It’s pretty easy to become a content provider for iTunes and other digital distribution services. You usually just have to fill out an application and wait to be accepted into the program. But it can be a challenge to manage all your sales avenues. That’s why I’m recommending you give TuneCore a try for your music distribution.  

   TuneCoregives a single easy interface to upload your music and then select the distribution channels you want to utilize for your music. Your options for distributing your music are extremely varied and proven at selling music. You can choose online stores such as iTunes, AmazonMP3, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, Amie Street and others. Or you can try more groundbreaking avenues such as making your song available to buy and play on the Rock Band video game.

   If you’re currently streaming your original songs on MySpace you’ll be able to get paid through TuneCore each time your songs get streamed on MySpace. TuneCore will also give you access to record labels such as Island Def Jam, Interscope, Republic and Motown Records.

   Do you have a physical CD completed and ready to distribute? TuneCore can also get your CD’s into over 200 Guitar Center stores across the country. This will put your CD right alongside U2, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Jimi Hendrix. You’ll also get physical CD distribution through Amazon.com.

   Along with all these great services you’ll get the following items free as well:

• Free digital cover art
• Free CD artwork for Amazon’s Disc On Demand store
• Free streaming music widgets for your website
• Free barcodes, UPC’s, and TuneCore song identifiers (TCSI)

   You can get started using all of the TuneCore services with just a single song. The cost to upload one song and get started on your musical distribution is $9.99. For all these great available services it’s really a no-brainer to at least give TuneCore a try. The best thing of all is TuneCore doesn’t take any of your royalties. You get to keep 100% of all your sales royalties from the services you choose to distribute through.  Just click on the banner below to get started selling your music today!

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TuneCore Resources For Music Distribution

   There’s a service called Tune Core that let you manage all of your songs from a single interface. All you have to do is sign up, upload your singles or albums along with liner notes and album art, and your music will be delivered to iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon MP3, Napster and others for distribution. You will get 100% of the royalties from all of your music sales.

   So what does it cost to upload your music for worldwide distribution? It’s only $9.99 per single and for albums it’s less than $50. That’s an incredible deal for taking the hassle out of contacting all the online distributors individually to try and get your music approved, uploaded and listed.

   There’s another interesting aspect to distributing through TuneCore. If you’ve recorded any covers of popular songs, you can also upload those for sale and distribution. You’ll get any royalties paid for you cover versions as well.

   It’s as easy as it gets to simply upload from your computer to TuneCore and then let them get it distributed for a single low fee. They won’t take any of your royalties which is excellent for artists. Here are some links to get you going with TuneCore!
Get Your Music on iTunes for as Low as $9.99 at TuneCore
Sell Your Album Online with TuneCore

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Get Your Music Distributed On iTunes And Amazon.mp3

   I’ve had a lot of listeners complaining that the Shoutcast Mini Player has been crashing browsers and computers. So today I’m going to write a tutorial on how to listen to Shoutcast Radio streams using either Winamp or iTunes.   

   The first step is to download and install either iTunes or Winamp on your computer. If you have an Apple iPod, iPhone or iPad you will most likely already have iTunes installed on your machine and you can use it to listen to Shoutcast Radio streams. Click the links below to download your player of choice.

• Download iTunes
• Download Winamp

After downloading, simply run the downloaded file to install.

How to connect to a Shoutcast Radio stream using iTunes

1.) Go to www.shoutcast.com and click on the link that says “Change Default Player Settings”.

Change Default Player Settings

2.) Then select the button for “I want to listen using my own media player (Winamp, Windows Media, iTunes, etc)

3.) Click Save

4.) Go to www.shoutcast.com and type in the name of the station you’re looking for in the Search box. In this example we will be connecting to Bonne Nuit Live.

Search For Your Shoutcast Station

5.) When Shoutcast finds your station (Bonne Nuit Live) you want to Right-Click the button that says “Tune In” and select “Copy Shortcut”.

6.) Open iTunes and click on the “Advanced” tab, then select “Open Audio Stream”.

7.) Right click on “Open Audio Stream” box and paste the copied shortcut.

