with us here @ IndieMusiciansBlog.Com. We are

planning on releasing several new independent music/music industry

/major music related blogs (a total of over 24 new

IndieMusicLounge.Com/IndieMusikChick.Com blogs

here as subdomains of this very blogging site in fact).

With all of the successes that we have garnered from

this blog we’ve decided to continue rolling out even

more information for musicians and fans of the music

industry. These blogs will range from genre specific

news, event happennings and tips to information and

advice/tips on things like marketing your music, music

promotions, playing live/getting gigs, music publishing,

songwriting artist spotlight and more. Starting as early

as November 2010 you will begin to see nearly daily

updated posts on these and various other music-related

issues vital to the careers and development of indies just

like you. We are looking forward to seeing the continued

success of this blog and those set to launch in the future.

Now, on to today’s article for musicians:

1. GarageBand.Com-I know, it technically is about to

become erased off of the internet map…in a sense.

Garageband it seems has decided that after ten years of

promoting music on their once blazing network that

the time has come to “close up shop”. They have figured

out that in their opinions music fans are no longer finding

and searching for music in such the same way as they

did when the site originally became a premiere site

online for musicians.

However, they have made a few great partnerships and

developed new sites in which they believe (judging from

their message I’ve recieved as a member of Garageband)

will help their organization move forward. We at

IndieMusicLounge.Com hope so too and wish them the best

of luck…So why then is Garageband.Com listed on this

list of three great sites to promote your music, ahhh! Their

newer spot online, ILike.Com. There is a mix of indie and

major artist’s music and once a fan finds similar music, just

like on pandora or Amazon, the fan is shown similar music by

similar in style and genre artists be they major or indies. Great

concept, huh?!

This technically puts you in a level playing field with the

majors, something that the internet as a whole has been

doing ever since Napster and Itunes arrived in my opinion.

The second reason that Garageband made the list is their partnership

with Myspace Music. Myspace is “technically” struggling to

command the respect from musicians in the indie sector just as

it is currently with many of its former frequent users/fans. They

have gotten away from helping promote indies (a big reason that

the site became famous in the first place), but they are seemingly

trying very hard to mend the fences between Myspace and the

“set aside for celebrity musicians” indie musician crowd on their

site it seems. So give it time and I feel they will definitely come up

with some new content/materials-apps that will possibly once again

reunite the indie music world with them, possibly even over Facebook.

I’m dreaming, I know, haha.

2. PodSafe Music Network- this site and free service helps

unite music podcasters of all sorts unite with royalty-free

podcasting music materials. The internet community is

seemingly finding the balance between copyrighted material

availability for free use and of course that which cost usually

in terms of royalties of some sort. I’m glad to see this. As a

podcaster and online radio broadcaster I found it horribly

difficult to find find independent artists that were responsive

enough to the idea of their music being played without them

receiving any payment. One thing that many people need to

realize if that very few organizations and most certainly

individuals using new avenues to distribute content and media

are not at all even coming close to breaking-even or even

earning any sort of profits whatsoever!

This is why it is good for you though as a musician. Podcasters

are becoming today’s new radio DJs! Their words of

praise or just the fact that they are willing to play your

music to many people that follow and are fans of them

show your potential fans that you are worth their listing

time and just as with radio many people will look into

finding your band and more important to you-your music.

You simply sign up to this service and upload and then,

possibly, you will be getting some great promotions for free

that will hopefully one day lead to you receiving new fans,

email addresses and product/service purchases. All just for

uploading your music online to a site and thinking far enough

into the future to realize it is not always about going for profits

on every single promotional and marketing campaign or experiment!

3. Reverbnation.Com-This site has been around long

enough to get thousands of musicians and fans to sign

up and begin using and ranking musicians and music.

I personally have used this site for a few month before

I chose to speak out about it. Personally, I think as far

as finding new email addresses and for basic band

management and to some minor degree label managaement

and promotions, it is a decent site. Not so much worth the

hype I think, but it will get word out about you. More impressive

to me then all of the site and its rankings and promises though

are the killer apps that are available for the top social

media networks out there.

They have CafePress like stores that are free to use and

also offer the options to sell your own original ringtones.

Honestly, there are better sources for obtaining merchandise

to sale, but if you are on a tight budget, I guess it is worth it.

The key I have found out on this particular site is to find as

many other bands as possible to become fans and friends with,

especially if they are highly ranked! This is because you then

become shown as their newest fan on their profile and the

more popular they are on the site, the more people are going

to see your band’s profile picture. I got hundreds of new fans

through doing this simple act, however, I didn’t just add the

top ranked in Reverb’s charts. I felt it would be more authentic

to only add those that I was really a fan of.

