So how do you do it, with your band, with your strengths? Well there is no single answer, every artist is going to need their own unique approach and it’s up to them to find what that is. Obviously having great music is first and foremost, but you also need to get people to listen. One trick is using the skills you develop in your day to day jobs to your advantage, and design your marketing campaign around those strengths.  Things like getting the grammar nut in the band working on copy and the really friendly one working the email list after the show is obvious. However thinking outside the box is the best way to survive in a music business whose box is constantly changing.  One thing to think about is combining skills sets of the different members of your musical team to create something greater than the separate items. For example if you’re a web designer and your guitar player works in sales. You can design a functional and effective way of selling music online more so then most. If you have a carpenter, an electrician, and an artist, you can design your own lighting system, and a killer, totally unique light show.

Last example I’ll throw out; if you have a auto mechanic, welder, and someone with a love of spray paint, build your own trailer and save yourself a few grand, and have it be custom designed to the band when you drive around, we call that a functional moving billboard.

Take a look at the members of your team who work with your music business, and figure out what skills these people have, besides being a killer bass player, and try to see if you can combine those skills into something you can use in conjunction with the music. A unique merch display, creative cd packaging with an interesting email campaign, fundraising events for recording an album, a treasure hunt for the new album, any number of ideas that you can combine using your skill set will not only be as unique as the people in your band, but will also be of quality much closer to quality of your music.

If anyone has any creative combos, post em.

When starting a submission to one of our listings on Sonicbids, first find something that fits your genre and relative location (if your looking for live/location based stuff).  For this I would use the good ole “advanced search” tool which you can use to filter out all the stuff that doesn’t apply to you.

From there you can pick something that sounds interesting and check out the listing. Now here is where we provide a lot of new info. At the top of the page you will notice a Pick-o-Meter and an overall Rating.  The Pick-o-Meter will display the promoters overall choosiness or selectivity in comparison to other listings in that category, (so licensing gigs are compared to other licensing gigs, festivals are compared to other festivals, etc). Nothing will display if it’s their first listing on our site because they haven’t picked anyone yet.  But this can be a good tool to decide what your chances are.  For example, if you’re just putting together a group and you’ve only played a couple gigs in your area, I wouldn’t recommend you submit to someone that’s the “Most Picky” on the Pick-o-Meter.

Next to that is a rating system that is collection of feedback from all artists who have been selected. This is great feedback from your peers who have worked with the gig that can tell if it’s a good fit for you.  If the listing has a rating, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will notice all the feedback is listed there.  I recommend reading each comment and deciding for yourself if their feedback is warranted or applicable to you.  You can even vote on the review itself and let the community know what is a “helpful” review and what is “not helpful”.

In the “At a Glance Info” there is a link to the promoters name. By clicking on that link you will be taken to a promoters profile page on our “It Works” section that will show you every listing they ever had open on Sonicbids, and what artists were picked for them.  You can even take it a step farther by clicking on the band name to see their profile with a link to their EPK. You can check out a few EPKs and get a solid idea on what types of bands get picked for it and whether or not you sound like them or at the same level in terms of your career. If you’re not sure about something you even message other selected bands to see if it is a worthwhile experience.   As an added bonus you can even see what other things those artists were picked for which is a great lead generation for you.

With that info, you can really target down your submissions to make sure you are getting the most return on your investment. The research will take a few more minutes for sure, but its worth the time to make sure you are getting the most out of your submission dollars.

When dropping your files to MP3s, use a decent bitrate. Going under 112 kbps will start to bring in a wavy sound to the songs, because of the severe compression of the audio file size. We find that 5 MB is usually more than enough for an average song that’s less than 5 minutes in length. If your song is closer to 3 minutes, try re-ripping the track at a lower bitrate (preferably 128 kbps) to keep the file size down.

You should also make sure you have Cookies, Java, and Javascript enabled on your browser. Blocking any one of those will interfere with your ability to use the site.

If you’re using a dial-up Internet connection, it will take a very long time to upload audio, and dial-up connections can also be less reliable. Try uploading from a different computer with a high-speed connection if you have access to one; Kinko’s and other business centers usually have public computers that can be used for a nominal fee. What you save in frustration and time will probably make it worthwhile.

Learn how to make mp3 files.

If you have any trouble downloading iTunes, you can also check out Zamzar.com for free online file conversion. Because it’s online, you do not need to download any software to convert your audio files.

There’s also a thread about this on our forum. Read it if you’d like, and feel free to add your own thoughts or questions about this topic.

• All audio tracks that are uploaded into an EPK are downloadable by default. If you’d like to turn off downloads on your EPK, you can do so in the Edit My EPK section by unchecking the box that says “Allow users to download my audio files.”

What do I put on my EPK’s audio section?

A question many people ask is whether to put the full song or just a clip on the EPK. Either is fine, really, but keep in mind that a lot of people decide whether or not they like a song in the first 30 seconds. Putting a clip of a song allows you to show the meat and potatoes of the tune without having to worry about the listener losing interest with a long intro, interlude, etc.

On the flip side, clips may not show all the dynamic changes of a song or showcase all of your songwriting talents. Some song intros are just so good (think about Europe and “The Final Countdown”) you may wish to include the entire track.

As for sound quality, there are obviously a lot of things to consider. Studio time is expensive, and demo recordings are often sufficient for submitting to coffeehouses and clubs. However, lower quality recordings may hinder your chances for being selected for high profile gigs where having a professional album is an unstated requirement. Compilation CDs, radio opportunities, licensing opportunities, and songwriting competitions very often require high quality recordings as well.

Avoid using cassette tapes, and songs recorded with a laptop mic while you play in your basement. The recording quality can get so bad that it becomes distracting to the listener. Digital audio has made so many leaps and bounds in the past few years that it’s easy and affordable to make your own demo-quality recordings.

If a song has lyrics, include those, too, and make sure they are in the same order as your tunes. Many folks like to read along with the lyrics as they listen to songs, so it’s best to include that information for them — unless of course if you’re a jazz scat artist (‘skiddle dee bop ta doo bop’ doesn’t always need to be written out). Songwriting competitions and compilation CDs often review lyrics when making their selections as well.