10/13/08
Hi Everyone—-
In this mailing I thought I’d describe some pay services that offer opportunities for country artists, i.e. gigs, producers and labels looking for artists, radio shows, etc. Just let me know if you ever need to be taken off the mailing list. Don’t forget to drop me a line every now and then and tell me about your latest accomplishments!
Sonicbids. (www.sonicbids.com) This service allows you to create an online “press kit” and submit it to a a variety of opportunities ranging from gigs at street festivals to radio shows to TV licensing pitches. It costs $49.95 per year to join. The submissions range in price from $2 (e.g. for internet radio shows) to $40 (for the big ego international competitions). Do a little math and its easy to see who is making money here—but it’s not that expensive if you’re careful, and this site has helped me take some priceless steps in my own career.
Bandit. (www.banditnewsletter.com/). This old-school tipsheet is emailed to you once a month with about 25-30 listings per issue covering all popular genres—R&B, Urban, etc. They have three country-relevant listings this week, a manager looking for artists to represent, a publisher, and an investor. It costs $93 per year.
Taxi (www.taxi.com) This now famous L.A. company has developed an impressive record of placing songs from independent artists into music libraries and TV. They also attempt to place artists with producers and labels. You upload your mp3s and bio and picture to their website, and then you submit these to listings in their tipsheet, which is, frustratingly, anonymous. A subscription is $299.95 for the first year, and somewhat less for subsequent years. The tipsheet spans all genres, from Jazz to World to Video Games, but right now, for example there are three listings for contemporary country artists. The best thing about Taxi is that most of the time give you an intelligent critique of your submission—-you don’t get that from sonicbids or bandit.
It’s instructive to see what the listings are looking for in an artist. For example, a current country listing on Taxi says “the whole artist package must be there - touring experience, growing fan base, online presence, etc”. So I hope you don’t mind touring (and that’s before you get signed!).
Keep making good music—-
Best,
Marc
