Below is a list of the best music marketing links and resources who either provide industry services, useful information or press coverage and reviews to independent bands and musicians. These music industry websites have all been researched in order to help you promote your band more effectively. As time goes by, I am shifting more of this list specifically to websites, blogs and publications who have answered my emails. I think this is critical. I want this to be an ultimate list of places with at least somewhat OPEN DOORS to indie artists, and that’s what will differentiate it from simple lists of the “Top 100 Music Blogs”.
Your Band Is A Virus - The bestselling music marketing guide aimed at assisting musicians with gaining high amounts of press.
My music marketing column at The Muses Muse – Visit this column for more music marketing advice and in depth artist interviews.
The Indie Bible - The best and most respected comprehensive database of music industry contacts for gaining press & other opportunities. Listed are publications, websites and blogs that will review you, radio and podcasts who will play you, publicists and promoters who will promote you, managers, lawyers, and much, much more. A MUST HAVE for serious independent artists. Click the link to buy their new 2012 edition.
The Indie Venue Bible - A comprehensive venue database to assist independent musicians with booking tours. If you are planning a tour on your own, this is another MUST HAVE. Released by the Indie Bible team, this book is specifically for touring artists and contains more venues than you could possibly ever play. Even better, the venues are expecting you to get in touch.
Music XRay - In my opinion the best excellent A & R & opportunities website for independent musicians. I am one of Music XRay’s industry experts, and I believe in what they are doing. Artists can submit their music for major record label consideration, licensing (film, video game, tv) opportunities, consultations, reviews, airplay, promotional campaigns and press coverage to name a few. They are the next generation of A & R and artist advancement. This is why I give priority to Music XRay submissions.
Skope Magazine – An excellent indie music site/publication who I write for. They offer a variety of services for indie musicians.
The Music Marketing Manifesto – The best music marketing course I’ve seen. This guy is the real deal.
Technorati Music Blogs Database – Technorati is the largest blog tracker in the world. Their music blog database has 8,000 music blogs. It’s VERY possible that some of them would be interested in your band.
The Hype Machine – An excellent resource. The Hype Machine is a music blog directory. Search for blogs catering to your genre and submit your band for a potential feature. The possibilities for coverage are endless, as are the blogs.
AWAL.com - Distribution and licensing from a powerhouse company who helped the Arctic Monks and Moby become huge.
Schwegweb.com - Your Source for Concert Photography
The Daily Consciousness – Wonderful indie blog covering all sorts of innovative music.
Rawk Blog – Run by David Greenwald, this mp3 blog covers rock music.
Blazing Minds - Blogging Tips, Music & Film Reviews, Memes, Twitter Tips – Thoughts, Ponders – and those funny quirks of life in us all
Juniors Cave – A Long running independent magazine covering music, health, travel and a host of other topics.
All Indie Magazine - Excellent indie musicians website and home of the Artists in Music Awards.
Ultima Music Blog – Catering to metal, rock, industrial and electronic artists
The Great Unknowns – Mikey Jayy’s extremely popular indie music show.
RichPalmer.com/Audio Gumshoe – An excellent podcast run by Rich Palmer, playing the best independent music from around the world.
Periscope Audio – Run by the talented Colin Ritchie, Periscope Audio offers professional mixing and production for indie artists.
This is Entertainment – James M. Parry’s fantastic blog with news & views on film, gaming, music, technology and cyberculture.
Whoa 100 Radio – Whoa Magazine’s radio show featuring independent artists worldwide
Rock Blog – Rock music news, videos, and “On this day” feature. Submit your band for coverage!
Mad Mackerel – A music blog open to covering indie artists in the Americana, folk, country, garage, indie and psychedelic genres.
Toto Merch – Forward thinking, customizable band merchandise options.
Rock Star Weekly – A great new Canadian music website that covers artists from all over the globe.
Vinyl Stereo - Vinyl Stereo focuses on getting unsigned artists heard through their popular podcast and website.
Niji Magazine – Music, art, fashion news
Song Revelation – Hub for indie artists featuring interviews, reviews, and features.
