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You’re loaded up on MySpace – tons of friends and fans with pictures from your most recent shows, flyers for your next tour, and comments from the peanut gallery on everything from the outfit you wore last week to the person you just broke up with. But as much as this is working, it’s limiting. Hugely limiting.

With your own website, your band goes to the next level. First, there’s the credibility. MySpace is for basement bands, kids who practice after school when their drummer isn’t grounded. When you have your own website, you can actually be a basement band with a drummer under perpetual house arrest, but to the rest of the world, you are a professional group of serious musicians, each member with an email address that includes your band’s name.

Include a link to your website in every email you send out, list it at the bottom of flyers, put it on business cards and attach it to the demo CD you send out to record companies. Reviewers can get information about you from your site and, in turn, you can post comments they print. Give bios of the band members and ways to contact you. List lyrics to your songs and tour schedules. The more you have on your website, the more street cred you get – and anything is better than a little spot on MySpace.

Next, there’s the possibilities. What can’t you have when you’ve got your own website? You can sell your new album, t shirts in a variety of styles, hats, posters, patches, pins. You can upload samples of your songs, making a pseudo-demo tape available for fans, club owners, recording executives, and potential agents to listen to. Have a variety of forums for your fans to meet each other, get rides to shows, ask you questions, discuss your music – all conveniently separated into categories that would be impossible in the endless list of comments on MySpace.

You can also communicate with your band members through your website. Use secure pages that the public won’t have access to and pass notes back and forth when one is out of town. Upload clips of that bass line you’re working on or lyrics that you’re having trouble with. Even if you all have ‘real’ jobs or go to school full time, you can still have band practice via the website.

Websites are a great way to develop your cult status as well. Upload live tracks from your shows and start a bootleg craze, new millennium style. Offer limited edition, hand screened t-shirts and patches. Create a blog and pick a fan out of every show to memorialize. Make up rumors about yourself and spread them. Start an online war with another band. Get noticed and get people listening to your music, talking about your band, and coming to your shows. Then start your own label and help them make their website as big of a success as yours is.

Like many musicians, waiting for a record label to find you can take a long time and even then, it may not be worth it. Instead, musicians are taking matters into their own hands and selling music by promoting it on MySpace. Since MySpace reaches millions of viewers each day, chances are you will be able to sell your music, make a profit, and create a fan base without needing to sign a recording contract.

Being your own boss

Without a recording contract, you will be able to choose the songs for your CD, the order of those songs, and when you want to record them. You will also be able to design cover art, inside pages, and other merchandise you may want to sell in conjunction with the CD or music downloads.

You will also be able to choose if you want to strictly sell songs that can be downloaded or if you want to record an actual CD.

You can choose to sell your music in different ways by creating a web site where people can download songs, or working with third-party distribution web sites that will take of packaging and shipping. Promoting your CD or downloadable songs on MySpace is a great way to generate interest. Make sure you include the URL of the site that is selling your music so fans will know where to go.

Cost of releasing your music

The cost of selling your music is much less expensive than it used to be. While you don’t have to produce a CD, many musicians do anyway as a way to show their professionalism and so they can sell the CD at local gigs and events. Radio stations and other broadcasters need CDs in order to play them on the air.

When looking for web sites to package and distribute your CD, find ones that are popular or ask advice from other musicians who have gone the same route. You may have to raise money for these costs by playing extra gigs, or selling downloads first, but it will be worth it. Use MySpace as a way to generate interest, get advice, and find out more information. There are many forums that can help answer any questions you have.

Creating a band web site

While MySpace is currently working on building a storefront where musicians can sell their merchandise directly on the site, you may have to create your own web site and sell your CD there until this new feature is up and running. But that doesn’t mean you cant advertise on MySpace, work with other musicians to cross-sell music, or find other ways to promote your sound.

A band web site should be an extension of your MySpace profile page. Include your web site on your profile page so fans will know where to go when they want to buy a CD, see additional photos, or find out where you will be playing next.

MySpace is a great way to promote your music and help your CD or downloadable songs sell even faster. The internet is a large landscape, but with a little help from MySpace, you will be able to let fans know where they can buy your music and learn more about your sound.

