independentmusicpromotions

Hi Jordan, I think you're falling into a very common psychological trap here, as Seth Jackson pointed out. You could be more talented than Dream Theater or Tool, but no one will know or care until you show that to the world. You can't show it through words; it needs action. Instead of trying to "test the waters" and wonder about what could happen, you need to record your music, and not just demos, because no one wants demos. There's no market for them and no one has time to listen to them. Record your music in high quality. Save up and put your time and effort into it. Then you'll have a product, and a starting point to the journey. It's actually been proven that when we talk about something we plan to do, like get famous, record an album, or anything, really...our brain gets a dose of satisfaction from just expressing it. That's why we go to a psychologist or a priest, spill our guts, and the tension is gone. But this is definitely a terrible thing when it comes to talking about our goals...we talk about them, we release the tension, and then the stage is set for procrastination. I look forward to hearing your work.

Listening now. Very strong groove and vocals. Solid all around. I'd answer your question with "Certainly, if you work to that end!"

Expecting a fair music industry would be similar to expecting a fair jungle, a fair business world, or anything else. The belief itself holds us back. The best you can do is be honest and research others you may do business with to make sure they're honest as well. Don't support the scammers, and your vote will create change - positive change. You vote with your actions.

Great piece. A lot of artists miss the Performance Society step, and it's extremely helpful.

There's no one answer to this question, as it's individualized for everyone. Each artist is different and has different needs. If your band and crew are hands on, always working, DIY-minded and doing a great job of drastically increasing your fanbase every month, getting press, booking tour dates, securing licensing opportunities, and hiring professionals (radio promo, etc), then continuing on that path is often best. If you want to focus more-so on the music itself or you know that you're not the kind of people to work as hard as, say, Dillinger Escape Plan, delegating some tasks might be better. Although, the ironic thing is, if you just want to be a musician and get whisked around, no label is interested in you! So either way, it's best to press ahead aggressively using every tactic you can, and make sure there are no weak links in your band.Hardworking bands get noticed if they have good material.

I think John had excellent advice on copyrighting, to be clear, and it's never a bad idea. But if you don't mind another perspective, I think, especially if your music is already out, you should post your lyrics on your networks (Reverbnation and Bandcamp are great forums for this), and not worry about people stealing your lyrics. It's an extremely small likelihood that someone will be creeping around, reach your personal blog, and decide to nab your lyrics for their own project. For that to happen, you'd probably need an extremely high amount of site traffic and also a lot of luck, because you'd need to attract that very rare individual who does this sort of thing as part of his music business. I don't mean to come across the wrong way. I just think there are better uses of your time in promoting your music than pulling your lyrics from the net because people may steal them.

Great post. I would add in Earbits and Underground.fm to the resource list: www.earbits.com/‎ www.undergroundmusic.fm/‎

They both work roughly the same way, except one ironic detail. Print publications typically require a lead time of up to 3 months BEFORE they go to print. This means that all the artists sending out their new albums on or after it's release date are way too late and are usually wasting their postage. Artists need to start getting used to promoting advance releases (have your CD's manufactured months before your chosen release date) to media. If you do this, you take advantage of a much longer time where your release is "fresh". More publications will write about you. Most magazines and blogs accept digital submissions although there are holdouts. Make sure you include a personalized introduction and then a concise list of all your links and info. Dropbox is a good place to host your high quality album and promo photos.

Agree with Tyjon. Of course, everything should be very high quality. That being said, no amount is too much. The most important thing is to be true to your art and keep a steady flow happening. Promote every release heavily and use Facebook promoted posts/advertising for each single or EP/album stream.

Artists with very well-produced albums should research licensing libraries (just by Googling) and choose a few to send your music to. Read artist reviews on them and make sure generally good things are being said. Often artists wonder how to "make money" and get unnecessarily overwhelmed, when all it takes is often $20-30 of postage and following a few instructions to send your music for approval with some of these companies. It's a solid starting point.