1. List major bands that you sound like in the album description.
2. Add good quotes from reviews in the description.
3. Make sure to give song samples if they allow it. If they don’t, put song clips on your site, then link to those clips from the description you enter in the online store.
4. Put links to all of your online album storefronts from your band website.

We'll talk about why you should do these below:

List Major Bands that You Sound Like

Marketing buys one important thing: familiarity. Customers need to know the product that you're trying to sell. Being an indie band, your marketing dollars probably went to replace that guitar cable that shorted. So, it's unlikely that customers have heard of you. There's a simple solution: You can tap marketing dollars spent by well-known groups by mentioning bands that you sound like in your description.

We have met bands that hate to be compared to other bands, insisting that they are unique. Until you become famous enough where people mention your band name when they are talking about a certain "sound," you should use the major labels' marketing dollars wisely.

On CDBaby, the site has a special description for "bands that you sound like." And there's a companion search bar for customers that asks them what bands they like. This is a very effective way for customers to find bands that they might enjoy when they don't know what to search for. On other sites, make sure to mention two or three bands that you sound like in your music description so you come up on searches when people look for those bands.

This idea is nothing new, it's just good business advice. For example, in the franchise world, you will often see a Burger King next to a McDonald's. The reason is that Burger King learned early on that McDonald's would do market research to find the best place to put a fast food restaurant. Burger King learned that since they were in the same market, they could just put their stores right near it and do quite well.

Add Good Quotes From Reviews

Aside from a few people who just love listening to new music, most people don't want to take a chance on new music unless other people have tried it first and told them that it was good. When they buy something that they haven't listened to before, they like going by what other people think. There's a reason why the movie ad section is filled with little else besides great quotes about the movies. Your album description should use the same technique.

Your general goal in writing the description is to tell the customer: "Lots of other people think this is really great!" Good reviews are one of the best ways to do this.

Give Song Samples

Music, more than just about any other entertainment that people purchase, is something that people want to try before they buy. That is why the radio is such an important part of the music industry. People are willing to purchase a movie on DVD before seeing it rather than music before hearing it. Perhaps this is because people spend more time listening to music, and listen to it more often than movies, which they tend to view just once or twice.

Your best bet to demonstrate to people that your music is worthwhile is to give them actual songs or clips of songs. If it's on your website, you should have samples of every song on the album. If it's on an online store, make clips of as many songs as possible. Show them that you have nothing to hide. On iTunes, you can listen to a short clip of every song in their library, especially because, in their case, you can purchase music by the song. With music, try before you buy rules the day. Give them as much information about the albums as possible.

Put Links to Your Album Storefronts from Your Website

The CD stores are there to help sell your albums, but you need to make sure to link to the stores from your website in many places. The goal of your website should be to make album sales and it should be simple for people on your site to know where to buy your music. We provide links for places to buy our albums on every page of our website.

Some CD stores will allow you to put a "shopping cart" on your own site, so that they will only leave your website when they are ready to purchase. We recommend doing this if possible!

Next: Digital Music Stores

Back to The Indie Band Survival Guide Ebook Home

1. List major bands that you sound like in the album description.
2. Add good quotes from reviews in the description.
3. Make sure to give song samples if they allow it. If they don’t, put song clips on your site, then link to those clips from the description you enter in the online store.
4. Put links to all of your online album storefronts from your band website.

We'll talk about why you should do these below:

List Major Bands that You Sound Like

Marketing buys one important thing: familiarity. Customers need to know the product that you're trying to sell. Being an indie band, your marketing dollars probably went to replace that guitar cable that shorted. So, it's unlikely that customers have heard of you. There's a simple solution: You can tap marketing dollars spent by well-known groups by mentioning bands that you sound like in your description.

We have met bands that hate to be compared to other bands, insisting that they are unique. Until you become famous enough where people mention your band name when they are talking about a certain "sound," you should use the major labels' marketing dollars wisely.

On CDBaby, the site has a special description for "bands that you sound like." And there's a companion search bar for customers that asks them what bands they like. This is a very effective way for customers to find bands that they might enjoy when they don't know what to search for. On other sites, make sure to mention two or three bands that you sound like in your music description so you come up on searches when people look for those bands.

