From blog.Reverbnation.com :

It isn’t easy to create a great looking Band Profile on Facebook, but it is important.  With over 30% of the entire internet population logging into Facebook everyday, Artists can’t afford to have anything less than a great page.

That’s why we’ve redesigned our free ‘My Band’ Facebook app with a sleek new layout and even more powerful promotional features (most of which were suggestions from the 2.3 million+ My Band users). Simply put, the My Band app has been optimized to get more fans listening to your music, joining your mailing list, and going to your shows. Make sure to check out the video tour at the end of the blog post.

Click here to read the entire post.

From MusicianWages.com :

There are a lot of great resources out there for independent musicians, but what actually works?  Is anybody really changing the game? I’m always watching out for new services that can help me generate more revenue with my music without taking too much time away from actually playing music. Here are fives sites, tools, or services that I love right now and would recommend to any of you.

Click here to read the entire blog.

From blog.TuneCore.com :

Tips to Sell More Online: iTunes Tips

In addition, give your iMix an interesting name (as opposed to “Cool Songs I Like”), name it something like, “Music to Break Up To,” or “Songs that Morrisey Wishes He Could Write.” Clever titles catch peoples’ attention.

The more iMixes you seed into iTunes, the higher the probability you will be discovered.

Click here to read the entire post.

From Hypebot :

More than ever, a band's website has become the "hub" of their online activity. The idea is to use social networks to grab a fan's interest and then direct them back to your website to make deeper connections. (More on that in a previous Hypebot post). By using this "hub" model, you're in control of your fan's experience, and most importantly, your fan list.

So, lets say you've got a new fan interested enough to click on a link or offer from your MySpace page. Is your website functional and compelling enough to keep their interest, and to get them to return?

Over the past 10 years, I've built hundreds of band websites for artists big and small. Whether they had 100,000 fans or 100, there has been a distinct trend in what works, and more importantly what doesn't. I've summarized them below:

Click here to read the entire post.

From About.com Music Careers :

Sure, sure, sure - the internet offers plenty of free promotional opportunities, but that is a double edged sword. With so many music related websites out there (not to mention social networking profiles to manage), how do you REALLY keep your fans engaged in a way that actually translates into music sales, ticket sales, etc?

Try adding a blog to your website (and yes - YOUR website. Your Twitter/Facebook/MySpace account simply isn't enough). A blog gives you a way to stay connected and build a rapport with your fans - all while promoting what you're doing without sounding like TV pitch person. For instance, blogging about the recording process will make your fans feel personally connected with the project you're working on in a way that simply buying up some ad space or tweeting a release date won't. They'll be excited about hearing the end result, and you'll sell some music - all thanks to a little bit of free advertising you created yourself.

Of course, there are things that make some blogs more effective than others.

Click here to learn more about blogging for music promotion.

From MyMusicSuccess.com :

Where ever they are are on the web, there are simple blunders that artists, bands and labels make on their websites, MySpace, Facebook and other social media that turns away potential new fans and stops potential sales of their music. After visiting many artist websites, we found 4-5 of these easy to rectify issues on at least 90% of pages we visited...

So what are the top 10 things that you can do to your online music web presence to make sure you don't fall into the same trap?

Click here to read the full post.

Your mobile app should also include additional features that are engaging and addictive for users. These features will add entertainment value to your app if executed properly. Make some app features default and others opt-in so users can customize their experience and dictate their level of engagement with your app.

• Music biz news feed (RSS).
• Twitter feed.
• Blog/website feed (RSS).
• A rhythm game like Tap Tap Revenge that showcases your music.
• A search engine for streaming your music.
• Video feeds for web concerts (on ustream.TV and other digital networks), video blog updates, behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and anime mini-series.
• mp3 feed of your latest songs and mixtapes. 

Allow users to comment on your app content from their phone via Twitter. Facilitate sharing (and comments) to your social media pages (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). Invite users to live chats with your band members through Skype and other networks.

If podcasts replace terrestrial radio (and they will) then podcast franchising is going to be a lucrative growth area in music business 2.0.

Indie artists and labels, already making the transition to marketing through blogs and podcasts, will migrate to podcasts en masse clamoring for new media exposure. Innovative marketing campaigns through these new media channels will infect people with viral fever and break new acts. The right campaigns will catapult unkowns into the spotlight and pave the way for the establishment of sustainable careers in music.

What if you—a music business entrepreneur—offerered services to indie label clients that guaranteed podcast play, exposure to thousands of potential customers, and a tailor-made new media campaign?

