dj.WYSIWYG

Put yourself in the picture above. Do you think it’s wise to sell your product in one store, if you wanted as many customers to have it? The same applies for distributing your music. It’s smarter to think about different locations to upload audio.

After being a business student and helping a growing business, I know you have to push your own limits when trying to promote or sell something. It’s pretty important, even if sales or promoting a product (in person) isn’t your thing. It certainly isn’t mine.

What I did with the earlier mixes was simply post to a mini-blog I was using (Posterous), which allowed me to upload music files for free. I’d then do some social media sharing on Facebook, and add another mention on a separate music group. On Twitter, I’d also share a link with appropriate hashtags like #newwave and #synthpop. That’s for further discussion. A few years into using Posterous, the service closed, ported the blog over to Tumblr (had a feature to upload audio), and eventually saw activity decrease. Plays weren’t nearly as much as Posterous. I explored my options and didn’t know what service to use, as there were many to choose from, then settled on using Mixcloud.

Plays on Mixcloud didn’t fare too well, and topped off after awhile. I thought, “Why not also upload audio in others channels?” When a musical artist has a new single they want to promote, do they play it from one radio station? No. What I was doing was essentially the web equivalent of playing it on one station (Mixcloud).

So, I decided to upload audio on:

• Soundcloud: Supposedly has the most users, but have yet to see good returns on it. Limited free minutes to upload. Pay if you want for more.
• Mixcrate: Fared worse than Soundcloud, and has long been shut down.
• hearthis.at: A more recent network I heard about, and seems to be promising.
• House Mixes: Turned out to be the best of the group to acquire more listens.

With each profile, it’s important to include your website URL. It’s there to use to your advantage, and another reason for having a personalized website. Whether or not users visit from the link does not matter. You are strengthening your position as a brand, and search engines will pick up on these profiles.

I postponed to upload audio to YouTube because they were previously muting issues with music. If you look at what they are doing now, they’ve softened their stance. What’s probably the best form of exposure, you can work around these limitations and develop a channel.

When anybody comments on your pages, it’s really important to engage with your users. Thank them for their listens or comments. If they’re negative, use it as constructive criticism and be gracious if you choose to respond.

Next Up: Social Media and Search Engine Optimization