8.) Then select “OK” and you will now be listening to your Shoutcast stream in iTunes!

How To Connect To A Shoutcast Stream Using Winamp

1.) Start Winamp and click on the Browser tab.

1.) In the address bar type  www.shoutcast.com to go to Shoutcast.

2.) Click on the link that says “Change Default Player Settings”.

Chande Default Player Settings

3.) Then select the button for “I want to listen using my own media player (Winamp, Windows Media, iTunes, etc)

4.) Click Save

5.) On the Shoutcast page loaded in the Winamp browser, type the name of the station you want in the Search box.

Search For Your Shoutcast Station

6.) When Shoutcast finds your station, simply click “Tune In” to listen to your channel!

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How To Listen To A Shoutcast Stream With Winamp Or iTunes

Visit Matt Rushton's MySpace Page

   There are so many ways for live musicians to reach our audience today that there’s really no excuse not to be using some of them. Today I’m going to discuss using the social networking sites out there for marketing you, your band and your music. I’m talking about using MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with your fans as well as other musicians and bands. There are a lot of social networking sites and some that are dedicated strictly to music and musicians but I’m going to focus on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

   Of those three big social networking sites the one that caters the best to musicians and bands is MySpace. MySpace allows you to create a musician specific profile about you or your band and upload your own original music for playback on your profile page. You can also allow people to download your songs for free. The big advantage to MySpace is you get a unique URL that incorporates your name, or a version of it in the URL. For example, my MySpace URL is http://www.myspace.com/mattrushtonmusic . It’s fairly short and it has my name in it. MySpace will also let anyone in the world visit your page and view the content. It’s an easy and free way to set up an internet presence for your band. You can present all essential information that will help you to market your band on your MySpace page such as a band bio, demo songs, contact information, song lists and pricing information. You can also post pictures and videos of your band. If you only have one band page on the web, it should be a MySpace page.

   Another advantage of MySpace is the ability to add people as friends to your Friend Space. By linking to friends on MySpace you create a contact list that will allow you to instantly send messages to all of them informing of upcoming shows or new music releases. This is marketing at it’s finest and is a huge step in making sure that your fanbase is up to date with news about your band. If you can keep people updated on your shows you’ll be able to keep a crowd coming to see you when you play.

   That brings me to Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site that is really geared towards creating an intimate private community feel. Facebook will not allow you to make your profile public to all users. For people to be able to see your profile you must “Friend” them before they can view your profile. Once you’ve added a user as a friend they can see your full profile. For a band on Facebook, the main marketing goal is simply to connect with your fans. Facebook is very easy and fast to set up and the updates you put on your profile are instantly transmitted to everyone on your friends list. Your band can use Facebook to inform people of how your latest band practice went, how your recording session is going or the general band mood. It’s also perfect for announcing upcoming gigs as it will allow you to send out custom invitations to everyone on your friends list. You can even request a reply so you can get a feel for how many people will be attending your shows.

   Finally there’s the LinkedIn network. LinkedInis primarily a business networking site. Professionals from all over the world list their education and work experience. They can write recommendations for other professionals and receive recommendations as well. It’s a way for companies to find new employees and for people looking to make career changes to find work. For a band, the LinkedIn network is a great way to connect with other bands and musicians. LinkedIn is also an excellent place to meet booking agents and live event promoters. If you take some time with LinkedIn, you may be able to make a business contact that can help market your band in ways you may have never even considered.

   So there you have it, if you’re not using the online social networking sites you’re really behind the times. Get your band on the web and I’m sure that some opportunities will open up for you. Follow the links below to get started.

MySpace

Facebook

LinkedIn

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Market Your Band With Social Networking

Networking In Action - Eric Clapton's All-Star Jam

   Probably the single most important thing a live musician can do to successfully market themselves, their band and their music is to network with as many other musicians as they possibly can. I can tell you from experience that I’m able to keep playing gigs because of who I know and associate with in my musical realm. I’m not a big self-promoter but I have contacts and friends in the music world that are really good with promotion and finding gigs. Networking with these types of people have really helped me advance my career. By networking with other bands and musicians you can increase your chances of hooking up with them for all sorts of gigs and musical projects.

