs are also considered as band promotional items and giveaways. Mugs can be used as marketing tools or decorative pieces. These items are also useful for people. Promotional mugs can also be used for coffee, alcohol drinks and other beverages. For a more creative idea, people can simply put pens and pencils on a mug, and display it on top of a table. Children can also put shells, beads and colorful marbles on the mugs, displayed on the living room.

With creativity, people can make use of the said promotional items in decorating their rooms and houses. Band promotional materials can be transformed into creative decorative pieces that can accentuate personal things, rooms and houses.

To promote your band you need to follow few steps which will help you to reach the country wide audience. There are two main ways that you can follow to promote your band, online promotion and offline promotion. Online promotion of a band consists of creating personal website of the band, connecting with people in the social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace etc, uploading your songs or music on your personal websites or on the social networking site. Using Youtube as a promotional medium is a very effective idea. You can upload your home made song videos in Youtube. These online promotions of a band or any solo singer or musician have proved to be very helpful.

The offline promotion consists of distributing your music CDs among the people you know, signing up with a music production company, distributing leaflets etc. Offline promotion is not as easy as the online one, but it is very effective. To promote your band country wide you must follow all of these procedures.

One effective method that has been discovered lately is the use of an iphone app, the Riffraters to promote a band. This application helps you to record your songs or riffs and publish them on the entire iphone network; other iphone users get to listen to these uploaded songs or music and rate them according to their quality.  The most rated songs go up the rank and hold the superior rank. If your song or music gets superior rank in the iphone application, then you will surely get famous. This method of promotion of a band is very easy but effective. If you do not have this music app installed in your iphone, contact your nearest iphone store and ask them for this application. Many musicians have got good result using this application.

The promotion of music may have become easier nowadays, but what people need to listen is good music. You have to work a lot to make your songs and music extraordinarily catchy.  If your music is not good, it won’t get the proper rating needed to acquire a good position. So, the conclusion is that you have to be a good musician as well as your band’s promotional method must be good to reach other listeners.

Emerging artists used to spend most of their time down at the post office, licking envelopes, sending off cassettes and making further copies of their cassettes. Looking back, it seemed like the dark ages. Today’s indie music scene sees many bands sat at their computer screens, looking for new ways to promote their music. The emergence of several top bands over the last few months thanks to the Internet is proof that the cream will always rise to the top, and using the net, they have every chance of doing so.

Almost all artists have band pages nowadays. In fact, it seems to be the first step on the way to internet recognition. A band page will commonly feature a news page, a separate page for downloading music for free, a photos page, and a contact page. These band pages are, in effect, business cards for musicians. The website receives promotion on various music websites and forums, and the band can create their own image through web branding.

The majority of band pages are very simple. Some carry an internet radio feature on the home page, others allow you to simply download the music in mp3 format, others have lyrics and features on the group, but the intention is always the same: to get people to listen to the group’s music.

However, the limitation to a band page is that unless the band promotes itself through other means, i.e. through forums, internet radio stations, flyers at concerts, etc., the website will receive very few visitors.

Internet radio is becoming more and more popular. Sites like www.bluebeamradio.com function largely thanks to emerging artists who wish to promote their music, creating a partnership that brings a community of musicians together. By allowing groups to register for free and to post their mp3s, these radio stations are becoming an essential stop for new bands and independent musicians wishing to create a buzz about themselves.

The idea is catching on. Many listeners want to listen to one particular genre, and are frustrated at mainstream radio offerings. By finding an internet radio station that fits their needs, they are introduced to new bands. New bands, in return, are being given an audience that has already decided which genre they want to listen to, and internet radio stations like Blue Beam Radio, for example, offer the top-rated bands prizes, such as a concert in New York. The potential to be heard is enormous; it simply requires time in front of the computer!

So while internet radio stations offer streaming music, people will always want to download music for free online. While the music industry is clearly unhappy about free downloads of mp3s or other music formats, listeners will always find ways of sharing their music, it seems. Emerging artists are today taking advantage of that by scouring the internet for sites that offer free music downloads, and literally giving their music away.

The disadvantage to this is that most people will not automatically download online music from a group that they do not know. Almost all sites that offer free music for download operate using a search engine, and users search directly for a group. However, word of mouth on the internet means that when a band is being talked about, people will actually search for that particular band. The best example of this, as mentioned at the top of this article, is the Arctic Monkeys.