This idea is nothing new, it's just good business advice. For example, in the franchise world, you will often see a Burger King next to a McDonald's. The reason is that Burger King learned early on that McDonald's would do market research to find the best place to put a fast food restaurant. Burger King learned that since they were in the same market, they could just put their stores right near it and do quite well.

Add Good Quotes From Reviews

Aside from a few people who just love listening to new music, most people don't want to take a chance on new music unless other people have tried it first and told them that it was good. When they buy something that they haven't listened to before, they like going by what other people think. There's a reason why the movie ad section is filled with little else besides great quotes about the movies. Your album description should use the same technique.

Your general goal in writing the description is to tell the customer: "Lots of other people think this is really great!" Good reviews are one of the best ways to do this.

Give Song Samples

Music, more than just about any other entertainment that people purchase, is something that people want to try before they buy. That is why the radio is such an important part of the music industry. People are willing to purchase a movie on DVD before seeing it rather than music before hearing it. Perhaps this is because people spend more time listening to music, and listen to it more often than movies, which they tend to view just once or twice.

Your best bet to demonstrate to people that your music is worthwhile is to give them actual songs or clips of songs. If it's on your website, you should have samples of every song on the album. If it's on an online store, make clips of as many songs as possible. Show them that you have nothing to hide. On iTunes, you can listen to a short clip of every song in their library, especially because, in their case, you can purchase music by the song. With music, try before you buy rules the day. Give them as much information about the albums as possible.

Put Links to Your Album Storefronts from Your Website

The CD stores are there to help sell your albums, but you need to make sure to link to the stores from your website in many places. The goal of your website should be to make album sales and it should be simple for people on your site to know where to buy your music. We provide links for places to buy our albums on every page of our website.

Some CD stores will allow you to put a "shopping cart" on your own site, so that they will only leave your website when they are ready to purchase. We recommend doing this if possible!

Next: Digital Music Stores

There are four simple things that you should do to get the most out of online music stores:

1.      List major bands that you sound like in the album description.

2.      Add good quotes from reviews in the description.

3.      Make sure to give song samples if they allow it. If they don’t, put song clips on your site, then link to those clips from the description you enter in the online store.

4.      Put links to all of your online album storefronts from your band website.

We'll talk about why you should do these below:

List Major Bands that You Sound Like

Marketing buys one important thing: familiarity. Customers need to know the product that you're trying to sell. Being an indie band, your marketing dollars probably went to replace that guitar cable that shorted. So, it's unlikely that customers have heard of you. There's a simple solution: You can tap marketing dollars spent by well-known groups by mentioning bands that you sound like in your description.

We have met bands that hate to be compared to other bands, insisting that they are unique. Until you become famous enough where people mention your band name when they are talking about a certain "sound," you should use the major labels' marketing dollars wisely.

On CDBaby, the site has a special description for "bands that you sound like." And there's a companion search bar for customers that asks them what bands they like. This is a very effective way for customers to find bands that they might enjoy when they don't know what to search for. On other sites, make sure to mention two or three bands that you sound like in your music description so you come up on searches when people look for those bands.

This idea is nothing new, it's just good business advice. For example, in the franchise world, you will often see a Burger King next to a McDonald's. The reason is that Burger King learned early on that McDonald's would do market research to find the best place to put a fast food restaurant. Burger King learned that since they were in the same market, they could just put their stores right near it and do quite well.

Add Good Quotes From Reviews

Aside from a few people who just love listening to new music, most people don't want to take a chance on new music unless other people have tried it first and told them that it was good. When they buy something that they haven't listened to before, they like going by what other people think. There's a reason why the movie ad section is filled with little else besides great quotes about the movies. Your album description should use the same technique.

Your general goal in writing the description is to tell the customer: "Lots of other people think this is really great!" Good reviews are one of the best ways to do this.

