Live Music Blog

If you’re a digital music fan, you probably have problems organizing your music file collection. For me, I used to have 100’s of MP3 files lumped in one folder in my hard drive. could you imagine the pain I had to go through to find one specific tune to listen to?

Organizing your music files is an vital skill to learn. Once your collection is wonderful ly sorted out, you will be able to find the songs you want quickly and easily. So performance aside some time and read through the following suggestions I have come up with.

1. Establish Sub folders – The single the majority important tip for organizing your music files is to establish sub folders in your hard drive. Do not ever leave your MP3 files in one large folder called C:My Music. Establish sub folders prefer C:My Music Classical, C:My Music Pop and C:My Music Soundtracks.

2. Ensure your ID3 Tags Are Correct – ID3 tags are used to store vital information about MP3 files. Things like the song title, artist, album are kept and will be displayed by your MP3 player. Take the time to properly edit these tags – a lot of MP3 files you download have the ID3 tag information all wrong. A nice software program for editing ID3 tags is TagScanner.

3. Invest in Good Music Management Software – There are several wonderful pieces of software out there for managing music files. Two good ones come to mind. The 1st is Media Monkey and the second is Music Match Jukebox. Both programs provide wonderful music management features like an integrated music player, CD  burning features and ID3 tag renaming.

4. Get Your Music Files from Legal Sources – If you’ve been downloading music using P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing programs prefer KaZaa, you will substantially prefer ly get music files which have strange names prefer 56_HeyjAck.mp3. My advice: Get your files from legal sources prefer Web music services iTunes or Napster and you will avoid this problem.

5. Establish Good Play lists – Virtually all software music player (e.g. Win amp) will allow you to establish play lists. For example, say you’re in the mood for rock songs, you could point to your folder called C:Music Rock and establish a play list from that folder. Save the play list after it is created. When you next feel prefer listening to those songs, all you need to do is load that play list instead of trawling through your hard drive and folders.

6. Get A Huge Hard Drive – I know that this sounds a little crazy – but running out of disk space can and will ruin your well-organized music collection. Make sure you have enough hard disk space to seller your music files. Say you have 10,000 music files that you absolutely must retain and listen to. It’s a very bad idea to store, say, 8,000 files in Hard Drive A and 2,000 files in Hard Drive B. Very messy. It’s better to seller them all in one hard disk. So get your hands on the biggest hard drive you can find.

I hope this post stimulates you to organize your music collection a little better. I know it takes resolution, but once your music collection is properly cataloged, listening to your music collection will be a much more pleasant experience. So do not hesitate – get organized now!

The highest quality goal of most musicians who use My Space.com is to attract a record label. Earning a contract to record an album can be a musician way into the music business. But what can you do to attract record labels? Creating a profile page and uploading music is a wonderful start, but by no means is it the end of your marketing quest s. Below you will find a few ideas on attracting a record label and getting them to take notice of your skill.

Music Marketing Tip#1: Upload a Variety of songs

Just because you have to list the genre of music you perform does not mean you have to upload songs that only reflect that type of ! Show record labels and audiences that you have other musical interests by uploading songs that are different from one another. This will show you r range, ability to attract audiences from other type of s, which boosts your marketability, and prove to record labels you’re value investing in.

Music Marketing Tip#2: Fuel the Fan Fires

Record labels conduct searches on My Space everyday looking for skill ed artists. One way to get them to avoid on your profile page is by showing them you have a strong fan base. The more individuals who visit your web site, the more popular your page becomes there. Use the marketing tools available in order to gain fan interest.

Record labels want to sign those who are already experienced in working crowds during shows and who have a strong On-line presence because it makes promoting the music much easier. Having a strong fan base will make selling records and make promoting performance tours and other public appearances much easier.

Establish a buzz on My Space by attracting more audiences to your page. Join My Space forums, list upcoming events, and advertise your page on fliers, business cards, and other marketing materials as this will prompt audiences who have seen your live shows to visit and download your songs.