Hailing from Sheffield in the UK, the Arctic Monkeys’ success is due entirely to word of mouth on the internet. Their music is pure indie. Raw, punky, and blessed with no shortage of attitude, the buzz around the Arctic Monkeys started on blogs, and started to snowball. They were offering free mp3 downloads via their own website, which was a very basic portal including downloads, photos, future concerts and latest news. Once the buzz started growing into a shout, their music was available on internet radio stations, music download sites, blogs linked to blogs linked to blogs… very soon, they became the first band to reach number 1 in the UK through internet downloads!

What started off as a music curiosity became a music event. The band were soon appearing on national television, and even on the news, as their album sold more copies on its first day of release than the first releases of Oasis or The Beatles.

What happened in Sheffield can happen anywhere in the world. The internet has brought bands and listeners together at an international level – the rap artist at his home in Seattle can reach the rap fan at his home in Singapore, the independent musician in New York can reach the indie fan in York… but it is also interesting how communities are forming at a local level.

The internet is providing emerging artists with opportunities to create a buzz around their latest concerts, generating an audience that would previously have taken a great deal of legwork to gather. Through mailing lists, online flyers, blog and forum entries, a music event can be publicised many ways. The more innovative a group becomes, the more chance it has of reaching its public.

Local music forums have popped up all around the world. Indie bands will always look for a solid local fan base, and it is thanks to the internet forum that they have found this. Using their forum post signature to promote their website, these bands post flyers, concert information and more, and even share information about how to find concerts, where to buy equipment, and recording techniques. When looking for a local community of listeners, indie bands can easily find local communities of bands who are doing the same thing. While seemingly these bands rarely get the chance to meet each other unless they are playing a gig together, the internet gives them the opportunity to discuss and promote 24 hours a day.

In truth, the internet is simply offering an extension to the old “local scene” that existed before it. Indie music has grown over the last few years largely because of the adaptability of independent musicians to the internet, and because of their community spirit. While prior to the internet, a local music scene would have been limited to a handful of bands, today it is much easier for a group to break onto the local music scene, as long as they have a strong website, a strong image, and of course, good music.

And in the end, the essential truths of the music industry will always bear out. If you don’t have the music, you won’t make the grade. Listeners are canny people, and they will always filter out the good bands from the average bands, regardless of how good the website is, or how persistent the promotion is. However, as indie music flourishes, so do the best bands, and if they are on the right internet radio stations, if they can create the right buzz around themselves, and if they can reach their audience, emerging artists today have every chance not just of increasing their audiences, but of getting a contract with a record label.

Finding a great band is a search that gives results only once every decade. However it takes a lot of hard work to get to the level of rockdom to even be in the consideration as one of the greats.The 60′s is where it all started. Bands all over the world popped out left and right. In Liverpool England a small band called the Beatles started to get noticed. Soon enough they were dominating the charts.. When the 70s rollled in something unexpected happened, the Beatles broke up. This opened up the arena for the upstarts, Rolling Stones. With the small opening, the Stones became the best the decade had to offer.The 80s rolled in and time came in for a new top dog. The new band to rise was U2. They were the new band every one wanted to hear and with music and personality all their own they will be remembered as one of the best.

The decade of the 1990s saw two bands rise among a sea of seattle grunge rockers and they are Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The 90s was all about grunge and these two bands were the best when it came to that type of rock. Only time will tell which one will eventually reign supreme.The bands in these eras may seem like they are totally different from each other but in truth, they are very much alike. These similarities that they share set them apart from the competition and make them as great as they are.

All of these bands have the talent to back up claims of their greatness and this is one of the things that make them similar to each other. The music speaks for itself and it can be heard in the music that they play. They produce music that is better than what anyone else produces in the same decade.

Having talent can get you places but it will not make you great. Only desire can make a band great. At the end, your desire to be great will lead you to become the best. All the greats were not great because they can sing better or make songs better, but the true reason they were great was because they want to be the best. Being the best drove them to new heights and they reached it through this desire.

The bands here are remembered because of the fans that followed them around during their prime. Imagine the Beatles; they were huge because of the legion of girls that followed their every move. As they moved from one city to the next, the groupies followed the Rolling Stones as a pack of loyal fans.

To be one of the greats like the bands in those decades, you have to outwork the other bands out there. The practice sessions have to be unequaled. The talent also has to be there. The talent is what will bring you to new heights but when you are not able to capitalize on the talent it would be a huge waste.

One thing that other people can help with when it comes to your road t success is with the followers. The Social networking site MySpace can help promote your band and get you new fans. It all starts by adding friends to your profile. Give this new age way of Band promotion a try and you will surely ask yourself why you have not tried it before.

Step One

There are resources online you can use that are free, so why not use them?  If you have more time than money right now, then free is the way to go.  Just do a Google search on keywords like “band promotion”, “how to promote your band” and “band promoting”.  Many of these websites will have free tools for you to use where you can upload your music online for no cost.  You’ll probably even stumble across a blog that will let you post your concert dates, which is even better.