Give Song Samples

Music, more than just about any other entertainment that people purchase, is something that people want to try before they buy. That is why the radio is such an important part of the music industry. People are willing to purchase a movie on DVD before seeing it rather than music before hearing it. Perhaps this is because people spend more time listening to music, and listen to it more often than movies, which they tend to view just once or twice.

Your best bet to demonstrate to people that your music is worthwhile is to give them actual songs or clips of songs. If it's on your website, you should have samples of every song on the album. If it's on an online store, make clips of as many songs as possible. Show them that you have nothing to hide. On iTunes, you can listen to a short clip of every song in their library, especially because, in their case, you can purchase music by the song. With music, try before you buy rules the day. Give them as much information about the albums as possible.

Put Links to Your Album Storefronts from Your Website

The CD stores are there to help sell your albums, but you need to make sure to link to the stores from your website in many places. The goal of your website should be to make album sales and it should be simple for people on your site to know where to buy your music. We provide links for places to buy our albums on every page of our website.

Some CD stores will allow you to put a "shopping cart" on your own site, so that they will only leave your website when they are ready to purchase. We recommend doing this if possible!

Next: Digital Music Stores

There are four simple things that you should do to get the most out of online music stores:

1.      List major bands that you sound like in the album description.

2.      Add good quotes from reviews in the description.

3.      Make sure to give song samples if they allow it. If they don’t, put song clips on your site, then link to those clips from the description you enter in the online store.

4.      Put links to all of your online album storefronts from your band website.

We'll talk about why you should do these below:

List Major Bands that You Sound Like

Marketing buys one important thing: familiarity. Customers need to know the product that you're trying to sell. Being an indie band, your marketing dollars probably went to replace that guitar cable that shorted. So, it's unlikely that customers have heard of you. There's a simple solution: You can tap marketing dollars spent by well-known groups by mentioning bands that you sound like in your description.

We have met bands that hate to be compared to other bands, insisting that they are unique. Until you become famous enough where people mention your band name when they are talking about a certain "sound," you should use the major labels' marketing dollars wisely.

On CDBaby, the site has a special description for "bands that you sound like." And there's a companion search bar for customers that asks them what bands they like. This is a very effective way for customers to find bands that they might enjoy when they don't know what to search for. On other sites, make sure to mention two or three bands that you sound like in your music description so you come up on searches when people look for those bands.

This idea is nothing new, it's just good business advice. For example, in the franchise world, you will often see a Burger King next to a McDonald's. The reason is that Burger King learned early on that McDonald's would do market research to find the best place to put a fast food restaurant. Burger King learned that since they were in the same market, they could just put their stores right near it and do quite well.

Add Good Quotes From Reviews

Aside from a few people who just love listening to new music, most people don't want to take a chance on new music unless other people have tried it first and told them that it was good. When they buy something that they haven't listened to before, they like going by what other people think. There's a reason why the movie ad section is filled with little else besides great quotes about the movies. Your album description should use the same technique.

Your general goal in writing the description is to tell the customer: "Lots of other people think this is really great!" Good reviews are one of the best ways to do this.

Give Song Samples

Music, more than just about any other entertainment that people purchase, is something that people want to try before they buy. That is why the radio is such an important part of the music industry. People are willing to purchase a movie on DVD before seeing it rather than music before hearing it. Perhaps this is because people spend more time listening to music, and listen to it more often than movies, which they tend to view just once or twice.

Your best bet to demonstrate to people that your music is worthwhile is to give them actual songs or clips of songs. If it's on your website, you should have samples of every song on the album. If it's on an online store, make clips of as many songs as possible. Show them that you have nothing to hide. On iTunes, you can listen to a short clip of every song in their library, especially because, in their case, you can purchase music by the song. With music, try before you buy rules the day. Give them as much information about the albums as possible.

Put Links to Your Album Storefronts from Your Website

The CD stores are there to help sell your albums, but you need to make sure to link to the stores from your website in many places. The goal of your website should be to make album sales and it should be simple for people on your site to know where to buy your music. We provide links for places to buy our albums on every page of our website.

Some CD stores will allow you to put a "shopping cart" on your own site, so that they will only leave your website when they are ready to purchase. We recommend doing this if possible!