Promoting your music online

I've written for Making Music, Musician and Melody Maker, advising musicians on how to promote their music online. I also maintain a list of places you can sell your music.

Between 1999 and 2001 I wrote a monthly column for Making Music about how musicians could use the internet to promote their music. It was an exciting time: bands who were starting out had access to a major distribution channel; artists were flexing their creative and marketing muscle to investigate new media formats; and new websites were springing up to help move music around the web. Since then, some of the websites, formats and bands have failed. But many of their lessons are still valid.

Promoting your music online

• My list of places where you can sell your music or promote it online
• Fifteen top music promotion tips
• How to sell your music on iTunes and Amazon
• How Andrea Mann got her music into iTunes and Amazon MP3
• Viral marketing for musicians
• Erasure pioneers customised MP3 sales
• Selling independent music on Ebay
• A short history of band websites
• A short history of file sharing

Earworm

Sean McManus's novel 'Earworm' is a satire of the music industry, based around a major record label and all those who invest their hopes and dreams in it. The book is independently published and can be bought online now.

"Raising a number of surprisingly sophisticated issues, this book is enjoyably cynical about the seemingly cold-hearted and impenetrable nature of the record industry and peppered with a number of highly comical cameos from the cream of rock'n'roll, which ensures that it never feels like heavy going."
- Record Collector Magazine. More great reviews!

• Go behind the scenes with the author
• Browse more goodies from 'Earworm'
• Order the book at Amazon

Making Music Magazine archive

Here you can find an archive of my ".Com Together" column, written for Making Music magazine between 1999 and 2001. These articles provide an insight into an exciting time in the development of digital music.

ExileInside interview
Former My Life Story leader, Jake Shillingford has abandoned the major labels to set up his own project online. In this interview, he reveals how he got his project started and how the internet is giving him greater creative and financial freedom.

Stories of success
Sean McManus talks to some successful online bands about what promotional tools have worked for them.

It's payback time!
What's the future for the music economy? This article explores different ways bands can support themselves financially when distributing music online.

Promoting your band's website
If you've built your website, the hard work has only just begun. This article explains how to start promoting the site.

Like a rolling stone
Bill Wyman has released his own-brand portable MP3 player

Choosing an internet record label
As the directory at this site shows, there are so many websites aching to distribute your music now. How do you choose?

Bringing CDs to life
The internet is changing the way people treat CDs

Stumbling to the top
How did Stumble reach the top of the Peoplesound chart?

My Life Story interview
Jake Shillingford reveals why his band chose to use Windows Media Player to distribute their first e-single and how he believes the internet will figure in the band's strategy.

Writing music for the web
Exploring the opportunities to write music for this emerging medium, this article includes a virtual harp to play on-screen. Discover generative music here.

Its name is Rio
How practical is the Rio portable music player? Read this review.

Going live
OnlineTV claims to be able to lift bands from a small London gig to an international fan base by streaming their gigs over the internet.

The lessons from Voxpop
One of the UK's best established virtual record labels closed through lack of sales. Read about the lessons from MD John Paterson.