panaka

What publisher? If its something like tunecore, CDBaby, AWAL, etc. then I could definitely help you as I've already had about fifteen mainstream publisher's contracts gone over by a lawyer. If its a custom arrangement though, then you might want to look into a local lawyer and maybe attempt some form of bartering if you don't want to pay.

I totally agree with john, and if anyone has any questions on web marketing and stuff, I do design, and seo for a living, so I've got quite a bit of experience I could share. Also, for dofollow blogs, go to this website http://www.inlineseo.com/dofollowdiver/ and type in the keyword you want, it has a database of niche blogs that are all dofollow.

It also occurred to me that not a lot of people know about the company AWAL (Artists Without Labels). They're a music distribution company, every bit as good as CDBaby, and they don't cost anything upfront, which is perfect for starting musicians. They do take a 15% cut of your profits, but that really isn't that bad for free distribution to itunes, amazon, napster, etc. They're based in the UK though which might be why they are lesser known, but Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) uses them for his solo project, which was convincing enough for me. Check it out at www.awal.com. Hopefully this helps, I know that I hated paying for distribution when I started, especially when I wasn't sure if it was worth it or not. Good luck!

It seems that Search Engine Optimization is always an extremely hard topic for musicians, so I gathered some resources that will help get your site indexed in google quickly and efficiently. Hope it helps! First thing is put your website through the seo checklist here, it will tell you exactly what to do, and how it affects you on google. http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php Next thing is to go to the following websites, but replace yourdomain.com in the urls with your actual domain. (These sites are indexed on a regular basis and will have your site indexed faster than if you submitted it traditionally). http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.yourdomain.com http://www.statbrain.com/www.yourdomain.com http://www.builtwith.com/?yourdomain.com http://snapshot.compete.com/yourdomain.com http://www.aboutus.org/yourdomain.com http://www.quantcast.com/yourdomain.com http://www.cubestat.com/www.yourdomain.com http://whois.tools4noobs.com/info/yourdomain.com http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yourdomain.com http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=yourdomain.com (Not sure why that text pasted like that...) Anyways, Good Luck!

Major labels aren't terribly helpful anymore, not only do you have a slim chance of being signed, but you are also very unlikely to make money with them if you are. Your best bets are either finding an indie label, going completely independent, or finding a form of artist management. This is just wrong. This is my third year with my solo project, and last year I personally made over $10K with music. Its not a living, but its alot more than other people are doing. What I would do is if you don't have any experience with marketing and such, find an artist label. They often cost nothing up front, and they take a manager's percentage, but the down side is you normally have to be accepted. The one I used was EvolvingPoet (www.evolvingpoet.com). They took 18% of profits but they provided me with distribution, a marketing plan, help setting up social networks, help promoting those networks, mixed my music for me, helped with college radio campaigns, and best of all, they treated me like I was actually something to be valued (whereas a lot places kinda treat you like disposable meat.) An awesome company I use now that I know a bunch about marketing and stuff is AWAL (awal.com). They will distribute your music for free to all major online retailers, but they take a 15% cut of your profits. Also, as for the radio, chances are you won't make it onto a lot of the airwaves. You have to target places that will specifically allow indie music, such as college radio or stations that have a "local" hour and such. Hope this helps!

Being successful now doesn't normally involve record labels anymore. You have to put yourself out on the internet, play live, and promote your music wherever you can, but you have to do it smartly. One basic step is getting your music to major online sellers like iTunes, the people at awal.com will put your music EVERYWHERE for free, but they take a 15% cut off of profits from these sites (which really isn't that much.) Also, I've worked with the folks at evolvingpoet.com, and they will distribute your music, help you with marketing a few hours a week, and they do a ridiculously great job. They also don't charge anything up front, just 15-20% of profit. They helped me out for my first year on the internet, and when I wanted to leave they taught me how to take over everything they were myself, which was great! Otherwise, success is where ever you want to make it. Keep trying and good luck!

Having the title in the chorus was more important back when it was harder to look stuff up on the internet, so unless you are doing pop music it isn't really necessary at all. In fact, I've found that not having your title in the chorus, especially in the days of google, gives you more chances of being heard if you are promoting your videos/songs/websites correctly, mostly because it gives you more keywords to use, and the more keywords you have that aren't super common the more people will stumble across you. Also, alot of sites that let you upload music also let you upload lyrics, making it just as easy to find your song without having the title in the lyrics.

Also, depending on what time of day you post stuff, it might get overlooked a bit.

I use a site called audiosparx for this, your music gets prescreened, and after that you just upload whatever songs you like. Best of all, its free. I use it as a small extra revenue source, making an extra $300-$400 a year with it, but this year is gonna be better as I've hit $300 and its only february! good luck!

Stay away from caffeine before singing as well! I also drink just a tiny bit of vinegar about half hour before a show, and it seems to help.