My company (d.BRYJ Music Media) does just that. Your business could, too.

Produce podcast franchises for indie labels and artists that feature their music exclusively. Get labels and other clients to sponsor the podcast franchises you produce for a contract period of  6-12 months.

Negotiate with your potential clients. Ask what their average annual marketing/advertising budget is. Then quote your prospect a price range for your services that is within their budget. Prove to them with logic and numbers that their ROI would be greater with podcast francshising than using funds in areas like print media, TV ads, and online banner ads.

Once the customer is sold on your service and their podcast franchise has been paid for, deliver a final package that includes distribution through iTunes, mobile apps, blogs, online radio stations, etc. Seal the package with authenticity using old school-style radio jock personalities, listener participation and UGC, band interviews and exclusive recordings, and more.

The 4 primary purposes of these podcast franchises are to:

1. Entertain audiences.
2. Promote great music.
3. Provide contact info and URLs for bands, labels, and their business teams.
4. Service your clients with exceptional value.

Podcast franchising holds tremendous value for the customer, the audience, and the service provider/producer (whose reputation, expertise, and music tribe that clients tap into all grow over time).

Labels on a tight budget don’t need to cut back on marketing, they need to reallocate funds from marketing channels that deliver lackluster results into podcast franchising and new media channels to boost their ROI.

About the author:

Mixtapes have been a staple in hip hop culture for decades. Artists primarily use them to build buzz for their commercial releases in an effort to increase their album sales. As useful as mixtapes have been for the artists who use them, it wasn’t until relatively recently that their effectiveness as promotional vehicles surfaced in pop culture.

More Than Hip Hop

Mixtapes are no longer exclusive to hip hop music. In fact, I am convinced that we are at the dawn of the golden age of electro mixtapes and rock and roll mixtapes.

Hip hop success stories revolving around mixtapes (see: Lil Wayne and Drake) have become so prominent that it’s only a matter of time before artists and bands in other genres start exploring the full potential of mixtapes. Digital mixtapes are an incredibly useful marketing tool so it vexes me that the indie rock community as a whole (known for their DIY business savvy) has yet to embrace a “mixtape renaissance”, so to speak.

Better Than CDs

Mixtapes have a number of advantages over traditional models of physical distribution (such as CDs and LPs):

1. they’re free, thereby allowing an artist to establish and nurture relationships with his/her audience without the barrier of price restricting consumption of the artist’s music
2. they can be easily copied and transferred to as many portable music devices as the user wants (screw DRM!)
3. they require very little monetary investment to produce and distribute
4. they’re a great tool for artists to grow their mailing list by collecting email addresses for each mixtape download
5. they are an inexpensive promotional vehicle for retail products (CDs, merchandise, liquor brands, clothing brands, and anything else you can imagine)
6. through endorsements and other clever sponsorship deals mixtapes can generate revenues for the creator(s) yet still remain free to the public

Limitless Potential

Mixtapes hold limitless potential for artists and entrepreneurs who recognize the opportunity and are willing to develop forward-thinking business models around the distribution of free music. Because the commercial exploitation of mixtapes is a fairly new area of business, everything is experimental at this point.

A Hustler’s Spirit by Ludacris is just one example of how to generate revenues using a mixtape but there are other ways you can make money with mixtapes. It’s up to you (artists, creators, and entrepreneurs) to explore this uncharted territory, forge your own path, and ultimately create your own success. Don’t expect record labels to do this for you (mixtapes irk them)–this is something you’re going to have to do for yourself.

You can do this. I have faith in you.

The only way to make this work is to stop viewing the ubiquitous availability of free music as an obstacle and start seeing it as an opportunity. This fundamental shift in your mindset is imperative for the success of your music career. Once you stop allowing the availability of free music hold you back, it will empower you. Stop making excuses for why your career isn’t successful right now and go out there and create the success you’ve always dreamed of.

About the author:
Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the go-to songwriter/producer of dance rock and electro crunk music for modern-day hippies. Dexter works as a digital branding consultant and digital content producer for indie bands and media 2.0 enteprises. He is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music Media Group. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

Face it. Music sales are being bastardized by “pirated” free downloads and the free will of consumers. Sure, the legal digital music market is growing but it won't pick up the slack for declining CD sales because singles rule the market.

Analyzing the purchasing habits of the music-buying public, it is quite clear that they are much more interested in spending money on singles than on albums. Even if you were to distribute your songs and albums online through iTunes and other popular e-tailers hoping to sell some music, it's still inevitable that people will find and download free digital copies of your music. Whether you like it or not.

