These Well-traveled Sites will Find an Audience
by ICX
Spread the word. Every business should have activities that the press can preview or cover, and being a performer is a business.
In addition to having a media list to whom I e-mail press releases, I have a few favorite websites on which I try to post my releases. I'll share five of my favorites, and if you have a few, share them with me. I'll turn that into an article at a future point so you can build your media list even more.
1) PR WEB (www.prweb.com) This site calls itself "The recognized leader in online news and press release distribution service for small and medium-sized businesses and corporate communications," and includes distribution for arts-related projects. I like posting full tour schedules in their Free Press Release distribution section. They also have a music industry site, and it's important to make sure they have your releases, too.
PR WEB will also distribute your release to targeted markets for a few hundred dollars and up. Most upcoming artists probably don't have the budget for that, but if you connect with major sponsorship, keep it as an option.
They have strict rules on how press releases should be formatted, and want your contact information at the top of it.
2) Music Industry News Network (www.mi2n.com) I love this site because it's linked to hundreds of music business and news sites on the Web. It's also worth exploring those sites to see what leads you can add to your media list. They have an altruistic attitude about accepting media releases and running them for free, and will also create Internet outreach campaigns for a very reasonable amount of money. MI2N's outreach campaigns include the artist getting involved with the whole digital download scene, creating music videos and writing press releases.
3) Colbert Nation (www.colbertnation.com) I have to admit how much I love the Stephen Colbert Report, which airs four nights a week on Comedy Central. And there are at least 1 million other people who enjoy this television show, which satirizes politicians' and pundits' inability to be diplomatic. The amazing Colbert Nation Message Board wants your SPAM! If you consider that at least 10,000 people from Stephen's audience will visit the site, you're going to reach people.
I would rather include the contact information for the venue than your contact information and phone number when posting here.
4) The Velvet Rope (www.velvetrope.com) This is just a fun place to read posts on a variety of topics. Some of the people that post here are addicted and have created a number of names. Others just have it as a news source. There are two folders, Hype This and Gig Guide, that are good for listing press releases. I like my headlines to have the artist, date of show and town. If it's a tour, I'll list "Carl Palmer's Spring Dates" or something like that. Someone named Adrian has created a thread for Vancouver-based artist Allison Crowe and keeps finding that thread to post updates on this artist's career. I find that to be quite helpful in order to gain background information on the artist and to make it seem like hundreds of people have checked out the thread.
5) Craig's List (www.craigslist.org) This is the trading post website that people use to sell lamps, find homes and apartments, get organ transplants and more. We can post individual tour dates for artists going on the road in most parts of the country.
There are lots of sites that are focused on special kinds of music—from classic rock and oldies to jazz, jam bands, classical and cabaret. They're all worth exploring, and if you have an evening every month to post your tour dates, it's a good idea to spend the time hyping your work for a few hours on the Web. You will reach people that you haven't met before.
As always, I want to remind everyone that the Internet is not the end all/be all for an artist's career, but it is a great tool.
