General Music Chat

RN offers a free month at the first level of premium service, you have to unsub from it to keep from getting billed $9.95/month before the 30 days expires. It lets you submit to as many of the contests/play offers it sends out every day, you can find 5-10 almost every day. I think this also lets you do mass emailings to anyone who has subbed to your page for updates, too. You can do that manually, of course, but you have to cut and paste all the contact emails into a document first.
I tried it, didn't see anything from it - most of the submissions were for 'young band' type (i.e. indie artists) things - radio plays and shows.

Like almost any topic on the music business, it really depends on what you want to do. From what I can see, most people here are not trying to make a career of music so this advice may not apply.

In my case, I want to promote concerts & sell music. I want fans (that I already have) to know about new projects and find out where I'm playing; and in the meantime maybe pick up new fans.

About a year ago, I took some time off to study the different distribution models out there. I got the "pro" package at RN and started experimenting. It took about a week to decide that I was not going to implement most of what I had paid for.

If you want to join a community of bands who check each other out, that's RN. That is pretty much all the "fans" you'll get there....other bands. Just like the old days of mp3.com.

It doesn't hurt to have a presence there and the other internet band sites. Just remember that
RN is about building their business, not yours. Everything you do will be about promoting RN through YOUR contacts. Every time you cough, they will spam everyone you know with their logo on it. A band that is just starting out might like that, but I am about serving customers I already have so that just comes across cheesy.

Depending on your genre, the "gig finder" might be useful (and you have give RN your database) but releasing your music through CDBaby or Tunecore or Symphonic is far better that what you get with the RN "pro" package.

After much study I have come to this conclusion: If you're serious about promoting as a recording artist or touring band, you'll start with a bandzoogle website.

Thanks for the input. I didn't realize the free version ends after a month.

No, not the 'basic' free version. The new 'Pro' package is $19.95/month with 2 free months to start with (they still want your credit card number).
See this page: http://www.reverbnation.com/main/pricing

A bit confusing. At least with the free version I've got a few tunes up for people to listen to. That's basically what I got it for.

Yes, actually you can put unlimited tunes up, link youtube videos, list gigs, have a bio, blog and 'press clippings' - not bad for free!