Using YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace to Promote Your Music Online

Introduction
YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace are three of the most popular sites on the Internet. They are also three of the most useful resources for promoting your music to the masses. The best thing about these services are that they are 100% free to use. If you are a solo artist, band, or group, you need to set up an artist profile in order to add your music. Once you are signed up, you are ready to start promoting your music to the world.

Adding Friends
MySpace and Facebook are very similar in function, which will allow you to easily switch between both without much effort involved. On both sites, you can browse for new friends, search for old friends, and invite your current friends. The more friends that you have on your list, the better your results will be while promoting your music.

As far as the addition of friends are concerned, YouTube works in very much the same way as MySpace and Facebook, except that you have to visit user stations in order to add them as a friend. As with the other two, add as many friends as possible, even if you don't know the person. Friend eventually turn into fans.

Tip: When you add someone, add their top friends too. It will help you create a buzz among friends.

Content, Content, Content
It is a simple fact, that on the Internet, the more content that you have, the more people will keep coming back. The first thing that you don't want to do is add a bunch of crap to your profile, like falling snow flakes, and huge graphics that slow down your page loading time, because most people will just click away and move on without ever hearing your music.

You do want to add meaningful content to your page that is directly related to you, your group, or band. Make sure you fill in as much of the profile as possible, and always write a bio. You only have to write it once, and once its written, you can use it over and over again.

Adding Music
YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace all allow you to add music in their own special way. The main thing to keep in mind is that you want to add your best songs to your profile. Your music represents who you are and what you are all about. First impressions are usually lasting, especially when it comes to music. People are very picky about who they listen to.

Another way to get your music heard is to provide at least one song for free download. Its a lot easier for new fans to spread the word when they actually have a song handy that they can play for their friends and family. Don't be afraid to give away a song. It is indeed true that you have to give in order to receive. A single fan may play your music for hundreds of people, which may not happen if you don't have any songs for download.

Use Your Blog
Blogging is somewhat new to the web. Actually, the word blogging is somewhat new to the web. People have been doing it for years, but it now has a name. A blog is much like your personal diary. Use it to connect with your fans and keep them in the loop with what is going on with you, your group, or band. Fans want to connect with you in a personal way. They also want to feel like you are a real person, and blogging allows you to do this by updating them when you are performing, recording new music, laying in bed sick, or just taking a break. Use your blog to your advantage.

Tip: You can never have too much content.

Posting Bulletins
Posting bulletins is another way to keep in touch with your fans, because they go out to all of your fans at once. You might want to think about limiting your bulletin posts to a maximum of three per day. You don't want to be classified as a spammer, because people will just start to ignore you and not even read them. Bulletins are a useful tool, when you start to accumulate thousands of fans.

Tip: Don't fill your bulletins with junk or constant advertisement.

Updating Your Status
Updating your status is a way to put a message in front of everybody on your friend list. Your status appears on everybodies main page when they log in to check for messages, friend requests, etc. Feel free to change your status as often as you like.

Adding Music Videos
YouTube and MySpace will get you a lot of publicity when it comes to adding videos. Based on experience, YouTube processes and distributes your videos faster than MySpace. If you check your statistics on YouTube, you will see that you are listed in Google Videos and AOL videos without any extra work. If you can afford to shoot a really creative music video, you definitely should. This will give fans a visual depiction of what you are about.

Tip: Add your video to your profile.

Conclusion
There are many ways to promote your music online, and if you are serious about getting your name out, you won't stop with these three. Some other good sites that you may want to look into are www.soundclick.com, www.garageband.com, www.ourstage.com, www.ursession.com, www.myyearbook.com, www.imeem.com, and www.reverbnation.com.

You may also want to consider starting your own fan club on www.yahoo.com in order to create a place for fans to share their love for what you do.