Organizing your music files is an vital skill to learn. Once your collection is nice ly sorted out, you’ll be able to find the songs you want briskly and easily. So performance aside some time and read through the following ideas I’ve come up with.

1. Create Subfolders – The single most important tip for organizing your music files is to produce subfolders in your hard drive. Don’t ever leave your MP3 files in one very large folder called C:My Music. Create subfolders prefer C:My MusicClassical, C:My MusicPop and C:My MusicSoundtracks.

2. Ensure your ID3 Tags Are Correct – ID3 tags are used to seller important information about MP3 files. Things like the song title, artist, album are kept and will be displayed by your MP3 player. Take the time to properly edit these tags – many MP3 files you download have the ID3 tag information all wrong. A good software program for editing ID3 tags is TagScanner.

3. Invest in Good Music Management Software – There are several wonderful pieces of software out there for managing music files. Two good ones come to mind. The first is MediaMonkey and the second is MusicMatch Jukebox. Both programs provide wonderful music management features like an integrated music player, compact disc  burning features and ID3 tag renaming.

4. Get Your Music Files from Legal Sources – If you have been downloading music using P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing programs prefer KaZaa, you will substantially prefer ly get music files which have strange names prefer 56_HeyjAck.mp3. My advice: Get your files from legal sources prefer Web music services iTunes or Napster and you will avoid this problem.

5. Establish Good Playlists – Virtually all software music player (e.g. Winamp) will allow you to establish playlists. For instance, say you’re in the mood for rock songs, you may point to your folder called C:Music Rock n Roll and establish a playlist from that folder. Save the playlist following it is created. When you next feel prefer listening to those songs, all you need to do is load that playlist instead of trawling through your hard drive and folders.

6. Get A Huge Hard Drive – I understand that this sounds a little crazy – but running out of disk space can and will ruin your well-organized music collection. Ensure you’ve enough hard disk space to seller your music files. Say you’ve 10,000 music files that you absolutely must retain and listen to. It’s a incredibly bad idea to store, say, 8,000 files in Hard Drive A and 2,000 files in Hard Drive B. Very messy. It’s better to seller them all in one hard disk. So get your hands on the biggest hard drive you can find.

I hope this post advocates you to organize your music collection a little better. I know it takes endeavor, but once your music collection is properly catalogued, listening to your music collection will be a much more pleasant experience. So don’t hesitate – get organized now!

Music Marketing Tip#1: Upload a Variety of tunes

Just because you’ve to list the type of music you perform does not mean you’ve to upload tunes that only reflect that type of ! Show record labels and audiences that you’ve other musical interests by uploading tunes that are different from one another. This will demonstrate for you r range, ability to attract audiences from other type of s, which enhances your marketability, and prove to record labels you are value investing in.

Music Marketing Tip#2: Fuel the Fan Fires

Record labels conduct searches on MySpace everyday looking for skill ed performers. One way to get them to prohibit on your profile page is by showing them you have a strong fan base. The more individuals who visit your website, the more popular your page becomes there. Use the marketing tools available in order to obtain fan interest.

Record labels want to sign those who are already experienced in working crowds during shows and who have a strong Web presence because it makes promoting the music much easier. Having a strong fan base will make selling records and make promoting performance tours and other public appearances much easier.

Start a buzz on MySpace.com by attracting more listeners to your page. Join MySpace.com forums, list upcoming parties, and advertise your page on fliers, business cards, and other marketing materials as this will prompt listeners who have seen your live shows to visit and download your tunes.

Music Marketing Tip#3: Contacting Record Labels

Finding information about record labels is simple because of the Web. Instead of sending a copy of your latest compact disc  or several of your tunes, you may send record labels the link to your MySpace profile page. Music executives will appreciate this much more than strange pieces of mail showing up at their offices. Sending a quick email with your contact information may be enough to get you noticed. Research record companies to see which ones cater to your type of, and which ones accept email from musicians.

Music Marketing Tip#4: Selling Your Album on MySpace

If you release an album on your own, sell it in order to generate buzz and likewise catch the attention of record labels. Being able to show record labels that you are a professional artist who is passionate about music will performance you apart from the rest.

Attracting record labels will require you to remain diligent about marketing your music on MySpace. Uploading songs, using marketing tools such as blogs, video, and photos will endorse record labels get a better idea of what your sound. Use these marketing tools and others offer ed and go showcase your musical talent s.