Step Two

Go to the websites and blogs where your listeners are.  There are websites where listeners rate and vote on the music on the site.  This is an added bonus.  In the same token, go to blogs and forums where your target audience is and post links back to your blog or post free song downloads.  There are no real secrets in how to promote your band, but there are some really effective cheap ways of doing it.

Step Three

Start a MySpace page and a Facebook page just for your band.  Even if you have a website, these social networking sites will give you more exposure than you can imagine.  Some other good sites to have free websites on are Squidoo, Blogger and Hubpages.  All of these sites are easy to use and they rank in the search engines well.

Step Four

Use as many free methods of band promotion as you can until you can afford to pay for advertising.  For example, there is a site called band-flyers.com.  This site allows you to make flyers and print them out on their website for free.  There are even online printing companies where you can print out 100 brochures or 100 flyers for free, just pay for shipping.  Again, learning how to promote your band is not rocket science, it just takes a little work and creativity.

Step Five

Read books about how to promote your band and band promotion.  There are a lot of resources out there for you to use.  Face it, you didn’t learn how to sing or play an instrument over night.  You’re not going to master band promotion over night either.  Do your research online and don’t be afraid to invest a couple hundred bucks in your education.

As you well know, blogs have been all the rage for the last few years and rightly so. Blogs provide the reader with current news and content rather than some of the out of date and stale content that may appear on a lot of websites. If you are a musician or have your own band then starting a blog could help promote your music. Band Promotion is difficult enough and this is just one way to help in promoting your band.

Blogs also rank highly in the search engines for a number of reasons, most notably for their current and relevant content. There are, however, several key elements to creating a successful blog about your band or music as outlined below. You are competing with thousands of other bloggers within your subject area of music so you need to be different and follow each of the key steps as outlined.

Do your research! You must know what is already out there in terms of competition. You can do this by typing in your blog subject matter into the search engines and seeing what appears in terms of blogs. Also, search the many blog directories to see who is already writing about your topic of interest. Use the Google keyword search tool to see what people are searching for each month in relation to your topic. For example, you would be best suited to focus on a topic that people are searching for and attracts more than 50,000 searches a month. When it comes to music, you could write about band promotion which has over 70,000 searches for these keywords each month. Or maybe write about how to sell your music online or a related topic that people want information about.

Find Your Niche! As already mentioned there are thousands of blogs out there on the internet about music, bands etc. They key is writing about a niche topic and then you will be more likely to attract a targeted audience. To try and compete with an already established blog that has high page rankings, a strong viewer base, and lots of existing content is going to just get you frustrated. Focus on one key area of music or playing in a band and you will create your own loyal fan base who will crave informative articles.

Think about your blog title, domain name, description and content. Take your time in thinking about a catchy but relative domain name. It is very difficult to find the domain name you want as most one, two and three word top level domain names have already been registered. You can buy one of these top level domain names from the owner but often the requested purchase price is unrealistic and just too costly. Also, try to get a popular domain name extension. Try to get the keywords in your domain name and blog title. This will help in the search engine rankings.

If you already have your own website then create a blog using your own domain name. Why? If you create a blog from your own band or music website then you will provide readers with the opportunity to explore and navigate to other pages on your website. This will also help in branding, brand exposure and providing one link for fans to find you.

If you don’t your own website and are not keen to start your own blog then try starting a blog on one of the top music network sites such as MyBandMate or MySpace. Both provide tools for musicians to promote their music in many ways for free and one is in the form of a blog. This way you will already have an established audience to read your blog. I would recommend doing this even if you do go ahead with your own independent blog. The more exposure for your band then the more band promotion you will achieve.

With your own independent blog it is important to develop keyword rich content with the keywords appearing in the title, description, first paragraph without going overboard. You will be penalised if you just “overload” your pages and articles with too many of the targeted keywords. You just don’t need to do it and Google is aware of all the tricks webmasters try to use when it comes to achieving high page rankings.

It’s all about the content! Readers will return to your blog if you provide them with informative and valuable content about the subject you are promoting. You are reading this article most likely because you want to start your own blog or are looking for ways to promote your music. As a result, if you gain some valuable information from this article then there is a good chance that you would return again to my blog to read other articles.

The content needs to be informative and relative. You will lose your reader just as quickly as you got them if you have nothing to offer. There is just too much competition out there so you must add top quality content. If you are not sure what to write about then read other blogs, not to copy their articles but to get ideas. There is nothing wrong with seeking out ideas and then writing your own article with a different twist or adding new material. If your readers like your blog they are likely to refer it to their friends which will increase your subscriber base.