Music Marketing Tip#3: Contacting Record Labels

Finding information about record labels is easy because of the Internet. Instead of sending a copy of your latest CD  or several of your tunes, you may send record labels the link to your My Space profile page. Music executives will appreciate this much more than strange pieces of mail showing up at their offices. Sending a quick email with your contact information may be enough to get you noticed. Research record businesses to see which ones cater to your genre, and which ones accept email from musicians.

Music Marketing Tip#4: Selling Your Album on My Space

If you release an album on your own, sell it in order to generate buzz and furthermore catch the attention of record labels. Being able to show record labels that you are a professional performer who’s passionate about music will session you apart from the rest.

Attracting record labels will require you to remain diligent about marketing your music on MySpace. Uploading songs, using marketing tools such as blogs, video, and photos will help record labels get a better idea of what your sound. Use these marketing tools and others provide ed and go showcase your musical skill s.

It is the dream of al the majority every adolescent to have their personal rock band, establish new sounds, reach success and everything else that all of this may bring. Screaming listeners, respect, autographs, tours, luxury hotels, glamour etc…

Now,on one of those sunny days, all of us wake up from this sweet dream and, without the notion that all this time has passed by so hastily, we’re adults, living our “normal” lives, earning just enough bread to get by, doing what our parents always wanted us to do.

I know a doctor who still dreams of having a diverse life, a life that will excite him… once he confided in me that he would gladly ex change everything that he’d built, if he may have the occasion to go back to what he loved perfect, music (he was a guitarist in a heavy metal band).

Where do all these dreams hide?

Now you’ve your own company, or that job, which in societys’ eyes is respectable, in a nice company, and you decide not to let the old flame die. You decide to have a bit of fun and return to “waging a bet” in the music industry.

For you to be started as a performer, or manager of a band, you’ll need abilities in business, buying, sales, market research, man management, delegation of tasks and be fashion conscious.

All these actions together make up marketing in the world of music.

For this project, just prefer in any other business, you will need to designate a quantity which you’re prepared to invest. Treat music prefer any other commercial adventure in your life. Never as a profitable hobby.

A Budget and Business Plan (with a target public defined) are vital, just as in a “conventional company“. This way you will not fall into the trap of making emotional decisions, taking your attention away from your real objective.

Save your sentiments for your music.

Music is major part of our everyday life. Music likewise has a long, complex and captivating history. It may predate language, and most certainly predates the written word. It is found in every known human culture, both past and present, varying wildly amidst certain periods and locations on the globe. The music of every culture is influenced by all other aspect of that culture, such as social and economic organization, climate, and access to technology.

The development of human music occurred against the backdrop of natural sounds prefer the lapping of ocean waves, the rippling of river water, the singing of birds and sounds created by other animals. Prehistoric music, more commonly referred to as primitive music, is the name given to all music produced by preliterate cultures, beginning somewhere in  profoundly late geological history.

The prehistoric period is considered to have ended with the creation of writing, and with it, by definition, prehistoric music. “Ancient music” is the term given to the music that followed. This music was produced by various early cultures, particularly Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Mesopotamians and citizens of the Muslim world, as well as Asiatic cultures.

After ancient music, came “early” music which is a very general term referring to music in the European classical tradition from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, until the end of the Baroque period in the 18th Century. Music within this enormous time span was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions throughout a wide  geographic region. What unified these a lot of cultures in the Middle Ages was the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as a focal point for music development for the 1st centuries of this period.

The Medieval period (from the 9th to the 14th Centuries) has been rich in musical history as attested by the artistic renditions of instruments, writings about music, and other historical references. The only collection of music which has survived from pre-900 AD to the present is the liturgical music of the Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called the Gregorian chants.

Renaissance music followed the medieval era, but the beginning of Renaissance music isn’t as clear ly marked as the start of the Renaissance in the other arts, and began, not in Italy, but in northern Europe just central France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The invention of the printing press had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles and by the 15th century, composers and singers from these Low Countries begin to spread over all of Europe.

Baroque music became quite popular after 1600, and instrumental music became dominant. Although strong religious musical traditions continued, secular music came to the forefront with the development of the sonata, the concert o and concert o grosso. In Baroque music the keyboard, particularly the harpsichord, is the dominant instrument. The three the majority outstanding composers of this period are J.S. Bach, G. F. Handel and A. Vivaldi.

