General Music Chat

Reverbnation is good (for free) for having a single place that you can host music (MP3s only), photos, link your videos, Bio, blog, gig listings and link to selling places (rather than selling ON RN). The premium service gets you the opportunity to submit to all the various contests/shows/etc they bombard you with. You can set your email filters to have everything from RN go directly to a folder. If you don't go premium, then you don't get as many emails.

For selling music Bandcamp is better (as a free service) as they offer full-res file hosting and downloads. But the site is limited on what it shows for your info. They take more money from your sales now - 15% instead of 10%, but at no cost to set up, its still a good option, and you can set your own selling prices, too.

I don't like Soundcloud because there are people 'mining' it for music, and trying to resell the tunes they pirate on their own (usually Euro-Asian) sites where you get no money from the sales. One of those places even has the radio show I was on with interview, recorded and live tracks all as one file! Some blogs want songs hosted on SC for their review, but I won't keep released music up on it for long.

Like Vinnie says, the more places you can put your stuff online, the more chance others have of finding it. CDBaby creates new videos with your music (and album cover art) and throws them on youtube, so many of my new songs are on there more than once - but there's no 'sales money' in YT, just ad clicks. At this rate my grandkids should be a zillionaires - oh wait, I guess that would require me having kids. Too late!

Like Vinnie says,

I see no Vinny in this thread.

I say nay. I was on it for a while and got nothing from it. They kept asking for money, email after email.
One week I was #5 blues band in Lenexa, the next week #23, the next week #12. I'm not sure there's any blues bands in Lenexa.
Then I looked at customer complaints, which there are countless. From what I read, Reverbnation bills your credit card without your permission, time after time.
Has anybody here found it useful? I found it useless.

I tried the "Pro" services for all the various sites; RN, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, etc....I hated RN because their logo is on anything/everything you'd send out. If your mission in life is to spam everyone, they would be perfect, but in my opinion they only promote their site and you pay for it. Your online image then becomes "average local band". Their charts are meaningless, and the only people who pay attention are striving local bands.

Your best option, imo, is buy your own website at Bandzoogle and figure out how to use their options; and get Tunecore Pro if you want publishing administration. They cost money upfront but more than pay for themselves, imo. Forget CDBaby....maybe Symphonic is ok.

You need to be sending everyone to your site instead of promoting someone else's brand. The only other service you really need is a YouTube channel. Nowadays, if someone goes looking for you that is where they start.


.

I hope becoming invisible has not caused you any difficulty Vinny. Must be hard to shave!

Said the HG Wells fan...

Talbot

Good thread.
So - one more time:
If I want to sell my original music, without paying anything first, what sites should I research first?

Good thread.
So - one more time:
If I want to sell my original music, without paying anything first, what sites should I research first?

Bandcamp is the easiest option, if all you want it for is to sell downloads (in any resolution/format). You can sell CDs and gear, too, but not as easily.