So,on one of those sunny days, we wake up from this sweet dream and, in the absence of the notion that all this time has passed by so swift, we’re adults, living our “normal” lives, earning just enough bread to get by, doing what our parents always wanted us to do.

I know a doctor who still dreams of having a varying life, a life that will excite him… once he confided in me that he’d gladly ex change everything that he had built, if he might have the occasion to go back to what he loved best, music (he has been a guitarist in a heavy metal band).

Where do all these dreams hide?

Now you have your own company, or that job, which in societys’ eyes is respectable, in a wonderful company, and you decide not to let the old flame die. You decide to have a bit of fun and return to “waging a bet” in the music industry.

For you to be started as a musician, or manager of a band, you will need abilities in business, buying, sales, market research, man management, delegation of tasks and be fashion conscious.

All these actions together make up marketing in the world of music.

For this project, just like in any other business, you’ll need to designate a quantity which you are prepared to invest. Treat music like any other commercial adventure in your life. Never as a profitable hobby.

A Budget and Business Plan (with a target public defined) are important, just as in a “conventional company“. This way you will not fall into the trap of making emotional decisions, taking your attention away from your real objective.

Save your sentiments for your music.

What is the problem with this? Well for one, it’s made up. I just done it. And two…who on earth is R.G?

Now this is what I automatically imagine when I go through any website, be it musical or not. The problem comes in the fact that most testimonials are just too distant.

Sure people could put a Internet address down and even a picture. It does actually stimulate a very big amount. It makes you less distant, and now more reliable. However, we are now in the 21st Century and our selling techniques ought to really keep up with the technology on offer.

The technology? That is Flash. Now I’ve said in the past that a Website shouldn’t be made out of Flash…with the central reason being the search engines won’t choose it up. But Flash is such a easy tool that it must be integrated into our Websites for us to stand a slightest opportunity of selling anything.

So what do we need to do?

first up is to actually embed Flash into our websites so that it’s easy to work, like ably free, looks good, easy to session up and more than anything…fool proof for the user.

Now I have searched high and low for a flash player that meets those demands (I could not tell you how a lot of I have downloaded), and I have found one. Now I think that it is a traversty that this software hasn’t been shouted about.

You need a player- MP3 or Video (which may be found at this address: www.jeroenwijering.com. All you need to do is download either a movie player, or an MP3 player, upload the various players components to your website, upload an MP3 or Flash movie file (FLV), then tell the wizard (which may be found at this address: http://www.jeroenwijering.com/extras/wizard.html) where everything is stored. It’ll automatically give you the code. You copy and then paste it in to the source section of your HTML where you want the player…and thats it.

Simple.

As a side note: You see we ought to do everything ourselves so that we are not reliant on any other service. Youtube has a habit of stopping videos overnight, their quality is poor and it looks prefer we are cheap. Sure use YouTube for traffic generation and generating leads, but I would not use it to sell on my website – it is not professional only if you’re selling DVDs or software. Doubts will go into customers minds about your products quality…and the sale will walk away. There are additionally dedicated movie websites that charge per month…but we want to decrease our resources output. So what do we do?

So the best way is to be clever at the start and buy a Web hosting package that is cheap yet plentiful. Just be careful about your monthly bandwidth. Most hosting organizations now offer incredible bandwidth solutions/ month so you shouldn’t worry about that. I’m with Superb Internet Hosting who give me bandwidth of 750GB/ month…which is more than ample and at a normal hosting price. I do not need specific video hosting, poor quality free hosting and I do not need to pay anymore cash…bargain!

Anyway what do we actually do with our Flash players?

Ahh, I am glad that you asked. Now this is what your competition are not doing. You see you can record customers reactions to your music (especially at a performance ) and place these as testimonials.

Promote gigs by recording previous concert s/ gigs. Then question some of the goers before and after to see what they think? Promise them a free ticket, T-Shirt, compact disc  etc for their trouble. If you get some bad reviews (which can happen), edit them out.

If you are friendly with your testimonial makers, why not get them to do a short piece on your stuff? Only a handful (literally) of web sites have done this. Completely novel- they have interviewed buyers of the product to see what they think. Now that “nobody testimonial” has become a a person. It doesn’t matter now who they are. How influential is that style of testimonial? It generates thousands of sales weekly for some web site s.

