How to Post mp3s Online

These are great days to be a musician. The music industry might be complaining about sales, but it is much easier for independent and established bands to get their music heard. The Internet has been a boon for all types of bands. You’ll hear success stories about a band getting discovered just on a website. You’ve got an mp3 in hand: now what? There are a few things to consider to help you reach a new fan base and people in the music industry.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Song recording
• Mp3 converter
• Internet access
• Band jpg

1. It should go without saying that the track is well-recorded. Spend some time recording the song: setting drum sounds, guitar sounds, etc. and work a while until the mix is right. Make certain the song sounds good on typical computer speakers as well as home stereo, car stereo, and mp3 player.
2. Convert the file to mp3. There are a number of different programs, such as MusicMatch, which can convert a file to mp3. It is also easy to convert to mp3 using Itunes or a DAW (Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools…)
3. All mp3s are not alike, and different sites will have different requirements. The two things to look out for are bitrate and encoding. A typical bitrate will be 128kbps with 44 Khz stereo encoding. Some sites may allow for a higher bitrate. It’s a good idea to convert an mp3 at different bitrates for different sites. Upload an mp3 in the highest bitrate possible: the higher the bitrate, the higher the quality.
4. Make sure the mp3 is under 10 MB. Again, different sites will have different requirements. Some sites will let you upload a song as large as 20MB. To do so, you may have to become a paid subscriber. Generally mp3s are in the 3-9 MB range. Lowering the bitrate will also lower the MB.
5. Determine if you want the mp3 to be streamed online, downloaded, or only to have a small sample available. It’s a good idea to have a least one or two songs fully downloadable so listeners can get a sense of your sound. Even top-named artists release free mp3s.
6. Find quality mp3 sites. Check if the site is popular and gets a lot of traffic. Most mp3 sites will host the song for you: they’ll house the song on their server. There are literally dozens to choose from. Don’t stop at one. On most sites, you can upload up to three songs for free, so you can post your songs on a number of different sites. You can think about becoming a paid subscriber—more songs and pictures to upload, and other features—of those sites which have been the most effective.
7. Upload an mp3, band photo, band bio, and song description—the more info, the better.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep track of your stats: page views, listens, and downloads.
• Spread the word! Let your friends and fans know about the listing. They’ll click on it and the mp3 could move up the charts (if the site has a chart system).
• Pay for advertising—banner ads or a front page listing.
• You get back what you put into it. Don’t just make a page and hope for the best. Take some time to add friends and correspond with other bands and listeners—especially those with tastes similar to your band. If your band has four members, make sure they all have a password so everyone can build the fan base independently.
• Try not to get addicted to adding friends. You can’t spend all your time online. There still has to be some time for practicing and writing new songs!