File Sharing
As we discuss in our File Sharing for Independent Bands section, we believe that file sharing is one of the best ways indie bands can get their music released on the Internet and spread to the largest number of people.
We suggest that you read the File Sharing section where we cover this topic in detail and talk about the many reasons why you should file share your own music. We'll summarize some of the information here in the context of discussing ways to distribute your music.
If there is one thing that this distribution section should show, it is that it takes a lot of effort on your part to get your music in front of new people. Getting played on college radio, podcasts, Internet radio, music and non-music websites, and similar places all take a careful submission campaign and a follow-up as well. In comparison, file-sharing your music takes just as much time as ripping your CD to MP3 format and installing a file-sharing program. For that tiny amount of effort you have the possibility of getting your music to many millions of people. The people on those networks are ones that care about music in the first place. Since the music on file-sharing networks is free, they are also used to trying new music, something that they may not be doing as they browse the Internet.
If you decide to file share your own music, and you want to get the most out of this process, make sure that you've prepared for it. You must have a website for your band that comes up on searches for your band name on major search engines (which means that your site has to have been up for long enough to get picked up by the major engines.) Also, your music should be available for sale on the Internet so that people who like your music can support you if they like. See the "Selling Your Music" section for ideas on how to do this.
We have one final note that we also mention in the File Sharing section. The file-sharing networks allow you to have very limited words to come up when your music is picked up. These are generally limited to band name and song name. If the names of your songs are outrageous, funny, or, best of all, extremely similar to other popular songs, your songs have the best chance of being downloaded. Just think about that as you title your songs.