Because the music is available for free, it does not mean that it’s the end of the business model.

Connect with fans (CwF) + Reason to buy (RtB) = Monitization ($$$)

With over 3 million views and 14,000 comments in just 10 days, UNITED has a real nightmare on their hands and is feeling the wrath of citizen journalism and the social web. The story has been featured on CNN, FOX NEWS, MSNBC and more…

Even Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars got in on the action. Check it out.

In today’s environment, you need to be everywhere. There is no excuse for not having your band and your songs on every Social Network there is. The reason, your fans, current and future, are on every site there is. If they look for you on Facebook and you are not there, you just lost a fan.

Social Media attracts more listeners, drives fans to buy your merchandise and keeps them coming back by offering fresh content from songs, pictures, blogs, videos, etc.

Lets say you played an awesome sow last night and you met some fans who were ecstatic about your band. They go home and log into Amazon, MySpace, Facebook or whatever and you’re not there, you lost a sale. You see how important the impact of being everywhere? It’s simple.

As the Social sphere becomes more open with API’s and OpenID, PlaxoPulse, OpenSocial and other Internet changing sites, it will become easier than ever to update your profiles all from one site. For example, with a Twitter update you can currently change your Facebook status, Pownce status, get updates sent from your blog, from video tools such as Blip.tv and create mash-ups to see where all of your Twitter friends are Twitting from.

As some of the music sites get around to opening up, there will be a one-stop process for uploading photos, changing profile pics, updating shows and even uploading your music. This said, keep in mind that that some music sites like PureVolume and Soundclick have been around long before OpenSocial was even a thought in the tech scene… Some might take a while.

Be everywhere! As the saying goes, “Play your heart out every night, you never know who will be there”. Well the same holds true online multiplies 10-folds.

Although we all like to hate it, MySpace is still an essential tool for musicians and band and pretty much crucial for any online music business promotion and marketing strategies. If you don’t have a MySpace profile yet, GET ONE.

What should be on your profile:
- Your photo
- A short bio in the first person (be brief)
- Link to your web site (Don’t have a site? Get one now)
- Photos in the photo section and videos in the video section
- Only post 1 video on the front page
- And of course, your music

What not to do on your profile:
- Please, no background images
- Delete any spam comments from others
- MySpace should not be your blog
- MySpace should not be your main web site
- Do not use MySpace as your main email address

Creating your page on Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with your fans by being able to send updates to your entire list of fans. It’s also an additional visibility because when someone becomes your fan, a notification is published in its Mini-Feed therefore it is seen by everyone on their friend list. As pages are public, they are indexed by Google so it becomes another way for people to find you and you can even make a link from another site.

- Send updates about tours and concerts
- Showcase new releases and post your discography
- Add Facebook Music Player to stream your music and post buy links
- Sell tickets and merchandise
- Engage fans with rich media and streaming video
- Import photos from concerts anywhere in the world
- Let your content spread virally through user interactions with your Page, and be discovered

iLike, another familiar one, is a service that help users organize their music, share their music tastes, and discover new artists through their friends. iLike basically helps users discover new music based on what they are already listening to. It lets them share music libraries with their friends, browse and sample their most played songs. iLike will also send users music recommendations directly in iTunes.

iLike is the go to app for communicating your music to your fans. They have widgets that allow you to update your tour dates, music and other information and they will also update your MySpace, Bebo and many other social networks. You can share iTunes playlists with friends, get music picks and free MP3s to match your tastes and notify your fans when you (or your favorite artists are playing)

Last.fm actually understands music consumption and is therefore among the best tools for promoting music online.

Last.fm watches what you like to listen to, and compiles a profile that takes into account your eclecticism, before connecting you with other people who like to listen to the same sorts of things. It will custom build a playlist of recommendations and play it to you in a stream, allowing you to skip, hate or love a track as it plays.

Most importantly, artists and labels can upload their content so that people who like similar music can be introduced to your catalogue as part of their habitual listening. There is no better tool for getting your music into the ears and eyes of the people most likely to want to know about it.

Owned by Google, YouTube is the most popular video sharing website in the world. Its colossal database attracts millions of visitors everyday and sharing videos, either via email or web site, is easy. If you upload your content to only one video web site, it should be YouTube. Videos may be rated and comments on videos are encouraged.

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Even though you have a presence on each and every one of these mentioned sites, they should absolutely not replace your own web site (www.yourname.com). Too many musicians and bands make the mistake of opting for only a MySpace and no personal or band site. Your profile on social network web sites, such as the ones above should be a means to expand your reach and drive people to your web site…

This is how I see it as it stands for now… Then again, these are my opinions and I’m happy to be persuaded otherwise.