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Hi. Mission Man here. This site has been my side project for the last 10 years. I started this site with the notion that the best music made by the best musicians should be the most popular. I know this will never be true as long as the major labels have all of the say on the major radio stations, but I'll still do what I can to level the playing field a little bit. If you want to know more about me, and my music, go to www.MissionMan.net. There's some free music, a bio, and more there. If you are too busy trying to launch your own music career, I understand completely. I hope this site is helpful. If you have any suggestions, or find any dead links, etc. please email me at missionman@missionman.net.
To help support my music, and therefore this site, buy the "Complete Mission Man Collection" for just $16 for 121 mp3s. Get more info here.
In my research, I found some sites specifically for women, so if you're a female musician, start here.
Two new sections established June 14, 2004, listing of music venues for independent musicians organized by state and music media and college newspapers, also organized by state. I have been updating the college newspapers section extensively during May of 2006. The state I have the most information for as far as venues goes currently is Ohio. I need information on every state, though, so please check out the sections, and tell me if you know of any publications or venues I don't know of.
I often run across sites that are pretty unique while working on improving this site, and today, June 9, 2004, I found www.globalmusicproject.org, that's right .org. They're a non-profit company that allows their visitors to buy mp3s for $1 each, and the net proceeds go to charity. Check out their site for the list of charities, and how to donate your music, arrange a GMP concert in your area, and more.
Thank you everyone for helping to keep this site as up-to-date as possible. I am especially grateful for those college radio station webmasters who inform me of their station and the website. It's good to see they care enough to find my site. It means musicians and radio stations are coming closer together, and that's a wonderful thing. If you are new to the site, be sure to scroll all the way down the page to see all the categories here before diving in head first. You may bust your head open if you don't plan a little first. I have added a club listings section towards the bottom of the page. This will become more valuable over time, and may be the best thing for you touring musicians out there.
It came to my attention today that I need a section on European distributors, etc. Then I thought some more and decided that I really just need information on European labels that are interested in licensing non-European musicians. If you are under a licensing deal, I'd appreciate some information on your licensor. Specifically, their name and how to contact them. If you know of any, I'd appreciate that too. For many of us musicians, Europe will enjoy our music much more than America will, and I'd like to help you find your audience over there if possible. Thanks in advance to anyone who gives me information on this.
I hope you enjoy this site, and that it helps you towards your dreams. I am constantly looking for ways to improve the site, so feel free to email me if you have any suggestions. I work a lot (unfortunately for other people still), so be patient, but I assure you I read every non junk email I get. Thanks, and good luck to you in your career.
The following is a list with brief descriptions of the different sections of my website. I have put them in the order I think a musician should go in when starting from scratch.
If you like this site, the best way to keep it going is to buy "Intro To My Mind" or "Out Of The Shadows." You can look at and buy either of them by going to www.MissionMan.net. Of course, if you don't want to go to the record store site, then you can use the CDBaby shopping cart here for it:
If you are already looking at the site like there is too much information on it, just go here. It lists the sites I feel are the most important to success as an independent musician.
If you think there is too much clutter on the homepage, go here. You can see everything you need to see on your screen all at once.
Another way to get your music heard and sold. They are the equivalent of a combined distributor, radio station, and record store all in one to those people who shop for music online. If you sign up with CDBaby, then you can put a shopping cart, just like the one below, on your site. There's also a ton of other things that signing up with CDBaby gets you.
This stage is relevant at any time. Whether you record an album first, and then go out and tour with a product, or tour to revise your songs and pay for the studio, you'll most likely need to perform live. It's not always easy to get gigs, though. Especially as an original musician. It takes a lot of work, but this should focus your efforts a little more because it has listings of gigs all over the country, cutting down on trying to find the information on your own. On June 14, 2004, I started listing venues I know about personally. There's also many sites listed that have information on venues around the country.
Go here to find papers that review independent music.
It's inevitable that you'll need to buy some more musical equipment sometime. Here's a list of musical equipment sellers. Shop around and find the best price.
Once you have a recorded ADAT or one-off CD, and have decided to pick up the expenses yourself (or want to quote the record label you are trying to sign with), check out the table I've made of CD Manufacturers. On it I have prices for 300, 500, and 1000 CDs, as well as any pertinent contact information on the company, including website address.
After you have started the mass producing process, you need to establish a web presence. The table of web hosts I have created includes their basic prices, any contact information you need, and whether or not they support Microsoft Frontpage.
If you can't afford a web host, there are a few places to get free websites. They make you slightly less visible than having a domain name like EdenAutomatic.com or UMMusic.com would, but it's still possible to get visitors to your site with the right tools and dedication. Those kinds of tools are included in this list. All of them have at least something you can do for free, and for a fee many of them offer great ways to get more visitors to your site, including search engine submission.
Speaking of search engines, I have compiled a list of them here. There are 7 or 8 major ones on this list, and a fair amount of music related search engines as well. Included in the list is the way to submit to them.
By the time you have put the effort in to make a website, your manufacturers should have shipped your product to you. Once you have the product, you have to make it available to your fans to buy. You can do that strictly online, or you can try to find a physical distributor. Once the distributor has your CDs, then send copies to independent radio stations in the area so you can get radio play. Then you have your product heard in the same place it can be bought. You may even get enough response from the listeners of the independent radio station that a major station will want your material. This makes a website and an email address even more important. I have tried to get as much information on which stations to send the product to after sending it to certain distributors, but since I am just one person, I can't learn it all. Especially when the distributors don't know. If you use this resource, and figure out which stations to send it to, please pass the information along, so more musicians can use it in the future. This section is one the most valuable, and one of the ones I've put the most work into. It will continue to grow with your help.
I have created a comprehensive list of radio stations that will play independent music. It includes college radio stations, and other radio stations as well. Included will be their website address if they have one, what genres of music they play, and their phone number (or email address). Eventually, other information will be added, such as how their rotation works, etc. This section will also grow as time goes on. As I get more information, it will be added. Obviously, once you have a distributor, you'll want to send your CDs to radio stations. If someone doesn't hear your music, they aren't very likely to buy it. This is the most conventional way to get your music out there on a national level, and probably still the most effective.
With the web becoming faster and more prominent, and the average connection speed being a 56K modem now for anyone who browses the web regularly, music is becoming more prominent, and internet only radio stations are popping up. I'll pop them up on this page when I hear about them. You can make up your own mind as to whether or not they are worth it.
Electronic, or online, magazines can help you tremendously. Aside from radio play, they are the best advertising. People learn more about you as a band, and, if you are interesting, will likely become more into your music. Since they are online magazines, they have hyperlinks, and usually link to your website, provided you have one. Then people can buy the CD directly from you, or you can tell them which online CD store to buy your CD from.
Start with the 1999 Issues because they will have the most up-to-date information in them. There will also be new issues there every month remaining in 1998, so there will be new articles to read. If you are interested in reviews and such, check out the 1998, 1997 and 1996 Issues. They aren't nearly as informative as the newer issues, or this website, but they are the beginnings of the magazine, and the reason this website exists.
Copyright 1998-2004, Underground Music Monthly