You wanna get your sounds up on the web?

We discussed (a bit) about my philosophy (like I always do) on .MP3 and

WWW sound files in the last article… what I think I need to do next is

explain (just) a few of the tools you'll need to be successful at getting

your sounds up on the web!

Step #1

First, you'll HAVE to pick a site (or three) to be used to store your

files. There are a LOT of them out there right now, & I'm pasting a list in

(originally furnished by Bryan Baker, of GAJOOB 'zine & HOMEMADEMUSIC.com )

below… the list has a few comments from Bryan, but don't take HIS word for

it… go and VISIT the site(s) first, read through the fine print, then test a

few downloads yourself. Anyway, here's Bryan's list:

IUMA.COM is the grandaddy of music sites. they used to charge a lot of

money for artist Pages, but now they've been bought by e-music who also owns tunes.com, rollingstone.com and others. it's all free. you're limited to 10 songs. they don't sell music yet. they pay you 25% of ad revenue generated from hits to your artist page every quarter. they're just starting that so no one's sure how it's going to work. the site is very slick.

AUDIOGALAXY.COM hosts mp3 files with a 25MB limit. They are announcing a "new" audiogalaxy soon. They don't sell music currently. MP3.COM hosts mp3 files. you can now put html on your page which allows for more customization. they will create DAM CD's which are culled from tracks you select and burned to a CD to order with your artwork. They're cut is 50% of your selling price.

RIFFAGE.COM is quickly becoming a favorite mp3 site. they've just signed a co-branding deal with AOL which should push them even further. They will sell merchandise, including T-shirts, you send to them and keep 15%.

GARAGEBAND.COM just gave away a $250,000 recording contract and is now promoting their second one. It's founded by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) and as Sir George Martin on its board. They don't sell stuff. You have to review 10 songs for every song you upload. They award the recording contracts based on reviews. very slick interface.

AMP3.COM is very inconsistent. they pay you 5 cents for every download, but then stick a 5 second ad on the front of your mp3 file.

Here are some others I'm less familiar with, but have posted information in past DiY Reports:

NETUBE.COM is a little corner of the web to discover atists and bands by offering music downloads in mp3 format in a creative way. The goal herefrom the start was to provide a vehicle of exposure for the indie artist, signed or unsigned, required being simply a permission email from the unsigned artist or artist/ bands label. E-mail: netube@altavista.net.
Web Address: http://www.netube.com.

QUICKMP3.COM is in need of finished product of all genres for downloading. I  know that there a host of other mp3 sites out there already, however, most if not all, are giving the downloads away for free. We will be selling the downloads and you will be paid $ .50 for each download. We will be using a single format so you can send material for as many different genres as you wish. There is a fee of $30.00. For this $30.00 you may submit up to 12 songs(on one CD-R please) and we will upload them to our site and away you go. If interested, send me an e-mail. Contact: James. E-mail: ocm87@aol.com
Web Address: http://www.quickmp3.com

MP3VAULT.COM -- Why join mp3vault.com?
FREE Artist or Band Web Pages. Free, is free, need we say more. Your MP3's Stay Commercial Free. Your fans get your music without commercials attached to them. From the initial concept of mp3vault.com we want to make it easy for users to find your music. Things like our unique similar artist search, location search and our searchable gig calendar. FREE One Click Search Engine Submission. We not only give you web space, we want your web pages at mp3vault.com to  be seen and your music heard. We have built a search engine submission tool right in to our site that let you add your mp3vault pages to the top major search engines like Excite, Infoseek, Altavista, HotBot and more. Gig Calendar Listings. Add any live dates you have lined up to your mp3vault gig calendar. Users can find out about your live performances by searching our online gig calendars. Users can search by city, state and or date. No Storage Limits. We put no limits on how many MP3's you add to your portfolio. No Hassle Streaming Audio. mp3vault.com will create streaming samples of any mp3 you post for you. Real Time Statistics and Standings.

mp3vault.com provides real time, to the minute stats on all your mp3 downloads, QuickPlays listened to, your current standings and your web page visits. And We're Just Getting Started!!! Web Address: http://www.mp3vault.com.

