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5 Secrets To Hit The Billboard Charts

Believe it or not, there have been many unsigned artists hitting the Billboard Charts (www.billboard.com). There are many ways for unsigned artists to sell their music online and even in retail stores. But is that all it takes to get you on the charts? No.

Here are the 5 Secrets To Hit The Billboard Charts:

1. Get a UPC code – Most CD duplication companies offer to put UPC codes on your CDs (some for free but most for a fee). It is worth the $30. You should not pay more than $30 for a UPC code. If a company charges you more than that, go to UPCexpress.com and get one for $29. You can give the CD duplication company your UPC code to print on your CDs. Whatever path, make sure you register one and get it on your CDs.

2. Register for SoundScan – How does Billboard create the top album charts? Because of Nielson SoundScan. Every time you buy a CD at a store or online, a computer system counts that CD purchase. At the end of every week, the top album sellers are released on Billboard. And if your CD does not have a UPC code, you don’t qualify for Nielson SoundScan. But even having a UPC code doesn’t automatically qualify you. You must register your CD on the SoundScan site. Once you register, your online CD sales and retail sales will be counted on the weekly charts (not all stores/online companies report to SoundScan but most credible companies do that sell music).

3. Set Up A Pre-order – What is a pre-order? It’s a period of time (up to 8 weeks) where fans can buy your CD before it comes out. They receive the CD the week of your CD release. But all the sales up to the release of your CD counts towards your 1st week sales. For example, if you sell 300 CDs in a 6-week pre-order period and sell 200 the week the CD comes out, your first week sales will be 500 which would be good enough to hit the Billboard HeatSeeker Chart (usually 450 albums will qualify for the Top 150 on this chart).

***Make sure you set your pre-order up with a company who reports their CD sales to SoundScan. This is crucial. Simply email/call the company and ask.***

4. Bundles – Because of the downloading trend, a lot of people get their music for free online. Labels and bands are starting to “bundle” up their CDs with merchandise. Bundle up your pre-order CD with a Tshirt (CD/Tshirt for $15 etc.) and offer the CD seperately. Give your fans choices. But don’t only keep the bundle up during the pre-order. Keep the bundles up permanently! You can bundle up your CD with posters, autograph booklets, stickers, Tshirts and hundreds of other iteams. This will definitely increase your sales.

5. Promote – I can’t say this enough. You have to promote your music and don’t stop. Read my post on 28 Essential Music Sites To Promote Your Music. MySpace gives you 500 comments a day. Make sure you max those out daily. If you believe in your band and music, you should not have a problem telling everyone about it.

Also, try to get website coverage or front page coverage on sites like Purevolume.com during the week of your release. This extra exposure will definitely increase your sales.

I’m a music industry veteran that loves the quickly changing music landscape. I am always blogging about the latest music marketing trends (secrets) to help musicians achieve their goals. Visit my blog at http://musicmarketingsecrets.blogspot.com.

28 Essential Music Sites To Promote Your Music

If you have good music, people will listen and buy 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 sidebar that you can download 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 Last.fm Scrobbler, 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. TheDailyChorus.com – 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 (T-shirts, 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, Tshirts, 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 Tshirts, 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 Tshirts. 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

Free Gift Ideas Blog – Well know Gifts which Will Make the Perfect Presents

Free Gift Ideas Blog – Well know Gifts which Will Make the Perfect Presents

Getting Xmas gifts for everyone on your list can be a hassle. You don’t know which type of presents or gift to purchase because of the variety of new items that are coming out. So, what I am going to share some Xmas gift ideas with you.This way, you’ll be able to get Christmas(X-mas) presents for each and everyone on your giftlist.Visit here now http://giftcardsweddinggifts.blogspot.com

The Xmas gift ideas are following:

* House made presents. This is a big idea for a Christmas(X-mas) gift. You are able to make either a home made basket which is made of any material or a Xmas stocking. You can fill them with goodies. It will be a good way to personalize a gift. You can give your own “love” and special type of touch to it.

* The Movies/DVDs. DVDs is another best of one Xmas gift idea. There are a ton of new movies coming out. A few movies that I know will be a popular gift is Wall-E, The Dark Knight, and Hancock and many other.

4. Amazon Gift Cards. This an awesome gift card. You can personalize it or have it emailed to the person you are buying it. Which makes it a great last minute gift. The Amazon gift card can by all sorts of stuff from the Amazon gift.

Finally these are some better Xmas gift ideas. If you do not know what to buy men or women and childens on your list or suppose you want to buy some of the popular gifts, you should get the ones which is mentioned above. Everyone on your list will enjoy the gifts that I shared with you and you’ll help them for great Christmas.Visit here now http://giftcardsweddinggifts.blogspot.com

Getting Xmas gifts for everyone on your list can be a hassle. You don’t know which type of presents or gift to purchase because of the variety of new items that are coming out. So, what I am going to share some Xmas gift ideas with you.This way, you’ll be able to get Christmas(X-mas) presents for each and everyone on your giftlist.Visit here now http://giftcardsweddinggifts.blogspot.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/gifts-articles/free-gift-ideas-blog-well-know-gifts-which-will-make-the-perfect-presents-1764144.html


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