Unsigned Not Wasted : Connecting Indie Musicians and Music Fans

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 10 people | Log in to rate

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DIY Music Marketing Tools for the Social Web

A social music hub connecting independent musicians and music fans with tools to help foster successful artist-to-fan relationships. Focusing on new market opportunities created by developments in social media and the emergent Web 2.0 platform.

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.

twitter / DavidHolmes

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

UNW's twin lens focusing on music discovery tools and services.

Dashboards

media aggregators, news, bookmarks

Techmeme Music Headlines 

Digital music developments

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Blogs Buzz 

Fresh posts about DIY music and unsigned bands

A broken record | WalesHome.org
In a scan for reviews of unsigned Welsh bands it quickly becomes apparent that their music is available for free online, and without permission. For DIY labels this is a good thing; exposure is a lifeblood of any band seeking to find a ...
An Indie Epicenter in Paris Reopens - Globespotters Blog - NYTimes.com
Six months of tranquil nights for neighbors of Paris's most famous indie rock venue may be over. The Flèche d'Or, a longtime meeting point for unsigned bands and music lovers, reopens tonight. ... ?It has a slightly more D.I.Y. feel to it.? And for those who complain about the noise, Mr. Aouizerate thinks that this is simply a part of urban life. ?We should be able to have venues that let locals and tourists listen to live music,? he said. ?Paris isn't a country town.? ...
The Rural Alberta Advantage adds more Fall / Winter tour dates |
Herohill.com proclaimed the RAA ?the best unsigned band in Canada?, and I Heart Music.net deemed Hometowns ?a near-perfect album?. The band's reputation for stellar live shows garnered them a sellout crowd at the 2008 North By Northeast festival, ... The inspiring DIY success story of the Rural Alberta Advantage has continued to gain momentum and attract fans and followers, with a breakthrough performance at eMusic's showcase at the 2009 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, ...
So Long Arletta: DIY band to know | ChangeUpMagazine
Based now out of Lynchburg, VA, power-pop-rock conglomerate So Long Arletta is being thrust into the spotlight since their mention in last month's Alternative Press magazine as the area's best unsigned band. ... The band's music is available on iTunes for just $.87 cents a piece. When it comes to money, Scheren realizes, ?we save money because we understand that we need to make more, so we need to work harder.? The four men of So Long Arletta work harder and harder each ...

Mission Criteria

learn more about the UNW project

Unsigned Defined (Wikipedia) 

The term "unsigned artist" is used in the music industry to refer to a singer, songwriter, musician, or band that has no affiliation with a record label. Many unsigned artists sell their music and music-related merchandise without the financial support of a record label, while often seeking a recording contract through the recording of demos. The difference between an unsigned artist and an aspiring artist is that aspiring artists in most cases do not sell their music commercially. Recently, the internet has helped promote independent artistic material. Artists tend to post their music on websites such as MySpace, ILike and yourdub, and sometimes have their music played on podcast shows like Kooba Radio, Tom Robinson, Indie Launchpad and Low Slung. In recent times, artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, who once had major label record deals, have started to release their music independently.

Independent music (Wikipedia) 

In popular music, independent music, often generally abbreviated as "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing.

Independent labels have been known to strive for minimal influence on the artist they represent, avoiding the artist-cultivating behavior of many major labels. Artists represented by Independent labels have been known to be focused more on producing music than becoming wealthy and/or well known. These artists use more off beat styles to create music since they are not hindered by the record label.

UNW Project Aims 

How this lens can help you

UNW aims to:

  • 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. 

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

Web 2.0 0 points

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

Thousands of artists, musicians, writers, and software developers are making their creative works available online for others to share openly and freely. Organizations like Creative Commons provide the legal framework for creators to mark their work with the kind of flexible freedoms they want it to carry: "Some Rights Reserved" as opposed to "All Rights Reserved".

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.
Copyleft Music MP3 Aggregator
An mp3 aggregator for netlabel and CC licensed music releases. Audio links can be streamed using the a>
Open Music Search
A Google custom search engine indexing dozens 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 | Ourmedia
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. (NB this resource is currently offline, a new publication is in the pipeline).
Open Music Radar
A news aggregator for fresh copyleft music releases and reviews.

Opensonics Lens 

Knowledge

guides & gurus

Video Feature Slot 

Music business models

This is a feature video spot for indie music career tips and info. You can leave your own tips, and links to similar videos in the comments area at the bottom of the lens. Videos are shared via YouTube.com/DISSmedia

Trent Reznor Interview **NEW** April 2009

Rare Interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) by Kevin Rose from Digg. Thanks for Rating, Commenting and Subscribing! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=revision3

Runtime: 2445
86472 views
3621 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Find Your Voice 

By Seth Godin

"Marketing (in all its forms) is unlike everything else an organization does, because it's always different. There's no manual because everyone does it differently, and what successful marketers have in common is that they are successful.