You should be using the Flash players to performance your music (please no lower d quality or 1 minute performance versions). Now I have greater my sales by well over 100  percent by doing this technique. Throughout my texts I have placed an MP3. So instead of having a bulk amount of MP3s in one place – where they might freely be forgotten, I have placed them throughout and leveraged the same  set of MP3s to a better advantage.

The Flash players should be used to interview your group or yourself. Because the Web is so faceless, adding a “face” to your web site improves your credibility ten-fold. If you’re the head of the company/ web site, have you on your sales pages stating what you’re actually selling- pointing out rewards to the customer, backing up your text.

If you do not like what you look like, the Flash players ought to be used to performance your voice to help and direct people into making the proper decision.

Got a video or DVD? Flash player it at a reasonable size and quality to demonstrate what you have. Sales will increase with a demo of what you have.

Always recall though, that some individuals do not want to sit down and listen to you stating what you can be done. They want to see what can be done… that’s the difference. If you play the guitar…Flash player yourself playing a certain specific style on one page and another style on another page. Therefore if I want to know how to make Flamenco music I don’t want to see loads of other styles before you get to mine. Don’t speak the specific style, just play it (and make it sound cool, vibrant and listenable).

So as you can see, there are a large amount of scope for Flash players and they ought to be right up there with your top music marketing strategies.

The development of human music occurred against the backdrop of natural sounds prefer the lapping of ocean waves, the rippling of river water, the singing of birds and sounds created by other animals. Prehistoric music, more commonly referred to as primitive music, is the name given to all music produced by preliterate cultures, beginning somewhere in wonderfully late geological history.

The prehistoric period is considered to have ended with the creation of writing, and with it, by definition, prehistoric music. “Ancient music” is the term given to the music that followed. This music was produced by various early cultures, particularly Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Mesopotamians and citizens of the Muslim world, as well as Asiatic cultures.

Following ancient music, came “early” music which is a wonderfully general term referring to music in the European classical tradition from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, until the end of the Baroque period in the 18th Century. Music within this enormous time span was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions throughout a broad  geographic region. What unified these many cultures in the Middle Ages was the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as a focal point for music development for the first centuries of this period.

The Medieval period (from the 9th to the 14th Centuries) has been rich in musical history as attested by the artistic renditions of instruments, writings about music, and other historical references. The only collection of music which has survived from pre-900 AD to the present is the liturgical music of the Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called the Gregorian chants.

Renaissance music followed the medieval era, but the beginning of Renaissance music isn’t as apparent ly marked as the start of the Renaissance in the other arts, and began, not in Italy, but in northern Europe especially central France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The invention of the printing press had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles and by the 15th century, composers and singers from these Low Countries begin to spread over all of Europe.

Baroque music became quite popular after 1600, and instrumental music became dominant. Although strong religious musical traditions continued, secular music came to the forefront with the development of the sonata, the concert o and concert o grosso. In Baroque music the keyboard, particularly the harpsichord, is the dominant instrument. The three most outstanding composers of this period are J.S. Bach, G. F. Handel and A. Vivaldi.

The early Classical period was ushered in by the Mannheim School which exerted a profound influence on Joseph Haydn, and through him, on nearly all subsequent European music. Wolfgang Mozart was the central figure of this period and his phenomenal and varied output defines our perception of the Classical era.

Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were transitional composers who led Europe into the Romantic period with their expansion of the current type of s, forms and even uses of music. During this Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional. By the late 19th century, there has been a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestras, and in the role of concert as part of a rapidly rising urban society. Strauss, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Wagner comprised a compelling group of Romantic composers. A prominent feature of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by figures like Dvorak, and Sibelius.

The 20th Century saw a music revolution as radio gained popularity world wide and new media and technologies were created to record, capture, reproduce and give out music. Because music was no longer limited to performance venues and club s, it became possible for music performers to secure fame and fortune quite swift.

And music became more mobile with the use of headsets, compact disc  players, and iPods. Music of the 20th Century brought a new freedom and expansive  experimentation with styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of earlier musical periods. Heavy metal music and rap entered the picture and joined hip-hop, jazz, country/western, ballads, folk, acid rock, Christian rock and a variety of other type ofs to establish today’s fascinating world of music.