The ultimate goal of most musicians who use MySpace is to attract a record label. Earning a contract to record an album can be a musician way into the music business. But what can you do to attract record labels? Creating a profile page and uploading music is a good start, but by no means is it the end of your marketing efforts. Below you will find a few tips on attracting a record label and getting them to take notice of your talent.

Tip#1: Upload a Variety of Songs

Just because you have to list the genre of music you perform does not mean you have to upload songs that only reflect that genre! Show record labels and fans that you have other musical interests by uploading songs that are different from one another. This will show your range, ability to attract fans from other genres, which increases your marketability, and prove to record labels you are worth investing in.

Tip#2: Fuel the Fan Fires

Record labels conduct searches on MySpace everyday looking for talented musicians. One way to get them to stop on your profile page is by showing them you have a strong fan base. The more people who visit your site, the more popular your page becomes on MySpace. Use the marketing tools available in order to gain fan interest.

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

Create a buzz on MySpace by attracting more fans to your page. Join MySpace forums, list upcoming events, and advertise your page on fliers, business cards, and other marketing materials as this will prompt fans who have seen your live shows to visit and download your songs.

Tip#3: Contacting Record Labels

Finding information about record labels is easy because of the internet. Instead of sending a copy of your latest CD or a few of your tunes, you can 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 genre, and which ones accept email from musicians.

Tip#4: Selling Your Album on MySpace

If you release an album on your own, sell it on MySpace in order to generate buzz and also catch the attention of record labels. Being able to show record labels that you are a professional musician who is passionate about music will set 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 help record labels get a better idea of what your sound. Use these marketing tools and others offered on MySpace go showcase your musical talents.

As an up and coming musical artist, there are many things to keep in mind and to consider as you strive to build up your reputation and develop a fan base. Before you decide which venue to perform at and way before you decide which Malibu summer home you want, first things first: you have to get noticed.

It is no longer enough to perform at the local hotspot such as the coffee shop or underground music scene to get the word out about your music and band. With the advent of social networking sites like Myspace and the development of podcasts and other such options, the budding musician has many opportunities and obligations.

It does not really matter how good your band is, how inspiring the lyrics are, or how innovative the sound; if your music is not being noticed then you are still a “nobody”. Many find it difficult to go out there and get recognition for their work and the major reason for this is that they simply do not know how to get their music noticed.

Promotion is really the key here as it allows the band and their music to reach a wide audience. If you reach an audience that would otherwise remain oblivious to your music then the promotion is working. There are a variety of promotional tools and options available from the basic word of mouth to using sites such as Myspace, Youtube, and Facebook.

Myspace, in particular, is gaining popularity with the music crowd as Indie performers and mainstream performers alike are beginning to understand just how important this peer networking site has become. Using Myspace’s innovative section designed for musicians, gaining notice and recognition is quickly becoming easy; as long as it is used correctly and to its full ability.

With Myspace, bands are able to keep track of the amount of times their songs are being played and how often their profiles are being viewed. Generally, the higher these numbers, the more popular the song and band are. Most guests to Myspace pages are more inclined to listen and view to bands with higher view and listen numbers than to those with small numbers. The reason for this is that it is believed, and correctly so, that the more listens, the better the music. Instead of passing over your songs, when guests see a high count they will be more likely to take notice and listen to what you have to offer.

For this reason, it is important to keep your music fresh and updated so that when guests return they will be greeted by something new. If they become bored as to what the band has to offer, then they will be less and less likely to return. Being noticed is just one step as retaining that recognition will take patience and diligence.

Having your music noticed is one of the greatest times for a musician and band. Fortunately there are services and software that no longer just work with the major labels and artists but now work with many Indies’. Just be sure to use one that is trustworthy and proven!

Gaining that needed notice just takes a keen eye for the tools that are readily available and designed to gather listens and long term fans who will keep coming back to your site again and again.

While many musicians have a Myspace page devoted to their band and their music, most of those musicians do not use it to its full potential. Granted, Myspace is a great place to connect with friends and fans, upload songs, sell merchandise, and a host of other really terrific services and capabilities, but the main point of Myspace that many overlook is promotion beyond the internet.