Test these sites out and see if they work out for you. Everyone’s

plans and agendas for career success in the music industry are

different, so maybe these won’t work that great for you, however,

I feel that they are definitly worth your time and trial.

Until next time,

B-Marcel

(IndieMusicLounge.Com/IndieMusikChick.Com CEO and Founder)

Thanks again,

-BJM and the IML/IMC Staffs

Well, think about people that own property and rent/lease it out to people.

They (hopefully) recieve monthly rent from their tenants. This is called residual

or passive income. It is money that comes in on a regualr basis that you only

initially had to work for, for a small period of time. These sites and services

I’m about to share with you offer these residual/royalty payment sometimes

for life (usually). I know musicians that are recieving hundreds, if not more by now,

a month by using these sites and service and those like them online. So without

further ado here’s some of the top site out there to earn some residuals/royalties

off of your music:

*RumbleFish.Com

*PumpAudio.Com

*eStockMusic.Com

*StockMusic.Net

*iStockPhoto.Com/audio

*StockMusicSite

I love the idea of earning money for your hard work in the studio and the best

part about these sites is that people regularly search them looking for audio

to use that they have to pay for legally; you don’t have to promote your music

on these sites, although you certainly could and probably should. I think this

is a excellent way to get your foot in the door as far as earning money for your

music. The one sad thing, however, is that indie musicians signed to labels

(sometimes) or signed to a performers right organization (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC)

sometimes/usually can’t participate because the site/service would then be

responsible for paying out through/to them as well. But who knows, maybe

down the road this will be fixed, because it would be the perfect supplemental

income to an indie label I think…but I feel that I must say that some of the sites

say that they might be willing to be flexible with record labels if they are contacted

by the record label about having its artists on their sites.

So give this a try, see how it works for you. I admit it, when I started earning money

from similar sites that publish my various materials online the income would literally

be $.10 a month or even less. But through the years things have definitely changed.

So much so that I am even forming businesses just around doing this, because my

projected income for this year (2010) is certainly going to be over $500+ for my

old and newer materials.

Hope this helps you out.

-Peace,

B.Marcel

couldn’t help it. I mean, it’s you after all. You’ve been there for me since

the very start. Even when I had to shelf IndieMusicLounge.Com for a

while most of you stuck it out with me (IndieMusicLounge.Com 3.0 will be

launching officially next October with some elements of the site launching

even earlier!!!!!!) So for you, anything. These are a few tips I picked up over

the years while working on things online myself, tips from online marketing

gurus and ideas I’ve utilized successfully with indie artists that I have worked

with myself.

You Must Blog as a Musician

Blogging is now old in the quick changing world of the Internet, but it is

still effective. I run several blogs (don’t even update them regularly) and

have been able to pick up a lot of emails for newsletters and funnel marketing

as a result. Don’t just blog about your music as most musicians feel trapped to

do, but rather post on everything relating to you and your band members. I

personally think that every band member needs their own blog on a band website.

You all have different interests and personalities which could draw in different readers

and potential fans.

I think it is best to host the blog on your band website rather than some of the

blog engines out there because you can then for sure put up ads (sparingly)

and promote your own material, especially with a Wordpress powered blog.

Plus, you can usually get some pretty awesome plugins too this way. Check

out my personal blog here: www.b-marcel.com/mainblog for some ideas.

Myspace, Facebook, & Twitter My Way

I think most of you have already come to the conclusion that you must be

wasting your time promoting thru social networks the way that you have

been. In other words, the free way. Free is great and all…it’s beautiful and it

can get you started, but at some point if you are serious about getting out

there you are going to have to start advertising and coughing up at least a

little dough per month. Set a budget for each social network you are involved

with and create unified campaigns with a unified message.

There are also some great free ways to get more profile views on your

social network profiles though, but they are not that obvious. For instance,

you can very easily connect and befriend other artists and then make an

agreement that you’ll both email one anothers email lists/newsletter groups

with information about the other artist that you dig and ask that your fans

support them. This is business 101, networking. Set up mashables with other

indie artists and have them do the same with your music and display them

exclusively on your site or social networking profile. I for my blog am planning

on featuring funny shows spots with local actors and musicians to help promote

them and hopefully they’ll reciprocate the favor. At the end of each of these

Vlogs/webisodes-postings I will be leaving information about the actors/artists

and how they can be contacted, their email list sign up info and where to purchase

their material. The opportunity to network and gain more fans thru other

musicians lists are endless.

