For music creators of all kinds, getting yourself heard is getting simpler every day. With so many social network and media distribution sites out there, connecting with people and building a fan-base can be done even when or if you’re not playing shows.
Now I’m not saying your going to get signed to a major recording label by having your mom post videos of you sitting on your couch playing guitar and singing cover songs. Although by posting your music online, people, other than your mom, can listen and critique your music. They will either join your mighty throng of fans or say your music sounds like crap. Either way it should fuel the fire in you to make good music no matter the genre!
As I write this I am uploading the Synapse/Dirty Work album to Jamendo. This is an album I worked on in collaboration with a friend of mine, Steve Ripley. Although it is fully posted and available for download on the music page of this website, this post is about using one of the many social media distribution sites to your benefit and is being uploaded to Jamendo as an example of using their services.
I first noticed Jamendo when they began using Bit Torrent to distribute independent artists music free and legally through creative commons licensing. Although for the most part they have pulled away from using torrents, Jamendo still holds strong to distributing music free of charge. For fans and music lovers this is a great thing! But why would an artist want to give away his or her music for free?
Lets face it, CD sales are down and have been dropping more and more each year. Although this doesn’t mean the general populous interest in music has gone down. Thanks to the growing hard drive space and use of the iPod and other mp3 players, listeners can now carry their entire music libraries with them wherever they go.
My point is if you have a great album and a large collection of fans, you would be crazy not to get your album on iTunes and CD Baby just to name a few. But if you are starting out and just working on getting heard, Jamendo is a great site to check out. And don’t think it all has to be for free. After a bit of paperwork you can begin licensing your sweet tunes and get a donation box placed on your page for loving fans to throw their money at you.
Think about it this way, if you only sold your CD, friends will be friends and let each other rip your album to their computers and acquire it for free. But if they love what they hear, you just got another fan who will probably buy your future albums as well as pay to see you play shows.
So enjoy the great ways that digital distribution can help you as an indie artist, and if nothing else take a listen to a few albums already posted on Jamendo. You might find yourself a big fan of someone else.