How to Use Blogs and to Promote Your Music Online (II)

Now that you’re up to speed on the world of blogs and podcasts, let’s cover some simple but powerful ways you can use them to promote yourself – whether you produce your own blog or podcast .. or not.

Using other people’s blogs

Not interested in publishing your own blog at the moment? No problem. You can still use them to get exposure and reach new fans. Your first step is to find well-read blogs that cover your genre.

Here are five blog directories you can use to hunt them down:

Technorati Blog Directory – www.technorati.com/blogs/

Blog Flux Blog Directory – Music Blogs – http://dir.blogflux.com/cat/music.html.

Band Weblogs – www.bandweblogs.com

Music Blog Directory – http://musicblogwiki.elwiki.com/

Blogarama – www.blogarama.com

Once you’ve compiled a list of blogs that reach your ideal music fans, here are two simple things you can start doing right away:

Leave comments. Most blogs allow you to post comments about each entry, and those comments do get read. Don’t misuse this feature with “comment spam” that mindlessly hypes your band. Make sure your comments add to or amplify some aspect of the blog author’s post. It’s okay to make a sensible reference to what you play within your comment. At the end, put your name and a link to your website.

Send useful ideas and links to blog authors. One of your new online marketing goals should be to network with and get to know music bloggers. Search your favourite music blogs for a “contact” or “about” link that includes the email address of the blogger. Store these names and addresses in a database, then occasionally send them compliments, links to sites that might interest them, or news about something cool you’re up to. Reaching out to bloggers in this way will strengthen relationships with them and lead to some nice online exposure.

Using other people’s podcasts

As you did with blogs, the first thing to do is uncover the best podcasts and online radio shows for your music. Here are some places to start your search:

Podcast Pickle – www.podcastpickle.com

Podcast Alley – www.podcastalley.com

iTunes – www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html (update)

Yahoo! Podcasts – http://podcasts.yahoo.com/

Odeo – www.odeo.com

Okay. You’re armed with a hot list of podcasts that cater to your target audience. Now what? Read on…

Submit your music to podcasters. Visit each podcast website. Search for “music submission” or “contact” info. Then follow their submission guidelines, if they display them. Often it’s as simple as sending an email to the podcast host with a short bio and a pitch for why your music is worth playing. Be sure to supply a link where the podcaster can hear and download your song or songs.

Hook into PodSafeMusicNetwork.com The major labels have many online broadcasters on edge. Podcasters, especially the more prominent one, don’t want to risk getting sued for playing copyrighted material without permission. The PodSafe Music Network is a place where artists can register their songs as “podcast safe” – meaning they give podcasters permission to play their songs. Submit your music here and your exposure level could easily soar.

Submit audio comments. In the blog section earlier, I suggested that you leave intelligent comments. You can leave text comments on many podcast sites too. But a more creative option would be to record and send an audio response to something a podcaster talked about or played on a recent episode. Include a clip from one of your songs in the background. Many podcasters will appreciate you giving them extra content to include in their shows, and you’ll benefit accordingly.

Record podcast show IDs. You’ve heard these on commercial radio for decades. Well, they translate easily to the podcast world as well. Your recording would go something like this: “This is Dave Smith from Funky Monkey, Atlanta’s premier party dance band, and you’re listening to the Way Cool Music Podcast.” Easy, huh?