The early Classical period has been ushered in by the Mannheim School which exerted a profound influence on Joseph Haydn, and through him, on nearly all subsequent European music. Wolfgang Mozart has been the central figure of this period and his phenomenal and varied output defines our perception of the Classical era.

Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were transitional composers who led Europe into the Romantic period with their expansion of the existing genre s, forms and even uses of music. During this Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional. By the late 19th century, there was a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestras, and in the role of concert as part of a rapidly growing urban society. Strauss, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Wagner comprised a influential group of Romantic composers. A prominent feature of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by figures prefer Dvorak, and Sibelius.

The 20th Century saw a music revolution as radio gained popularity globally and new media and technologies were created to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. Because music has been no longer limited to concert clubs and venue s, it became possible for music musicians to secure fame and fortune quite immediately.

And music became more mobile with the use of headsets, compact disc  players, and iPods. Music of the 20th Century brought a new freedom and expansive  experimentation with styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of earlier musical periods. Heavy metal music and rap entered the picture and joined hip-hop, jazz, country/western, ballads, folk, acid rock, Christian rock and a variety of other type ofs to produce today’s fascinating world of music.

It is a safe bet that, since the arrival of cognitive human beings on this earth, music has, in some form had a serious effect on their lives. The first sounds, other than speech, were probably produced by hitting something; wood, stone or hide; and ancient individualss must have appreciated the sounds of the world around them; of water, weather and animals; and were the sounds of a rippling stream or a gushing waterfall music to their ears? And when they stood at the seashore did the crashing waves and the suck of the tides move them in some way?

There is something deep within our psyche, which reacts and ‘ recall s’ music. It is more than probable that sounds relating to music and rhythm came long before sounds relating to communication and speech. Today, this theory can be tested by noting a baby’s reaction to a lullaby as compared to speech. If you’re lucky, humming can soothe the the majority fractious child and even send them to sleep! Music, in the form of rhythm was used by a lot of peoples as a way of sending messages to out of sight recipients; contemplate the jungle drums of Africa or the Alpine horn, the Aboriginal didgeridoo or the use of bells as a warning of attack.

The days of learning our lessons by rote have, mostly, disappeared. This is because it has, rightly, been recognised that all of us don’t necessarily absorb the content of what all of us repeat over and over again. But, as an aid to memory, music still has its uses. tunes all of us have learnt in childhood may be recalled far later in life than mere words. Music is a well known and much used therapy in illnesses that involve memory loss; Stroke, Alzheimers etc; and not only as a recall aid but likewise as a re-learning tool. Speech therapists use music extensively when trying to educate stroke victims how to speak again. The rhythm and melody of a familiar tune will generally ‘trigger’ a positive response, when no amount of visual stimuli has an effect.

And then there is the cohesive quality of music; from the singing of a country’s National Anthem to a football crowds chant; from carol singers to brass bands. Musical participation has been used in every walk of life. The chain gangs of America’s Deep South would use music to get through the day and establish a rhythm to mundane physical labour. Sailors would pull a hawser or’sheet’ in unison while singing a familiar ‘hornpipe’ or reel; The amazing gospel sounds that poured from the wooden churches of the Southern states black population were a potent community tool to  encourage  and celebrate their culture; a lucky offshoot was the inspiration of much of our modern rhythm and blues. Nowadays factories all over the world use ‘piped‘ music to soothe the workers; if you’re doing a humdrum task music can make the time go faster.

When we think about it music isn’t just a pleasant pastime that’s either passively listened to or actively produced. It has a much deeper, more fundamental purpose. Our reactions to outside events may be completely altered by music. It may make us happy, sad, frightened, elated, thoughtful . . . the list of feelings it engenders are as long as their number. And words are not important to create this ambience; for instance, how would silent movies have worked in the absence of the music? Those Keystone Cops in the absence of the frenetic piano plinkity plonk; the doe eyed heroines in the absence of the sobbing strings; the very large sweeping epics in the absence of full orchestral back up? They just wouldn’t have worked. Nowadays, with the proliferation of world music, we listen to and enjoy music in many divergent languages, in the absence of necessarily understanding a word the singers say; much as opera was once listened to as the fashionable ‘world’ music of its day; just another example of the emotive power of music.

