Every Indie music artist should think about starting a blog.

First though, a little rant. I’m always shocked by the amount of crudeness people will allow on their MySpace pages. It’s not always their own content either. In fact, usually it’s the comments other people leave on their page.

If people start dropping comments on your page like, “Yo man, ur shits smashin, check out my dope new tracks !!”, not only should you not check out their dope new tracks, but disable comments on your page altogether because your page is becoming a spam farm. If your page is attracting these types of numnuts, pretty soon you’ll be inundated with more garbage than a Mumbai slum.

The typical musician spends much of their time being musically creative and so a lot of musicians that should be using Twitter to market their music just aren’t sure where to start or how to use it to its full potential.

So, to help out those that could be using Twitter more effectively I’ve listed some things you could be doing to market your music, whether you are a DJ, band, music producer, promoter or even if you have a podcast to promote.

Luckily, Twitter is simple and easy. The only work that really needs putting in is a little thought and some time on a regular basis. Hopefully that makes you feel a little better.

Branding yourself both online and offline will really set up this coming year to be a break through one for your musical career.

To do this you must start with the most fundamental aspect of you as an artist: Your Pitch!

Two things happened recently to inspire this article.

Scenario #1: I was out at the Mercury Lounge seeing music and between bands I was standing at the bar talking to some friends and someone handed me a show flyer. I was taken with him immediately, I always appreciate anyone who is self -promoting because its not easy to do and it’s especially not easy to do at a crowded bar on a Wednesday night in downtown Manhattan. So, I looked down at the flyer and my heart sank. It said the following:

Music publicity has changed drastically in the past few years. Gone are the days when just having a CD was considered a shoe-in, and gone, too, are the days where staying on the road for 6-10 months a year guaranteed a good living.

Here are the days of Pro Tools, cheap CD manufacturing (or DIY at home with a color printer) and the internet… Immediate access to free music and total information overload at the tip of your fingers! The internet is both a blessing (just about everyone with a pulse has access to it) and a curse (just about everyone with a pulse has access to it).

The degree to which the music industry has ignored the future is criminal. It’s hurt a lot of people. It’s confused a lot of Indie Music types. Including maybe you. Think about American Idol. Here’s a hugely popular show that propagates the dusty old notion that music is still about “getting signed.”

That notion is a virus that will corrupt your mind if you engage it strongly enough. And I have no doubt that far too many of you still have this virus planted somewhere in the dark shadows of your mind. Maybe you’ve already accepted that the music industry has dramatically changed over the last 8 years. Maybe you already understand that the labels are screwed.

Indie artists are at a disadvantage. While there are some who will dismiss any thought of comparing themselves to other artists, I would like to offer a different perspective.

The Problem for Indie Artists

First of all, the biggest problem for indie artists is gaining exposure through unfriendly systems. The traditional systems that are in place today were built around an industry that has many layers of interdependency. These layers of interdependency are the various services that are frankly necessary to operate at higher levels. Agency, management, and promotion are only a few of these services. Some of these systems may seem “unfriendly” because they are reliant on larger publishers and labels. For the larger labels, publishers and related services, self sufficiency threatens their source of income. If we were on the opposite side of the fence, we would view it the very same way.

However, as indies, we are not on their side of the fence by definition. We are indies, which, aside from being a genre unto itself, is short for independents.

Part of the Solution for Indie Artists

Marketing is all the activities and processes of planning, communicating and executing a product, with a price, the promotion and the placement of an item to an end user. Your music is your product which you are then supplying to the end user – the music fan. Between you and the fan is a big space on how to bridge this gap. You may think that if you just get a record deal with some label, your prayers are answered and this instant bridge is built across that space. This is for the most part, not how things work today.

As an aspiring indie or unsigned singer, songwriter, or a musician in a band you can not do just a few things to promote yourself and expect success in your music career. Offline and online music promotion and marketing exposure is an ongoing process in this DIY age. Music companies are looking for artists that already have fan bases, sold CDs, and are proven ready to move up to a higher level. Presented here are more than 100 tips and ideas for you to think about and tweak as you will, to get noticed, gain fans, and get heard. You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, for talent alone is not enough.

When I read “BILLBOARD’S 2009 MAXIMUM EXPOSURE LIST” a few weeks ago, I thought The Onion had taken control of the venerable music trade magazine with a satirical piece.

“Today the ways artists can promote their music have proliferated so rapidly that it can be hard to keep up with what’s new – what’s actually cutting through the clutter,’ the article began. “It’s in this context that Billboard decided to geek out with 25 promotions and publicity experts across genres and mediums to create the ultimate multimedia metric: Our first Maximum Exposure List.”

Sounds fine until you read on and find a list of filled with old school, unachievable and down right “this might actually hurt your career” advice. A small sample:

When I found this article, I had to laugh because I was  guilty of this offense. Hopefully I can spare other artist from committing this, so I decided to post it.

I’m going to use up this entire article dealing with one subject, because I think it’s vital to the success of your music promotion efforts. Every day I see the same mistakes being made in this area and feel I owe it to you to drive this crucial point home.

Suppose you walked into your local record store and one of the employees (a complete stranger to you) came up and handed you a box filled with CDs and said, “Here, these are extra promo copies. You can have any CD you want out of the box.”

Now let’s pretend that you were not familiar with any of these artists. As you picked up each CD to consider whether or not you wanted it, what would be the first question to pop into your head? In other words, what basic question would you need to answer first before you could make an intelligent (and quick) decision on which one you’d take?

Would it be “Who produced this CD?”

No.

Would it be “What record label put this out?”

No.

How about “What are the names of the musicians and what instruments do they play?”

No.

Would it be “I wonder how great these folks think their own music is?”

Exposure in the independent artist industry, or any industry is the number one way to get discovered. “Beeing found” and spreading the word about who you are and the kinds of services you offer is most effectively done on the internet by making the most of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Gighive.com offers this service to the indie music industry.

SEO? What exactly does it do for indie artists?

Well consider these questions: How profitable would you be if your would-be customers or fans found your Web site near the top of search results for the keywords used in your particular craft or service? How much of that keyword traffic is currently going to your peers sites instead of yours?

When you consider the above, you can get a better understanding why companies big and small invest so much time, energy and resources securing SEO services. And yes, it can be very expensive, but when completed effectively, it is usually worth the investment.

It is a simple fact of life for the average indie artist. When promoting yourself on today’s competitive web environment, where many of your indie peers are clamoring for position, you need to have an established presence on the Web. Simply having a MySpace page, or even a dedicated website is not always enough. You need to know how to effectively promote yourself online, learn how to drive traffic to your site and “bee” willing to learn new tasks and find creative ways to “bee found.”

Photo by Shaun Ashcroft

Article written by Del Boland and distributed by permission of Del Boland and Bluemusepublishing.com.

http://Bluemusepublishing.com is a free online community for songwriters, bands, and musicians.

Indie artists are at a disadvantage. While there are some who will dismiss any thought of comparing themselves to other artists, I would like to offer a different perspective.

The Problem for Indie Artists

First of all, the biggest problem for indie artists is gaining exposure through unfriendly systems. The traditional systems that are in place today were built around an industry that has many layers of interdependency. These layers of interdependency are the various services that are frankly necessary to operate at higher levels. Agency, management, and promotion are only a few of these services. Some of these systems may seem “unfriendly” because they are reliant on larger publishers and labels. For the larger labels, publishers and related services, self sufficiency threatens their source of income. If we were on the opposite side of the fence, we would view it the very same way.