The key to getting more fans is to focus on the ones you currently have.

Many new artists spend an inordinate amount of time trying to build their audience at the neglect of the audience they currently have.

In business, it is a generally accepted truth that the best way to get new customers is through current customers.

MySpace and similar sites tend to focus on adding new friends. I think it’s more effective to take the fans you already have and empower them to add to your audience. Make music of such quality that they WANT to tell their friends about it and then give them the tools to do so. Free mp3s and interesting and frequently updated websites (to give them info to share with friends or to blog about). Add your music to iJigg.com and let them post your songs on their blog.

Seth Godin, marketing guru, wrote a book called the IdeaVirus in which he talks about people being “sneezers”. The gist of it is that if you have a compelling product you need to get it into the hands of people who will promote and share your product and essentially “infect” others.

So, create great music, establish strong relationships with your fans (which the web is uniquely equipped to do) and let them “sneeze” your music to the masses.

Be faithful with the fans you currently have before searching for new ones.