Houston-based art rockers Blue October will headline the inaugural PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR–where impassioned artists join together to raise awareness and funds for depression and suicide prevention–and Atlanta-based hip-hop artist and producer B.o.B will open on the trek.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR marks the first-ever tour solely benefiting suicide prevention in history. The month-long trek will launch Thursday, October 22nd at the Music Farm in Charleston, SC and wrap up with a two-night stand at Stubbs in Austin, TX November 20 and 21. See the full PUTP tour itinerary below; tickets are on sale now. To purchase, visit: http://www.putp.org and http://www.blueoctoberfan.com/pickupthephone/.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR will launch with a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Wednesday, October 21 at 10:00 AM. Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October, will be on hand to speak and perform an acoustic set before members of Congress as well as supporters of the tour partners 1-800 SUICIDE, PostSecret and TWLOHA.

Justin–who has struggled with bi-polar disorder most of his life–will be calling on Congress to fund both creative writing and art therapy programs as alternative options for mental health. The press conference will also urge Congress to fully fund the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act which provides the funding behind the majority of the suicide prevention programs in the United States today. The press conference is open to all on a first-come first-served basis, to RSVP, email TWLOHA: PUTP@TWLOHA.com.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR is created through a partnership between the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), the largest charity on MySpace and Facebook: Postsecret.com; Synclive.com; and 1-800 SUICIDE The National Hopeline Network.

Through 1-800 SUICIDE–which provides a life-saving service that is private and confidential for people in need–callers are routed directly to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received over 3.6 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans.

The spokesperson for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009, Justin Furstenfeld personally understands the struggles those who are affected by mental health issues face on a daily basis. “It has taken 20 years to have the chance to do a tour focusing on mental health issues which have been a daily battle for me for most of my life,” explains Justin.

“It’s great to finally be a part of a positive, progressive-thinking tour for an important cause which will make a direct impact and help people in desperate situations that need it the most.” In a strange turn of events in his own life, Justin worked at a mental hospital one day and, after suffering a breakdown, became a patient in a hospital the next.

Justin–who has taken medication for the condition since he was a teenager–now teaches creative writing at a mental hospital to young adults affected by mental health issues, self-abuse issues and sexual abuse. Through personal experiences and music, Justin challenges young minds to channel their emotions and anger into creative writing and art versus taking their frustrations out on themselves or the world around them.

He performs his art around the world, sending a message of hope to thousands who know and trust his message because he fights the same battles they fight every day. Justin is living proof that if you reach out and allow yourself to be helped you can lead a beautiful life filled with love, family and career.

“In moments of bravery and confusion and honesty, people turn to 1-800-SUICIDE–over three million of them,” points out Jamie Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA).

“The folks at the Hopeline Centers have been answering those calls for ten years, picking up the phone when it’s mattered most. Now to help those who will not pick up the phone, together with 1-800-SUICIDE we are launching the first 24×7 online emotional support network called AliveIM!, which will soon be available at www.suicide.net.”

To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA)–a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide–exists to encourage, inform and inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

Since 2006, TWLOHA has responded to over 100,000 messages from people in over 40 different countries and have invested over half a million dollars directly into treatment and recovery, including $50,000 to help fund the AliveIM! support network.

In another innovative move, the tour has partnered with Synclive.com to air live performances from the artists via the Internet as well as provide an immediate online confidential connection for fans in need. Synclive.com will create an essential connection for concertgoers in crisis who are unable to approach a booth at the show in-person either for direct help or to volunteer for the online counseling program.

Formed in Houston in 1995, the rock five–piece Blue October have released five studio albums and sold over 2 million albums. The group released their fifth studio album Approaching Normal (Universal Motown), the follow-up to their 1.3 million-selling Foiled album; it spawned the hit “Hate Me,” which reached #2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, followed by “Into the Ocean,” a # 1 video on VH1 about a the metaphorical contemplation of suicide itself.

Approaching Normal debuted at # 13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in March 2009 and produced two top singles: “Dirt Room,” which rocketed to #6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart marking the group’s third Top Ten singl, and “Say It.”

Blue October is Justin Furstenfeld (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums, percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola, mandolin, piano, backing vocals), C.B. Hudson (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Noveskey (bass guitar, backing vocals). Due to their hard-won and loyal fanbase, the group now tours all over the world. Check out www.blueoctober.com and www.myspace.com/blueoctober.