That’s it for now. Geez, I can’t believe you got that out of me. Those were my

secret plans , haha. Anyway, I help this helps you out greatly in all seriousness.

Until next time, Get Out There and Manifest Your Career Goals!

Peace,

~Brandon Marcel

IndieMusicLounge.Com. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, though it may

not look like it from the site and its affiliates. Things on that front have been on a

stand still since September 2009 and earlier even. However, I have recieved a

big offer from an investor (which I didn’t take yet) that led me to truly believe

that I may be on to something here. So I have been redoing my business

models/plans recently to attract hopefully even more money the next time I

pitch to investors early first quarter of 2010. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Site is for ALL music business professionals

When I first concieved the idea of IndieMusicLounge.Com in the early 2000’s

I thought “wouldn’t it be great if there were like a Walmart for indie musicians”.

I admit my first two attempts were very modest and didn’t emcompass things

for the entire music industry to enjoy, utilize and network with, but this was

before the social networks explosion you have to remember. Now there will be

newsletters for DJs, music producers, video models, of course indie musicians,

record label executives and more! I am very excited about what I’ve cooked up

or these sections of the site(s).

Music Related Stores Galore

While looking at Myspace’s/Facebook’s layout and business model it occured

to me that they are not fully utilizing their full profit-ability. There are a lot of

other items that can be sold, that people actually want sold to them that sites

like Myspace could be offering and making a killing at in return. We are going

to be offering a lot of music related items, we’ve already gotten I-Rawk Fashions

up and running and by this Fall may be expanding it from just a t-shirt line off

of CafePress to a full blow line! How many music websites do you know of with

their own fashion lines, huh? lol.

You Make Money for Your Content

Now, before you get excited about this one, hold on. I have seen a lot of

social networks claim to pay out, but seldom make it over their first year

of business. So for that reason IndieMusicLounge.Com will not be introduced

with revsharing elements until the site has actually proven to be popular and

profitable. I don’t want to move off of speculation or high hopes and I definitely

don’t want to try to be one of those site that use revsharing as a ploy to get

members to join and participate in the site’s activities in the early days.

Hopefully I and my future staff and you, the contributors, will do a good

enough job at that.

There is one thing I’d like to try that I’m not sure about though. I figure with

Adsense API and systems like it we can easily give our high performing profile

pages/blogs/article writers/video contributors a share in the profits, but I came

across this site Yuwie the other day and I was wondering if their referral element

might also be a good way to grow the site and get members paid too.

They offer downline payment for referral activities and profile page views if I’m

correct and so I’m trying it out first myself to see. That’s where you come in.

Rather than bug family and friends to help me out (once again) on this as I’m

sure most people in this do. I thought I’d come to you. You would be the ones

potentially profiting off of this I figure. So here’s my ploy, I want to get 100

referrals and to see how much can really be made from this type of system or

if it is really just a sort of a scheme. So here’s my referral link, do with it what

you please, but do know I appreciate those of you that do help me figure this

thing out:

Help B.Marcel Get 100 Referrals on Yuwie!

You Can Sell Your Merchandise

I want to let you know that you as musicians and music business professionals

will be allowed to sell from your profiles and throughout other sections of the

site(s). There are even plans to create a system similar to CafePress/Zaggle

thru the site that allows you to have no costs and no inventory or we may just

align ourselves with one of the top companies in this field down the road. We will

still have strict rules on how you can advertise and types of things you can advertise

however to avoid spammers.

Looking to Officially Re-Launch October 18-23, 2010

Although some of the areas of IndieMusicLounge.Com and its affiliates are

already up and running and more will be up and running starting as early as

January 27th, 2010, the site as a whole isn’t projected to launch until the

18-23 of October 2010. I will be doing video posts to keep you posted on our

staff’s progress, the ups and the inevitable downs and I will also be creating and

posting a lot of new never before seen content starting January 1st, 2010. That

date in fact I will be launching our free to join email list that will be offering exclusive

gifts, exclusive advice, exclusive contests, giveaways, trivia, exclusive articles/videos

all designed to help further and shape your career. That, plus each Tuesday Night I will

be sending out offer emails with some of the top web programs/ebooks/software/etc.

for musicians and music business professionals that I myself have used and approve of.

I have helped hundreds of musicians over the past few years through my

email lists/newsletters/music sites/direct consultations to further their career

and have seen some even offered deals by major record labels. If you want to

learn how to get your foot in the door of the music industry this is the email group

for you and if youwant to take your music career to the next level IndieMusicLounge.Com

3.0 is the company for you!

Thanks sincerely for your time,

-B.Marcel