My Window To The World…

Last.FM: Why You Should Make Your Music Available

To promote your music, Last.FM has become a much better tool than MySpace. If you are a musician who wants to reach a larger audience, you should put some effort into using Last.FM to your advantage.

Start by uploading your tracks, and making at least a few of them available for free download.

Yes, we would all love to make a living from our music, but to achieve this will take a lot of dedication, time and effort.

Look at it this way: you have already written and recorded some songs. Who is currently listening to them? You, and possibly a few friends of yours. Why not let others enjoy it, too? The more people you get to download your songs, the more likely you will find new fans. With the help of Last.FM and MySpace, possibly even people who live on the other side of the planet!

The advantage on Last.FM is the fact that whenever a person listens to your track, this will be recorded on your artist profile. The more listeners, the more exposure. The more listeners, the more likely that your track(s) will be aired on one of the Last.FM Radio Stations. If you have some spare money, you can also pay to get featured on their radio.

It will all take time and effort, but it might very well turn out to be worth your while.

The free downloads are encoded at only 128 kbps / 44.100 kHz, which is fairly low. Many music enthusiasts want to listen to songs that they enjoy at a higher bitrate, so you can e.g. make the same tracks (that you put on Last.FM for free download) available for sale on your website and/or the Apple iTunes Store.

If you are lucky and find enough people who like your music, you might establish yourself, and eventually make at least some extra money to enable you to continue writing/recording music.

Two guys have recently been in the press, who both have been making a very good living from their music: John Vanderslice and Jonathan Coulton.

Both of them pretty much started their careers on the internet (yes, with free MP3 downloads), and are now touring extensively, making extra money selling merchandise (t-shirts, etc.) and special/limited edition CDs and vinyl.

Think about it.

If you are interested, we can create a so-called Last.FM Group and help each other promote our music.

Send us a message if you have any questions.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Last.FM, MySpace, Band Promotion, Music Promotion, Artist Promotion, Label Promotion, Promoting Music, Promoting Bands, Free MP3, John Vanderslice, Jonathan Coulton