Unsigned Not Wasted : Connecting Indie Musicians and Music Fans
Ranked #4,771 in Music, #132,205 overall
DIY Music Marketing Tools for the Social Web
If you're looking for ways to connect, develop, and market your music projects, this lens provides much of the research you're likely to need.
- Artists can explore specialized tools and services designed to promote, spread and sell their music products.
- Fans can find new ways to discover artists, share good music, and benefit from Artist partnerships.
Why Squidoo?
Well, it's a fast and fluid way to build an interactive clearinghouse on a single page. It also has the benefit of cutting-edge community tools and support. You can search the entire Squidoo network for interesting lenses with Squidoogle.
To participate simply log on or grab a free Squidoo membership to get started.
This is a living lens where the ink never dries and The Great Unsigned are free to roam. Decide for Yourself and start the adventure!
Unsigned Not Wasted concept and curation by David Holmes. Collective intelligence by The Tribe.
Dave's Imaginary Sound Store - Amazon store for related books and music products.
UNW lens logo created with Wordle.net
The Music Matrix
Music 2.0 Tools
Dashboards
media aggregators, news, bookmarks
Digital Music Intelligence
Internet music buzz aggregators
Media dashboards for scouring breaking music news, audio streams. market trends and social buzz.
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Addictomatic: Inhale the Web
Searches the best live sites on the web for the la more...1 point
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Mediaspheres Explorer
A powerful widget with aggregated news feeds, stre more...0 points
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Dave's FeedRaider: Music Business
Aggregated media feeds in a choice of key topics w more...0 points
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Alltop, Music
Music headlines pulled from around the web.0 points
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Mediaor - music 2.0 news and views from across the web
Discussion and news covering the future of music d more...0 points
Techmeme Music Headlines
Digital music developments
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBlogs Buzz
Fresh posts about DIY music and unsigned bands
- Unsigned Bands: Class Of 2012
- Captive strengthens the fact that you don't need a fancy label or a lot of money to create quality music. Through them and many others, the DIY vibe in NJ still exists. Headtrap is listed as name your price on their Bandcamp. Throw the band a couple of ...
- SCMC debated in Tacoma
- Photo credit: Facebook The Songwriters Composers Music Conference (SCMC), based out of Washington DC and coming to Tacoma Feb. 4, bills itself as a nationally-travelling event designed for unsigned artists, bands, songwriters, producers and independent ...
- Loud + Clear Records still chugging
- Still, as many unsigned bands thrive with the help of the Internet (and maybe a publicist or booking agent), he can't help but wonder: Are record labels even necessary anymore? ?Put your music out yourself, you know? DIY,? Lee says.
- CDBaby: iTunes Still Accounts for 77.4% of Digital Revenues...
- by paul We're guessing rivals like Tunecore have similar ratios, and this probably extends beyond the unsigned and indie space. According to the year-2011 revenue analysis, CD Baby artists pulled a massive 77.4 percent of digital revenues from the ...
Music Business News
Picks from the @mediaor tweetstream
Unsigned Bands Promo List
Artist Awareness Amplifier
Share your unsigned or indie label artist links here and vote for your favorites.
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Ours to Destroy
A unique juxtaposition of introspective folk with more...1 point
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BEMIS - MySpace
MySpace music profile for BEMIS with tour dates, s more...1 point
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The Union Records - DIY Database
Indie Record Label based in Portland, Oregon with more...1 point
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Artiestenburo
Artiestenburo Bis Majeur - voor het boeken van ent more...1 point
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INTERVURT - MySpace
A five piece from London, Uk. Likened to Muse, U2, more...0 points
Mission Criteria
learn more about the UNW project
UNW Project Aims
How this lens can help you
- Aid new music discovery, distribution and promotion.
- Connect unsigned artists, managers and fans with the best Music 2.0 tools and resources.
- Promote new opportunities for artist/fan interaction.
