With all the software that is on the open market today for graphic art it is no surprise that there is no shortage of graphic artists out there in cyber world. However, there still is a big difference between a graphic artist with God given talent and just another graphic artist who knows how to make a banner add for you. Many aspiring artists have found their niche in the world and there are some major websites that have developed a business model that can provide a win-win situation for both sides.
So you want to be a well know graphic artist but you have no idea how to get started? Well there are websites that run contests where they let the users log in and vote on the designs that they like the best. The winners then get paid either a prize or a royalty for each sold with their design on it and the website takes a cut as well. Sounds like a waste of time? What if I told you that there are some sites out there that pay 3-5k to the winners of some contests and the artists who win on these sites become famous within these communities that have thousands of members. Now I think I have your attention so I will take you by the hand and lead you to the promise land.
The first major site that you have to check out and submit your designs to is Threadless. The story behind the owners of this company is incredible but to shorten it up lets just say that they had 0 to their name when they launched Threadless and it is now a multi-million dollar a year business. They have contests running non-stop and they have different pay outs for each one. Some of the contests get into the 3-5k range and the graphic artists who win on this site are instant superstars in the underground world. Not bad considering it costs nothing to sign up and submit your designs and you will get paid and become somewhat famous if you win.
Another site you should visit is Design By Humans. The concept is the same with this company yet you will notice a slight difference in the designs on this site. In my opinion this site is more of a detailed design where Threadless will have some detailed designs mixed in with some funny designs as well. DBH is really all about cool designs and the payout with this company is in the same category as Threadless. They operate with a community focus and allow you to submit your designs for the community to vote on and will print the designs with the most votes. If Threadless is the giant in this industry, Design By Humans is the little brother that is growing up quickly.
Another really cool site to submit your designs to is Uneetee. They run a similar competition style format as the other two above, however, they only feature one design each day for 24 hrs. and then it is gone forever. This is a very unique concept for a site to use but it is working very well for them and they are fast becoming well known by anyone who keeps up with online companies. As a young aspiring artist, getting your designs voted on by the community of any one of these three sites would be a great step forward even if you do not win the contest. Thousands of people log in daily between these three sites and you are putting your designs in front of all of them with zero money out of your pocket. The winners gain instant recognition and get to compete against other winners usually every 6 months which have much larger payouts. Win one of these contests and you will start getting people emailing you left and right for freelance projects.
In the world of Web 2.0, it is very important to use free resources to get your artwork in front of as many people as possible as many artists have made a career for themselves simply by getting involved in contests much like the ones above and sales are doing very well right now despite the condition of the economy. If you are an artist and would like to share your experiences with me please email me at wgwear@gmail.com.
Dutch Schultz is a thirty something somebody with sole ownership of Wizeguyztees and is the author of the Wizeguyztees blog. He enjoys long walks on the beach, loud angry music, offensive , boobies, and beer. He Grew up all over the south and is currently under the influence somewhere in Dallas, TX. He often spends his days with his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
You stroll down the street, go to malls, parks and even churches, you will observe adults and teenagers wearing Bible verses on their . You will also seeing some pretty catchy catchphrases on their shirts with allusions to Bible verses. You might even see some with hateful sayings on their shirts. Why do people wear these?
It is a way to articulate who you are and what you consider to be true. This is multiplying the Gospel one at a time. They come in , sweatshirts, hoodies, beanies, and baseball caps. You will find them in regular sizes to plus-sizes. Women wear them as well as little children. The color assortment is from to brilliant reds to deep black. Even the colors symbolize something about that person and their faith.
What initiated as a way for a few folks to communicate their faith gently has grown into a multi-million dollar a year industry. The need to have more distinctive designs has risen and thus an industry is born. Graphic artist are creating new designs daily. They are either being hot pressed onto the shirts or embroidered.
Cowboy and even Bikers had gotten into wearing Christian . I am not a cowboy but have seen some pretty cool Christian Cowboy tees. The bikers are not to be out done. Their Christian Motorcycle tees are pretty cool and their slogans are pretty unabashed. I guess they are ready to back up what they say. Hopefully with a Christian spirit.