Hailing from Atlanta, B.o.B. also known as Bobby Ray is a hotly-tipped hip-hop artist and producer who will release his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray via T.I.’s label Grand Hustle (Atlantic Records) in 2009. B.o.B. appeared on the covers of XXL and Vibe magazines as was hailed as part of “Hip-Hop’s class of ‘09” (XXL, 12/08). B.o.B describes his music as a fusion of influences ranging from 80’s, techno, rock, funk and du-wop. Check out www.bobatl.com and www.myspace.com/bobatl.

Recently, acclaimed actor James Earl Jones recorded a Public Service announcement for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR; click here to view: http://www.preventsuicide.us/hopeline-new/index.html.

Following are the confirmed dates for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009:

DATE CITY VENUE

10/21 Washington, DC Capitol Hill – PUTP Press Conference

10/22 Charleston, SC Music Farm (no B.o.B.)

10/23 Charlotte, NC Fillmore

10/24 Hilton Head, SC Shoreline Ballroom

10/25 Atlanta, GA 99X (Blue October radio show)

10/27 Jacksonville, FL Freebird Live

10/28 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution

10/30 Orlando, FL House of Blues

10/31 Tampa, FL The Ritz (Ybor City)

11/01 Columbia, SC Headliners

11/02 WASHINGTON, DC 9:30 Club

11/05 Rochester, NY Water Street

11/06 Boston , MA Reason to Live Tenth Anniversary Concert

11/07 Napa, CA Hot AC (Blue October radio show)

11/10 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion

11/12 Chicago, IL House of Blues

11/13 Detroit, MI Royal Oak

11/14 Kalamazoo, MI State Theater

11/15 Cleveland, OH House of Blues

11/17 COLUMBIA, MO Blue Note

11/18 Tulsa, OK Cain’s

11/20 Austin, TX Stubb’s

11/21 Austin, TX Stubb’s

Partners for the first-ever PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009 include:

1-800-SUICIDE – National Hopeline Network

About the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE (784-2433) and the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC):
After losing his wife, Kristin Brooks to suicide in 1998, Reese Butler founded the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC), which created the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE.

In 2000, Reese gained the support of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and obtained more than seven million dollars to expand and support the National Hopeline Network which is comprised of 200 community crisis centers in 48 states.

Callers in crisis to 1800-SUICIDE are routed to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received more than 3 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans. www.hopeline.com

About To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA):

In 2006, Jamie Tworkowski wrote a story, a glimpse into a friend’s life and her first steps to recovery from drug addiction, self-injury, and depression. The story, titled To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), and t-shirts Tworkowski printed to help pay for his friend’s recovery, started a movement, not only within his local Orlando, FL community, but one that was swiftly embraced by people everywhere.

Realizing a strong need to bring these mental health issues to light, Jamie created TWLOHA–a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide–and enlisted bands such as Paramore, Thrice, Anberlin, Switchfoot, Bayside, The Almost to spread TWLOHA’s message.

Jamie and TWLOHA joined national and international touring bands spreading their message of hope before bands took the stage each night. In August 2007, MySpace awarded TWLOHA the winner of their “Impact Award” for “Community Building,” TWLOHA garnered the most votes in the history of the Impact Awards.

To Write Love on Her Arms began with one broken girl, one painful night; addiction, depression, self-injury. It is the realization of what life can be when people commit to meeting a need. “A friend of mine told me there is no such thing as suicide prevention. This is an attempt to prove him wrong, to say that love can change a life. We can hold back the darkness. Rescue is possible,” says Tworkowski. www.twloha.com

About Synclive.Com:

Synclive.com is a highly interactive music and entertainment Internet community that allows users to broadcast their live performances, as they happen, over the Internet to a worldwide audience. Synclive.com is currently reaching 127 countries with over 1 million video views a month. Shows can be broadcast from anywhere, at anytime. Synclive.com offers artists a tremendous promotional platform for worldwide exposure.

It is a great way to promote new music, a new tour, new merchandise, and stay intimately connected with your fans. Shows are streamed live, recorded and stored at the artist’s discretion for future on demand viewing. Our most used tool is the embedded player which allows an artist’s live and on demand shows to be placed on all of their websites so fans can watch the show in the artist’s environment. Synclive.com is free for artists, fans, and venues to use and is open to all genres of music and live entertainment. www.synclive.com

About PostSecret.com:

Called “the most trusted stranger in America,” Frank Warren is the sole founder and curator of the PostSecret Project: A collection of nearly 500,000 highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice.