   I’ve been able to get gigs for my band from the bands that I’ve networked with over the years. I’ve been able to fill in at gigs that other bands have lined up and then not been able to play. I’ve also been able to get gigs opening for other bands that I’ve become friendly with over my career. I’ve always tried to return the favor and whenever possible will ask other bands to open for my band. That’s a major key to successful networking is to give other bands the opportunities that you’re seeking for your own band. You never know when an up and coming band is going to become huge and there’s a chance that they’ll return the favor in the future and have you join them at a big show.

   Networking with other musicians in your area is also a great way to find places to play. You can find out who the right person to talk to at a club is in order to book your band. You can also have other bands give you references at clubs so that you can secure bookings. I’ve been able to find some decent booking agents by talking to other musicians that I’ve met over the years.

   I’ve been able to play on other musicians recordings as well as help other bands out by letting them come into my recording studio and lay down tracks. By doing this I’ve been able to get some marketing exposure by getting my name on other people’s recordings. Name recognition is key in the music industry and the more you can get your name associated with other musicians, the more opportunities you’re going to have to get your music heard. I’ve been able to land some pretty fun gigs just because somebody knew someone else that knew me.

   There are a lot of great ways to network with other musicians these days. The best way of course is to get out and hear other bands. Then don’t be afraid to go up and talk to them during breaks or at the end of a show. Remember to have some class and never ask to play their instruments or beg them to let you get up and play a song. Just meet them, exchange phone and contact info as well as web based info such as websites and MySpace of Facebook pages. MySpace is a fantastic way to network these days and if your band doesn’t have a MySpace page then you need to get one going TODAY!

   The final word on networking with other musicians is to remain cool and don’t be an egotistical jerk when dealing with other musicians. You can go a long way by being nice to people in this business and they will remember you when opportunities arise that can benefit both parties.

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The Key To Successful Band Marketing, Network

Charity Show For Children's Hospital Autism Program

   Playing a charity gig can be a fantastic way to do some good in your community and give you an excellent opportunity to do some band marketing. Every live musician is looking for as much exposure as possible to be able to market their band and music to as many people as they can reach. If your band gets the chance to play a charity benefit you should take a good look at the potential of reaching a large audience that you normally wouldn’t get to come to your regular shows.

   Some examples of charity gigs are: natural disaster relief, medical fundraising, fundraising for children’s groups, museum, library, hospitals, church and arts organizations. Charity gigs usually come with the stipulation that the band plays free of charge. This will be a fair trade-off if the show is going to bring in large numbers of people. The residual marketing you’ll be able to do will pay off in terms of exposure and more than make up for any money that you may be out putting on a show. You definitely want to try and find out what the potential for having a large audience will be. Find out what the advertising for the event will be. A great thing about playing a charity show is that a lot of media outlets will advertise the event for free. This can generate a huge amount of exposure for the event and your band.

   When you play a charity gig, make sure it’s okay to have a large amount of promotional material for your band there. Most charity organizers will let you do some marketing in exchange for playing free of charge for the event. You’ll want to have some of your fliers promoting your website and upcoming shows, CD’s, business cards and contact information. You should avoid selling anything since you don’t want it to look like you’re taking money from the charity that you’re playing for. If you do want to try selling then make sure you promote it as giving a portion of your proceeds to the charity itself.

   As you can see, playing a charity gig can be a very prime marketing opportuninty. You could very well land some huge gigs playing at a charity event. At the very least you should be able to reach some new fans.

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Playing A Charity Function Gig

Billy Joel Demo Tape

   One of the most important pieces of marketing material you will produce for your band is your demo recording. I’ve already discussed using a live recording in your marketing kit as opposed to a studio produced recording. Today I would like to discuss your song selection that you will be including on your demo. The songs you choose for your demo can sell your band in many different ways.

   I guess it’s a no-brainer that you will want to put your best songs on the demo recording. What determines your best songs? A combination of different things. Obviously you want the songs that you actually play the best. These would be the songs that the band knows like the back of their hand. Songs that you play perfectly every time you play them. It’s very important that you give a great consistent performance of your demo songs so when you play them in another club you will sound like your demo.   

