Is Your Band Net Savvy?

In addition to having a cool name that reflects your style, respectable gear, a decent place to rehearse, a professionally made demo, for your band to have a chance of making it in today’s world, you must have a modicum of Internet savvy. In addition to MySpace, you should know what online music resources are available for your band and how your band can benefit from these sites.

Not only should you have a presence at several social networking sites, but you should also know where your fans and peers hang out. This means, you should know where the types of forums where music fans hang out and forums where other musicians hang out. You should also be aware of the free and paid sites that offer a variety of resources that could possibly enhance your visibility or make your life easier.

The following is a description of many online music resources to get your started:

Affinity Music (http://www.affinitymusic.com) – Hosted by Don Reed Productions, this site helps unsigned bands, singers and songwriters.

ArtistNow.com (http://www.artistnow.com) - A social network that encompasses film, art and fashion in addition to music.

Bandname.com (http://www.bandname.com) – This is a search engine and global registry for band names where you can issue press releases and access a music industry database.

BandRadio (http://www.bandradio.com) - A musician's resource site for everything music biz and includes a searchable industry directory.

Blue Comet Music (http://www.unsigned.xs3.com)– Promotes a all types of unsigned bands from around the globe.

CommunityX.net (http://www.communityx.net) - This is a social networking site for edgy, hard rockers.

Directory of websites for Worldwide Bands (http://www.moremusic.co.uk/links/band.htm) – This site is a collection of links on the web all geared toward serving bands and musicians.

EvO:R (http://www.evor.com) - This is a membership site that bands can join to promote their music. Here you can post information about your band, your reviews and vital stats.

FreeMp3Mail.com (http://www.freemp3mail.com) - This is a social networking site that boasts 15,000 new members. It currently is rumored to have some bugs but it appears they are working out the kinks and this seems to be a promising site with an increasing member base.

Free Musicians Classifieds (http://www.musicians-classifieds.com)- Free online classified advertising for all things music.

Future Dj (http://www.futuredj.co.uk) – This is a directory for DJ mixes and offers free airtime and music promotion for unsigned artists.

Garageband.com (http://www.garageband.com) - Website where music fans, emerging talent, and industry pros meet as equals, listen to cutting edge new music and vote on which new band wins a recording contract each month. Bands can upload songs.

Get Signed (http://www.getsigned.com)- Here you can get tips from music industry pros and insiders about how to effectively promote your band and different techniques for getting your foot in some difficult to open doors.

Girl Player (http://www.girlplayer.com)- Resources and free music promotion for the female musicians.

Increase Your Fanbase (http://www.aandronline.com/increase-fanbase/increase_fanbase.html)- Here you can download a free e-book about music marketing and promoting your band.

Just Plain Folks (http://www.justplainfolks.org/home.html) – This is free networking site with a community of over 10,000 musicians, songwriters, and others from all areas of the music business.

Magic Bus Music Forum (http://www.mbus.com/promo.htm) – This resource page was compiled for unsigned bands and live music clubs.

MusicMoz (http://www.musicmoz.org) – This site is related to the Open Directory Project and is called the Open Music Project and offers a collection of information and links.

Music Scene Online (http://www.musicsceneonline.net) – This is a great resource for bands and musicians to showcase their music.

Musicpromotion.net (http://www.tacotruffles.com/music/promotion/main.asp) - Provides free online tutorials, informative articles, publications and resources to help independent artists promote music on and off the Internet.

Music-Sites.net (http://www.music-sites.net/?action=home) - Music-Community with a huge links directory, forum, chat room, top site rankings, news, newsgroups, radio-stations and more.

Muzic Street (http://www.muzic.st/) – This site offers music news, reviews, charts, and links to music resources and also provides free advertising and promotion for independent bands and anyone seeking music employment.

New Bands on the Net (http://www.new-bands.net)- Free resource for bands, musicians, venues and promoters.

Omotion.net (http://www.omotion.net) - A very nice full blown music based social networking site that claims to have over 100,000 fans in the network.

Polluteme.com (http://www.polluteme.com)- This ezine features band and music reviews, musician interviews, music related news and offers free listings for bands, clubs, and events.

Radio2-0.com (http://www.radio2-0.com/msearch/index2.jsp/) - This is actually a social networking program that you can download. The users search against the music and not the members so this is almost entirely based on musical tastes.

Red Pet (http://www.redpet.net) - This site offers free web space for bands and musicians, MP3 streaming, classifieds, club listings, legal advice, and a calendar.

SiteSpaces.net (http://www.sitespaces.net) - A full blown social networking site with bands and people that is very similar to MySpace.

TheMusic.com (http://www.themusic.com) - Musicians are invited to upload their music to receive a rating from their hit team listeners for the chance to win a recording contract.

The Music Biz Academy (http://www.musicbizacademy.com) - A valuable tool for musicians promoting or selling their music on the internet.

Yahoo 360 (http://www.360.yahoo.com) – This is Yahoo’s social networking site. It is not really geared toward musicians and showcasing bands the way Myspace is but you can still set up a personal profile about your music. Yahoo has the monster of all user bases and right now this place is a well kept secret so it might be a good opportunity.