This is a war you can't win so don't shoot yourself in the foot by trying to fight it. If you're gung-ho and you think you can win, I urge you to consider how well the major labels have fared in the ten years following the great Napster debacle. Cooperate with the inevitable and you'll be a lot better off, I promise you.

Free vs. Paid downloads

Believe it or not, free and paid downloads can co-exist. To make it work you must have an appetite for innovation and a fearless entrepreneurial spirit. Why not revolutionize music e-commerce by placing a “Buy” button side-by-side with a “Download” button for your entire catalog of music on your website? Yes—every single song and every single album.

The majority of you won't try this because you're afraid that you'll lose sales. That is a legitimate concern, certainly, but imagine the good will you'll build with your audience by doing this. Good will establishes a positive relationship with you and your market. Those relationships develop into sales when properly nurtured.

Give the Customers What They Want

Put yourself in the customer's shoes.

When a song or artist has captured someone's interest enough that he or she seriously considers a purchase from that artist, many of us will download the music for free before we buy it. This allows us to become intimately familiar with that piece of music so we can be absolutely sure that buying it will be worthwhile. However, as you all know, downloading one simple song can sometimes be a more frustrating process than need be--navigating through treacherous, spam-infested illegal download sites and P2P software for just a few minutes of free music to put on your iPod.

Eliminate this pain point for your customers and you will endear yourself to them. Let your fans have the option of downloading for free or purchasing downloads from you and make it easy for people to download your music for free right from the same online destination they can buy it from--your website.

Create Value For Your Customers

First, your free downloads should include all the vital ID3 tags and your CD artwork. This effectively puts your free downloads leagues above a large percentage of “pirated” music available online since many music files on the Web have incorrect song information or none at all.

Next, package your paid downloads with extra goodies and premium digital content to increase the perceived value of your product, thereby giving people an incentive to own the paid versions of your downloads. The premium content and goodies you include are limited only by your imagination—be creative! (click here for ideas)

If you want to innovate even further then you could have your “Download” buttons link to direct downloads from your website AND link to downloads of your music from popular P2P networks and bit torrent portals. This provides additional options for your picky and demanding customers to get your music. Adding this nifty feature makes life easier for the individuals in your fan base who download all their music from one main P2P network. This feature also has the added benefit of increasing the likelihood that your music will be listened to since it will be downloaded to the same central directory on the downloader's computer as the rest of their music collection.

One Last Piece of Wisdom

Not providing a free download option isn't going to stop people from downloading your music for free, so what have you got to lose? At least if they download from your website (instead of elsewhere) you can collect their email address and add them to your mailing list. Now that's something to think about.

Beat “pirates” to the punch by pirating your music yourself.

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] writes and produces dance rock and electro crunk music. His primary areas of study are music business 2.0, music marketing, digital marketing, new media, and music publishing. Dexter helps organizations expand their brand presence online and he is currently the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music Media Group. Learn more @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

From evolver.com :

Everyone’s talking about how the Internet is changing the music industry by empowering artists with all the tools they need promote themselves. While this is true, going from playing house parties to becoming a full time musician isn’t going to happen with a MySpace page and few live videos. It’s going to take time, hard work, enthusiastic fans willing to help you out, and a ton of different tools and services in order for you to take things to the next level.

There is hope for the music industry. There is a great chance that you can make a living with your music. The tools are here. How you use them will either help you succeed or have you in the same place a year from now as you are today.

Click here to read Eric's entire post.

From the Ariel Publicity Blog :

Ariel's top 6 Facebook applications for musicians.

Do you have a Facebook Fanpage but still not sure how to make it pop?

There are six apps that will set you on the right path, help you stand out from the pack and keep your fans engaged and interested in you on a consistant basis.

Click here to read Ariel's entire post.

Http://DigSound.com

 Ruby DS is a web based watermarking platform.  It is for any musician or composer who is transfering work over the Internet.  It provides you with a level of forensic (anti-piracy protection) never before available to indies.  The acoustic watarmark is currently being used by major lables for piracy protection during pre-release for physical CD's.

Now Ruby DS is available to anyone with a web browser.

Go to http://DigSound.com to sign up for the free beta.