- Help independent musicians prosper and profit from their creative work.Â
Do-it-Yourself
Why waste your talent being a puppet for The Man when you can follow your own direction, build your own fan base and foster the respect you deserve from the people that count? The DIY ethic can be applied to finding self-reliant solutions for music production and commerce using the growing Web 2.0 infrastructure. Many artists have already achieved success using self-promotional business techniques to build a fanbase.
Web 2.0
Successive waves of disruptive technologies continue to change the way we find, share and pay for music. The Social Web offers a multitude of ways to build brands, collaborate and spread ideas. New Open Business models are emerging built around openness, free services and free access. For musicians this represents an unparalleled opportunity to explore creativity, retain artistic control and exploit Long Tail economics.
Music Marketing Solutions
Unsigned Not Wasted helps independent artists find free to low-cost music marketing solutions. People can locate, track and share information about a range of DIY music tools including sites for collaboration, flexible music licensing, media distribution and artist promotion. Targetted web feeds deliver the unsigned buzz from blogs and social networks.
To learn more about this DIY medium of communication, and the shift in economic value of the web, see the Music 2.0 section below for a short introduction. Also check out Chris Anderson's streaming audiobook: Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Detailed information on these topics can be found via the books on this page and via DISStore.
Participation
Sharing and rating information
Anyone can participate by adding artist and music resources to the interactive lists (plexos). These lists can be shared on webpages by grabbing the RSS feeds or widget codes.Vote for what you Value
Individual list items can be voted on to rank them up, as can the overall lens at the top of the page. If you want to help unsigned bands and promote music difficult to find using corporate media outlets, vote for what you believe in. Every vote counts!
This way we all get a say in developing the project and sharing cool stuff. Feel free to spread the Unsigned Not Wasted meme however you wish. Use the lens 'Contact Me' link if you want to share media such as graphics, info etc. You can also share messages with the wider web community in the comments area at the bottom of the lens.
Music 2.0
using the machine
About Web 2.0
The second generation of the Web
"Web 2.0" refers to a second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashup and folksonomies.
From Wikipedia - Web 2.0
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Web 2.0 0 points
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The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version) 0 points
The Small Print
hosts, terms, conditions
Music Media Hosts
Reading the Small Print
The creation and distribution of music has become widespread due to the abundance of Internet technologies and new online media services (Social Media/Web 2.0).The sites used to host and distribute music online differ widely in their end user agreements and Terms of Service. Some sites are 'friendlier' than others for content creators, depending on how the creator/copyright holder permits the work to be used and whether or not they get paid.
It's important to recognize that many music sharing sites can sell or license uploaded works to third parties without financial compensation to the creator.
For people sharing free music under flexible licenses like Creative Commons this is extremely important because their choice of license is often determined by requirements involving pre-cleared authorization, user flexibility, and various copyright protections, including non-commercial use. These copyrights can be superceded or nullified by agreeing to the TOS of the music hosting service. Superceded terms may be perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable and transferable so it's helpful to know what the user may be giving up before accepting the terms.
Most music sharing sites have some kind of involvement with commercial partners such as advertisers, licensees, sponsors, affiliates and the like. This includes aggregators and search engines that spider, index and offer music elsewhere.
When choosing a host it's often a case of finding a balance between the features on offer and the Terms of Service, especially in the grey area of non-commercial use licenses. When using a third-party hosting service it's worth remembering the role partnership deals play in the financing of their operations. It's wise to read the TOS, privacy policy and copyright policy first to determine the reputation and suitability of the service. An alternative is to host the files on your own server or use a suitable paid web hosting provider.
Opinion
The Royalty Scam
New York Times article by Billy Brag.
These crazy musicians still think they should get paid for recorded music Techcrunch's Michael Arrington riffs on the Billy Bragg article with interesting reader comments.
Record Label 'Infinges' Own Copyright, Site Pulled
Open Music
copyleft, creative commons, free culture
Open Music Tools
The shift to copyleft creative networks
In music circles this type of Free Culture movement is known as Open Music because it applies the concept of Open Source computer software to music. The social web makes it possible for everyone to participate in the creation, distribution and promotion of Open Music.
