D R E A M D A Z E NEWSLETTER 7 AUGUST 20022
The Internet is turning into a VERY cool and efficient means for music distribution, promotion and production.
The web offers a unique means to promote your music worldwide – a means that wasn’t available on the scale it is now 5 or 6 years ago. I’ve outlined some of the means that I think can be used successfully.
Web Site
Every band promoting their music on the web needs their own website and domain. This is one of those ‘well duh’ statements, but everything you do drives people back to your site. Your site should contain a link back to where you keep your music (naturally) whether that is mp3.com or some other service. The site content should change frequently to encourage repeat visits. Moby does this well at his site with his daily journal and forum section.
Search Engines
I’ve been promoting my web site by getting it listed with every search engine available, and the results are beginning to show with the success of Placid Abstraction (for details see OLD MUSIC UPDATES below). No matter what, people need to be able to type your band name into the search engine of their choice and find your site (another ‘well duh’ statement). I use Submit Wolf Pro, and it works well for me.
Blogging
I’ve also been blogging like mad (daily). I think this has been driving more people to my site than normal. I post current rankings of songs with links to the songs, descriptions of new songs I’ve posted, random snippets of lyrics, and the odd thought about anything at all.
Mp3.com Radio Station
The radio station generates plays of your tunes, but more importantly people email you to get added to your station – in return they are generally willing to add you to their station. This process generates more plays for your music and more chances for others to find it.
I add new songs to the station as requested by listeners – and I save every email address of anyone who emails me about my music (see Mailing List below).
Mailing List
Start with a list of email addresses of your friends who are interested and add to it every time you get an email from anyone about your music. Use the mailing list sparingly (no more than monthly) and people won’t be annoyed by you. Use it to distribute your newsletter (see below).
Newsletter
Produce a newsletter (like this or better – naturally) and distribute it to your Mailing List and to the appropriate groups on Usenet (see below).
Usenet Groups
Post your newsletter here. It will generate more awareness of you and your music. In addition, websites will pick it up and search engines will see it (and the links to your site) and they will rank your site higher. Make sure that the group accepts such postings before you post.
Web Forums
Mention your web site and/or recent songs (with links) on any web site forum where it is appropriate.
Web Rings
Join every damn web ring that you can! Eventually the hits add up.
Promotional Sites
Register a link to your site on every site that you can find that promotes your type of music. There’s a lot out there. Click on artists who have already registered on the sites you find and look at their sites for links to other sites (e.g., follow the ALLIANCES link on www.dreamdaze.org).
Raw42
If you are serious about your music and think it has commercial potential (literally for commercials and/or tv shows or movies), submit a demo online to raw42.com.
Mp3.com
Have a site on mp3.com and/or besonic.com and/or electronicscene.com and/or any combination of these. These sites pay you for downloads of your music. Rates vary. On some you have to pay them before you get paid, but usually the offer a free service (but then you don’t get paid). Some (all?) of these sites allow you to produce CDs through their service and sell them online.
I’m sure I’ve missed something here, feel free to email at dreamdaze@dreamdaze.org with any other ideas you have.
Doing all the above takes time, but only a little time. You could spend less than an hour a day doing all these things, and eventually they add up.
Stumpy out.
Our band is being featured in an upcoming issue of Culture Shocker! This is a
great newsletter that we highly recommend. It's published twice weekly, and
it's full of some of the best music, award winning films, literature, and
social commentary!
Subscribe today to see us, and a whole bunch of other great bands featured in
an upcoming issue! Just send an email to cultureshocker-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Placid Abstraction is currently the number 1 ambient song on mp3.com. It peaked at number 46 on the all genre chart. Linkin Park, Nelly and Pink were kicking my ass!
Current Rankings (as of
Worldwide Electronic
Worldwide Ambient
Worldwide Trip Hop
33. Chthonic Cerumen
46. Understanding The Breakdown Of God
Worldwide Happy Hardcore
45. Wretched Bliss
Worldwide Down Tempo
74. Chthonic Cerumen
20. Wretched Bliss
25. Savitur
25. Chthonic Cerumen
33. Understanding The Breakdown Of God
44. Chthonic Cerumen
67. Understanding The Breakdown Of God
The latest CD by D R E A M D A Z E is now available. The CD is titled “amused” and has a mellow, chill out feel to it - definitely the best D R E A M D A Z E CD to date.
DJ Stumpy has added a TON of new songs to the station, and the requests keep coming in, so new songs are added weekly.
Check out the D R E A M D A Z E radio station at http://www.mp3.com/stations/dreamdaze. You can find all your favorite D R E A M D A Z E songs plus songs by other electronic artists.
New additions include:
Give it a listen!
New additions to the web site include a BLOG (web log) which is updated regularly (every day!) with vaguely interesting information or random lyrics.
We’ve added a link to past newsletters for your
convenience! (Note from editor: and
the links are even kept current…)
Work continues on the site and the content is changed approximately weekly. So keep coming back!
A very cool D R E A M D A Z E poster is available on the web site – just follow the BUY GEAR link. Also available is a new black baseball cap featuring an abstract doodle by DJ Stumpy – the same doodle is featured on a variety of packs and bags.