Done Waiting – music blog covering indie rock news, reviews and live updates.
Daily Unsigned – New music served fresh daily
Knox Road – Run by Lee and Jamie, Knox Road is an independent music blog.
Eardrums – Indie blog covering indie rock, pop and electro
Studiobookers – Making music easy
Penseyeview.com – Music and Lifestyle featuring bands from Pennsylvania and all over the world.
You’re Dripping Egg – Great blog that consists of a contributing staff of over twenty individuals who write on just about everything; including film, television, theatre, music, websites, travel, events, food, fashion and bizarre personal experiences.
Soundbytes – Music. Food. Ephemera. Run by Bill Pearis of the Brooklyn Vegan, Soundbytes covers indie rock.
The Silver Tongue – Current music blog covering cutting edge and hip artists.
Independent Business Promotions – My business marketing blog.
Pistol Magazine – Fashion & Custom Culture/Lifestyle magazine that covers music as well.
MF Magazine – Music Fashion Magazine, covering independent and major fashion and music.
Orlando Sky Radio – Orlando based radio shows that accepts indie music submissions via Music XRay.
The Culture of Me – Indie music blog run by Jeff Meltz covering all genres.
Ez Ent World – Entertainment and promotion company
Music Zeitgeist – The musical mood of the times
MySpoonful – A taste of new music
Groove Sandwich – Top notch website with reviews, news, opinion, etc run by Jeff Higgins. I highly recommend good artists get in touch!
Indie Soup Runner – A site that makes catchy “active” playlists for indie music fans.
Basement Bangars – Hip hop, electro & pop tracks. They bring the beats. You bring the lyrics.
Music For Perfect People – You don’t have to be perfect to enjoy their music suggestions.
Kingblind – Music news, album and concert reviews, mp3′s
You Ain’t No Picasso – Extremely popular music blog with mp3s, interview, photos, etc
NBT Independent Music – An excellent independent music features and interviews blog. Be sure to check the link for NBT podcast info as well.
Pathetic Reviews – Exactly as it sounds. Music reviews mixed with a splash of comedy and spontaneity.
Music Reviews (Music.ballweb.org) – Great music blog run by Carson Ball, containing music reviews and a whole bunch more.
Release Magazine – Magazine featuring alternative and electronic artists.
Lithium Magazine – Independent and major artists are covered here with concert news, interviews and reviews.
Top Hat Magazine – Alternative music – up close and personal.
Evor.com – Huge independent music hub
Song Of The Day – A great opportunity for bands to be chosen for ‘song of the day’. They accept indie submissions.
The Justin Wayne Show – Great radio show playing indie artists. Independent radio for independent music.
Opportunity Rocks - Indie music blog open to submissions.
Indie Music Filter – Toronto-based music blog run by Chris Budd.
Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good
Musikjunkies.com - Everything in music from Beethoven to Jay Z
Off The Dial – A very up-to-date music news and reviews website based out of Canada and covering a wide range of genres. They accept indie artist submissions.
The Indie Link Exchange – List your website. Trade links with other indie bands and music sites of all kinds. The Indie Link Exchange is from the creators of the Indie Bible.
SlowdiveMusic Blog – Great music blog covering all kinds of independent artists from all genres.
Stork Music – They don’t deliver babies. They deliver maybes. A music review blog run by 5 music fans.
The Google Directory for Music – Google has comprehensive lists of everything from bands to music publications and radio. Why not take advantage and scour the results?
GMan Music – G-Man Music, G-Man Marketing and Golosio Publishing
Reverbnation – Massive independent music service offering online press kits, music hosting, analytics and more. It is a crowded place with over 1.5 million artists so be sure to make it PART of your music marketing strategy, not all of it.
Hype Underground - Radio show that plays indie artists.
Mary4music.com - An excellent indie music supporting website with Indie Music Links, Musician’s Resources, Band Links, Club & Festival Listings, CD Reviews and Music Gifts.
Greatest Playlist – Greatestplaylist.com is a blog-style indie music site promoting indie artists.
