Wow, I just want to thank Trent for posting this~
I've bookmarked all the links he mentioned and will sign up. And to think, I thought myspace was enough!

what kind of help should you seek from indie labels, or do you think you are just as well to do the grunt work yourself? meaning is it even worth trying to get noticed by smaller label when the web offers most of the services they do, or is getting picked up by a a company with good connections/distribution the ultimate goal behind being an underground success?

My hat off to the fact that Mr Reznor embraces this situation as a challenge for true artists to dare own their art and their situation. Taking it by the balls.
'No frills thinking', I guess.

Having personally 'suffered' from going through the old music business model, with my band and productions ...in the not so distant past, ...I had indeed been wondering just what to do with the stuff I've been coming up with lately...
And here you are, talking absolute artistic sense.

Your approach clears the mind from fear, misconceptions, and I guess, the conditioning from old systems.

It is excellent, generous advice, and it really is about the future.

Thank you, good Sir.

thesparkingtoys

Sounds good Reznor, I've considered most of that, but im not very familiar with what free promotion sites are worth using becasue there seems to be so many out there, but I guess I'll try the ones you suggest and try some others as well seems a sure enough bet.

Now I'm thinking shit, I gottta find some amature promoter/pusher to help spread my unknown music around the web....
I can program HTML and javascript fluently but most people are to stupid to make it to a free webpage EG: [www.freeadfilledwebpages.com] and I aint paying up for domain names ect.. till i get more people interested in my music. Thus I have sucummbed to the generic myspace band page, which sucks in a way because most people on your freinds list are your competition, just want to litter your comments, but it is good for recruiting fans, assisting non internet savy laymens to your page via myspace search features, plus you dont have to spend alot of time making your own cross browser multi platform homepage..

Any promotion volunteers here?

You can check my NIN profile to jump to my "generic" myspace, if your interested
Mainly check my freind EyeMgun, see what you think, we will likely merge completley soon unless hes just a multiple personality, seeing how I've never met him ect.. if your interested e-mail me preferably someone with digital imaging and web based programming skills but neither are required..

Hey Trent and others!
Alright well, a couple months i ago i read this original post and it convinced me to simply give away the record. I set it up in a way where it requires for the people downloading to set up an account so that i could build up a mailing list, a fan base etc... My band is called obzcura. (The website is www.obzcura.com) Please check it out. You can download the record via torrent that we are giving away. Feel free to 'grade' my performance in executing these new theories.. constructive criticism is really appreciated you guys.

Thank You.

Hello all,

A good service to propose your music for free through streaming or direct download is Last.fm.

The result can be seen here [www.last.fm]

Trent,

I'm Deaf and I write music and sing too...not many people believe it. How can someone like myself get others to believe that yes, you can be "disabled" and still do something that is something you're not supposed to be able to do? I've had to take pictures of my hearing aids just to get others to believe that it really is true.

How do you market that?

a deaf fan,

S.

I just finished an album. I'm looking for some feedback exposure [www.reverbnation.com]

Thanks, Trent, for giving me that reality check as I sit here fretting about money.
I am completely stoked about the idea of "making things". I have so many ideas - including a "bake-sale" concert (seems silly but I can make it work). The current shift in the industry is giving us musicians a chance to be who we REALLY are - smart, savvy, and capable people. So many people think of musicians as savants and one-trick ponies. We are so much more - often highly literate, logical, thrifty, resourceful, technologically competent, and compassionate. We WANT to reach out to people because we CAN. We are often also visually oriented - being great designers - or tactile - we can build stuff! I know many musicians who build their own guitars! The days of musicians sitting around a parlour practicing all day every day are over. We now have opportunities to be leaders in the world at large - to discuss our worldviews, and to promote the spiritual idea that people do not have to subscribe to constant labeling, but can instead open themselves to exploring their being, and allowing themselves to find what they like and don't like. We don't have to just promote music anymore - we can promote the CAUSE of music! I think of the Beatles, how their later records were released at a time when they had quit touring in order to explore their interests in other things; philosophy, world music, farming/agriculture, photography, activism, visual art, and even business!

Those are good suggestions. I'll keep those in mind. I have a small studio of my own in my basement that I have been fixing up as I get extra money here and there. I don't want to be big. I have a talent for writing, and have been learning some music engineering techniques from a friend. I have recorded various industrial/electronic type things, which is the genres that I have always loved. I just do it for a hobby. I don't really want to get out there and perform lol.

i would like to apologize for the extensive post. i have never been a woman of few words.
Following some kind of mental breakdown/breakthrough, call it as you like,
i started writing music again after not even touching it for 5 years. i wrote 63 songs in 3 days, and have nearly doubled that in the two weeks since.
my flow is moving faster than i can access resources, i do not want a band, but am willing to work projects with someone / people.

My problem, is that i have music coming out of me, faster than i can pile it together,
i know that some book publishers, will sign and grant people with only half a book written if it appears promising,
Are there things like this out there for music, and if there are, or would it suicide my career by tying myself down with that kind of ball and chain.

i am naive to the "old ways" that so many of you have referred to.
when i read the original post, i really couldn't understand why these things weren't already i suppose, common place to most people.
No insult to intelligence intended.

i am 25 years old, married, female. and i am not looking for red carpets. but i don't mind wiping my feet on them if that's where this takes me.

i have the drive, the patience the resolve, you name it, everything but the resources i need to bring what i am, to fruition.
hopefully someone with similar interests, or solutions/offers reads this.

my lyrics are poetic, my music reflects the decay of my generation,
and i want to share it all, and as much as i want to do it alone, i know i just dont have the necessary resources. I know it will take time, alot of time. its what i will do with the rest of my life.

I need a safe place to post lyrical content for input and exposure.
i hope it isnt against the rules to do this,
but here is my email, if anyone would like to make suggestions, maybe even explore working together, i live near seattle. My email is Dusky_cobalt_blues@hotmail.com

please, feel free to email me.