WEEKLYINDIEMP3.COM is a new site with weekly indie MP3's. "No Crap, just good indie bands." Web Address: http://www.weeklyindiemp3.freeservers.com

Announcing AUDIOSURGE.COM -- "My friends and I love music, especially independent music. We felt that their were tons of great bands out there who weren't receiving the recognition they deserved, mainly because they weren't signed to major labels. The Internet and the popularity of MP3s have started to level out the playing field between the major and independent artist. We wanted to be part of that revolution. So we started a free service for independent artists, labels, promoters, and general music fans called audioSurge. Do you love music? Then you should check out some of the free MP3s we offer on audioSurge.com. We might not have "Crash" by The Dave Matthews Band or "Ruff Riders" by DMX, but we certainly have a lot of tracks by talented musicians. For instance if you like Matchbox 20 or The Counting Crows you might want to check out "Lay You Down" by Tremorphlo.
    Are you in a band? Sign up with audioSurge.com and we will give you a free generated webpage. Link to your existing home page and get more hits!Upload a picture and an MP3! We also offer free promotional services suchas website submission to 12 popular search engines and music indexes. Do you run a record label? Extend your presence on the web by adding your roster to our band list. We have many exciting features planned for audioSurge.

Soon to launch is
http://www.buymp3.com/, a one-stop-shop to purchasing MP3s on the Internet. E-mail: briang@audiosurge.com.
Web Address: http://www.audiosurge.com

KWEEVAK'S TRACKS is a MP3 and music promotion site. We offer links to MP3's by many famous Classic rock artists and this feature is drawing in many rock n roll enthusiasts who then find out about the new music we are promoting. The artists we have represented on our site have reported that our site has provided more international sales and interest than received from the larger new music directories. This is because we feature only a handful of artists at a time and promote them to our large, international audience. Contact: Richard J. Lynch. Phone: (973) 962-4710. E-mail: mr_kweevak@yahoo.com.
Web Address: http://www.kweevak.com

MP3DOM.COM I am a New York City based music attorney/manager and former record producer (Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, LL Cool J, etc ...). Along with a number of other top music industry professionals, I am about to launch the most exciting new music download site on the Internet. It will be the first site to filter every artist submission so that all of our music will be good. In fact, our slogan is "New Music That Doesn't Suck."
And, of course, it will be free for artists and visitors. MP3dom.com truly represents a breakthrough way for talented artists to promote their music to the general listening public and the music business community over the Web. All material submitted to us will be reviewed in-house; first by me and other industry pros and then by major label and major publisher A&R people on our Creative Advisory Panel. Only about 1 in 25 artists will actually receive a page on the site. This means that being accepted on the site has real value as a vindication of an artists talent and as a promotional tool. We expect no more than 1200 artists across all genres to be added during the first year. The other exciting aspect of the site is that every registered user's visit will be personalized. Once a user registers, they receive their own personal information page. This page will contain a list of new songs they may like based on their previous downloads, and a list of artists from their home state or country. In addition, the artist can constantly update their list of upcoming gigs on their artist page. If they are playing in a registered user's home state or country within thirty days after that user logs in, their gig will show up on their personal page. If accepted to the site, an artist will receive an extremely well laid out artist page, and the ability to add a new song every two months. See, we keep the number of artists and songs low so that artists have the best chance of reaching a wide audience. You won't find multiple songs by the same artists on our charts. The launch will occur sometime in September. We will have a booth at the CMJ Conference. If you are going to be there, please make sure to stop by. Contact: Josh Futterman.
Phone: (212) 662-2052.
Postal Address: MP3DOM.com ,
3143 Broadway, Suite 3D , New York, N.Y. 10027.
E-mail: info@mp3dom.com.
Web Address: http://www.mp3dom.com

HOMETOWN SOUNDS is a new mp3 site for your songs. Band pages have biographies, mp3's, contact information for ordering music. Web Address:http://www.hometownsounds.com

MIRRORMUSIC.COM invites the independent/unsigned musicians among you to upload MP3s of your original music. "The site is still quite new, and we look forward to lots of participation from the best independent musicians out there. We are committed to helping your music find the audience it deserves, and helping you find the resources you need. The basic premise of the site is this: artists upload MP3s to the site. Listeners come tothe site to listen to music, rate individual tracks, and receive recommendations for further listening based on their ratings and other people's ratings. The recommendations are generated by an intelligent correlation algorithm we have created. This means that your music will reach the ears of people who are most likely to enjoy it. You will have a page on the site on which you can keep track of your music, including how many times it has been downloaded and listeners' average ratings for each selection. We also link to your outside home page (if you have one) so you can expect more interested listeners to visit your site. If you don't have any tracks for uploading we also invite you to register as a listener on our site, so that you can find great tracks by other independent artists. So far, all uploads and downloads are free on MirrorMusic.com. We are investigating ways of letting you designate certain songs for free download,    and certain songs for sale. We will make sure that the mechanisms we set up are beneficial to the artists and reasonable for the listener.   
Web Address: http://www.mirrormusic.com