   You will also want to pick some of your most recognizable songs. Put a couple standards on there that everybody knows. The Billy Idol version of Mony Mony is a standard that always packs the floor and everyone knows. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama is also a recognized standard and will allow you to feature some great guitar playing as well. You should also include a signature song that your band plays. This will be a song that you have re-arranged and given your own original touch. My band “In Stereo” plays Closer by Nine Inch Nails and it’s one of our signature songs. We have changed the song enough to make it sound like In Stereo as well as Nine Inch Nails. It’s on our demo as well.

   You will also want to make sure the songs you put on your demo are danceable. Most clubs have dancing and the owners will want to make sure that people can dance to your songs. Make sure you pick your catchiest, most danceable tracks. If you want to put a slow song on there, only put one and make it a short one. Slow songs don’t convey the energy a lot of booking agents look for on a demo.

   Also, if you have multiple singers, try to pick a group of songs that will let each singer sing a lead vocal. It’s a plus to be able to have that kind of vocal variety in your band and you’ll want to highlight that on your demo. If you have a lot of good singers make sure you put a song on there that has some really good harmony vocals as well.

   Finally, you’ll want to highlight your best musicians. If you have a great drummer, make sure you have a song that will prominently feature their drumming. The same goes for having a great guitar player or a great bass player. Pick a song that will really let them stand out.

   Those are the basics for putting together a good demo. Make sure you follow them and I promise you’ll get some good bookings from your demo recording.

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Which Songs To Put On Your Demo Recording

This song was recorded live one night at a jam session we were having. We often come up with song ideas by having a 3 hour jam session and recording the whole thing. So I had been extolling on the excellent success I had been having using Big Bends Nut Sauce and we decided to play a tribute song to Big Bends.
So here it is. The song was written and recorded in about 5 minutes. So enjoy!

“Big Bends Nut Sauce Song” by Shufflin Noah

To purchase Big Bends Tuning Lubricant, click the picture:

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“Big Bends Nut Sauce” Tribute Song, by Shufflin’ Noah

   If you’re an independent musician like I am and you’re not under contract with a label or a marketing agent then this is a beautiful time for us. With the Internet breaking down the traditional distribution structure of new music, new avenues have been opened up to those of us with original music. More and more people are turning to the Internet to download their music of choice. Just this month, iTunes announced that they were now the top music retailer in the U.S. http://www.macworld.com/article/132825/2008/04/itunes.html  What this means to us as independent musicians is that the biggest purchasing audience in the United States is buying music from their computer.

   So why put our music on MySpace.com, garageband.com or imeem.com? It’s to get our proverbial “Foot In The Door”. What’s really great is that you can do it for absolutely free. We can get our foot in the door of the online music world by putting a few tracks out there for free and it costs us nothing to do so. This can serve a lot of purposes when it comes to marketing your band and your music. I know I love it when I’m at a gig and fans will ask me where they can get some of our music and I can direct them to my bands MySpace page. My band “In Stereo” has a few excellent original songs we recorded in my home studio that we play live. We don’t have enough tracks to put out a CD but we still want people to have a copy of what we’ve recorded. We’ve accomplished that by putting our songs up on MySpace. By letting people download the songs we now get more people at our shows asking to hear our original music. So we’ve accomplished two of our marketing goals by putting our songs on MySpace for free.

1. We have more people coming to our live shows which means we get re-booked and paid more.
2. We are creating a market to justify recording more original music and finish a complete album.

  The ultimate goal of any live performing musician is to have enough fans coming to see you that you’re guaranteed a good paycheck every time you play. So a great way to build up your fan base is to give them a few free tunes. You can gauge the interest in your music by keeping track of the number of times your music is listened to and downloaded. When it reaches a good level, you can sign up to have your music sold through iTunes. It’s an easy process to get your music sold through iTunes and I will detail it in a future article.

   So keep writing, recording, gigging and give a few tunes away to get those fans!!

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Getting Your Music Heard Online