The best way to gain attention offline is the same as you would online, by using play counts. Play counts are a ranking system used to rank the popular musicians whether they are Unsigned, Indie, or on a major record label.

These music charts are first organized by genre and then overall for the entire site. The higher the total Myspace play counts, the higher up the ranks your group or band will reach. Many musicians, including those on major record labels, are turning more and more to promotional tools to aid their rise in the music charts.

In light of just how important these total play counts really are, make sure you select a service or software that has been proven and was developed with the aim of helping musicians reach the desired play counts in a natural manner which produces terrific results.

These results do not only garner the attention of fans, peers, and even important executives in the music industry, they can be used to promote your band through magazines, television, radio, and other forms of media.

Most of the larger cities, and even the smaller towns, have a local newspaper or magazine. These print media are always looking for stories about local people who are doing something of interest. While starting at the bottom and not going straight for Rolling Stone may seem a waste of time, it really is the best way possible to gain attention at this stage, at least before Rolling Stone magazine notices your band.

With an impressive Play Count, your local magazine and newspaper will surely be more than happy to interview you and your band. Getting your band in print, and circulating among tens of thousands of people, is only the first step.

Word of mouth will take hold from there and continue to spread news of your music. More likely than not, if you were to show up to the local magazine or newspaper office without an impressive play count, the editors will only ask you to leave. However, with high play counts and a spot in the Myspace music charts, preferably a higher spot than the bottom three, you will gain the editors attention and interest.

It is even possible to use high play counts to get jobs other than the one at the small bar on the outskirts of town. Bars, pubs, and other venues, especially ones that primarily deal with local and underground bands, book their talent by how popular they are. This way, you’ll ensure that there will be a decent crowd and a decent chance of doubling and tripling their nightly profit.

Keep this in mind as you approach a venue in which you would like to perform. Show them your play count and guarantee that you are popular and worth their time. Again, this can only be done if you have a high play count number. The higher this number, the more likely the venue will agree to let you play. These venues will be an important step to your bands future and gaining fans.

Now, these are just two examples of how Myspace can help you beyond the internet. Myspace is an important tool in elevating your status and popularity in the music world and while it is certainly possible to gain recognition and a record deal through Myspace, it is best to not just wait around for that possibility.

Local media and venues will be more than happy to spread the word about your band when it is popular, so use this fact to your advantage as well. Simply because you are on Myspace does not mean that anyone will take you seriously, you have to have the play counts to back up your boasts.

Use your imagination when promoting your band and use your popularity on Myspace as a guarantee of your skill and capabilities. Along with the site, these offline attempts will help boost your popularity and the number of your fans.

The Internet has clearly made it easier for bands to promote themselves and make themselves better known but people still have to find them. Social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook are supposed to be the answer to this problem so let’s see how good at finding indie bands MySpace really is.

MySpace offers top ten artists of today for a number of genres and for today (August 27th 2008), the top the indie bands were: Bloc Party, Bring Me The Horizon, Adele, Oasis, The Wombats, The Streets, Kano, Chemical Brothers, Paul Oakenfold, Biffy Clyro.

That’s quite an eclectic mix and to be honest, theres a lot in that which would not pass for indie. It may give you a good starting point and with the rush release of Bloc Party’s new album you can tell why they rank highly but some of the choices are baffling to say the least.

The selection between 11 and 20 is probably more stereotypical for indie featuring The Kills, Last Shadow Puppets and The Automatic amongst others. This means you can find indie bands on myspace but you may need to do a bit more digging around for them.

How does MySpace defines Indie?

What makes it more frustrating is that in the column beside the indie acts is a mainstream column and not far away from The Last Shadow Puppets are the Arctic Monkeys. Yes, Sheffield’s current finest may have sold enough records to make them mainstream, but they remain an indie band. They are certainly more indie than Paul Oakenfold or Kano who made it into the top ten of the indie chart. Similarly, The Verve rank highly in the mainstream chart but nowhere on the indie column.

That said it’s not as if it’s telling you about any new or up and coming acts is it? All of these acts, indie or not, are major commercial artists when MySpace should really be about launching new bands. There is an unsigned column but when you see that contains acts like The Darkness and Fatboy Slim, you start to lose faith in it.