MPTROIS.COM is a French mp3 site. Web Address: http://www.mptrois.com

LYCOS LISTENING ROOM is a new site offered by Lycos designed to guarantee your music is heard. Lycos Listening Room utilizes Fast Search & Transfer's advanced searching technology, so your future fans can easily find your music. By identifying yourself with music genres and other artists who have influenced your sound, new listeners can easily locate the type of music they want to hear - your music. Of course, fans familiar with your name will have instant access to your music. By uploading your music right now, your music will be the first heard on the Lycos Listening Room site due to launch November 1st. Please be advised the following URL to which you'll have access is a pre-launch beta site. This beta site has been designed to receive your music and artist information before we go live on November 1st. Lycos Listening Room will provide all the elements you need to reach new fans and retain the current ones. All you need to do is provide your music in MP3 format and some biographical information - we'll walk you through the process. We look forward to working with you and assisting your future success in the music industry. E-mail: mp3upload@lycos.com. Web Address: http://209.67.247.171/logon

FRANCEMP3.COM is the leading MP3 files distributor in France with over150.000 visits per month, 130 artists and 300 songs currently on line ; we offer you a FREE opportunity to join us ; you will have the benefit of presenting as many songs as you want... on your own web page, and your own e-mail, your download and streaming statistics, a clear presentation of your band. Francemp3.com is the first Net Company to have signed a distribution agreement with SACEM, the French authority who controls Authors, Composers and Publishers copyrights, to whom we pay a fee for free downloaded music. Whether you are French or non-French this means that if you are member of your domestic Copyright Agency, you will be paid by SACEM, even though your files are downloaded for free. Francemp3.com is the only French MP3 company to have rented a booth for the MIDEM 2000, the international music market in January next year. If you wish so, we will be more than happy to help you find an editor or a productor for starting a great music career. Web Address: http://www.francemp3.com

STEP # 2

        The next step is to convert (some of) your tunes into .mp3 (and/or .ra) format. To some, this sounds like a complicated process, but once you've done it, it's really easy to do (though it DOES take a pretty fair chunk of your time).

Here's the way I do it (& the (basic) tools I use (this is NOT "the way", it's just the way Zzaj does it):

A. Record your files from (from CD, analog tape, whatever) to .wav format.

The tool I use for this is "Cool Edit". It's downloadable from the net at

this site: http://www.syntrillium.com/load.htm

The version I got requires $50 to unlock it so it can do all functions at one time, but the "free" version still works just fine. The download page shown above features newer versions that will allow you to convert DIRECTLY to .MP3 format, & they certainly bear investigation (though I imagine they will be pretty costly).

B.  If you use the "free" version of "Cool Edit", you will then need to

convert the .wav files to .mp3 format. I use WINAMP ENCODER… information about it & download sites can be found at http://software.mp3.com/software

Don't forget, you'll need the PLAYER software, too. Just download the

programs to your computer, expand them (by double-clicking on them) and then begin using them.

C.  Once you've got them all converted, go to the .MP3 site you've selected as "home" for your toonz & begin the (somewhat) time-consuming process of uploading your files. If you're lucky enough to have a fast Internet connection, it will take much less time, but it's still a lot of work…

...deciding what you're going to release (remember, once you put it up there,it's pretty much "in the public domain")…

....deciding what to type in your artist BIO… responding to e-mails, etc., about your tunes, or where to purchase your CD's.

Over the next few weeks/months, we will furnish more in-depth discussion of each of these steps. In the meantime,
don't hesitate to send your questions to
author rotcod@olywa.net

Also, to look & listen to the results of his work, go to http://www.olywa.net/rotcod/CDS.htm

Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf
Perpetrator & Instigator,
Zzaj Productions
5308 65th Ave SE
Lacey, WA 98513
http://www.olywa.net/rotcod
rotcod@olywa.net