It seems man has always tried to put across himself with the wearing of clothes. Wearing is part of the world culture. You can visit remote parts of the world and find people wearing . are just relaxed, easy to wear and care for. They are truly a well-designed shirt. It is only natural that Christians would want to express themselves with Christian and Caps that spread the Gospel. I vote for them but wished some of my brothers and sisters would opt out of the intolerable saying. That is another subject for another time.
The styles today comprise of sweatshirts with hoods. They are also identified as hoodies. There are Christian sweatshirts for this style. The young folks really seem to like these. Obviously they come in black which is their favorite color of the day. It seems awful hot to see someone walking around in a dark sweatshirt with a hood over their head. I guess that is why the young folks wear them and not the older mature crowd.
Regrettably, our nation is becoming obese and therefore cloth sizes have enlarged. You can find Christian and Sweatshirts in plus sizes for men and women. You will usually have to pay a few dollars more for the plus size. I guess it has to do with using more material. A word of concern, just because it comes in 2XL doesn’t mean it really is big. I haven’t figured out how the makers decide what a 2XL is from a 3XL. Also, taken into consideration they may or in all probability will shrink after you wash them the first time. You don’t want to pay out $25 for a to clean it and now can’t wear it because it is too undersized.
Christian caps and beanies are another way that young people and adults demonstrate their faith. The beanies have recently become very popular. You also will see Christian motorcyclist wearing their beanies. I like the beanies but they just don’t look good on me. I guess you have to have the right profile of head to be styling.
Christian jewelry has been around for a long time. It is still accepted today. The cross seems to be the most popular to wear. You even see none Christians wearing the cross. I can’t help but think of being drawn near the cross.
So the next time you decide to put on a or a beanie, think about giving out your faith. How many times have you said, I just have a hard time informing a stranger about my faith. The Christian or Cap can help open the door for you. Just don’t start off with one of those that is so repugnant or you have to be a theologian to understand what it is being said.
Jerry Johnson is trying to spread the Gospel one at a time. Visit for a wide selection of Christian in regular and plus sizes.
If you have good music, people will listen and your music. But they need to find your music. I’ve done all your homework below and give you the 28 Essential Music Sites To Promote Your Music which will increase your income.
The sites below are broken down into categories to help target your music exposure needs.
Artists Bare Essentials
1. GoDaddy.com – Every band or artist needs their own website URL. There is so much you can do with it (I will cover it in a future post) to compliment your marketing efforts that it is well worth the $8.99 a year. GoDaddy is the best company for URLs with great customer service and cheat prices. I have used this company numerous times. 2. BandZoogle.com – This is a website that have band/artist templates for your music. You do not have to know how to build websites. They have it all for you. You can even sell your own music on the site among other services. 3. Bravenet.com – This company offers many free services and premium services that can help you build your marketing efforts. Most importantly, they have many interactive tools you can add to your own site or add to your social networks. It has a FREE email list tool to start collecting your fans emails. This tool is invaluable and I will post about the importance of email lists in the future. I have used this company numerous times. 4. FanBridge.com – This is an artist-specific company that helps build your fan base with email list tools. There is a free service and premium service. Use the coupon code MARKSTONE for a free upgrade.
Getting Your Music On iTunes & Other Sites
1. Tunecore.com – This is the premiere site to get your music on iTunes, Amazon and other valuable sites. Tunecore has just merged services with Amazon and will now print your CDs and open up merch stores for your music. This service will start on July 1st. But for now, get your music on iTunes. Over 70% of people use iTunes for their digital downloads than other sites. I personally know unsigned bands that make over $5,000 a month off iTunes alone. There is an annual fee for each album you download. But you get to keep 100% of your royalties while other sites take a percentage. You can also get 30% OFF your fee’s by using the code beheard30.