Copyleft licensing enables the free circulation of pre-cleared media and derivative works on the Internet. A healthy Remix Culture is important for creative work that involves sampling, remixing, podcasting, and web-mashups.
The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen a steady growth in the use of CC licenses. New creative networks have emerged, circumventing the limitations "conventional" copyrights impose on digital information. Most notably the collaborative music community, ccMixter, the first free remix site designed for independent musicians using CC licenses. Magnatune was one of the first digital music labels to develop the Open Music approach and both services continue to innovate in this space today.
Below are some tools that make it easy to find similar free and legal media resources for your own projects.
- Open Music Search
- A Google custom search engine indexing thousands of key Open Music resources. Use it to find Copyleft, Creative Commons, Open Source, and Public Domain works. Including media files, software, blogs, and creative networks. You can also grab the widget for your own web projects and Google startpages.
- Creative Commons Search
- Provides multiple engines for searching main Open Media hubs with the option to filter searches by desired source, media type, and Creative Commons license. Use it to find free music, videos, images, and other media.
- Open Media Directory
- A free resource for finding legal, podsafe music and video. The hand picked resources are designed to help artists, podcasters, bands, DJs, remixers, music bloggers and creators of video content working with Copyleft, Creative Commons, and royalty-free licenses.
P2P Content Distribution
Free network distribution using P2P, bittorent technologies.
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LegalTorrents - Film, Music and Digital Media
An online community created to discover and distri more...0 points
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Mininova Content Distribution
Exposure to more than 35 million people visiting M more...0 points
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How To Make And Seed .Torrent Files
A guide to creating and seeding torrent files for more...0 points
Opensonics Lens
Knowledge
guides & gurus
Video Feature Slot
Music business models
Find Your Voice
By Seth Godin
The only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert's rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you. Don't worry about someone else's invented standards for new media, invent your own. Avoid obvious mistakes, don't follow obvious successes.
Find your voice, don't copy someone else's." From Seth's Blog
Imaginary Masterminds
A growing collection of interesting ideas from creative people. Exploring the Internet, creativity, longtail economics, open culture, copyright issues, and future media trends. Video playlist at Youtube/DISSmedia
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How To Be Creative by Hugh MacLeod
MacLeod highlights the value of authenticity and h more...1 point
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How to Become a Creative Genius - Lifehack.org
Six tips for expanding your creativity.0 points
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David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists and Megastars
Today's artists have surprising new ways to reach more...0 points
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Kevin Kelly -- Better Than Free
Eight things that are better than free.0 points
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Seth's Blog: The Live Music Talk
Seth Godin's thoughts on the future of the music b more...0 points
Music Marketing Strategies
Promotional Tactics and Marketing Perspectives
A collection of useful blogs, case studies and individual processes you can use to execute your brand strategy. Including tips from musicians and music strategists. Covering digital identity, marketing campaigns, promotion, packaging, monetization, etc. Video playlist at YouTube/DISSmedia
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The Viral Garden: Open letter to big labels/artists
A 4-point plan for getting a social media campaign more...0 points
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Soup Greens by Lucas Gonze
Lucas shares some thoughts on the decision making more...0 points
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28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website
A list divided into direct and indirect methods, e more...0 points
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A Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008
A useful overview of the major tools used for onli more...0 points
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Severed Fifth
A music project designed to explore how far a musi more...0 points
The Long Tail of Fans
CC image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ojk007/3814052537/
DIY Music Survival Guides
Insight and ideas on how to survive in the changing music media revolution.
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This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion, Revised and Updated Edition by Tad Lathrop
Details promotional skills, publicity plans, royal more...1 point
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The Musician's Internet: Online Strategies for Success in the Music Industry (Music Business) by Peter Spellman
This hands-on guide is essential for any musician more...1 point
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The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual for the Do-It-Yourself Musician by Randy Chertkow, Jason Feehan
The ultimate resource for musicians looking to rec more...1 point
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PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge
Insight and analysis covering social networking, b more...0 points
Communicating Effectively
Tips and analysis on the art of communicating using digital media.
