The process is overwhelming to complete an EP or full-length album for independent artists. Another difficult aspect is letting music fans know that the EP or album exists. Experts suggest that bands need to execute the basics – practice, tour and generate a fan base.
Creating a presence online is a different story. You can upload tracks to websites that generate links, so you can send the generated links to independent music blogs and post them on your websites and social media profiles. Be sure to display links to online stores where you are currently selling your music.
How about giving your music away for free?
Send your music to independent music blogs: Email your band’s bio, website link, social media profile links, videos posted on YouTube along with 1-3 tracks for them to post. Having links to free downloadable music has become a very popular method to gain exposure these days.
You can use websites such as SendSpace.com or LimeLinx.com to post your songs.
Reel in the fans with a few free tracks and make sure you provide a link where they can purchase the whole album. Send interested fans to your website where they can find links to online stores, or directly to the online stores such as CDBaby, Supernova Music Store, Plugola.la or iTunes.
Don’t want to give away your music?
Generate a fan base by making a live performance video with quality sound and post it on Youtube. Make an official quality video for a single off the album. You can also just stream the song by posting it on the video with an image of the album cover.
Your band also has the option to stream your music via sites such as SoundCloud.com.
The point is to have fans listen to your music and get the word out to other music fans. The downloaded singles can end up on mix CD’s that are passed along, heard at parties, etc. It’s all about gaining that new fan that has the opportunity to listen to your music for the first time.