Band 101 - Should we put our music on lots of websites?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

I hear from a lot of musicians and bands... and everyone is looking to get their music out in front of the masses. Typically I'm asked "We've got a Myspace page, should we put our music on a lot of other websites?... just a few?"

The answer is always a resounding lots... and lots... and lots. Here’s why:

Millions of people love Rhapsody. They get all of their music at Rhapsody, so if you’re not there, and they search for you, they'll listen to something else instead. You might have just lost a potential new fan.

Millions of people love last.fm. They get all of their music at last.fm, so if you’re not there, and they search for you, same thing. Oh well.

Same with iTunes. Same with Amazon.com. Same with mytracks, Garageband, Reverbnation, and countless other sites besides Myspace.

For me, it's been iTunes and it's where I've done most of my listening.

If someone told me to check out an artist, and they weren’t found on iTunes, well... I'd mean to check them out, but usually wouldn't get to it. Once the moment passed, I forgot all about it.

I've met and talked with many people who are this exact same way with Last.fm, or Rhapsody, or MySpace or… whatever.

Some sites you can setup on your own, others will need a distributor. Get a distributor, like cdBaby or Tunecore, and tell them to submit to all of them.

Being un-available on one will not drive potential fans to leave their favorite music site and go search for you somewhere else. There’s a good chance they'll just shrug, forget, and move on.

Get out there... get everywhere

---