How to Write in 140 Characters or Less - Stepcase Lifehack
Tips on good, concise writing for microblogging pl more...0 points
Who Needs Headlines? - A List Apart Article
A selection of conventional techniques for writing more...0 points
How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web - Lines and Colors blog
A list of things you can do to drive visitors away more...0 points
Hardformat - Reaching for the sublime in music design.
A collection celebrating love of brilliant music-r more...0 points
Musicians Twitter Roadmap
Twitter is radically changing the way musicians ar more...0 points
Image Management and Graphic Design Resources
Making Music Library
Music tips and insights
Recommended books and DVDs on the art of sound and music creation including Music Technology, Philosophy and Aesthetics.
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Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper
Chronicles the record industry's relentless rise t more...1 point
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Digital Marketplaces
business, commerce, income
Artist Revenue & Music Sales
Revenue generating web services
A list of e-commerce services where musicians and fans can buy and sell digital content. Musicians can generate revenue through sales of music products and merchandise, including digital downloads of audio and video tracks, sheet music, various media formats, advertising and other forms of monetization. Research published in 2010 can be viewed at HOW MUCH DO MUSIC ARTISTS EARN ONLINE?
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CollegeMusicRadio.com
A source for independent Music with streaming radi more...1 point
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iJamr - Sell and Buy Music Online
A music social network for discovering artists and more...1 point
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PLUGOLA - Social Indie Music Community & Marketplace
Indie artists can create a web presence, interact more...1 point
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RippleAudio.com - Royalty-Free Music, Sound Effects & Audio For Media Production
Upload and sell your music to Media Producers arou more...1 point
Fan Revenue & Commissions
Fan partnerships and revenue sharing communities
Revenue sharing opportunities for content creators and music distributors. Business models that offer fans royalties and incentives for promoting artists' music.
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Fandoodle - Music Distribution via Fans & Friends
Artists partner with fans who promote albums on th more...0 points
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iJamr - Sell & Buy Music Online
Make money with your iJamr page by selling music from more...0 points
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Popcuts - Buy music. Make money.
A music store where you have a stake in the music more...0 points
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Qassia - Intelligence Engine
A tool for promoting your websites. It also shares more...0 points
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crowdSPRING - Global marketplace for logo design, business card design, graphic design and website design
Creatives worldwide contribute designs for your pr more...0 points
Image Sharing Royalties
Revenue sharing image hosts
Sites that provide income streams for people sharing photos, illustrations, digital artwork, slideshows, etc.
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fOTOGLIF : Share Slideshows
Upload photos and embed slideshows on web pages. s more...0 points
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Shareapic - The pic sharing site that gives back!
A free image hosting and photo sharing service tha more...0 points
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Demotix | The Street Wire
Demotix can broker your photos and videos to newsp more...0 points
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ImageStamper - Stay copyright-safe
A free tool for keeping dated, independently verif more...0 points
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Shutterstock - Sell your photos and make money
Sell your Photos, Illustrations, Vectors, & Fo more...0 points
Video Sharing Royalties
Revenue sharing video services
Video hosts that provide income streams for people sharing promo videos, viral video clips, podcast episodes, short movies, documentaries, etc.
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Moe's Site
register to post new posts. looking for all types more...0 points
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Reverse Phone Detective
About Reverse Phone Detective - Is it a SCAM? A ho more...0 points
Merchandise Sales
Online shops and merch distribution
Sites and support for managing online shops, product sales and distribution including: Apparel, CDs, posters and other goods.
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Big Cartel » Bringing the Art to the Cart
For bands, labels, clothing designers, artists, cr more...0 points
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Shopit - Shop, Buy, Build a Store & Sell
Your own shop for sharing and publishing products more...0 points
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RedBubble - Art Gallery and Creative Community
Buy and sell framed prints, posters, canvas prints more...0 points
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Flogd - Sell your stuff anywhere
Sell your CDs and merchandise by placing the code more...0 points
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SmartClips: the best place to buy and sell digital content!
