If you’re interested in putting your band on myspace.com, expanding your audience and making money with your music, here are the resources you need to get you started. When you’re done, check me out at DanoSongs.com!
1. Check-out What Successful Bands Have Done
First, you’ll want to get to know some of the top artists and bands on myspace to see what a professional profile looks like:
Top Myspace Bands
Rolling Stone’s Best Myspace Bands
Featured Myspace Bands
You can also search for myspace bands in your genre such as rock, hip hop, r&b and rap to see what other artists in your style are doing:
Rock Bands
Hip Hop Acts
R&B Artists
Rappers
Then you can read about how bands have used myspace to get record contracts, attract a worldwide audience and win awards:
Wired Article About Hit Myspace Bands
Bands Embrace Social Networking
Discussion of How to Use a Friend Adder Program
2. Learn How to Sign-up for Myspace and Join!
After that I suggest watching this video about how to create a band myspace profile. The free sign up form is below as well:
Video: How to Set Up a Band Profile on Myspace
Myspace free sign up form
3. Create a High-Quality Professional Profile
When you create your profile you’ll want to use the very best pictures you can afford. I recommend looking at what makes good and bad photo by checking out these sites about the best and worst band pics on myspace:
20 Worst Band Photos
Video: Importance of a Good Band Photo
You can’t use the default myspace layout if you want to have an attention getting profile! Check out http://www.bandspaces.com for really hot layouts for myspace music. You’ll probably need to get some free help with HTML and backgrounds for bands which you can find on these sites:
How to Create a Myspace Band Page
Customizing a MySpace Page for a Band
These are some additional well-known sites for myspace codes and templates specifically for band pages:
MySpace Band Profile Codes
MySpace Band Templates
4. Get Set Up for Making Money with Your Music
Once your profile has been created and your pics added, then you need to set up your myspace site to make money by selling your songs. This is an introductory article and the sign up form for SNOCAP that you will need:
MySpace: Meet the Band, Buy the Song
SNOCAP and MySpace partner to bring you the SNOCAP MyStore
5. Participate in the Myspace Music Community
Now you need to add friends and participate in the myspace social network. You can add up to 400 friends a day! Try searching for other bands in your area and look for people you know. Promote your myspace url on everything you print such as cds and show flyers. Check out these links to music forums and groups to join in the discussion. Once you have some friends you can use these links to add bulletins and invite people to your band’s shows using events.
MySpace Groups > Music
MySpace Forums > Music
MySpace Events
You can also use myspace mobile to promote your band when you’re not in front of the computer! Check out these sites to learn more and sign up.
Myspace. Now Mobile.
MySpace Mobile Launches
MySpace goes mobile
You can also use these automated friend adders. I have to warn you that they are against the myspace terms of service, so use them at your own risk!
addnewfriends.com
openadder.com
friendadder.com
6. Create a Music Video for your Profile
Adding a cool video to your site puts you in the same league as artists on a record label. You have no idea how easy it is to produce your own really good video! Using the following web tools you can create a music video with a bit of footage from a live show, some pics of your band and a ton of stock video already on the below sites.
http://jumpcut.com/
http://www.youtube.com/ytremixer_about
http://www.eyespot.com
You can check out some videos from other myspace bands to get some ideas too:
User Videos - Music - Today’s Top Plays
7. Stay on Top of Myspace Music Trends
Check out the latest in music promotion on by reading about the latest in myspace music news. For instance there is a major trend toward giving away your music in order to get more visitors. You can read up on that and other ways bands are using myspace to break out at the popular news sites using the these keyword links:
Google Myspace Music News
Yahoo Myspace Music News
MSN Myspace Music News
CNN Myspace Music News
8. Keep Expanding Your Audience!
Whether you are on a record label or not, the bottom line to always increase the amount of people who know, like and want to hear more of your music.
The only difference between a local, regional, national and global signed or unsigned band is the amount of people who know and like you enough to spend money on a cd or show.
Myspace is a really incredible free way to constantly expose new people to your band without a record label.
You are allowed to add 400 friends a day on myspace. That is 146,000 people a year if you can find the time or manpower to send out those friend requests. To show you, here are many unsigned bands have well over 50,000 friends:
Ingrid Michaelson
Hollywood Undead
JON YOUNG
The Scene Aesthetic
Jordyn Taylor
Thats a whole lot of work that can definitely get your music in front of thousands of new potential fans within the next few weeks! Good luck and let me know how you do : )