The Americana and roots music authority
ND Community Tips for Musicians
As the No Depression community grows and expands, welcoming roots music and Americana fans from around the world, several musicians have asked what's the best way they can use all the site's features to help get the word out about their work. Look no further. Herein lie the answers to all your self-promotional questions, split into six easy steps for quick and simple browsing: Music, Blog/Media Sharing, Gigs, Groups, and More. Let's proceed, shall we?
MUSIC
This is perhaps the most obvious place to start. The easy answer to getting your music on this site is to click on the Quick Add menu under your name on the right side of the page. Choose "music" from that menu and follow the instructions for uploading your music onto your member page. Feel free to upload as many tracks as you like. These will stream for free from your member page. Your fans can listen but cannot download.
Once you've uploaded your songs, drop us a line and let us know. We'll be featuring the best music from the community on the main page music player.
BLOG/MEDIA
Your No Depression Community Manager regularly reads all blogs added to this site, pulling the best entries from the community onto the main page. This is a great opportunity to tell the world about your music. If you have a new record coming out, rather than pop up a press release that many folks may just skim over, why not write a couple paragraphs about what it was like making the album or some thoughts about the process? Tell us about your favorite song on the disc, or how happy you are to be done.
If you're headed out on the road, blog from the road. Tell us about the town you just rolled into, or the place you played last night. The more frequently you blog (and it can be a paragraph here and there - it doesn't have to be a long article), the more likely you'll be featured on the main page, the more likely people are to read it and want to learn more about you. The same is true of sharing your photos and video.
If you'd like to announce tour dates, you're welcome to do so in a blog post, but preface them with a paragraph about your band so that folks who aren't familiar with you may be more interested in coming out to a show than if they just see a list of dates for a band they don't know.
Please do not use the blog space for advertisements or links to band pages. Scroll down for more information about where to list your upcoming tour dates and how to purchase ad space on this site. If we see you've created a blog or forum discussion for no reason other than to advertise your goods or services, we'll have to delete it.
(**Sidenote about Twitter: If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #nodepression to have your tweet show up in our No Depression community feed on the main page. If you don't like blogging or don't have the time while you're in the studio, on the road, heading to a gig, or catching someone else's show, you can still get your name out there by tagging your tweets with #nodepression.)
GROUPS
Another option for getting people into your work on this site is to start a group. You can feed your blog into the group, start discussions about your work or artists you like, and invite your fans onto the site to join the group and help you build a buzz. Groups are like mini communities where you can share photo, video, discussions, etc. Group activity also shows up on the main ND community page.
Groups are also a great place to announce your shows. There are already many groups on this site dedicated to different cities and regions across the US (and the world). If you're based in Boston, for example, the best place to announce your shows around town would be in the Boston Music Scene group, where the audience is bound to be locals, rather than in the general blog space where most people don't live anywhere near Boston.
MORE
If you'd like to advertise on this site, that can also be arranged. Check this link or Email advertising@nodepression.com for more information on purchasing ad space. If you have any other questions about the community, this website, or anything else, please don't hesitate to send a message to ND Community Manager Kim Ruehl via our ND member page. Please also take a look at our FAQs for other information.
MUSIC
This is perhaps the most obvious place to start. The easy answer to getting your music on this site is to click on the Quick Add menu under your name on the right side of the page. Choose "music" from that menu and follow the instructions for uploading your music onto your member page. Feel free to upload as many tracks as you like. These will stream for free from your member page. Your fans can listen but cannot download.
Once you've uploaded your songs, drop us a line and let us know. We'll be featuring the best music from the community on the main page music player.
BLOG/MEDIA
Your No Depression Community Manager regularly reads all blogs added to this site, pulling the best entries from the community onto the main page. This is a great opportunity to tell the world about your music. If you have a new record coming out, rather than pop up a press release that many folks may just skim over, why not write a couple paragraphs about what it was like making the album or some thoughts about the process? Tell us about your favorite song on the disc, or how happy you are to be done.
If you're headed out on the road, blog from the road. Tell us about the town you just rolled into, or the place you played last night. The more frequently you blog (and it can be a paragraph here and there - it doesn't have to be a long article), the more likely you'll be featured on the main page, the more likely people are to read it and want to learn more about you. The same is true of sharing your photos and video.
If you'd like to announce tour dates, you're welcome to do so in a blog post, but preface them with a paragraph about your band so that folks who aren't familiar with you may be more interested in coming out to a show than if they just see a list of dates for a band they don't know.
Please do not use the blog space for advertisements or links to band pages. Scroll down for more information about where to list your upcoming tour dates and how to purchase ad space on this site. If we see you've created a blog or forum discussion for no reason other than to advertise your goods or services, we'll have to delete it.
Because so many people come to this site searching for reviews, recommendations, and commentary, we try to keep the blog area free of items that are just show listings, links or look like advertisements. There are so many bands and publicists who are members of the site that if everyone posted only links to band sites, etc., the No Depression site would become overrun with that and it would drive away many of the readers we have who are looking for more than that!
You're welcome to create a member page that links back to your website or places where people can hear your music. You're also more than welcome to add all your upcoming dates to the community calendar.
(**Sidenote about Twitter: If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #nodepression to have your tweet show up in our No Depression community feed on the main page. If you don't like blogging or don't have the time while you're in the studio, on the road, heading to a gig, or catching someone else's show, you can still get your name out there by tagging your tweets with #nodepression.)
GROUPS
Another option for getting people into your work on this site is to start a group. You can feed your blog into the group, start discussions about your work or artists you like, and invite your fans onto the site to join the group and help you build a buzz. Groups are like mini communities where you can share photo, video, discussions, etc. Group activity also shows up on the main ND community page.
Groups are also a great place to announce your shows. There are already many groups on this site dedicated to different cities and regions across the US (and the world). If you're based in Boston, for example, the best place to announce your shows around town would be in the Boston Music Scene group, where the audience is bound to be locals, rather than in the general blog space where most people don't live anywhere near Boston.
MORE
If you'd like to advertise on this site, that can also be arranged. Check this link or Email advertising@nodepression.com for more information on purchasing ad space. If you have any other questions about the community, this website, or anything else, please don't hesitate to send a message to ND Community Manager Kim Ruehl via our ND member page. Please also take a look at our FAQs for other information.
Last updated by No Depression Aug 25, 2010.
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