Sell your content through a free branded store hos more...0 points
DIY Designs on CafePress
Live Music
Concerts & Tours
Upcoming events info
Live performance news, touring tools and venue guides.
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ConcertBuzz - Reviews of Concerts and Shows.
ConcertBuzz is a simple way to find or share revie more...1 point
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Gigfreaks.com - Discover gigs and music you love
Will find gigs you must attend by entering one art more...1 point
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preAmped - Find concerts, music, and friends
A website that brings together music, people, & more...1 point
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Sonicliving - Live Performance Tracker
Digital to Analog Lifestyle Converter for tracking more...0 points
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Podbop - We Podcast Bands Coming To Your Town
An MP3 concert calendar that helps you discover ba more...0 points
Gigs and Touring Books
Tour management and publicity
Everything you need to know about life on the road.
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The Musician's Guide to the Road: A Survival Handbook & All-Access Backstage Pass to Touring by Susan Voelz
Both a valuable primer designed to prepare young m more...0 points
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How To Be Your Own Booking Agent: THE Musician's & Performing Artist's Guide To Successful Touring by Jeri Goldstein
This unique step-by-step guide & resource book more...0 points
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The Touring Musician: A Small-Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road by Alfred Publishing
Helps performers at all levels of experience to ta more...0 points
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The Tour Book: How to Get Your Music on the Road by Andy Reynolds
Provides practical advice, hints, & tips on ev more...0 points
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Tour:Smart: And Break the Band by Martin Atkins, Cynthia Plastercaster, Suicide Girls, Henry Rollins, Jade Dellinger, The Enigma, Chris Connelly
Every aspect of making a successful tour with a ba more...0 points
YouTube - Indie and Unsigned Acts
Social Networking
media, profiles, playlists
Social Media in Plain English
Flickr Unsigned
Social music images and brand marketing ideas
Identity Management
Productivity, promotional and social networking tools to help manage your online identity and media presence.
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FriendFeed
Allows you to keep up-to-date on the web pages, ph more...1 point
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Facebook - social networking platform
Each Band Page has a music player, video player, d more...1 point
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Retaggr - your online presence everywhere
An interactive business card with your profile, li more...0 points
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Ping.fm / Update all of your social networks at once!
Ping.fm is a simple service that allows you to pos more...0 points
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Dandyid.org: share your id
A free service that connects all of your online id more...0 points
Music Communities
General community-style music sites that allow artists and fans to share, rate, discuss and download music. Useful for creating band profiles, promoting projects and social networking.
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RateThisTune.com :: Free Musician And Band Promotion! Get Heard and Get Noticed!
Promote your music here for free! Upload your own more...1 point
2
Stage.FM - Find Independent Music
Indie music and video sharing community.1 point
3
Jamphetamines - Online Indie Music Community
A free online indie music community for musicians more...1 point
5
Songrio.com
A place to discover new music and artists.0 points
Music Playlists & Mixtapes
Playlist sharing communities, DJ mixes and Indie music radio streams.
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ccMixter Playlists
Create and share dynamic audio playlists of music more...2 points
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Project Playlist - Social Music Experiment
A free music playlist site and search engine for s more...1 point
3
Grabb.it - Music Player
Search for music, listen, share it, grab it from w more...1 point
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FIQL.com - Music Playlists
Find, share and listen to music playlists in over more...0 points
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inDiscover
Music discovery and playlist recommendation system more...0 points
Music Networking
Forums, groups, contact networking tools
Specialized social tools and Independent creative networks using platforms such as Facebook, Ning, etc.
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Mediaor - Music 2.0 News and Discussion
Discussion and news covering the future of music d more...0 points
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JITTERwall - Ning
Social Networking for Artistes, Producers, Enginee more...0 points
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CC Hits - Ning
A Digg-like community for sharing and rating Creat more...0 points
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NeLaS's ccHits
A ccHits clone that automatically distributes shar more...0 points
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ccCreators
A collective for artists using Creative Commons li more...0 points
Productivity Tools
Social Media Tracking
Support Services
Advocacy & Group Initiatives
Forge alliances & research common causes
Action groups, civil liberties and direct democracy.