Provide some incentive to get your reader to join your blog newsletter or RSS feed. One of the trends in recent times is to give away eBooks when someone signs up. You can create a 5 or 10 page eBook about your niche topic. It has to be catchy enough to get the reader to give up their name and email for it.

Promote your site via bookmarking. Some of the most popular sites include Digg, Technorati, Reddit, Jumptags, stumbleupon and many more but these are the top ones. You will be accused of spamming if you constantly promote and add your own content or site so get some of your friends to help you out with this. These sites will track your IP address and can permanently shut down your account so you will need to respect their terms of use. You can find that these “bookmarks” will give you some promotion on the first few pages of the search engines for your keywords.

Use RSS feeds. RSS feeds provide the reader with an option to receive updates when you add new content to your blog. Once again you will need to submit regular articles or news to your site and it needs to be worth reading to keep the reader subscribing to your blog. I have subscribed to blogs, newsletters and sites before only to be bombarded with emails selling products. I quickly went to the “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email.

Encourage readers to submit comments about the various blog entries to submit. Your readers are there because they have an interest in your topic so try to create a bond with them in making them feel a part of your blog. If they leave a comment be sure to respond otherwise you will find that they are less likely to write a comment again.

You will need to market your blog. This can be done by submitting your blog to the various blog directories or by writing articles and submitting them to article directories with an active link back to your blog. Submit a free press release about your blog, get into related forums and include an active link. Be sure not to spam or just sell your blog as you will be expelled from the forum, be discrete in promoting your blog in these forums.

Form joint ventures with fellow bloggers or websites. Invite other bloggers to submit content to your site and in return you can submit content to their blogs and therefore cross promote. Most bloggers will follow up on a lead that will increase their exposure. As long as you are not in direct competition and only complement another blog then this can be a valuable option. You will also gain more content for your blog.

Make your blog stand out! Add other forms of media to the site. Add MP3s, videos, photos or even an audio interview. There are plenty of cheap ways to add this rich media content to your site. Make sure that they provide relative content that your readers are craving.

Fresh Content! I can’t state enough how much your blog needs to contain fresh, informative and related content. It will take some work to maintain a dynamic and successful blog so devote at least an hour a week to working on your blog. Improve the appearance, promote it, add new content or pursue partnerships.

You can make money from your blog by adding Google Adsense, affiliate links or generating income from advertising on your blog. You will only gain interest from advertisers if you generate a significant number of hits each day. If your goal is to promote your music or band then don’t lose focus of this by distracting your readers. Good luck in promoting your music or band.

If you’re starting to wonder about band promotional video marketing then you likely already recognize how efficient Webvideos are as a marketing tool. It’s not important whether you’re an an experienced marketer, an artist, a real estate agent – it doesn’t matter – Web-videos can lead large numbers of people to your site or blog; that adds up to an easier way of getting your product/service noticed… more customers and more subscribers to your emails, and an increase in the amount of time people spend on your site.

There is a list of several things – principles, methods, and special requirements – that you must learn and be aware of in order to find success on the web by using this specialized marketing utility. For example, you need to know how to transform your digital movies to web format, (most website owners are in the dark on this subject), what settings are best for viewers to fully appreciate your video, how and most importantly where to embed a webvideo on a particular page on your site to maximize results.

So if you are curious about band promotional video marketing, wouldn’t it make sense to learn more about the best method for making a very low cost video that can send thousands or perhaps even millions of unique visitors your way? Imagine yourself with all those free hits, and there’s a lot more to this than youtube®… there are other techniques to get that free traffic from. You need to recognize, the majority of people enjoy viewing movies instead of reading more plain text, and this is an effective new technology that you shouldn’t miss out on.

It isn’t rocket science, and it’s of little importance if you are a newbie or already have some experience in this field, it’s just a matter of getting a simple and clear explanation of how to get going with this so you can watch your site grow in popularity. Even if you are only interested about band promotional video marketing, spend a couple of minutes to check this free guide; it contains all the information necessary to start creating your own professional Web-videos not limited to tried and true tips, exclusive techniques, and the best tools for the job.

The internet continues to revolutionize the music industry and the creation of music networks has helped musicians to promote their bands, sell their music, find band members, buy and sell musical instruments, chat to fellow musicians in the forums, post photos, their music, videos and so much more.

There are many benefits to joining one of the top music networks. It is best to focus on two or three at the most and create, as well as maintain, a standout profile page for your music or band. If you spread yourself too thin and try to join every music site you come across then you will find yourself struggling to maintain an active profile. If you join one of these music networks then you will gain a massive amount international exposure for your music.

