So I’ve had a few people recently ask me “how I find the bands and the music for TPN Rock.” The simple answer is… I’m not telling you! After all, that’s where the magic happens, that’s what makes it special. So rather than go into detail and destroy my musical mojo, here’s some hints on getting your band noticed on the internet.

First thing is simple. If there’s a music show you want to feature in, then email the show! Sounds simple, but going hey, we’re here, come listen to us (or even “Can we send you a CD”) will stand you in good stead. Everyone who makes contact with TPN Rock this way automatically goes to the top of the list of music to listen to. Here’s a great example… Urban Snake’s email to me went like this (they appeared on TPN Rock #23 after this).

NYC Hard Rock band, Urbansnake, would like to slither into The Rock Show.
For more info on the band, see: http://www.urbansnake.com

Next up is your website - there are a million and one design desicions here, and they will all be dependant on the look and feel you want to project for your band. But there are some things that should be absolutely easy to find.

People need to be able to find your email address. If I want to ask you for permission to play a song, I need to be able to reach you. And make sure that you reply to every email - even if it’s to say we’re busy touring and will reply in ten days or something like that.

You’re a band. You have music. Make sure that your band’s music is not only easy to find, but easy to listen to as well. Just an MP3 is much harder to listen to or preview than a streaming version of your music. If you’re unsure how to do that, use some of the web directories who will happily host MP3 files for streaming or download.

Additionally, it’s always nice to make sure you have a biography / history of the band, which you should make sure is snappy, interesting, and gives an idea of the character of the band - remember it’s a biography, not a discography.

Out of the web directories, the three main ones you should ensure you have a presence on are Pure Volume, MySpace and Garage Band. Beyond that, make sure that people trying to find your band name in the search engines will actually be able to find you. Make sure your band name is in the URL, your website title includes the band name, and it’s mentioned in the text on the front page a few times.

Now it’s just hard graft and promotion. But if you’ve got the above bases covered, you’re probably in better shape than the majority of bands I check out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 at 8:55 pm and is filed under News And Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.