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CASH Music
Coalition of Artists & Stake Holders. A music more...1 point
3
Bum Rush the Charts
An experiment to show that podcasting and new medi more...0 points
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Boycott RIAA
The center for the fight against the tyrant that i more...0 points
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Ning: Unsigned Networks
Search results for unsigned social networks using more...0 points
Business Advice
Entrepreneurial skills, financial investments, market research
Startup tips and help for budding entrepreneurs including financial services and business tools.
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StartupNation -Tips for Entrepreneurs
Provides real-world business advice to people who more...0 points
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My picks: The best service providers for startups « RobWebb2k
A shortlist of recommended services for startups. more...0 points
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How Search Engines Rank Pages
General tips on domain hosting, linking, site cont more...0 points
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SoundOut - market research
Guarantees accurate, objective and rapid insight i more...0 points
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Slicethepie - Finance
A financing platform for the music industry that e more...0 points
Internet Service Providers
Broadband Services, Domain Names, and Web Hosts
Recommended broadband service providers representing good value for money and reliability. Secure domain name registration and business solutions. Freemium web hosting platforms.
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Plusnet - Best Small UK Broadband Provider
Offers packages for residential & business bro more...1 point
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GoDaddy.com - World's No.1 Domain Name Registrar
Domain name search & registration with competi more...1 point
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Alternative Domain Name Tips For Music Websites, Bands and Labels - Buzzsonic.com
Advice and ideas for one of the most important asp more...0 points
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.music (dotMusic) Domain TLD - Generic Top-Level-Domain gTLD Extension
.music is the web domain extension representing th more...0 points
5
Wix.com - Flash music website & Music web design
Create a free Flash music website. Design, Publish more...0 points
Musician Services
Project development resources
Support and feedback for musicians including business services, classifieds, competitions, directories, fund raising, graphic design, and social networking tools.
1
Production Advice - Blog & Professional Service
Give us an email, an mp3 and 48 hours, and we guar more...1 point
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JamJunky - Write songs right.
Create a vault containing your songs, then gather more...0 points
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Musiclocated - geolocating musicians and more
MusicLocated is the place where music gets located more...0 points
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Linked Musicians
Live music industry social networking community fo more...0 points
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BandMix.com
Musicians Wanted and Musician Classifieds at BandM more...0 points
Related Lenses
Music Creation Lenses
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Guitar Lenses
Podcasting Lenses
Message Board
UNW announcements and feedback
A place to share news, links and promote your projects.
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Reply
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Jake
Oct 15, 2011 @ 2:56 am | delete
- Thanks for sharing all this great information! Lots of really helpful resources for music promotion! One helpful tool for band promotion is Peel Post where you can post your band flyers for upcoming shows for free.
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Reply
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Binary
Oct 15, 2011 @ 2:18 am | delete
- great information on Connecting Indie Musicians and Music Fans
thanks for sharing
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amine
Aug 19, 2011 @ 11:35 am | delete
- cant get enouph about music here s more http://mp3li.com
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barnett_
Aug 11, 2011 @ 10:30 am | delete
- One thing unsigned bands should do is to create a band website and promote it through social networks.
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Jun 19, 2011 @ 1:42 pm | delete
- Great stuff!! I like your lens; it's very informative and engaging. I'm also building a site Drinking how much is too much which is really useful for drinkers.
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Rorik
Nov 16, 2010 @ 1:04 pm | delete
- This is an awesome lens! Its really cool you have this passion. Take care and good luck Rorik@Sjaal.
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Rorik
Nov 16, 2010 @ 1:04 pm | delete
- This is an awesome lens! Its really cool you have this passion. Take care and good luck Rorik@Sjaal.
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pianoguy1
Oct 11, 2010 @ 11:40 pm | delete
- Very nice lense I love music I am trying to learn piano by ear.
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JosephClark161 Jul 16, 2010 @ 4:27 pm | delete
- Thanks for this Creative Deconstruction dude!