It is still possible to find new indie bands but MySpace doesn’t really help until you search through the musical sections and come to the indie section and here is where you can start to find some news about new acts. Some of the new acts featuring on this section include:

Flamboyant Bella:

If you could imagine Kate Nash joining up with an indie band you would be close to the sound of Flamboyant Bella. They carry the excitement of youth and may well be a tip for mainstream crossover although musical greatness is probably beyond them.

I Haunt Wizards:

With a name like that you just know they are going to have a slightly electro edge and yes, I Haunt Wizards are influenced by the electro 80s sound that appears to be fashionable at the moment. Another bunch of three crazy kids who may be worth checking out soon before the musical fashion changes to something else.

The Filthy Youth:

With a few more choruses these lads could be the new Fratellis as the guitar riffs and swagger are all in place. Theres a cheeky 60s vibe running through their songs and of the new bands listed so far, they appear to be the most equipped to become an indie favorite.

Obviously, the beauty of MySpace is that once you find a band there will be songs available for you to check out right away. This is where these sites really excel and help listeners get involved with new bands right from the off.

You don’t have to be a great writer to create a memorable music-related blog on MySpace. All you need are a few good band stories, gig stories, or an observational take on the music industry to start a blog. Once fans and others begin reading it, they will want to know more about your music and where you will be playing next. This is how to drive more traffic to your profile page.

The following tips can help you in writing a blog that is informative, opinionated, and entertaining. While you want to promote your sound, blogs should contain other info fans find funny and interesting. If you can build a relationship with fans, they will automatically visit your profile page and download music, check out band photos, and plan on attending your next gig.

Tip #1: Keep Your Blog Simple and Fun

Blogs are meant to be small glimpses into your life as a musician, your opinions about the industry, and a way to generate interest of fans and hopefully record labels. Bog your blog down with technical info, boring stories, and too many commercial plugs, and you will lose people very quickly.

When creating posts, try to write in a conversational tone (pretend you are talking with band mates or fans at a music event).

Tell funny stories about how you are struggling to make it in the music business, celebrity sightings, advice people have given you, and about current music trends. This will entice readers to come back, especially if you take on a witty, light tone.

Give fans an insight into your musical life. Tell them about your aspirations, what you are doing to reach your goals, and pitfalls along the way.

Tip #2: Update Blog Posts Daily

This is the best way to keep fans wanting more. If you only post once or twice a month, fans will lose interest and you will have fewer chances of getting others to hear your music. If you don’t want to post large blogs once a day, post a few small ones during the day.

Tip#3: Mention the Music, Not Your Profile Page

Fans can access your profile page at any time, they don’t need to be constantly reminded to do so. Blog about your music, what you have recorded recently, and where you are taking your sound. Fans want to be in on the evolution of your career. Blatantly selling yourself through your blog is not interesting to read and not that much fun to write. Use your blog to express yourself and your music.

Tip#4: Don’t Limit Yourself

You don’t have to limit yourself to just music. If you hold a day job, tell people about it! While you don’t have to go into specifics about where you work, you can tell fans what it is like to juggle a job and your music goals, how you manage to do both, and the great stories you have about work and music colliding.

A music blog on MySpace is one of the best ways to connect with fans. As long as you post regularly, update your profile page accordingly, and give fans a glimpse into your world, you will drive traffic to your site and get noticed by other musicians, record labels, and new fans.

Stop and think about the thousands of musicians all across the world who are struggling to become known for their talents. What happens to most of them? The sad news is that most are never discovered and are left to fight their way through the music world trying to find how they can succeed and struggling to locate the one person who is willing to give them a chance as they continue to perform more in the shower than in front of other people.

The great news is that MySpace has opened the world to thousands of musicians who are struggling to build a following and basis of fans to help them become the established musician that they dream of. While some musicians are just naturally talented at creating a huge buzz around their career, most need some help to get started. This help to get started is what often helps separate those who are serious from those who are simply dreaming about a career in music.

MySpace music pages allow musicians to do so many great things to help get in touch with potential fans and even start working on their music career. With the ability to give information about show dates as well as copies of your songs available MySpace is the perfect way to start building friends, connections and a fan base all without ever leaving your house. Using MySpace to help market and promote your musical skills is a great way to get noticed.