The PostSecret.com site now receives more than 1,000,000 visitors every week. In 2005, the All-American Rejects approached Warren about using images of actual PostSecret images in their “Dirty Little Secret” music video. They offered Warren $1,000, but Warren instead asked them to donate $2,000 to 1800-SUICIDE where Warren is a volunteer.

The donation was made and the music video became one of the most requested on MTV. The National Mental Health Association presented Warren with an award for his work in raising public awareness of Suicide. The PostSecret project has now raised over $210,000 for 1800-SUICIDE. PostSecret was awarded the December 2008 “Myspace Impact Award” and donated 100% of the proceeds to 1-800 SUICIDE. Look for the new PostScret book titled Confessions on Life, Death and God due out October 6. www.postsecret.com

For more information about the PUTP tour, visit:

• www.putp.org
• www.hopeline.com
• ww.twloha.com
• www.synclive.com
• www.postsecret.com

Following are some pointers to include in your web site and the central purpose of each.

1) Main Page – The central pages is a general landing page to funnel visitors to varying areas of your web site. Create a obvious and simple navigation process linked to the other pages of your web site. *If you use Javascript for navigation, place text link at the bottom. This ensures that search engines will be able to spider your web site properly. You might furthermore use this page to feature your cd, music samples and other offer s.

2) Order Page(s) – Create a sales letter for each item that your are selling. Tomorrow we will go over some copywriting ideas to build a successful order page.

3) Press Releases - This section is where visitors can read 3rd party articles published about you, growing your credibility and exposure.

4) Contact Information - This is so individuals might get a hold of you to book shows, ask questions about products, collaborations, interviews or other opportunities (you never know). Include as much contact information as possible, like your phone, cell, mailing address, email etc.

5) Privacy Policy – Complies with privacy laws if your are collecting any of information about your customers/visitors. This likewise stimulates to build trust and people will give their information more freely. Here is a link to a privacy policy generator. http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

6) Electronic Press Kit – This is where you refer the media to efficiently download an information package about you. Here is some ideas on what you might include:

*Biography

*Demo tunes

*Pictures

*Reviews/Testimonials

*Sideshow Of Photos

*Video or Film Footage (Windows Media or Quicktime format)

Establish a biography with pictures in .pdf format and make it available for download. You could use the Writer program contained in the free Open Office Suite http://www.openoffice.org to do this. Open then program type (or paste) in your biography and insert pictures. When your done go to File > Export As PDF.

7) Lyrics - Allows fans to get more familiar with your music. also adds content to your website which will get pick ed up by the search engines if it has an incoming link form your main page or somewhere else.

Biography – On your bio page sections listeners read about you and see your pictures. A sideshow of your photos occasionally adds a good touch.

9) Concert Listings/News – Keep your fans and web site visitors updated with the latest news about your concert s/shows, interviews, appearances ond other topics of interest.

Nowadays, being independent has real advantages.

How many times have you heard or read somewhere that the Web has vary d the face of the music business forever? I would love a dollar for everytime I heard it.

However, it’s true and there are a number of reasons for this. Two that spring into mind are that:

1. A traditional record company/artist relationship is optional and not a necessity. You could do your all music sales and band promotion Web cutting out all of the ‘middle people ‘.

2. websites might turn an artist with a Regional audiences into an artist with an international audiences. As the Web isn’t ‘owned’ by any one entity the playing field is a lot more even.

To me, being an independent performer means that you’re the one driving the bus and being in control over your own affairs.

A lot of talent ed musicians and performing songwriters around the world are at this considerably moment waiting for that knock at the door, the opportunity to ‘get found ‘. What’s prefer ly to happen is that they’ll invest their creative lives being considerably disappointed.

If you’re reading this and feel that this is you, contemplate this…

Where do you think you would be if you managed your career yourself rather than wait for an individual (or some company) to do it for you?

There are many websites out in cyberspace that are there to advocate you take control over your career by spreading practical information about performer promotion and the indie music industry as a whole, take advantage of these websites and go to as many as you can

Embrace independence today and capture control over your own musical affairs.

Starting up a performer is a eminently rousing time in a performers life. There’s a fine balance of nervous anticipation and the fear of the unknown that follows the whole process.