Now,it’s fair to say that music has an innate basis in our evolutionary makeup. we have probably used it since homo sapiens 1st walked the earth. Other animals do use sounds in their day to day living (frogs croak, dogs howl, sheep bleat etc.) but, with the possible exception of birds, we are the only species to enjoy making melody out of sound. We have utilised every viable tool, from the human voice to electronic tones, to establish ever more varied compositions. Wouldn’t it be intriguing to discover how soon into our evolution the power and beauty of the human voice has been appreciated? As the centuries have passed musicians have been, rightly, feted for their skill to move us with song, melody and rhythm. Once musicians were revered as priests, interpreting the sounds of the gods. Nowadays we are more pragmatic; but we still need that harmony in our lives; even if it’s only our cellular telephone  ringtone!

Bands fail all the time. They fail, not through a lack of skill or because of a mutual decision to pursue other interests, but because of a lack of interest, band recognition and a small fan base. This lack of interest has absolutely nothing to do with the band’s musical or vocal abilities; rather, it is due to a lack of promotion. in the absence of promotion and advertising to generate interest in the band, it will fail. This begs the question, how does a band promote itself? Is there a single method of promotion that will work, or must it be a multifaceted marketing plan? Promotion is the the majority necessary aspect of turning into successful in the music business. To accurately  promote  a band, a comprehensive promotion plan must be created. This plan will encompass many divergent facets of advertising and promotion and each one plays a critical role in the success or failure of the band. in the absence of a comprehensive promotion plan, a band cannot expect to garner the type of fame and recognition necessary to be provide ed a large contract through by a top music business label. in the absence of promotion, the only audiences you’ll gain are those who actually get to hear the band play, with no means of gaining a larger audiences.
A comprehensive promotion plan will cover many divergent areas:
It will permit audiences to hear a band’s music in the absence of actually having to present at a performance event. This may be achieved through two distinct methods. Creating a music cd that may be distributed free of charge is a amazing way to build a fan base. Members of the band may be given an allotment to hand out through their everyday lives. Custom stickers may be placed within the jewel case, allowing audiences to  promote  the band on their own. You can additionally establish music MP3’s and host them on the Internet for free download. Both of these methods will allow prospective audiences to listen to the band’s music in a comfortable  set ting in the absence of having to go to a show.
Use the Internet. The Internet is an incredible promotional tool if properly used. Virtually every band has a presence on social networking web sites such as MySpace.com and FaceBook. You can use these to host your free MP3’s, let audiences request more information and band stickers and bumper stickers. Stickers and bumper stickers may be custom made to meet a band’s particular needs through custom sticker printing.
Playing any Club that will book the band, from free shows at a local bar to annual Battle of the Bands competitions held in many cities. The more Clubs played, the amazing the number of people that are able to listen to the band’s music and see experience their stage show. This allows performers to dramatically increase the amount of buzz generated about the band and elevate name recognition in the public.
Possibly the single perfect promotional tool at a performers disposal are custom printed band stickers. These are an incredibly popular way for people to display their interests, causes, political statements and more. Through custom made stickers and bumper stickers, performers can use their original artwork, graphics, logos or designs that they can want to use. They are created through custom sticker printing and may be found many places on the Internet. Many audiences are more than happy to put stickers of their favorite performers on their notebooks, backpacks, in their cars, on bulletin boards and anywhere else they can contemplate. This allows a vast number of others to see the band’s name, artwork and logo designs, increasing name recognition by a large amount.
A comprehensive promotional plan encompasses all this and more. Each aspect listed here dramatically increases the fame and name recognition of a band and contributes to increasing the band’s fame and fan base. In short, the more people that are aware of a band’s presence, the more people are able to listen to and appreciate the band’s music and attend performance s. audiences are what the music business is all about, in the end, and the more audiences a band has, the greater the opportunitys that the band will be signed by a music label.
StickerGiant has been founded in 2000 by an unknown mad scientist named John Fischer and world renowned illustrator Mike Brooks. Since then John has made sure that StickerGiant works to source and sell ALL stickers that represent a myriad of views, Freedom of Expression through Stickers is our motto. contemplate StickerGiant as a non-partisan obvious ing house for the 1st Amendment.  we  don’t write the stickers here,  we  just provide a place for others to express themselves.  Don’t forget, Diversity is what makes United States Great!
In case you’re wondering, the StickerGiant community consists of Liberals, Conservatives, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Atheist.  we  are a slice of the American pulse and  we  prefer it that way. So, stand up for who you’re and choose out a sticker that represents who you are. Say it with stickers!