Social Networks
1. MySpace.com – This has been the mecca for all bands and artists. MySpace even has its own label called MySpace Records. They sign artists in all genres and they usually sign bands that create a big buzz on their site. Registration is free. 2. Purevolume.com – This site has better streaming features than MySpace (MS streams have ads and randomly don’t work). This site is free to register and includes all genres but mostly caters to rock bands. They actively scout good music on their site to feature on their front page. This site gets over 10,000 visitors a day. There are social networking features available as well. 3. Twitter.com – This is the latest social networking phenomenon. Fans can see what the band and each individual member are doing throughout the day. Direct fan-to-band interaction takes place which is HUGE in building a core fan base. This is free to register and is a must in any musicians marketing plan. I will post about Twitter and your music marketing plan soon. 4. iLike.com – This site helps announce any new songs, new shows, new blogs or new pictures that you post up. Anyone who has iTunes (which is about 70% of the music population) get automatic updates on their iTunes player if they have your music in their iTunes. iLike has a attaches to your iTunes. Once you register for iLike, tell your fans about the sidebar so they can stay up-to-date on your bands every move. 5. Lastfm.com – This is another site that intergrates with your iTunes player. When you open a free account and download the , everything you play gets registered by Last.fm. They use all that data from everyone’s iTune players to give you top played lists and stats on your songs. This is a good tool to see what songs are most popular on your albums. You might think you know what song is your most popular but Last.fm will tell you what your fans listen to the most. 6. Facebook.com – This is largest social network site in the world (2nd in the U.S. behind MySpace). It is starting to improve its music applications so this is definitely a site that you need to register for.
Artist Press Kits
1. SonicBids.com – This site offers EPKs (electronic press kits) for artists but also helps “book and license your music,” according to their site. I have never used their services but I know it is very reputable in the music industry. 2. PowerPressKits.com – Again, I have never used this company but they offer free press kit building. They even have different templates for you to use.
Websites For Your Music Reviews
1. AbsolutePunk.net – This website caters to anything in the rock genre and will cover hip-hop/rap. The crowd here can be tough on artists but getting any exposure on this site helps. The staff is rather huge so it is easy to get one or more of them to respond to your emails. If you have the stomach, get your music reviewed on this site. Music industry people are on this site multiple times a day. 2. Pitchfork.com – This site is the mecca for indie/singer/songwriter music. The owner was even listed as one of the Top 200 most influential people by Time Magazine. Again, this crowd can be tough. 3. PunkNews.com – This site caters to the true punk crowd and, again, can be a tough crowd. If you’re a punk band and what street cred, get posted/reviewed on this site. 4. Stereogum.com – This site caters to the singer/songwriter/indie band crowd. 5. BrooklynVegan.com – This site caters to the NYC music fan. Covers more than music and even has a Sirius satellite radio show. 6. – A smaller blog that has a lot of music industry attention. This blog covers music mostly in the rock genre from hardcore, emo, indie, punk and “scene” music. 7. GlobalGrind.com – This caters to the hip-hop culture and is more of a social network for hip-hop artists and fans. There are unsigned hip-hop features.
Sell Your Merchandise Online
1. BigCartel.com – This is a very popular e-commerce site that will sell your music merchandise (, etc.) on their site and handle all the payments for you. You simply collect the orders and ship them out. This gives you full control of the shipping process. You can create a store or use one of their templates. 2. DistrictLines.com – This site not only makes custom stores for some artists but they print your merchandise as well. They cater to bands in the rock genre but also have pop-culture icons as clients.
Companies That Make Your Merch (CDs, , etc.)
1. Discmakers.com – This company is one of the kings in the CD duplication business. Their rates are very competitive and they also do a lot more than just CDs. You can get your , stickers, buttons and a host of other things printed. 2. DistrictLines.com – They will not only make custom merch stores for you but they will also handle your printing needs.
Other Merchandise Companies
1. LoudBytes.com – This site allows you to purchase download cards, stickers or buttons with a code on each. This code can be redeemed on their site for your music. You can sell these items at shows without ordering physical CDs. You sell the cards to your fans and they will download your music off LoudBytes. They even have hangtags for your . If you have physical CDs and want to sell a couple of B-sides, this is the most economical way to sell a song or two. 2. Dropcards.com – This is also a download card website that embeds a code into each card.
