Myspace continues to streamline their Web site to try and keep up with features on other social networks. The latest update is the “Share” function that now allows you to apply a link and video to your status updates.

Instead of having to choose a “Mood” to update your status, Myspace has updated their design to match the rest of the profile’s home page; while adding the options to apply a photo, link, video and mood to your status.

This is just the latest in updates and moves by Myspace to stay afloat in social media. The site recently updated the “Stream” of your status posts and bulletins in an attempt to organize their many features.

This sweepstakes is your chance to be a part of something very exciting and rewarding. Since January 25th, Sara has been giving out one prize a day to one lucky winner.

Here’s how you enter:

1. You need to join her Facebook page (http://bit.ly/bCwOvB) to be qualified for the prizes!

2. Fill out the entry form.

3. If you recruit two friends, they will also be included in the contest!

It’s that simple!

Check out her website to get all the contest details and prize info: http://sarahaze.com/30days

Never believe in overnight successes. They’re like the tooth fairy. They’re make-believe. How many times have you heard about the struggling actress who moves to Hollywood and bumps into the guy at the coffee shop who happens to know a producer at Miramax? Then bam! The next week, she’s on the set of the next Quentin Tarantino flick.

Or how about the starry-eyed rapper who’s desperate to be the next MTV sensation? So he starts free-styling on the street one day at just the moment that the head A&R rep at Jive happens to be walking by. Next thing, he’s working on his own major label album.

You’ve probably noticed already that in the real world, things don’t usually happen that way. The overnight success is and always will be a myth. The big reason is that there’s too many layers of complexity between an idea and a real world end result.

You might have gotten a passing grade for producing a good single, but how do you grade in your digital music promotions?

It’s no longer the wave of the music industry- it’s practically the only way to succeed in today’s music industry. Yes, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and etc is all the rave, and you need to join the bandwagon or not even bother at all, but it’s far more than having a social profile. Digital music promotions is all about SEO (search engine optimization) and cross promoting across various online outlets. It’s about blogging and being blogged about. It’s about P2P networks and online music stores. There’s so much to digital promotions, and if you think it’s one-dimensional and all about Myspace & Facebook, then you’re in for a rude awakening.

Here’s a few factors to grade your digital music promotions strategy:

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.

I read an article on Billboard.com [awhile] ago which said that Coldplay is going to give away their live CD “leftrightleftrightleft” to all fans attending its Viva La Vida summer tour. Brilliant!

“Playing live is what we love,” says Coldplay. Exactly! It should be. Surely, a day doesn’t go by where you don’t hear about how you should be giving away free music, right? You should be. As I’ve mentioned before, music as a product doesn’t have much value anymore because it’s too common. It’s basic supply and demand.

Ok, so now, instead of hoping in earnest that somebody buys your tracks, you should be hoping that as many of them as possible download them for free. But does that mean you’ll make a penny off of your free downloads down the road? Well, it depends. Coldplay does. And they’re making lots of it. So why can’t you?

I wrote a piece a while back about 4 emerging trends in the music industry that will affect every music artist from here on out. In this piece, I want to focus instead on some more general trends in the way we do business and interact in society today that will affect every music artist enormously. It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing Christian Rock or hip hop or whatever. Everybody will be equally affected.

Massive paradigm shifts like the one we’re going through right now unleash tremendous disruptive forces. Industries fall on them. But new industries also rise on them. What we’re seeing now with the thickening web of cyberconnectivity is a tremendous paradigm shift every bit as important as that ushered in by the printing press or the Industrial Revolution. It’s here to stay.

Overwhelmed with maintaining your MySpace page, blog, podcast, e-mail, website, tour updates and everything else online to promote yourself?

Twitter is an ingenious solution that will give your fans more of you and it takes less than 3 minutes a day to stay on top of everything without your computer!

I’m just back from summer vacation where I spent a relaxing 11 days in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest right after having attended Gnomedex07. At Gnomedex, I learned A LOT about Web 2.0, social networking and blogging and my next several editions of Sound Advice will focus on things I learned.

Koolhaus Games Inc. is pleased to announce the release of the latest updated version of iMP: Surf the Music, a new music game created specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

New features include:

* Two new levels for a total of ten fun packed playable levels

* New exciting gameplay features

* Hot new music tracks

A key feature that caught me by surprise is the ability for bands to easily share  their music all over the world. Swift.fm allows bands to upload their own tracks, demos, mixes and mashups. “Swift.fm is your portal to worldwide exposure on Twitter.”

You do not need to find new ways to send new big .Zip files, or trying to cram those files in an email anymore.

The service is layered on top of Twitter, so if your signed up on Twitter then your network is on Swift.fm.

Putting a Web site together is a difficult task at hand, so relying on a service seems like the way to go. There are a few aspects that need to be covered when constructing a music site, because you want to make sure you get the right bang for your band’s buck.

Many Web site services willing to create your Web site, but your band needs to  know what type of deal it is signing.

The more money that your band invests into a Web site, the more control your band should have about the content that is applied to the site.

Of course, you want to be able to have total control of your Web site’s layout. Make sure that your band is able to be portrayed to fans how your band envisions the project. That means having 100% control of your domain.