If you are a band that writes and records music, you are now faced with a difficult decision. It's a choice that you are going to have to make right now, as you decide what music to put on your website.

 

People's attitudes towards new music are contradictory. Most people are interested in getting fresh new music. But, at the same time, they are unwilling to take much of a chance on it, especially if they have to pay for it. As we mention elsewhere in The Survival Guide, people don't seem to mind paying full price for a DVD movie that they haven't seen, but they hate buying music that they haven't heard. This is why radio is so important to the major labels.

 

So the basic problem is that people like to try out new music for free. When a new person is on your website, they won't have much patience for it, either. You can't make a good first impression with one of your second-string songs. You will want to lead with your best songs right away. And that's the heart of it. If you give away your best songs, why should they buy your album?

 

It comes down to a simple question: "Is it better to gain a fan, or lose a sale?" We think that the answer is to win over fans. Once you have them on your site, whether they arrived there because someone mentioned you on their blog, or they brought you up on a random search, you will want your best music to be there for them when they first try your music out.

 

There are two major ways that you can distribute music from your website. One of them is to just let them download the songs by providing a link to the song itself. When you use this method people can download it and play it on their iPod, music player, or laptop, wherever they go. They can do what they wish with the song. If you use this method, make sure to fill in all of the id3 tags on the file so that they clearly say the band name, copyright, and especially a link to your website.

 

The second way is to stream songs from your site. For your best songs, we suggest that you give away reasonable quality versions of them by streaming them. This doesn't make it impossible for people to get the music, but it raises the bar, and makes people realize that you would like them to pay for the music.

 

There are players, such as Real Player, which gives you a little more control of how the file gets streamed, but not every user has Real Player. We use a flash radio player to share out the music that is on our albums. With these flash radio players, you can design a playlist, and determine what scrolls across the screen.

 

We are currently moving to sharing our music using a program called Wimpy Player, which allows you to not only have the songlists, but also to have pictures with each song, and links for each one as well. This should allow you to link to a store so that if they like the song, they can buy it. We'll let you know how it goes after we implement it from our current, rather simple player that we have running on our site right now.

 

The main point is that if you do share music, make sure that your music is easy to find while browsing your site. If a person who is interested in your band doesn't know where to find the music, your site needs to be changed to make it as simple as possible.

 

 

Next: Promoting Your Music

 

If you are a band that writes and records music, you are now faced with a difficult decision. It's a choice that you are going to have to make right now, as you decide what music to put on your website.

 

People's attitudes towards new music are contradictory. Most people are interested in getting fresh new music. But, at the same time, they are unwilling to take much of a chance on it, especially if they have to pay for it. As we mention elsewhere in The Survival Guide, people don't seem to mind paying full price for a DVD movie that they haven't seen, but they hate buying music that they haven't heard. This is why radio is so important to the major labels.

 

So the basic problem is that people like to try out new music for free. When a new person is on your website, they won't have much patience for it, either. You can't make a good first impression with one of your second-string songs. You will want to lead with your best songs right away. And that's the heart of it. If you give away your best songs, why should they buy your album?

 

It comes down to a simple question: "Is it better to gain a fan, or lose a sale?" We think that the answer is to win over fans. Once you have them on your site, whether they arrived there because someone mentioned you on their blog, or they brought you up on a random search, you will want your best music to be there for them when they first try your music out.

 

There are two major ways that you can distribute music from your website. One of them is to just let them download the songs by providing a link to the song itself. When you use this method people can download it and play it on their iPod, music player, or laptop, wherever they go. They can do what they wish with the song. If you use this method, make sure to fill in all of the id3 tags on the file so that they clearly say the band name, copyright, and especially a link to your website.

 

The second way is to stream songs from your site. For your best songs, we suggest that you give away reasonable quality versions of them by streaming them. This doesn't make it impossible for people to get the music, but it raises the bar, and makes people realize that you would like them to pay for the music.

 

There are players, such as Real Player, which gives you a little more control of how the file gets streamed, but not every user has Real Player. We use a flash radio player to share out the music that is on our albums. With these flash radio players, you can design a playlist, and determine what scrolls across the screen.

 

We are currently moving to sharing our music using a program called Wimpy Player, which allows you to not only have the songlists, but also to have pictures with each song, and links for each one as well. This should allow you to link to a store so that if they like the song, they can buy it. We'll let you know how it goes after we implement it from our current, rather simple player that we have running on our site right now.

 

The main point is that if you do share music, make sure that your music is easy to find while browsing your site. If a person who is interested in your band doesn't know where to find the music, your site needs to be changed to make it as simple as possible.

 

 

Next: Promoting Your Music

 

If you are a band that writes and records music, you are now faced with a difficult decision. It's a choice that you are going to have to make right now, as you decide what music to put on your website.

People's attitudes towards new music are contradictory. Most people are interested in getting fresh new music. But, at the same time, they are unwilling to take much of a chance on it, especially if they have to pay for it. As we mention elsewhere in The Survival Guide, people don't seem to mind paying full price for a DVD movie that they haven't seen, but they hate buying music that they haven't heard. This is why radio is so important to the major labels.

So the basic problem is that people like to try out new music for free. When a new person is on your website, they won't have much patience for it, either. You can't make a good first impression with one of your second-string songs. You will want to lead with your best songs right away. And that's the heart of it. If you give away your best songs, why should they buy your album?

It comes down to a simple question: "Is it better to gain a fan, or lose a sale?" We think that the answer is to win over fans. Once you have them on your site, whether they arrived there because someone mentioned you on their blog, or they brought you up on a random search, you will want your best music to be there for them when they first try your music out.

There are two major ways that you can distribute music from your website. One of them is to just let them download the songs by providing a link to the song itself. When you use this method people can download it and play it on their iPod, music player, or laptop, wherever they go. They can do what they wish with the song. If you use this method, make sure to fill in all of the id3 tags on the file so that they clearly say the band name, copyright, and especially a link to your website.

The second way is to stream songs from your site. For your best songs, we suggest that you give away reasonable quality versions of them by streaming them. This doesn't make it impossible for people to get the music, but it raises the bar, and makes people realize that you would like them to pay for the music.

There are players, such as Real Player, which gives you a little more control of how the file gets streamed, but not every user has Real Player. We use a flash radio player to share out the music that is on our albums. With these flash radio players, you can design a playlist, and determine what scrolls across the screen.

We are currently moving to sharing our music using a program called Wimpy Player, which allows you to not only have the songlists, but also to have pictures with each song, and links for each one as well. This should allow you to link to a store so that if they like the song, they can buy it. We'll let you know how it goes after we implement it from our current, rather simple player that we have running on our site right now.

The main point is that if you do share music, make sure that your music is easy to find while browsing your site. If a person who is interested in your band doesn't know where to find the music, your site needs to be changed to make it as simple as possible.