One of the major questions in the mind of millions of starving artists in or working to get into the music industry is "How do I get exposure and correctly market myself or band." The music business industry has drastically changed within the past few years and with the birth of file sharing networks and online socializing site such as myspace and facebook, it has altered the way musicians can get their music to the people and gain recognition. Although easier said than done, this article will point you in the right direction and give you a skeleton outline of sort of how to achieve your goals as a self promoting artist. This is intended for all artists, including cover bands, tribute acts, dancers and original artists.

I had graduated a number of years ago from Columbia and majored in Music Business Management, yet the moment I graduated, the information and techniques I had just learned in college were already obsolete. Back in the early days of the music industry musicians had to rely on major record labels to sign them to contracts, promote the band, distribute and sell albums and set up tours. Now with the advent of file sharing, the music business has been flipped on its ear and the major record labels are becoming less and less of a factor. Artists who had been the poster child of major record labels such as Madonna, Jay-Z, and Radiohead have all decided to leave the record labels and cut out the middle man.

The problem with getting rid of the major record labels is that they were the ones providing the money for the promotion, tours and distribution of each of their artists. Millions upon Millions of dollars have been invested in record releases, music videos, print marketing, radio airplay (although illegal) and production which is all but a mere memory. Apparently the new generation believes it can market, produce and release their music on their own without the need of the corporate money from the major labels. Although very much the difficult task, I believe this indeed can be done.

Throughout my year of experience in the music business I have come to realize I have the keys to becoming a marketable, profitable and successful artist in today's industry. Things are not going to happen overnight and require dedicated and persistent work, but if you have the talent and drive there is no reason why you cannot succeed.

Your first major step in the process is creating the product. If you are forming a band or are a solo artist the most important piece of the puzzle is the music. You need to focus earnestly on your craft and create the best possible music before you start to market yourself. Putting music out into the community just to get your name out there will only hurt you in the long-run. Imagine you are in a band with talented musicians and released some quickly recorded demos just to get your name out. You promote yourself and do your due diligence in marketing only to find people uninterested due to the lack of quality in your music. If you created a masterpiece for your next album, you will have already lost the fans due to your previous release. Quality music should be number one on your to-do list.

Once you have created your "product" such as your band, album or act, you next step is to hit the internet and sign up for all the social communities. Create profiles on myspace.com, facebook.com, garageband.com and whichever other sites you deem appropriate. Make sure you have a great looking page to compliment your music. For instance, if you are an R&B singer, you wouldn't want to have a myspace page with skulls and/or violent images scattered throughout. If you want to play it safe, use an abstract background or pick something neutral that will not distract from your music.

Once on these online communities you need to work very hard to seek fans. On sites such as myspace you send friend requests to random strangers and then hope they accept. There are services that will do a lot of this work for you such as mysocialmarketing.com where you pay them for friends request and/or plays of your music. This is a very good idea if you have some extra money lying around and want to reach anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand new people in a short amount of time. The only thing services like this cannot do, is market to a specific geological area. For instance if you are an artist in Chicago and want to market yourself to your area, most services do not have the capability to do that. If you do not care where you are marketing, then the service will be of great value to your cause.

If you don't have the money for something like a myspace marketing service, you can always do it yourself. My suggestion is to focus on your area. In all the social sites, you can target a specific region by typing in a zip code. If you marketing yourself to your area, you will have a better chance of attracting people who want to support the local music scene and who will show up at a live performance. The best way to do-it-yourself, is to work at a steady pace by sending out friend requests to fifty to one hundred people per day. If you are in a band, each member can contribute by choosing one day per week to send friends requests so you do not get overwhelmed and/or burnt-out on the process.

Once you have established yourself on the social networking communities and have a decent number of friends, you should start performing your music as much as possible. First of all, every gig where you get exposure is a good gig, some better than others, but if you play a room with only twenty people in attendance, you still have the opportunity to make an impression on those people who will in turn talk about you to their friends and family. Next time you perform, not only will the twenty people return to see you perform again, they will bring their friends.