1. Number of subscribers on your mailing list
2. Twitter followers
3. Friends/fans on TheSixtyOne.com
4. YouTube channel subscribers
5. YouTube plays
6. YouTube uploads of your songs by other users
7. We Are Hunted chart positions of your songs
8. Blog mentions or reviews of your music
9. Backlinks (blogs and websites linking to your website or blog)
10. Mixtape/album downloads
11. Individual track downloads
12. P2P downloads and sharing of your music
13. BitTorrent downloads, seeds, and sharing of your music
14. Last.fm plays
15. Last.fm friends
16. PureVolume friends
17. PureVolume plays
18. Facebook fans
19. Twitter plays through twiturm.com or twt.fm
20. Plays and listeners on blip.fm
21. Plays on podcasts
22. Plays on Internet radio stations
23. Use of your music by DJs in online broadcasts or in night clubs
24. Your songs featured on digital mixtapes by well-known DJs
25. Online plays streamed longer than 30 seconds (on various music social networks)
26. International audience: number of countries where people are engaging with your content (plays, downloads, reads, shares, subscriptions, etc) 
27. ReTweets of your content (songs, mixtapes, articles)
28. 100+ concentration of fans in a specific region (touring becomes viable in that region)
29. Eventful.com Demand stats
30. Digital singles sales
31. Album sales
32. Remixes of your music
33. Attendance numbers for your live concerts broadcast on ustream.TV or similar networks
34. Attendance numbers for your concerts in-person
35. Number of credible professionals in entertainment, journalism, marketing, and other related industries who support your music (maintain a collection of quotes from these individuals)
36. Customer and client testimonials
37. Comments about your music on multiple social networks (positive or negative)
38. Myspace plays, profile views, and friends

1. Music Xray - http://www.musicxray.com/
2. Band Metrics - http://bandmetrics.com/
3. Next Big Sound - http://nextbigsound.com/
4. RockDex - http://rockdex.com/
5. Topsy - http://topsy.com/
6. Backtype - http://www.backtype.com/
7. Trendrr - http://www.trendrr.com/

From Gighive.com :

While the future holds the promise of “total convergence” of media and delivery systems, we’re not there yet, and it takes a little (okay, a lot) of work to get video of your band streaming from your website. Whether it’s a music video à la MTV, or a minimally edited tape of a (hopefully great) performance, your promotional plan is incomplete without it. You need to jump into the Internet river of streaming media, and right now.

Click here to read the entire post.

From blog.tunecore.com :

Anyone that has been following music business trends for the past few years is likely familiar with the high profile direct to fan campaigns (campaigns that focus on the monetization of an artist’s fan base directly) that Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Imogen Heap, and others have been involved with recently. As Mike Masnick put it in his 2009 NARM Keynote, the recipe for effective direct to fan campaigns can be boiled down to: Connecting with Fans (CwF) + Providing a Reason to Buy (RtB) = $$$. Makes sense, right? The difficulties arise when you consider that there are 5 million bands on MySpace, all of which are vying for the consumer’s attention. It’s easy for NIN and Radiohead to connect with fans, the skeptics’ note, as they have had years of major label support and hundreds of thousands of existing followers to work with. How can a developing artist in this climate differentiate themselves from all the other bands out there?

Click here to read the entire post.

From MusicianWages.com :

I updated my personal site this summer with a new redesign. I’d previously had a very small (curt is probably a better word) pamphlet site that included my photo, a short bio, a link to a PDF of my resume, and about a dozen demo recordings of varying styles.

The old site had everything I needed, and it served me well for a number of years. But these days I’ve started branching into new areas, and I needed a site that would reflect that.

Click here to read David's entire post.

From PassivePromotion.com :

Click here to read Brian's entire post.

From MusicianWages.com :

It’s a well established fact that seach engine optimization, or SEO, is an important tool for building an online presence and attracting more traffic to your website. Musicians needn’t be overly concerned with SEO on their own website if it’s for mostly promotional and informational purposes. This is very true, and the last thing a working musician needs is one more distraction from their instrument. However, the concepts are important to understand as you expand your internet presence because better optimization helps more people find your music. In this article, we’ll apply these concepts outside the musician’s website and into other online communities.

Click here to read Cameron's entire post.

From PassivePromotion.com :

Click here to read Brian's entire post.

From Pampelmoose.com :

First, it’s worth mentioning that Twitter is not a social network; at least not in the ‘classic’ sense that people perceive social networks. Twitter is a platform that is more closely aligned with IM and texting, once you grasp that idea it makes it easier to understand how to use it to reach your fans. It is all about two-way communication - think about how you use IM or texting with your friends. It’s a conversation starter or a quick update tool, either one works.

Click here to read Dave's entire post.

