Musicadium Blog

I want to tell you about a fantastic tool to get your music heard.

imeem allows you to build playlists of your favourite music and stream them as you please.

There is an amazing amount of music available to stream and you can upload songs that aren’t available.

Artists like Avril Lavigne have been making the most of imeem by offering a video exclusive through the site as well as allowing her entire new album to be streamed for free at her imeem page. The video exclusive comes with embed codes to make the video viral.

For an independent artist, imeem is a great addition to your online repertoire. Like a myspace page it allows your music to be easily discovered. Even better, you can build playlists with songs from artists you sound like. That way, fans of other bands can discover your music through your very own playlists.

It’s free and easy.

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At Musicadium, we get a lot of requests for assistance with MySpace. Below we have posted some of the top questions we get from clients.Hopefully thee will help you get you started on your way of making MySpace - your space.
How do I become a featured artist on MySpace?

Please send MySpace an email stating you are interested in becoming a featured artist and they will have a representative contact you.

How do I add color, graphics, & sound to my Profile page?

Adding color, graphics and sound to your MySpace profile page is easy and requires only a basic knowledge of HTML (the programming language used to create web pages on the Internet). Simply go to “Edit Profile” and enter the desired HTML coding where appropriate.If you do not know HTML, you can reach out and make a new friend by asking someone who has color, graphics, and/or sound on their Profile page how they did it. Musicadium strongly suggests you add your iTunes link HTML in your MySpace. See our article for more help Make a link to your album on iTunes.

How do I add a song from a Myspace artist to my profile? How do I remove it?

Adding a song is easy. Visit Myspace Music (http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music) and find a song you want to add. If the artist has given permission to share the music, you’ll see an “Add” link next to the song. Click “Add” and the song will play on your profile! Only one song can be added to your profile at one time.If you want to change songs, simply find another song and click “Add.”

To remove the song, go to Home >> Edit Profile >> Profile Songs and click “Delete.”

More Help

These and more MySpace help FAQ’s can be found at MySpace’s Help area http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.faq or contact them at http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.contact

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We have written previously here about the value of a good myspace page.

A good myspace page is essential, have no doubt. But new research by Yahoo has revealed that music fans are heading to Wikipedia to find out about bands more than they are heading to myspace.

According to the study: “after searching for a band name music fans head to a band’s Wikipedia page, searching there twice as often as they go to the band’s MySpace page.”

So what does that mean for you?

Simple: cover all bases. Have a great myspace and a comprehensive wikipedia entry. That way everyone’s happy.

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You know those cool little logos that are links to your album on iTunes? Well you create them by yourself using the ITunes Link Maker.

The logo looks like this:

The iTunes Link Maker is an online tool that you can use to generate links to any artist, song or album available on the iTunes Music Store.

How do I incorporate the link into my web page?

The link can be treated just like any other link within a web page, MySpace, Facebook, email signature etc. Use the code to get the word out about you!

iTunes Link Maker

Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/linkmaker/ to start publicing your release on iTunes!

Want to know more, go to the Apple FAQ page http://www.apple.com/itunes/linkmaker/faq/

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Are you interested in using press releases to promote your band? It’s not impossible, or even too hard to distribute your own press releases. Below is a list of 5 steps for more effective free press release distribution:

1. Choose a few free press release distribution sites. Choose which sites to use based on which ones will get the release added to news engines. Just because some bigger distribution sites charge for this service,
     it does not gurantee they will get picked up.
    
2. Send your release to the Associated Press. It never hurts to try… and if they think your release is newsworthy, you might get some other media coverage out of it too. Just email or fax the release to the appropriate editor, writer, or region depending on your location and area.
    
3. Local News! Send your releases to your local newspaper, street press or other media and put a local spin on your release. It won’t  take you too long to add a local spin to the introduction or headline of the  press release. Send it to the most relevant journalist or editor at your local paper. Smaller papers especially love it when a local is doing anything remotely newsworthy. Try to build a relationship with the editor or writer whenever  possible while you’re at it, send them or the photgrapher free tickets  to your gig!
    
4. Send it directly to niche or industry outlets. If you know of the top blogs, magazines, or websites in your musical niche, see if they have press release submission guidelines and submit it directly to them. Work on the bigger ones first and submit to as many as you have time for. If you get bigger pickups, they’ll often lead to smaller niche blogs etc copycatting the story anyway. Again, try to build relationships if you can.
    
5. Add your press releases to your own website, Facebook, MySpace or blog. This so often ignored or neglected! Some artists say they don’t  want duplicate content on their site. But who the hell cares about duplicate
     content? Maybe it’s just us, but we thought the purpose of a press release  was to bring exposure to your band! On top of putting your news out to your  regular readers, fans, or visitors, it also allows you to archive your releases  for journalists who visit the site wanting to learn more about your band.  If you don’t have a press room or at least a press release archive,  we suggest you add one! And when it’s on your site, you can take that  opportunity to add all the little social media tools that are relevant, add  commenting (especially if it’s on a blog), add it to del.icio.us, or  Digg it , Facebook, MySpace etc.

So there you go. There’s no need to use expensive agencies or other sites  to distribute your press release for you. If you’re feeling independently-inclined,  give it a go and get that release and your band out there! You’d be surprised  at how effective a little direct involvement can be in press release distribution  and media relations as a whole.

Here is a big list of free press release distribution sites we have found over   time:

Now go start writing

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Let me point you in the direction of an incredible music resource.

Andrew Dubber’s site New Music Strategies is a reliable, trustworthy source of information and advice for independent artists.

Andrew has written an e-book - The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online - and yes, he’s right, you really must know what is contained within its pages.

Go here to download it.

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