Passive Promotion

Sites & Services

YouTube’s Dirty Little Secret

December 13, 2012
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Ever spotted a terrible video on YouTube with an inconceivably high view count? Of course you have. Would it make you feel better knowing that most of those “views” were completely automated and only lasted 30 seconds with the sound turned off? Vagex (referral link), a hugely popular YouTube exchange platform, is largely to blame. […]

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What Artists Should Know About Earbits

May 14, 2012
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Earbits is a personalized streaming radio site focused on independents, with no ads or subscription fees. Like Jango, Last.fm, and Grooveshark, they sell airtime packages to artists. At around a penny a play, it’s a relative bargain, especially since they only charge for songs played past the 30 second mark. Put another way, $50 buys […]

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What Artists Should Know About Headliner.fm

January 30, 2012
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Headliner.fm is a platform for trading recommendations with other artists on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. You “buy” recommendations using a virtual currency called band bucks, which can be purchased outright for real money or earned by recommending other artists. Creating a promotion is deceptively simple. You start by writing the recommendation and adding a link: […]

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Why I Still Use Jango

November 29, 2011
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Jango offers free Pandora-style internet radio. Type in an artist’s name and it generates a playlist of related songs. Jango Airplay lets artists buy their way into the recommendation engine, promising guaranteed airplay alongside your pick of big names. I’ve been running Jango campaigns pretty much continuously since the service launched in March of 2009. […]

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What Artists Should Know About ReverbNation’s Promote It

September 28, 2011
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Running a Facebook ad campaign is confusing. You bid for ad placement, but the price you pay bears little relation to your bid. What’s the difference between reach and social reach, connections and clicks, CPC and CPM? More importantly, is there any way to tell how many people played, downloaded, and shared your song, or […]

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What Artists Should Know About SoundOut

October 18, 2010
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You know your song is great, but is it a hit? Will it inspire listeners to share it with their friends, hand over their email address, or maybe even open their wallets? You need feedback from average music fans who have nothing to lose by being honest. SoundOut compares your song to 50,000 others from […]

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My First ReverbNation Street Team Mission

January 18, 2010

I love ReverbNation. I could write a dozen articles on the various tools they provide for artists. For now I’ll focus on one I just tried for the first time: Street Team Missions. Whenever a fan subscribes to your mailing list, they’re given the option to join your street team. You create missions to direct your […]

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12 Years With Taxi

October 6, 2009
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Taxi is an independent A&R company, connecting musicians with labels, publishers, and music supervisors. On the 1st and 15th of every month, they provide a list of industry opportunities for members to submit songs to. Screeners forward the most suitable material for each listing to the person who requested it. I’ve been a member since […]

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The 1-2-3 Music Store

July 30, 2009
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I get at least one phone call per week asking about my experience with the 1-2-3 Music Store, a server script I’ve been running for three years. It allows me to sell mp3 downloads direct from my web site, with no middleman. Put simply, the 1-2-3 Music Store is the ugly stepsister of the iTunes […]

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What Artists Should Know About Stereofame

June 25, 2009

I’ve written “what artists should know” articles on Last.fm, Jango, and thesixtyone, but after months of casual participation, I can’t seem to get anywhere on Stereofame. Rather than bore you with my less than noteworthy experience, I turned to the undisputed kings of the site, Temple Scene. Philippe Rose and Ric Levy make phenomenal electronica-tinged […]

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