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

The Long Tail of Fans 

CC image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ojk007/3814052537/

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.

Music 2.0 - essays by Gerd Leonhard

Music 2.0 - essays by Gerd Leonhard

Music & Media Futurist Gerd Leonhard's best es more...1 point

This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion, Revised and Updated Edition by Tad Lathrop

This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion, Revised and Updated Edition by Tad Lathrop

Details promotional skills, publicity plans, royal more...1 point

The Musician's Internet: Online Strategies for Success in the Music Industry (Music Business) by Peter Spellman

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

The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual for the Do-It-Yourself Musician by Randy Chertkow, Jason Feehan

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

PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge

PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge

Insight and analysis covering social networking, b more...0 points

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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.

Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper

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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created by DavidHolmes

Digital Marketplaces

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DIY Designs on CafePress 

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just sing it Sticker (Bumper)

just sing it. High school or jr. high chorus or glee is the place to put up or shut up. Just sing it.

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Acoustic Guitar Flip Mino

Acoustic Guitar Flip Mino, FDCurban

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Live Music

Gigs and Touring Books 

Tour management and publicity

Everything you need to know about life on the road.

The Musician's Guide to the Road: A Survival Handbook & All-Access Backstage Pass to Touring by Susan Voelz

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

How To Be Your Own Booking Agent: THE Musician's & Performing Artist's Guide To Successful Touring by Jeri Goldstein

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

The Touring Musician: A Small-Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road by Alfred Publishing

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

The Tour Book: How to Get Your Music on the Road by Andy Reynolds

The Tour Book: How to Get Your Music on the Road by Andy Reynolds

Provides practical advice, hints, & tips on ev more...0 points

Tour:Smart: And Break the Band by Martin Atkins, Cynthia Plastercaster, Suicide Girls, Henry Rollins, Jade Dellinger, The Enigma, Chris Connelly

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 

Check out indie music videos for interesting artists, style and marketing strategies.
YouTube thumbnail
Serenata - Immediate Music

Runtime: 2:52 | 392945 views | Comments

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Kali & Sasho Roman - Dali Sam ...

Runtime: 4:49 | 67356 views | Comments

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James blunt - So Long Jimmy

Runtime: 4:35 | 23457 views | Comments

YouTube thumbnail
Liberation! - Immediate Music

Runtime: 1:47 | 84449 views | Comments

YouTube thumbnail
TS ft Dirty Dapz - What goes a...

Runtime: 4:23 | 36894 views | Comments

YouTube thumbnail
Les Paul & Mary Ford How High ...

Runtime: 2:41 | 176490 views | Comments

automatically generated by YouTube"

Social Networking

media, profiles, playlists

Social Media in Plain English 

View video playlist at YouTube/DISSmedia

Social Media in Plain English

A simple story that illustrates the forces shaping social media. This video comes in an unbranded "presentation quality" version that can be licensed for use in the workplace. http://www.commoncraft.com/store-item/socialmedia

Runtime: 224
377671 views
403 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Flickr Unsigned 

Social music images and brand marketing ideas

Watch how musicians promote their online presence/brand image and connect socially through the use of visual media. (Updated daily)

If it's Thursday it must be Glasgow by gumdropgas

If it's Thursday it...

No rear view by gumdropgas

No rear view

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

Bass Instincts by gumdropgas

Bass Instincts

Look at me 2 by gumdropgas

Look at me 2

Look at me by gumdropgas

Look at me

Checkpoint 1337 (variation 2) by hectorir

Checkpoint 1337 (var...

Checkpoint 1337 by hectorir

Checkpoint 1337

Blinky Mag - issue 3 by MangakaMaiden Photography

Blinky Mag - issue 3

Blinky Mag - issue 3 by MangakaMaiden Photography

Blinky Mag - issue 3

Blinky Mag - issue 3 by MangakaMaiden Photography

Blinky Mag - issue 3

Blinky Mag - issue 3 by MangakaMaiden Photography

Blinky Mag - issue 3

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

Steam Whistle Unsign...

024/Steam Whistle Unsigned by Jeff Karpala

024/Steam Whistle Un...

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UNW announcements and feedback

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by DavidHolmes

David Holmes is a blogger and digital curator focusing on Internet Music, Open Content and Social Media.

Former freelance audio engineer, recording s... (more)

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