Sundown Caffeine would like to share certain techniques that have helped us navigate through the artistic hellhole through the years and although we can never claim to be experts on the matter, we hope we can give you some helpful insights.
Tip # 1 - Using Myspace
1. Size Matters. MySpace is indisputably the largest network of musicians, promoters, record labels, professionals and fans in the entire internet. If you are a musician and you don't have a MySpace account, sign up immediately! Go to http://myspace.com/, sign up as an artist, fix up your account information and upload your music.
2. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, but Ugliness is Universal. Now that you have an account, dress it up. If you are unfamiliar with html, java and css, find a friend who can help you with it FOR FREE. At this point, you have to keep in mind that there are millions of artists out there and standing out means making your site as attractive as possible without overwhelming the visitor with useless information and ads. Remember, your goal is not to make as many friends as possible but to make sure that each person who visits will listen to your music. Everything in the internet is dependent on face value. If your design entices people to take a few minutes of their time to play even just one of your songs, you have succeeded where thousands of others have failed. Avoid clutter, avoid dirty layouts, and, most importantly, avoid hard-to-read fonts. One rule of design is to always provide contrast between your background and text. If you decide to use a dark background, use light text. For light backgrounds, use dark texts. Remember, if a site visitor can't read what you've written, he will leave and never come back.
3. Stealing Fans. Know your music. Know who you sound like. Ask yourself who your influences are. Ask your friends to listen to your stuff and tell you who you seem to be emulating. Once you figure this out, go to that artist's page (i.e. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Avril Lavigne) and invite their fans to listen to your music. Actually, you wont really be stealing anything since you wont be depriving any person of their fans but giving those people a new alternative. Chances are, if you sound like the artist they idolize, they will follow your music as well. Avoid inviting people who patronize a totally different genre. If you play like Pantera, don't invite fans of the Backstreet Boys. You will be wasting time, both yours and theirs. Personal messages work best. About one in every fifteen people will respond to your invitation. Posting network messages might be easier but it will be less effective. People usually ignore these. Just be patient and watch your fanbase grow.
4. Communicate with other Artists. Stop thinking of the art as competition but as collaboration. One of the most important steps in learning and mastering your craft is to listen to other people's work and what they have to say. If you consider another band as your enemy, you might have just missed an opportunity to have a great ally who could have helped you find that big break. Borrow from the experience of others because one lifetime may not be enough to learn these things on your own.
5. Groupthink. Joining groups is a great way to find like-minded people. You might want to start by joining groups created by people from your locality (i.e. Boston Bands, Cebu Music, Daly City Rockers), this is a great way to share your music and to find people from the industry who would be willing to give you a shot. Be active. Find time to read forums (fora?) and post your own ideas. This is a rich source of information on countless opportunities like free airplay, contests and gigs.
Note:
Sundown Caffeine is in no way connected to MySpace.com other than being an artist-user. We are only discussing Myspace because of its undeniable relevance and role in the independent music industry. MySpace is not paying us anything to write this article (but maybe they should be.. hehe).
Dream big and keep rockin'!
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