Europe or BUST: Spotify opens indie floodgates

I’ve done a couple outreach campaigns with my band to European countries on a network-to-remain-nameless and I must admit, they like my music more that America does. So far at least. Last.fm is cool , but Spotify of course is all the new rage. So maybe 4 weeks ago I went through Cdbaby Digital and asked to just be put into Spotify as I have already put my music into stores via Tunecore. I am imagining I should be up and available very soon. CDbaby was keeping this somewhat low key I noticed, but the cat is outta the bag now, and you have other options too.

Just got this e-mail from Spotify:

Dear Artists,

First of all; we are really glad to hear that you are interested in getting your music onto Spotify.

We appreciate your patience since you signed up to the Spotify Artist and Label list. Since we last communicated to you we have created some pretty cool things. For instance, it’s now possible to listen to your favorite music (and hopefully soon your music) using Spotify on your mobile phone. Also, our time and energy has gone into uploading thousands of tracks every day from the 80 thousand labels we currently have agreements with. However, getting more independent artists’ music onto Spotify is important to us, so we’re working on various solutions to assist you.

The current solution we offer indie artists is to make your deliveries through Record Union, Zimbalam, CDBaby or Ditto Music. They are artist-aggregators, whom we work closely with; and through them you can create a standard agreement and upload your music onto Spotify as well as deliver your music to other great digital services such as 7digital, iTunes, Amazon etc.

So if you want to join Spotify we strongly recommend you to go one of the following sites:

http://cdbaby.com/

http://www.recordunion.com/

http://www.dittomusic.com/

http://www.zimbalam.com/

We’re really looking forward to having your music on Spotify soon!

Regards,

The music team at Spotify

Nice note eh? Now go get your music everywhere! Europe or BUST!

Music Marketing via Web Radio

There are a number of sites to which bands can upload their tunes so friends, family, and fans can stream their music for free to spread the word and get additional exposure in the musical Web sphere. Some say to not provide a constant radio stream of your music or “people will not buy your music, they will simply listen to your streams constantly and you’ll never get paid.”

Well that could be true.  But you can sign-up with Sound Exchange to get royalties from online streams. Just fill out the stacks of paperwork involved. Read about them here and here and see if you wanna fill out all this stuff and send it in. Then you can go through the processes of trying to get on Web radio.  Some are just a sign-up procedure and others will be screening your music and/or have requirements.

It would also be cool at this point to have your UPC Code for your CD, your IFRC ISRC codes for each song, and all your work copyrighted ( which you can do all online now ), if you still believe in such a thing.

Web Radio

Set-up without being screened:

1) Last.fm Simply make an account, and decide if you want your royalties direct from them or through Sound Exchange. Bingo you will be on Last.fm .

2) Imeem.com Simply make an account, very similar to Myspace.

Get screened, get added to great online Radio:

1) Pandora Radio – You must have a CD to sell. It must be available through Amazon. This is more than likely the best Internet Radio station with “DNA coded” music recommendations. They pay out an estimated $27 million in royalties annually. Go here to see the list of requirements and how to get two songs screened for acceptance.

2) Lala.com “Home of the .10 stream”. If you want to be on Lala you have to go through a digital distributor like Tunecore or CD Baby Digital. Pay the man and within 2 months your music will appear.

3) You want to get added to as many Web Radio stations as possible? Better get organized; that is a whole ‘nuther ballgame, very similar to getting “adds” on College Radio. Hire a specialist. I have recommendations based upon your needs, location, and budget.  Hit me up.

Does copyright, submitting material to digital distribution companies like Tunecore, and setting up Web Radio stations sound like a pain? I may be of some assistance if I am available. Let’s continue this conversation if need be.

Most of the information on this site is painstakingly formatted in this PDF file below so you can print it on white paper with easy to read black text. Or you can print for FREE by subscribing to the RSS feed at the top of the page, and also be in tune with any and all updates. Try Google Reader, its’ pretty cool. Also many hyperlinks will take you into the Web and show you the examples given. In some cases better then the Website! Ha!

Ebook – ” Web and Social Media Presence for Music Marketing and Fan Engagement” by Todd Tate –
Take it for free!