Add to the huge amount of people that you can connect with from MySpace the fact that you are able to give your songs to be either downloaded, added to profiles, or even played from your own MySpace page and it makes the perfect way to allow people to sample your music with no commitments. This is a much better method than simply pushing people to purchase a CD without knowing your music style.

With all of the marketing benefits that MySpace provides it is easy to see why so many musicians are turning to the website to help them launch the music career of their dreams. From millions of potential friends to the ability to share your music with people all around the world easily and quickly it is the perfect channel for many to use to really help set their music career into high drive. This means that you can shed the shower singing once and for all and instead focus on getting the recording contract of your dreams.

Whether you are a fan of indie music or an independent musician yourself, you have no doubt noticed the number of indie artists who have been using the social networking websites like MySpace to increase their exposure. If you’ve ever wondered what some of the benefits are of doing this, or even how to tap into these powerful networks yourself, please read on.

First, keep in mind that MySpace actually encourages any and all recording artists to join the network, share their music and even actively market themselves on their website. MySpace frowns on many types of businesses using their network to market through – but musicians are one group that is exempt from this. They want to give you exposure and help you build your fan base.

Because of this, creating a presence on MySpace is something every indie artist should consider. Not only are there literally millions of people there just waiting to be introduced to you and your music, but MySpace also provides you with the tools you need to reach out to them quickly and easily.

For starters, once you’ve created a free MySpace account, you can create a webpage on the network to describe yourself and your music. You can also add pictures and most importantly you can upload samples of your music for anyone to listen to. If you have video from your shows, you can even put those clips on your page so people can listen and watch you perform.

Of course, you could do the above on any website, but MySpace is not just any website. Once your page is live, it will be actively promoted throughout the network. You will be listed in the appropriate music categories and potential new fans can find you while searching. You can also use the communication features of MySpace to communicate with the millions of other people there and tell them about your music. If interested, they can join your friends network. Your friends network can quickly become a very powerful promotional tool, since you can use it to instantly let everyone know about your latest release or the time, date and location of your upcoming gigs.

Savvy independent musicians also make sure to offer special benefits to those in their network who help spread the word about their music. Offering tokens of appreciation such as free music, tickets or t-shirts is a great way to get your MySpace friends to introduce their friends to your network. Methods like these can help you quickly identify even more potential fans and virally increase your exposure.

Especially for indie artists, sharing the work they create without having deal with expensive large scale corporate media promotions is important. By tapping into the free resources on social networking sites like MySpace, musicians get access to high-tech tools and a large audience. At the same time though, the promotion still operates at a grassroots level – through person-to-person networking and word of mouth.

Independent music has been a driving force during the development of MySpace, and now the social network has ignored its core when it launched the new MySpace Music. The new deal with Amazon.com makes them a new competitor against iTunes and Napster.

After signing a deal with the 4 major labels (Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, EMI Music, and Warner Music Group, Inc.) MySpace and its business partners could benefit from the indie artists, but will they return the benefits?

You can always say that yes, an indie artist being featured next to a signed artist could help their exposure. But does the artist gain the same amount of benefits as the major label?

1. The independent artist doesn’t see a fixed amount of money coming in from the on-site advertising deals that MySpace creates, because of MySpace Music.

2. The indie artist has to count on, whoever checks out their page, actually listens to their music, instead of it being forced into their ears by consistent radio airplay.

3. Ever since the News Corp. buy-out, the social network has been geared toward mainstream music. As of today, I only see 1 independent artist featured next to a whole page of mainstream artists.

Is that really helping independent music out?

MySpace is not an artist’s, or band’s website. News Corp. can one day say, “Let’s get rid of these pages.” The page is owned by them, not the artist who put so much work into maintaining the page.

This type of deal should really send a message to an indie band, or artist, which is, “I should have my own website.” The artist is free to post/sell their music, merchandise, and what ever they have to market themselves, and it can not be taken away.

Yes, MySpace is a free outlet, but there is a price to pay if you do not go by their standards. It is a great marketing tool, but that is it. All the friends, music, and layouts that an indie artist has worked to get can all be gone one day.