A band has a different dynamic than working as a solo artist. There are other individuals involved, other personal ities, other strengths and weaknesses in character and abilities and because of this it is really important that you have several things worked out before you start looking for band members.

1. Have a good idea of your own strengths and weaknesses

The band members that you want to get will need to be around the same level of competence as you are. The main reason for this is that you might all grow together rather than have one or two performers carrying everybody else. This kind of player imbalance causes doubt in the group and doubt is one of the major killers of bands.

2. Know beforehand how the band is going to be run

Is the performer going to be run by you or the whole group? The individual ity categories of the artists that you choose will need to be agreeable to the way the performer is going to be run.

3. What instrumentation is the band having in its lineup?

This is mainly determined by the type(s) of music that you want to play but having an idea of what artists you’re looking for will be of amazing endorse.

It’s now time to hunt down some band members

4. Ask your network of companions and/or contacts

This is always a wonderful place to start. Ask anybody that you know or come into contact with. If you do not have much of a circle of friends and/or contacts this will be a wonderful occasion to expansive n it. This is one of the reasons why networking in the industry is so important, for occasions such as this.

Having a performer referred to you has a much better chance of working than one that comes from an advertisement. This leads me onto my next point.

5. Post an advertisement

Having said that I have had made some wonderful contacts from performers enquiring from a ‘muso wanted‘ ad. The key to effective ads is that they need to be concise, to the point, not too lengthy and put in places where performers are considerably like ly to see it and read it like in a music shop, a Regional music magazine or a music classifieds web site.

A sample ‘ performer wanted‘ advertisement may read something like this:

BASS PLAYER WANTED

To join folk/rock band

Influences include

Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Counting Crows

Some experience prefer red

Own gear and transport essential

Interested?? Give me a call

Corey – (put home and/or cell telephone  number here)

As you might see, the ad is undeniable in its intention.

It undeniable ly states the artist wanted, the kind of music the band is playing, what the music may sound prefer and that the band has some experience behind it. Ensure you have a undeniable contact name and phone numbers (if you want to include an email address as well that’s cool).

Don’t put in stuff prefer ‘work waiting‘ or ‘no time was ters please’. You may judge those sort of things yourself when an interested musician contacts you.

Once you have done that the waiting game begins.

The auditions are over, you’ve found your bass player and you all seem to get along really well. The excitement is in the air and you’ve had your first performer bonding celebration.

Now its time to start your musical journey together.

Personally, I think that locating a performer name is THE hardest decision that the performer will ever have to make and as a result one of the the majority important decisions as well.

A performer name is a eminently vital part of the bands identity. It’s the first point of contact a punter has with the band.

I can’t remember how many times people have raved about a band to me but can’t tell me the name when I ask them. Right there is the was ted opening  for a band. It frustrates me no end.

This is a optimum example of how extremely vital a band name is.

The performer name is the first thing that a punter will remember. They won’t address the performer by the names of the individuals in it when they talk to their friends (unless they’re personal friends of yours) they’ll address the performer by its name.

The perfect way to find a band name is through sheer persistance. Finding a band name that is agreeable by everyone is not an easy task.

Here are some band name get together suggestions:

1. Get every member to write down their personal list of potential performer names

This can be the 1st task that the performer could do collectively. session a date for the 1st performer meeting and betwixt now and then do that task.

2. Make brainstorming performer names the topic of your 1st ever performer meeting

When everybody gets together put all of the lists out on the table and go through each one keeping to one side the names that’strike a chord’ (sorry about the pun) with all of you and getting rid of the rest.

As a group try brainstorming some ideas. This is a great way to start formulating what the performer is all about, what its image is etc, etc.

3. Start a competition among all your companions /family/anyone else via email

This is a wonderful way to start compiling the beginnings of your performers email list. List all of your companions /family/anyone else that you want to include and their email addresses and compile them all into one mailing group. Send out an email outlining the competition and be ready for the suggestions to come flooding in.

It is vital to have a cut off date for the competition (perhaps by your 1st band meeting) and to have a prize on offer. Of course the prize is totally up to you.

Make sure that when you do find a performer name that you announce it through your email group. You have just started email promotion of your band.

Whatever you do have fun with the process and don’t let the quest to find a band name override the other things that you’ve to do such as writing songs and locating rehearsal space.

I guarantee that once you have agreed on a performer name you will all collectively breathe a very large sigh of relief. The hardest part of the journey has been achieved.