Music promotion is not such an simple task to master. In fact it is one of the biggest barrier present for an independent artist. There are literally tons of nice artists out there, but what’s stopping them from success and fame? It’s their promotion. Don’t think for a second just because you’re signed to a big record label, you’ll be next Justin Timberlake. Even big record labels can every now and then struggle to  promote  certain artists and there have been many cases where artists voluntarily choose to go independent so they can solely  promote  their music and be free of any contract.
Stop dreaming about getting “signed” – it is time to put the power in your hands. Independent music distribution is the wave of the future. And here is the nice news, you’re in total control. Don’t think for one second that have to have 100’s of thousands of dollars to drop your CD  if you’re independent? Think again. There are lots of businesses that will get you started for next to nothing. You only pay for what you sell and they do all the leg work for you.
There are web sites that you can visit now that takes your music Web – turns it into a professional CD  – and even takes your orders. They additionally ship, they print, they process orders … – heck, everything but making your song and cooking your breakfast. There are places Web which let’s you upload your song once and gets you listed in the top digital distribution web sites in seconds. The point is Web music promotion and distribution is much easier than you think. And iTunes is far from the only game out there – there are dozens of places to list your music that you have probably never heard of.
Social networking is another a Club you can use to establish amazing determinations. Armed with a little knowledge, you can propel your Web presence within a matter of days and get tons of free publicity and traffic coming through to your web site. Not only has the Internet begun to dominate the promotion of music, it has additionally begun to dominate its distribution as well. iTunes, by 2006, reportedly have more than a million song downloads per DAY. That has been back in 2006. (Hint: It is 2008 now).
Web downloads are projected to surpass CD  sales some time in 2010. This is just brilliant news for independent artist s. For you all aspiring artists out there, jump Web, ride this 100-ton marketing guerrilla and take use of the amazing opportunity Internet presents to everybody.

When it comes to locating new music, the Internet is a virtual treasure trove, with a externally limitless supply of new and established artists, hidden gems and struggling and fledgling artists that are on the cusp of stardom. Here are some amazing legal resources to help you find more music to add to your collection:
Pandora.com – Technically, Pandora is a free Internet radio web site, but look a little deeper and you’ll find much more than that. From the central page, you’ll be asked to type in your favorite music artist. Then a radio playlist is generated that includes your favorite performer as well as similar artists that Pandora believes you would prefer. They choose similar artists by matching up the rhythm, lyrics, harmonies, melodies and just about every other aspect of your favorite  musician’s  songs and then selects more artists and songs based on that analysis. The result is a decidedly customized playlist that prefer ly includes many artists that you haven’t heard of, yet will decidedly prefer ly be of interest to you. Pandora continues to refine the playlist even as you’re listening to your customized radio station, by letting you give a thumbs up or thumbs down to each song. If you’re looking for new music, Pandora is a amazing place to start.
Last.fm – Last.fm is prefer a social version of Pandora. You start by downloading the player, it will then scan your PC for music you already have, then establish a personal ized radio playlist from that. You can additionally discover new artists through your friends and get even more music recommendations.
MySpace.com – MySpace.com is amazing for discovering independent artist s. many independent artists start out by promoting themselves on a customized music MySpace.com page. artists are allowed to add up to 4 songs for visitors of their profile to listen to and can additionally add additional links to songs or embed videos right into the profile. You can find new music and artists by surfing from profile to profile clicking on inspiring friends of the artist s. many artists on MySpace.com are networked to help  promote  each other, so this works amazing for them and for you.
MusicMatch.com – MusicMatch provides a decidedly nice music player for your PC, but they additionally provide something called the MMGuide. Where you simply type in the name of your favorite performer and MusicMatch will give you recommendations based on the listening habits of their entire music community.
RadioBlogClub.com – RadioBlogClub is a service that allows bloggers and webmasters to add a customized radio playlist to their web site s. Simply type in the name of an performer or a song title and you’ll get a list of playlists that include those songs. The trick here is that these playlists rarely just include one artist, but once you’re done listening to the particular song or performer you requested, more music from that blog will play, and it is usually quite similar in taste. It’s a amazing way to hear new artist s, especially foreign artists including Asian and Indian.
There you have some of the perfect ways to discover new music Web, in a completely free and legal way. Enjoy!