Try to devote 30 minutes each month in updating your profile with new photos, gig dates, videos or music samples. On a more regular basis you may want to respond to forum posts, reply to comments posted on your page and also respond to any emails sent to you. You need to treat these music networks as an advertisement and great way to promote your band. Therefore spending some time on the site could bring about some lucrative and life changing publicity for you.

The key point to gaining the most exposure for your music on these sites is to be proactive and make the most of the features available to you. You will want to post recent photos of yourself or your band. You should add some new photos each month. Try and add some bright and colourful photos of each of your band members as well as some group shots. Ask a friend or partner to take some high quality photos of you while performing.

Music videos are all the rage due to YouTube. You can use a camera to take some footage of the band performing one of their most popular songs. Just as a great video can make your band; a bad video can have a negative impact on your music. If a music venue manager is not the network to look for a band for a gig and they listen to a poor quality live performance then they will just move on to the next band. So make sure the video you submit is one that will impress your viewers.

Why spend time in the forums? Because you never know who is online and who is reading the forum posts. Many of the top music forums not only allow bands and musicians to sign up and create a profile but also music promoters, managers, music venue owners, music producers and professionals from the music industry. As a result, you may just catch the eye of one of these promoters who could give you the lead you need. Post positive and informative posts that will require a similar response. Avoid getting into any personal attacks or conflicts with other forum members. Maintaining a high level of professionalism is of the utmost importance in building the reputation you want to succeed.

What about writing an article? It is quite easy to write an article about a topic you are passionate about and have knowledge in. How can this help you? Well in a music network you have members who are musicians and are therefore craving information to help them with their band or music. As a result you can gain some valuable exposure by adding your name and active link at the bottom of the article. You can basically piggy back these top music networks who already achieve high page rankings in the search engines for your own benefit. Search engines love quality content about a specific topic. As a result these search engines will pick up the keywords used in your article and rank it highly as the article is located on a reputable site. Both these combined will give it a good chance of being spread throughout the internet.

One of the best features is the ability to post your upcoming gigs or events. What other way can you get free advertising for your gigs! When posting your gig make sure all information is correct and if any of it changes be sure to return to your profile and update it. There will be fans that listen to your music samples, watch your videos and then decide on attending one of your gigs if they like what they hear. You don’t want to upset them by having them go out of their way to attend your event only to find that the details were changed and there is no gig! Try to include the date, time, cost and location of the event. Some of the top networks will have a feature where your fans can “subscribe” or add their name to an attendance list. This will also allow you to send emails with specific details to these members. This is networking and building a fan base.

Classifieds are also a great way to buy and sell instruments, equipment, search for new band members, post jobs or look for a gig, sell tickets to events and so much more. Make sure you only add the information you want people to see and only use a respectable payment solution provider in the transaction. Most sites leave transactions up to both parties and are not responsible for any disputes or problems with the sale.

Are there dangers associated with music networks? Yes, but only if you post personal information that hackers or people involved in criminal activity can use to spam you or rip you off. The top sites will have internal email systems where your personal email address is protected. They also have a feature that allows you to block any members you wish not to correspond with. Remember that you use these music networks to promote your music and not your personal life and details as a lot of the “Social Networks” do. This is why you should stick to the top music networks that operate with the sole purpose of assisting bands and musicians in promoting their music.

If you maintain an active profile you may just be lucky enough to gain additional exposure from the site. For example, the music networks highlight and profiles a new band each month. This profile puts the band on the front page, generates extra hits for the band’s profile page, spreads their band across the internet due to the quality content in the profile and provides a reputable promotion for the band by a music industry leader. Want to make your own luck? Then be proactive and contact the site team and let them know that you would like to have your band or music be considered to be profiled.

One more great tip is to use “Keywords” in your title for photos, events, profiles etc as these keywords will appear in that page’s URL. This will help for better search engine exposure as they love keywords and targeted content.

The key is where to start when selecting which music networks to join? There are many ways to promote your music and three of the best methods for music and band promotion is by creating a profile on MyBandMate and MySpace Music or posting your music videos on YouTube Music.

So if you want to showcase your music to the world and are not active in these top two music networks then you better get on to it. It takes time, some effort and a desire to make your music reach a global audience. Be proactive, utilize all of the key features to gain maximum exposure and build a fan base by responding to their emails and comments. Don’t include any information in your profile that you don’t want the world to see. Treat your profile page as an advertisement for your music. You may only have one chance to catch the eye of a music promoter, producer or music venue owner looking for a band so make your profile look professional.