Your Promotional Roadmap

Now that you’ve set your music goals, it’s time to create a roadmap.

A road map outlines the places that you want to promote your music and how you’re going to get there.

Hit The Hot Spots

For now, we’ll focus on internet promotion, so the first step is to list the primary sites where you want a presence. Here are a few places to start:

• Your website - you have one right? If not, go right now and register a domain name. It only costs about $10 per year. You can set up a decent site quickly and inexpensively via hostbaby or bandzoogle. In a future post, though, I’ll discuss the benefits of a custom site. In the meantime, any site is better than no site.
• MySpace
• PureVolume
• iTunes
• eMusic

Where Is Your Audience?

I would say that these are the top 5 places every artist should have a presence. In addition, though, you should look for sites in your niche.

For example, if you write Christian music, you might also want to be seen on:

• IndieHeaven
• ShoutLife
• Xianz

No matter your niche, there are likely community sites for it, so I recommend you get your Google on and do some high quality and targeted searches.

Make It Easy

The key to promoting your music online is to make it easy for people to listen to, share and purchase your music, so on each site that allows it make sure you link back to your web site’s store page, your iTunes page, your eMusic page etc. Provide all contact info on each page as well.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Finally, since you cannot be active on all these sites AND make music, I recommend picking the one that will possibly have the best return for you and focusing 90% of your efforts there. For some that might be a blog on your main web site. For others that might be MySpace or Purevolume.

The key is to get your music out there without spreading yourself too thin. It’s better to go deep in one place than to have a lame presence on 20 different sites.

I must agree that Internet is the best channel to promote your music nowadays. However, creating your page with a very busy schedule is quite impossible to maintain. Artist can also try other sites where they can gain extra exposure like creating their page and be featured.

Actually, maintaining an artist website shouldn’t be very time consuming. In fact, once it’s set up, you could even have a friend or a fan do the tedious updating (concert schedule, news, product updates etc.) while you limit your time to writing regular (weekly or bimonthly) journal updates to stay in touch with your fans.

I think it’s vital for any serious artist to have their own website in addition to their myspace (or other site) page. One reason is that the web is ever changing. No one had even heard of MySpace a few short years ago and who knows if it will be around in a few more years.

The contact information you put on your product, other websites and in press kits, needs to a reliable web reference - your website. Of course you can always refer people on to your myspace page from your website or you can post both your website and your myspace address on your product and in your press kits, but it’s important to have a web address that isn’t going to change.

yes, i really agree for artist, i mean serious artist having their own webpage. i should have said that in my first comment. maybe, i was just thinking the other way around. anyways, an updated webpage is absolutely great BUT they can also try other music sites that can help them gain more exposure like the WikiMusicGuide. For a week, they will be featured in WMG’s index page. All WMG users and constant visitors can see them and whoever gets interest will get to know them more. The most important part of it.. it is FREE!!!

Hey Kat!

You make some great points in your posts. The world of online independent music marketing is getting more confusing every day. Sometimes it’s difficult for busy independent artists to quickly learn the tools and tricks that will help them reach new fans and industry contacts and keep in touch with their current fanbase.

I’ve just started a blog about independent music marketing online at maxlowe.wordpress.com. I hope you’ll take a look.

We’ve tried to create a guide to help anyone involved in today’s rapidly changing music industry to better understand the social networking phenomenon and show them how to leverage this powerful tool to cut through the clutter and support their growing career.

We’re as eager as you are to help people understand the possibilities they have to showcase their music, interact with their fans, promote their shows, sell their records and network with industry contacts – all from their MySpace profile!

Again, I hope you’ll drop by and check things out at maxlowe.wordpress.com. You can even download a preview chapter from my upcoming eBook, ‘Max Lowe’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Band on MySpace’!

Keep the music coming,

Max Lowe

I agree it does not take long to maintain a website. It may take little while to create, but once it’s up and running, it’s just a matter of putting a little time in to each week. If it’s really important to you and your career as a musician, you find the time.