17: Stop the Musical Masturbation

I wasted so much time playing open mics and writer’s nights in Nashville and Boston. The same is true of all the “hot new music sites” that spring up every 20 minutes on the Internet. The fans do not go there, you’re only entertaining yourself. Every open mic I’ve ever seen is a room full of musicians politely waiting for their turn to get on stage. These events only introduce musicians to other musicians and offer some live performance practice. Trying to sell CD’s at an open mic is like trying to sell time- share condos at a telemarketing convention. Fans go to Facebook or iTunes, not Stereofame. I could waste all my time playing for a crowd of other broke indie artists or I can spend my efforts approaching fans where they’re already congregating.

- Matthew Ebel 

http://matthewebel.com

33: Don’t Be Afraid of Cover Songs And Legally Record Them

Tap into the popularity of better-known artists. Are you known for an awesome rendi- tion of a popular song in your live shows? Great. Record a video of you doing it and post it on YouTube. Better yet, buy a license to record your own version and sell it on iTunes. Then use the video to send people to iTunes to buy the download.

- Bob Baker

Singer/songwriter Steve Acho realized that fans who love a particular song will often collect other versions of the favorites. After getting the proper publishing licenses, he would record new arrangements of songs popular by various artists, and release them on iTunes via TuneCore. When a song-collecting fan enjoyed one of his tunes, they would often also buy his originals.

-Carla Lynne Hall

77: Feature on Indiefeed Podcast: A Single Serving Podcast

With single servings (one track at a time) this is the ultimate way to expose your single to a passionate group of music listeners. Indiefieed is the number one music podcast on iTunes. I have placed at least 30 tracks with Indiefeed, and as a result every track was exposed to over 1 million Nielson Certified listeners. Indiefeed likes to post your promotional mp3, and links to your website in the show notes available at Indiefeed.com, which has lead to at least 1000 dedicated-fan downloads and a minimum of 20% traffic increase with every feature I have placed.

Tip: Time this appropriately with your strategy, and give Indiefeed an exclusive if you can. Start listening to the show immediately, and follow the contact information provided for submissions. www.indiefeed.com

- Corey Denis

www.notshocking.com

78: Record a Cover For Coverville - One of iTunes’s Highest Rated Podcasts

I love Coverville – it’s a great podcast b/c it’s bands covering other bands and it has a devoted listener base. Brian (Coverville’s host and producer) has been very kind to me and helped me promote my cover of “Baby Got Back.” This is the kind of track that would never fly on radio…..

- Jonathan Coulton

http://www.jonathancoulton.com

I was a fan of Coverville, one of iTunes’s highest rated podcasts. When I submitted our version of “Mad About You,” I referenced other bands who had placed rougher, minor chord arrangements to sugary pop-songs; also noting this arrangement was in the minority of his submissions. A lot of what Brian gets seemed to be slower acoustic versions of popular songs, so I knew ours stood out. I think we formed a relationship because he sensed I knew a little about his job, and noted how my song would complement his programming. Ultimately, he featured our song as the title track in one of his podcasts. When the video was made, I thought, “Brian might like this” and brought it to his attention, he posted it on Coverville’s front page. We got tons of YouTube hits from his placement of that video on his site, which doubled the exposure “Mad About You” had gotten from the original podcast http://www.coverville.com

 - Derek Nicoletto

http://www.tellingontrixie.com/music

88: Forget iTunes Features

I used to work for Apple on the corporate level, so I’m an informed source on this one. Truly, stop wasting time trying to get featured on iTunes, and don’t believe distributors who say they will get you featured. Here’s why: iTunes features two kinds of music. Music that will sell like mad (Madonna, Taylor Swift, NOT unknown indie artists), and music that is catching the ear of the staff, whether it’s popular or not. It is one of the only music stores around that truly lets the staff select taste-based features, but there are millions of us and a very, very few of them, so unless your dad or wife or the person you donated a kidney to is an iTunes content producer, getting picked for a feature runs the same odds as winning the lottery. Best approach is to pray your song catches their ear and go spend your time on a task that can offer some return.

- Phil Putnam

http://www.philputnam.com/

91: Legally Record & Sell Cover Tunes

Singer/songwriter Steve Acho realized that fans who love a particular song will often collect other versions of the favorites. After getting the proper publishing licenses, he would record new arrangements of songs popular by various artists, and release them on iTunes via TuneCore. When a song-collecting fan enjoyed one of his tunes, they would often also buy his originals.

- Carla Lynne Hall

www.carlalynnehall.com

94: Create iMixes at iTunes & Sell More Music

With artists that compliment your music and artists you get compared to. Add in some top sellers as well to ensure popular music buying choices are in your iMix. The key here is: include your music. This will be putting you exactly where you want to be: in harm’s way! Online where people have their credit cards out and are ready to buy music. http://www.tinyurl..com/arielitunes

- Ariel Hyatt

http://www.arielpublicity.com

Jazz guitarist Cameron Mizell developed a technique of creating iTunes iMixes that featured one song of his among other songs in his genre. iMix lovers would discover his tunes, and buy them as well.

- Carla Lynne Hall

http://carlalynnehall.com