From Cyber PR's SoundAdvice Blog :

I have a friend in Brooklyn who is an accomplished artist/producer, doing astonishingly well selling his music on iTunes. Since iTunes is where the vast majority of online music is purchased I asked him if he would sit down with me and explain to me how he promotes himself exclusively from within the walls of iTunes.

He took me on a step-by step breakdown on how to get started effectively promoting yourself on iTunes.  This is a labor-intensive process but it yields fruitful results as he earns hundreds of dollars a month from iTunes sales.

Click here to read Ariel's entire post.

From PassivePromotion.com :

On the surface, Last.fm and Pandora seem redundant. Both recommend new music based on your current favorites, and allow you to influence their suggestions by approving or disapproving of each song as it plays. But while Pandora suggests songs based on their underlying musical characteristics, Last.fm relies on guilt by association. The formula is right out of the Amazon playbook: “Fans of band x also listen to band y. You like band x, so you will probably like band y.”

Last.fm has over 21 million active users in more than 200 countries, which makes their recommendation engine quite powerful. 

So how can Last.fm listeners discover your music?

Click here to read Brian's entire post at PassivePromotion.com.

From Buzzsonic.com :

With all the hype about ‘music 2.0′ tools, hosts and websites for musicians, bands and artists, its quite possible that you could easily forget one of the most important aspects of having an online presence as a band/label/DJ/creative. Its strictly old school too. Its your own domain name.

Click here to read Adrian's entire post.

from the Nimbit Blog :

How and where your music is sold and distributed is a major component that determines your earning potential as a musician. Know the facts about how the mechanics really work, and you’ll start to make the right decisions. Electing to go the route of a labels deal or distributing via iTunes are not always the best deals. Through this arrangement, the artist generally only receives about a ten percent cut for the music they sell, depending on the deal (wired.com). What’s critical to understand is that just being on iTunes does nothing to help you sell more music, or promote your talent to the market; there are many other artists with bigger budgets behind them that will get the limited front page exposure you seek. More importantly, you are left in the dark about who is buying your music, and why—a key piece of marketing data that retailers are not willing to share, keeping you from profiting through re-marketing to those customers. Turns out, this is the key to your success and the reason why a different approach is in order.

Click here to read Alexandra's entire post.

From Cyber PR Sound Advice :

Many experts say that the #1 way we will all communicate within the next 3-4 years will be thorough our mobile devices. It is no secret that the United States is far behind Europe and Asia in ease of use and advance technologies in the mobile realm but it is never too early to begin looking at a mobile strategy.

With that said I will be exploring how musicians can fully utilize using mobile technologies throughout 2009 but here is a primer.

Click here to read Ariel's entire post.

From About.com Music Careers :

Twitter doesn't come with a rule book, and the most common reaction for a new Twitter user is, "um, what am I supposed to do now"? Overwhelming though it may be when you start out, Twitter is becoming more and more important for the music industry. It's a great place to promote new releases, connect with fans and stay on top of the latest music news. Want to maximize your Twitter success factor? These tips will help:

Click here to read Heather's tips on using Twitter and here for a post that includes a list of interesting music biz people to follow on Twitter.

From IndieMusicTech.com :

Here's a quick list of 5 Twitter apps bands and musicians may find helpful in building communities around their music:

1) twitpic: send photos from your mobile phone which will post links to them on twitter; a quick way to give your fans a visual look at what your band is currently doing (for example: recording, rehearsal, sound check, etc.)

2) twiddeo: similar to twitpic, but for video, allowing you to provide short video clips of your shows, interviews, touring adventures, etc.

Click here to read the full post.

I recently interviewed my friend Laura Fitton AKA Pistachio (that’s her twitter handle) and I asked her to walk with me through creating a musicians roadmap for Twitter. It answers the question: If you wanted to create a community to promote yourself as a musician on Twitter and you didn’t really have a lot of technological “social networking know how” How do you do it?

Click here to read the entire post at Ariel Hyatt's CyberPR blog.

This blog includes an extensive list of people you may want to consider following on Twitter.

I'm on Twitter @ dbrose67 and will be happy to follow you.

Today, music artists have all the tools they need to take control over their music and connect with their fans. The Internet makes it easy to bypass major record labels and media conglomerates and reach fans directly. At the same time, through blogging, commenting, sharing and social networking, fans have more say in musicians' success than ever before. This is why using social media to market music can help music artists connect with their fans, beat their competition and get big. User-generated contests are one social media marketing strategy that is especially effective.

