Traditionally, most artists and bands would dream of getting a record contract. In the modern digital music world, this aim has diminished, as it is no longer a necessary part of a successful music career. The most important part of your music career today is the ability to build a following. If you think that’s not possible without a major label spending big bucks on your marketing campaign then think again, and think ‘online’.

The internet has brought together networks of people who are geographically spread far and wide, and with a good online promotion plan you can provide a place for them to socialise on the web and ultimately become loyal fans. Artists are managing to do this with success on many levels, in all genres. Scouting for Girls built their reputation on social networking sites (plus their performance at the UK Music Jobs launch party!), and once their fans and followers started to increase, so did media interest. Both of those can snowball in the right conditions, and that will help push ticket sales of shows and so on. Generating that much ‘noise’ online can draw you to the attention of record labels, as happened to Erin McCarley. The singer-songwriter rocketed from virtually unknown to her current level in little over a year, and this was “due in no small part to things like MySpace”. McCarley goes on to add, “That stuff kind of started before I even got with a label… And so people became aware through MySpace and then [television] music supervisors started contacting [me]”. So, even if you still want that elusive record contract, these are steps that you should be taking anyway.

Putting your music out there is the first step, but connecting with your fans will help entice them back to your site or page. People crave authenticity, and this will also encourage them to spread the word about your music for you. With the array of social networking sites available, you can post photos, blogs, interviews, offer free downloads, directly message your fans asking to upload videos, and so much more. What should you be concentrating on? All of it. Which site should you have a presence on? All of them. This is not a scatter-gun approach, rather that there are many places that music-loving people hang out online, depending on their a number of personal preferences. The choice is endless, unlike a small town that may only have one music magazine (therefore that is the one to advertise in), and your fans are everywhere, therefore so should you be. What you do with the following once you have it is up to you (go on tour? sell T-shirts? start a cult?), but to get there, you must build it yourself.

Be online, be genuine, be found.

Lee Jarvis.