Getting your music heard, part three.

Give what you love most away. If it is good, it will come back to you, ten fold.

Perhaps in today’s existence of fame (and greed), one most often overlooked avenue is donating. There are a host of different people that are always looking for audio. These people need your original material for placement in to their creative works.

Radio, TV, indie films and shorts, and even many tutorial DVD artists are in need of music. Donating some material to these efforts can land you a win/win situation. What is wrong with placing your masterpiece into a radio ad anyway? Imagine hearing your own jingle being played in the background of a used car commercial. Perhaps it is not the most glamorous outcome for your hard work, granted, but the nice act of a single donation will put your foot in the door.

If your donation is chosen, than you will get the almighty credit. Your information will roll in a credit reel somewhere, and someone will see it. Radio stations will ask you for more work. Television broadcast networks will be bidding against each other for your loyalty. Well, maybe I am getting caught up in the hype, here, but you get the idea.

How many of you can actually say “My work can be heard on (place popular radio/television station here)”? I can’t yet say that, but I plan on being able to. Some of my images have popped up in local papers, ads, and campaigns. This was made possible by donating work to some local charities that I believed in. Talk about giving back! A single act of charity can help feed you for the rest of your life, if you play it right!

Speaking of giving things away……

Placing one of your songs or jingles onto a site that supports free downloads for everyone will only help to get your name and your work noticed. Here is just one of the sites that I put new material onto. I let the new works go onto the free digital download domain for a limited time. Then, I either replace the file with a new one, or I start charging a small fee for the original file. You can create quite a buzz by just doing this!

By joining a free digital download site (like Myspace, ITunes, Put it on) you are doing the right thing. However, putting your work one of these sites is only the beginning of the job.

Surfing others sites is next in line. Locating others sites that resemble your own genre should be your next task. Go ahead and place some comments onto their site. Explain to these other folks how much you enjoy their efforts, congratulate them with a nice comment, explain to them just how close your music is to theirs, and most importantly leave links to your site.

The reason that we do all of this messaging is not to just be nice people. We are creating an online personality of sorts. Plus, so many people will read those comments that you left for others that it will stun you. Your own sites’ traffic will increase ten fold.

But just which sites or page profiles do we comment on?

Finding the “closet related musically” and then the most visited and most popular sites to comment on is the key here. Popularity of other sites is critical, but second only to relative genre. People that enjoy one site should appreciate the link to your site that you left. They might even return the favor! But do not send people to your site, from another site, if it is not even close to the same style of writing! You do not want to send listeners on a wild egg hunt. They will remember you.

So what is it that I am going to do with this information?

I am going to find some new and popular sites to upload my work onto. I will supply them for free, but only for a limited time. I will place comments with links back to my stuff onto others sites.

I thought back to an adventure in donating that I took with a local blogger and professional photographer. This friend requested that I record his vocal message for future clients, and then cut and paste his message to flow with background music and a photo slide show that showcases his work. His intent was to use it on his business website. We met and I recorded him talking. After a little cut and paste work, the vocals matched the slide show nicely. I was happy to get the experience doing this sort of venture, and my friend gained a nice opening show on his site. He does very good work, eh?

This very thing is what I am looking to do for others.

I am currently seeking out a couple of local television/video production companies to see if I can donate my time and/or talent to them. I am also seeking some local charities that might just need a slogan, jingle, or soundtrack for an up and coming production. I will write down and/or blog about what I find out, and then I will post it here, on Home Recording Weekly.

Lastly, some success in my search for talent.

Placing an ad on Craigslist has brought me great results, time and time again. From photo to music, people look on Craigslist! With that said, I placed an add looking for a singer or two, and asked for links to their stuff. I wanted to find what I thought might be the best fit for my music genre. Many good folks, looking to take a risk, have responded.

I am pretty certain that out of the group of volunteers two have really attracted my attention. One is a 20 something year old man, the other, a 20 something year old woman. What caught my eye, or ears, were their hook laden music style. They are young and can bring a fresh voice to the table. Well, that is if they like my material. I will continue to post updates, as well as some behind the scenes stuff!

You do not want to miss out on any of these easy to apply ideas and tips. Do yourself the favor and subscribe right now. This will guarantee that you learn all you can about getting your music heard. Bookmarking this blog will also get you closer to your goal. Thanks for stopping by, and keep on keeping on! The world needs to hear you!