Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan are authors of The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician published by St. Martin's Press/Macmillan in the US and Canada and founders of the open and free musician resource ,IndieBandSurvivalGuide.com. They are also lead members of the horn-powered Chicago indie-pop band Beatnik Turtle . Their latest project is the The DIY Music Manual: How to Record, Promote and Distribute Your Music without a Record Deal  from eBury/Random House in the UK, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand to be released in February 2009.

Of all of the tasks that independent musicians need to take on for themselves, publicity seems to be one of the hardest to tackle. Trying to get other people to talk about their music usually doesn't come naturally to musicians. But the goal is simpler than you may think: publicity is just like creating a snowman. You start it out small, and build it up. Each mention you get helps you get more coverage, and bigger publications. We'll tell you how to grab that first bit of snow, and start rolling.

First, you need to structure your campaigns based on how the media works. This might change how you plan major events for your band so that they are media-friendly, and improve your chances of getting coverage. In the last decade, the media went from a handful of outlets (television channels, radio stations, and publications) to nearly infinite outlets thanks to the Web (blogs, podcasts, email, Twitter). Unfortunately, books about publicity from the pre-net era don't take the new media into account; and, on the flipside, some bands focus entirely on new media because it's easier. Good publicity campaigns combine both, using appropriate techniques for each one.

Second, it helps to stagger your events so that the media gets a steady stream of news from you. This is not just a numbers game, it's a way to build name recognition. Even press releases that don't get you coverage can help you get a future story. You should think long-term since it can take a year of press releases to finally get some coverage.

Perhaps the most misunderstood concept of traditional US media is the lead time. Any feature stories need to be sent at least three months in advance to give them the chance to cover it. For example, if you plan a CD release show, you need to get your CDs replicated months before the show in order to give the media time to review it. 

The traditional media usually requires you to create a formal press release and do some research to figure out where to send it. Although some bands use a physical press kit, publicists we've interviewed tell us that most journalists now prefer email. The only exception is if you need to send a CD. Once you have a press release, you should use press wires to blast your release to journalists browsing for stories. This doesn't always get coverage, however some of them are free so it's worth your time (we maintain a free list of press wires for you at http://indiebandsurvivalguide.com/category/view/PR_Wires ).

The new media is comparatively simpler: they don't want formalities and they crave immediacy. So that CD release show? All it takes is an informal email a week or so before the event. Research (again, http://indiebandsurvivalguide.com/) and personal relationships help here, too, so you know who to target. We suggest reading their recent posts or subscribing to their podcasts. That way when you write them you can mention a recent article or episode in your messages. You might be surprised at how much paying attention to them helps them pay attention to you.

To get started on your publicity campaign, go after smaller press outlets within the traditional and new media with journalists you already know. This is one reason why some musicians use publicists. Publicists don't just sell their skills, they rent you their relationships. If you don't know any yourself, you can develop these relationships on your own. The easiest way is with bloggers or podcasters that you already follow, as they always like to hear from their audience. For traditional journalists, read the journalist's prior articles and learn their personal interests. The traditional route takes time, so we recommend polite persistence -- never give up after sending just one email.

When you get coverage, send a thank you. You're building relationships. With new media coverage, don't forget the currency of the internet: link love. Link back to any site that covers you from your own blog or website. They will be more likely to cover you in the future because they get exposure to your audience -- something that costs you nothing to share.

And then, use the coverage that you get in future press releases and emails, aiming higher. Just like building a snowman.

Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan are the authors of The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician published by St. Martin's Press/Macmillan in the US and Canada and founders of the open and free musician resource, IndieBandSurvivalGuide.com. They are also lead members of the horn-powered Chicago indie-pop band Beatnik Turtle . Their latest project is the The DIY Music Manual: How to Record, Promote and Distribute Your Music without a Record Deal from eBury/Random House in the UK, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand to be released in February 2009.

Most musicians, when they think about where to get their music heard, think radio. Unfortunately, commercial radio is essentially off limits to indie musicians unless you spend tens of thousands of dollars, and even that's no guarantee. College radio is in reach, but time consuming. And new license rates have even curtailed webcasting.

Fortunately, there are alternatives. Podcasting has emerged to become the radio of the internet. In fact the September 2008 Pew internet study estimates that 19% of internet users have listened to a podcast. And unlike radio, podcasters are hungry for music to use for their shows. But the best news is that the major labels have made their own music nearly impossible to use on podcasts.

That's right: podcasts are a major-label free zone.

How Podcasting Works

Podcasts are like internet radio shows. They are simply sound files, usually MP3s. In fact, anyone with a computer and a microphone can make one using free recording software such as Audacity . The magic isn't in making the MP3, it's in the distribution mechanism. Podcasts use feeds similar to blogs (using RSS or Atom) that allow programs like iTunes to subscribe to them and automatically download shows. It's similar to how a Tivo will automatically record a show except listeners can download the episode any time after it is released without having to wait for a "broadcast". Also, listeners can go back and hear all of the previous episodes if they want to.

Since anyone can make a show, there are podcasts about every topic you can imagine. To get an idea of the variety, go on PodcastAlley.com or PodcastPickle.com and search on any topic that you are interested in; from the profound to the profane, from the popular to the picayune, podcasts cover it all. Since podcasts are released through the Web, they have a global reach. While some have only a handful of listeners, others have hundreds of thousands. And, best of all, podcast listeners are more engaged than a causal radio listener since they've actively sought out the content.

Getting Podcast Play

The simplest way to get podcast play is to make your music "podsafe"-- a general, non-legal term that lets podcasters know that they can use your music in their shows. Since copyright law sets everything to "all rights reserved", telling podcasters that your music is podsafe lets you carve out an exception so they can use your music and not get sued. Or, if you want to be formal, license the song under a Creative Commons license.

To make it easy for podcasters to find your music, you can register songs at a podsafe music collective—websites that make it easy for musicians and podcasters to find one another. Podcasters routinely go to sites like music.podshow.com or podsafeaudio.org to find music. If you join these collectives, read their agreements carefully and make sure that you are comfortable with the rights you are granting to your music in order to turn them podsafe. In return, podcasters must tell their fans who the band is, and link to you (more than you ever get from a radio station.)

Another way to get play is to contact podcasters directly, usually with just a friendly email. While there are music podcasts, you will get better exposure and have an easier time getting played on non-music podcasts. Your songs will stand out better, since they often play just one or two feature songs in the middle of their show. According to PodcastAlley.com, the current top 50 popular podcasts are not music podcasts, instead covering topics such as politics, Harry Potter, and learning Spanish. Most likely, these popular podcasts have tens or hundreds of thousands of listeners--and have a need for music.

We have two suggestions if you get a request: Firstly, give them a high-quality WAV version of your song. There's nothing worse than hearing your song garbled because the MP3 you sent them got re-encoded as an MP3 a second time. Secondly, mention each podcast play in your own blog and website to give the podcaster exposure to your fans in return. That makes it even more likely that the podcaster will start requesting more of your songs—something that happens the more you get played. We found that after years of doing this, and getting play, they now come to us looking for music. Something we're happy to give them.

Just think, when was the last time a radio station asked you for your music?