Indie Artist Online Starter Kit

by Vinny Ribas
Here is a list of some of the first things that a new artist can to do to establish his or her presence online.

• Have Your Own Website
  • If possible, purchase your name as your domain (MyName.com). You can buy it at GoDaddy.com, If possible, get the .net and .org extensions as well.
  • There are basic web templates at www.BandZoogle.com and www.HostBaby.com. For more advanced websites, check out www.bombplates.com.  They will all guide you as to how to build the website. 
• Digital Distribution
  • Put your music on iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers – You can use www.Tunecore.com, www.CDBaby.com (who also sells your physical CDs).  They will not only place your songs on hundreds of digital websites, they will also make it available to internet radio stations worldwide.
•  Social networks
  • Start with a Facebook page – go to Facebook.com/pages, follow instructions to ‘Create A Page.’ Once you have enough ‘Likes’, you can request your name as the URL – e.g. www.facebook.com/YourName.
  • Join Reverb Nation at www.ReverbNation.com. This site is mostly musician-to-musician. However, they have marketing tools that can be invaluable. Click ‘Join Now’ and follow the instructions.
  • Build a profile on www.MySpace.com – This is starting to make a resurgence.
  • Set up a Twitter account at www.Twitter.com – Use this to broadcast short ‘updates’ or ‘tweets’ of 140 characters or less.
  • Join Indie Connect Social Network www.indieconnect.org to make industry connections.
  • Build a profile on all other appropriate social network websites, even if it is just to reserve your name. Use the ReverbNation widgets to syndicate your calendar, music, bio etc. That means that any time you update your information on Reverb Nation, it will update all of your social networks at the same time. That will keep them relevant. 
• Widgets:
  • Widgets are tools that you can place in various places on the web help you accomplish various tasks. Reverb Nation has widgets that allow you to update your calendar, status updates, bio and music on your website and all of your social networks at one time. 
• Join Sound Exchange
  • (www.soundexchange.com). If you get a decent amount of internet airplay, you will have royalties coming. 
• Mailing List
  • Start an email mailing list. Begin with friends, fans and family. Choose between:
    • You can use ReverbNations’s newsletter program (called FanReach), or;
    • You can useFanBridge.com 
• MP3s
  • You can upload songs to computer as MP3s. On a PC you can use Windows Media Player.
    • ‘Ripping’ is the process of pulling a song from a CD
    • ‘Burning’ is the process of creating a CD from an online file 
• Video/YouTube
  • YouTube videos are a great way to start building a fan base. Start your own YouTube Channel.  Be sure that your website address is on the videos (a live link if possible). On a PC you can create movies with Windows Movie Maker and an inexpensive camera. 
• EPK
  • EPK stands for electronic press kit. It is an electronic collection of all of the things you need to get gigs, including your music, photos, videos, bio, press, calendar and more, and can be emailed to venues. Both ReverbNation and SonicBids (www.sonicbids.com) enable you to create high quality EPKs. 
• One Page
  • A one page is a single page that contains a wide variety of information about you. Your booking page contains everything that an entertainment buyer needs to know about you (photo, bio, references or quotes etc. You can also create a one page for your CD that you send to radio stations, music reviewers or music blogs. You can create an attractive one page at www.OnePage.com.
• Education
  • Join Indie Connect and learn the business side of your career. www.indieconnect.com/join-ic.