To download a whitepaper on Promoting Your Music with User-Generated Contests click here or go to  http://www.endavomedia.com/contestwhitepaper

From New Music Strategies:

Not everyone who reads this website is ready to record or release an album. I’m impressed by the number of emails I get from people who have stumbled across this site shortly after finding themselves in their first band. And not everyone plays everything as well as they’d like to be able to.

The best advice I could give is: log out of Facebook, switch off your computer, go and pick up your instrument and practice it for 8 hours or so. Do the same tomorrow. Repeat until fabulous.

But there are actually some things you can do on the internet that will help your playing - and even expand your musical horizons if you’re already pretty damn good.

Click here to read Andrew's entire post.

From About.com:

Can you use Twitter to promote your band, or is it just one more distraction? That all depends on how you use it. Find out how to use Twitter for your music career in a way that wins you fans.

Click here to read the entire article.

I get this question pretty much every time I go and speak somewhere. It’s generally about MySpace, but it also relates to anything like the automated friend adders, chat bots, scripts and automatic human being replacements in social networks.

Essentially this is about making decisions about the kind of conversations you want to be involved in.

I’m sure you can already guess that my answer to the title question is a resounding “No” - but this is not about making you do all the hard work so that you have to reap the benefit. Believe me - this is not my serious work ethic talking here.

Click here to read the full post from Andrew at New Music Strategies.

Video Transcoding - Upload FLV files and they will transcode and compress them to the optimal specifications for each video-sharing site. They are happy to automate your burden!

From HypeBot :

Every week brings the launch of another online service to connect musicians and fans.  Beyond spending endless hours on MySpace and Facebook, what are the best affordable online tools to communicate with fans and monetize the relationship? Here are our picks in no particular order:

Click here to read the full post.

From Wired.com:

Like it or not, MySpace is a vital promotional tool for the web-savvy musician. As a multimedia-rich environment, bands have unparalleled access to their fans on both a social and musical level. However, achieving a full-on marketing coup is tougher than it looks. Here are a few tips for using the site to promote your soon-to-be rockstar band.

Click here to view the wiki. Got extra advice? Log in and add it.

Here is a list of practical tips for promoting your music online from the Online Fandom blog. The list lincludes important advice like "owning your own domain name" and "get to know the MP3 bloggers".

Click here to read the entire blog post.

From Bruce Warila's Unsprung Wisdom blog:

I read most of the music business blogs out there, and I read a lot of comments that readers post on many of these blogs.  I believe it’s a common misconception that new-music-business bloggers generally advise artists to give away all their music for free.  So, I am declaring my position here, along with guidelines for implementing a Free Song Strategy.

Click here to read Bruce's full blog. 

From New Music Ideas:

There are many online sites, services and ideas that can be of use to independent music businesses, and we'll be covering as many of them as possible here on New Music Ideas. But here are the ones that we think are among the best, most indispensible and generally useful — in no particular order.

Click here to read the full blog. 

I am falling more in love with Facebook everyday. It never freezes up (like MySpace) and I can’t believe how many people who I NEVER saw online in MySpace are on Facebook. All of a sudden back in touch with my babysitter from grade school, a ton of college friends and high school friends and even some from high school who are not in the tech or the music business, which is very cool. Here are my favorite picks for Musicians when pimping out your Facebook profile!

Click here to read Ariel's full blog post.

So, you’ve decided to create a blog on MySpace - one of the single most effective ways to draw an audience to your profile. Before you get started, it is important that you know exactly what seven things you can do to ensure that crowd shows up though - otherwise, you will be left scratching your head at the lack of views:

Click here to read the full blog from maxlowe.net

The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online by Andrew Dubber.

Marilyn Bergman, President and Chairman of ASCAP talks about the different ways artists' are percieved and their music is used in an digital environment.

http://www.ascap.com/musicbiz/creativity.html

A guide to making a living making music out of your backpack, from anywhere, and everywhere. An eBook by Michael W. Dean and Chris Caulder.

http://www.diynow.org/  

Admittedly, this is well off our usual fare, but please indulge me in a public service message on behalf of music fans across the Internets—five mistakes that band and label sites make (and a few tips on how to fix them). One data point from a fan.

http://www.43folders.com/2004/12/06/five-mistakes-band-label-sites-make 

I don’t need to tell you to get a MySpace page. You already have one of those. MySpace may not have the best user interface in the world, it may be dreadfully coded and poorly laid out, and it may be owned and operated by the man who’s mentoring Beelzebub himself on business management tactics — but you still have to have one.

  Click Here to read the entire blog post