Music Discovery Blogs
1. Kings Of A&R.com – This site is heavily scouted by music industry people. This site covers all genres of music and if you feel like your music is good enough to be featured on the site, email Dean, the owner of the site. 2. TheDailyChorus.com – Another music discovery site that is scouted by the music industry. This site mainly covers music in the rock genre. The staff of this site is a lot bigger than KOAR so it’s easier to get the staffs attention.
I will explore many of these sites in greater detail to show you how you can improve your music marketing plan to obtain new fans which will increase your revenue.
Did I miss any valuable sites? Leave a comment and let me know or email me at: markstone424@gmail.com!
I’m a music industry veteran that loves the quickly changing music landscape and writing about it. I am always blogging about the latest music marketing trends (secrets) to help musicians achieve their goals. Please visit my free blog at: http://musicmarketingsecrets.blogspot.com
Are you dreaming on the of becoming regarding becoming a famous music artist like many others in music industry ? So, Stop getting upset about it any longer as mp3 music revolution sets aside changing over your on our day’s dream into time to come world in an easy and low-cost method . You now need to go along simple steps to accomplish your target .
The initial action will be generating a song you would like music community to listen . You can either operate with a cassette, CD or a minidisk for these functions. If you are opting for CD then simply video a song on it and then convert it into an mp3 file with the help of ripper and encoder software. Although you had made use of a cassette for recording your song then you ought to go in lieu of plugging the output of you audio file to the microphone socket of a sound card. By the way of this sound card, you can record this song on your computer’s hard disk in digital set up . Once the song is recorded onto your system’s hard disk, it can be simply encoded into an mp3 file.
The succeeding step will be the division of this mp3 file of your song. At this instant you have a couple of ways to distribute the mp3 file. First one is to use an mp3 distribution website to distribute your mp3 file to a huge number of guests upcoming on everyday checking updates . The other way is expand your own personal site or set your place on personalizing your blog for the sponsorship of your music. Mutual ways assist a great deal in distributing music to squillion of online audience . But through first way, you can gain access into a very prominent number of online music followers as weighed against to your site or blog. At the same time as with your own site you can manage each and everything yourself regarding your music distribution and probable audiences coming to visit the site.
In this way, first method gives you more audience and second one gives you more influence. So it is suitable to combine both in one method to benefit the dual gains . This can be done by placing your mp3 file on large distribution site and connecting it with your site or blog for downloading purpose. This way you have the double advantage of attracting more audience and better control on your music tracks.
So, what are you assessing now! Just pioneer creating a good quality song and then concede the to do a magic for you in becoming a famous music artist indeed . .
I have great interest in china goods. As a famous wholesaler, I have engaged in this line for more than 10 years. I am glad to share experiences of with you.
has become that label which isn’t just the equaling to class and exquisiteness but has mark of difference as well . This clothing brand is basically brought into reality by Ed Hardy who once was a particularly famous tattoo artist and used to carve the tattoo designs on bodies. This turns out to be the major inspiration behind the creation of the clothing label, Ed Hardy. It can fully be termed as a journey of a tattoo artist to the doorstep of the fashion and glamour world. The outerwear and accessories of Ed Hardy come with a mark of difference and this difference is the muse from the vintage tattoo designs. You can enjoy and appreciate the tattoo art not only by getting it carved on your body rather you can like this pleasure by wearing a or a shoe with a tattoo graphic as well .
This is the most focal point behind the popularity of this brand. There s not very much to differ when it comes to the clothing lines. Colors get to be different but the majority of the designers end to work on similar styles and cut. This is not the matter with Ed Hardy brand. This brand offers and incorporates a different taste where you can see tattoo art being incorporated on the fabric and accessories. It started in 2002 but Christian Audigier joined it in 2004 and took this brand to a new height together with Ed Hardy whose designs and tattoo art has given a new dimension to clothing.
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Editor : Ed Hardy Guide – Ed Hardy Online Store website :
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