Most bands have egos and have a hard time seeing things in reality and I was one of those musicians at one time. The thing you must remember is to stay humble, see your opportunities and go after your dream with reckless abandon. Even if you hate a certain local band or artist, work with them to achieve your goal. When I was working in a cover band, there was a Bon Jovi tribute band that I could not stand. They had a huge following and to this day, I still cannot figure out how and or why they get so many people to show up at their shows. Even though the thought of working with such a band made my stomach turn, I knew that if I was to open for this band, I would instantly attract a new audience. These people that were loyal followers of this band would see my band and become fans of the band I was playing in and ad to my following. The plan worked like a charm, so I continued opening for bands with an established following until I no longer needed to open for those particular band and had the following I needed to headline on my own. By the time you establish your following you will be making money from the venue and by selling your CD's and /or merchandise.

If you become a big fish in a small pond, you next step is to move to the next level and jump into a bigger pond. One way to move to the next level is to put together a college tour. You can either hire a manager and or booking agency with the contacts, or you can do it yourself. I would google a certain college and find out who the social director was and contact them personally. The shows are normally no-pay, but you make up for that in sales of merchandise and CD's. If you perform at a college, you are instantly connected to thousands of college students who are always looking for a new band or artist to follow. In the college scene you can also contact fraternities and sororities and pitch your band/act to their social directors of each chapter to perform at their private parties, dances and gatherings. Again you will rely on our merchandise sales as your compensation.

One thing about merchandise is to keep it interesting yet simple. I have seen numerous bands over the years that set up a display of 5 different t-shirts, three to four albums, thongs, clocks, wristbands, stickers and all kinds of other junk to only sell a select few pieces of merchandise. You can set up a free account at cafepress.com and create your own store to sell product or buy it to sell at your upcoming shows. They have so many different products it will make your head spin. My advice on your merchandise selections is to create two or three t-shirt designs that are simple yet creative, a CD and a DVD. Only display the most current album you have recorded but keep a few of your older albums with you in case someone wants any of your back catalog.

As you progress as a band/artist/act, you must always improve your performance skills. I hate going to a performance and seeing a bunch of musicians standing on stage like statues. You need to connect with the audience, make eye contact with people and entertain them. Unfortunately, your performance is not all about the music. When I was the lead singer of my band I would constantly rent DVDs of live performances from Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, Queen, Rage Against the Machine, Kiss, Prince and other famous artists who put on an amazing show. You can learn how they interact with their band-mates, how they speak to the crown and pull their audience in. Every one of your performances will leave an impression on your fans, always remember that. Your appearance and your demeanor are paramount in attracting fans and followers.

Other marketing strategies to get you, your band and/or act out into the public are to perform at local festivals. For instance, I live in Chicago and during the summer there are usually 2 festivals per weekend that attract thousands of people. Festivals are very hard to break into, but once you have a good following and a reputation as a good performer, you can submit your material to the organizers (more google searches) to be considered for the next years festivals. Festivals are booking far in advance so if you are interested in performing at summer festivals, you need to submit your materials by late October. The exposure you will receive from the festival circuit is invaluable. You will have your name in the newspapers, city websites and on the radio while performing at a paid gig. In my hometown of Naperville, I was able to perform at their festival called "Ribfest" and opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd. That night I performed in front of over twenty thousand people.

Send your materials out to music magazines, local entertainment magazines and online music forums for a review of your music. Again this gains exposure, as long as it is a good review, and will help you gain momentum.

Once you have achieved a good following locally and have a huge fan base via your online social communities, you have the opportunity to present yourself to distribution companies, national promoter and managers that can elevate you to the next level. You will have a proven track record and some momentum which will help you in your negotiations in your future. When selecting representation, always research your manager / promoter / agent and ask for testimonials and/or contact information from them to some current clients.

Hopefully this will get you started on your path to greatness and help you along the way to becoming the next big thing. There are more and more ways to promote yourself and more ways to earn money at gigs that I will jump into on my next article.