Ultimate Guitar - Do you play guitar or are you in a guitar driven band? This link will take you to Ultimate Guitar’s news submission area. Send them a RELEVANT idea and they will consider you for coverage.
The Muses Muse – The Muses Muse is a source of information and inspiration for independent artists. I write a column for them, and have always been impressed with the services they provide to the indie music world.
Clever Joe – Where clever musicians play. A Canadian music industry resource.
Afternight.com – An awesome directory where indie bands can sign up and submit their information.
All Music Industry Contacts – contains A&R, management, publicist, radio contacts and much more for independent artists.
Indie-music.com – A giant in the indie music promotion world. There is a lot of free information here to chew on.
NPR.org – Why not send a song to their “All songs considered” section? It’s worth a try, as they accept indie bands.
Singersong.com – A directory of singer-songwriters as well as a massive directory of industry resources.
Bandguru.com – Music industry resource and advice website run by the highly experienced Mark Bliesener.
Independent Records - Independent Records is for musicians releasing their own CD’s, DVDs, cassettes, etc. Independent Records will catalog your release by assigning it a catalog number and a corresponding bar code.
Pitchfork – Possibly the most important music review website in the world. Follow their submission policies carefully and do not spam them. You will be blacklisted.
Stereogum – An extremely popular music blog covering all genres. Though it’s unlikely that amateur artists will get coverage here, it’s certainly worth a try. Stereogum covers everyone from Beyonce and Jay Z to Odd Future, Tom Waits and a slew of artists you’ve never heard of. If your music is up to par they will consider it.
Large Hearted Boy – If this boy digs your band, you’ve got an audience. His tastes are limited to the softer stuff, though, so be sure to familiarize yourself with his blog before submitting your music.
CDBaby – The best online retailer for unsigned bands. Once you’re signed up, though, it doesn’t end there. Make sure you constantly edit your band page with recent press clippings and news. Also, make sure you take advantage of CDBaby’s promotional options. Slap their html “Buy our CD now!” buttons on all of your websites and blogs. Make the buttons available to your friends and fans.
Tunecore - Though we have found CDBaby’s services to be slightly superior, Trent Reznor loves Tunecore and they have recently expanded their services. Definitely worth checking out as a distribution option.
Facebook – Start your Facebook band page right away. Post your music, photos, videos and fan badges there. Advertise and spread the word. Use the services available to you.
Sonicbids - music community filled with tons of opportunities. Artists can submit their music for gigs, reviews, sponsorship, compilation placement, licensing, and more. I hosted my “Your Band Is A Virus Expanded Edition” contest through them and discovered many great artists, some of whom will be in the new edition coming soon.
No Depression – A hub for the country and Americana music communities. This very popular publication has turned itself into a social network where independent musicians are encouraged to sign up and post their music and news releases.
Garageband – The world’s largest independent music community. This site offers the potential to get reviewed by new fans and fellow musicians.
Blabbermouth – A great place to break a press release for rock/metal bands. Get it posted here and it will mysteriously show up in a lot of other places.
Band Weblogs – Band weblogs will post your press releases. Make sure you return the generosity by making your releases newsworthy and informative.
Artist Direct – Get as involved as you can with this website. They offer a variety of features.
Musicdish – An excellent site to submit your finished news release to. Their services are effective and can help you get your keywords circulating on music blogs.
Squidoo – Write about your band, your passions, your opinions, and generate income on the side as well as build the popularity of your band.
Fiverr.com – People are ready and waiting to promote your band for $5. Didn’t know that? Maybe it’s time you check out Fiverr and test out a few opportunities.
Singing Tips – Singing information and tips. Questions are answered on the community wall.
TAXI’s Music Biz FAQs contain songwriting tips music-business information, and articles on Film & TV Music placement.
The Music Feed
Your #1 Free Music Network! Unlimited Free MP3 Downloads & Instant Airplay Internet Radio Featuring Indie Artists, Bands, DJs & Musicians. Sync your social networking feeds to our content distribution network to receive articles, Free MP3 Download li