Please accept the information below as a  lead provide ing pointers for publicizing a performance and  promote  maximum attendance and success!

Some of the recommendations can not be appropriate for your kind of performance. While some of the ideas may be obvious, others may be new but worthy of a try.

I will cover the facets of flyer/poster performance promotion and a few pointers for media promotion. first ly, the single the majority important thing when you want to  promote  a performance is to start delegating duties and make sure help ers know what’s expected of them.

So let’s start!

Flyers and Posters – It’s important to have a well designed, eye-catching flyer or poster. It will show people that the performance deserves their anticipation, time and money. The  musician’s management can provide you with some flyers or posters to start with.

If you like to establish your own flyer or poster, you ought to find a graphics professional or pronting company willing to give services in ex change for advertising.

If it is the first time the performer is coming to your town or city be sure to include a testimonial on the flyer or poster. A flyer that simple advertises an performer or a band will mean nothing to someone who has never heard of them!

Assign volunteers to post the flyers in places prefer ly to attract the the majority attention. Try grocery stores, local chamber of Commerce offices, Art Councils or other communities, malls, shoping plazas, music stores, book stores, galleries and other popular gathering spots where flyers are displayed routinely but be sure to ask for permission before posting.

Don’t forget to post the flyers or posters to the performance location itself! Try to hang posters as close to the average eye level as possible.

[Media and other sources of publicity] List the performance in community calendars, Newspaper, Magazines or radio and TV stations if possible. Radio and TV stations may be willing to anounce events for free.

Be sure to notice them many weeks in advance. In the listing include the date of the performance, time, location, ticket price, ticket outlets, sponsors of course and phone numbers for information.

Ask promotional material from the  musician’s  managements prefer interviews, video clips, song samples, photographs etc. Try to deliver the material to the media along with the news release anouncing the performance.

Make sure you follow up by phone. Ask from the management to arrange an interview with the artist(s) if possible. Discuss other possibilities.

provide  musician’s promo material (if available) to radio stations prefer ly to air it.  promote  them to play it usually especially a week or two before the performance. Have volunteers and friends telephone the stations and request more!

If you’re using an answering machine make a recording using sound clips from the artist. Advertise the phone numbers available to call in newspapaer or on the radio. Include a short message in the recordings detailing performance info.

When you’re Web, subscribe to any music-related newsgroups or bulletin boards. Post messages about your anticipation, plans and later, show specific information! Of course if you own a web site, contemplate creating a special area to advertise the performance with a hot-link to the  musician’s home page (if any).

Ask from the media to co-sponsor (sharing in work or re Club s) or to endorse the performance for publicity purposes. If the y say ‘YES’ then make sure you include a ‘..co-sponsored by..’ message in the flyers and other promotional material.

In this day and age, a country music performer who doesn’t have their own Website is missing a necessary business tool. A Website provides information about you, a way to sell your CDs and merchandise, a way to connect with your audiences, and a way to connect with potential business partners. When designed properly, a Website makes you look prefer a pro and is an amazing tool in help ing you achieve your goals. When designed badly, the web site can be driving away potential audiences and business opportunities.
I research every performer that goes into my Website, the International Country Music Database, so I’ve been to many country music performer web sites over the last few years. Some have been exceptionally well-developed while others have been, to be honest, nightmares.
Indecipherable navigation, slow-loading graphics, and lack of contact information make it extremely c hall enging to get the information I need. Because I need the information, I try harder than the average surfer to figure out a web site. Many people probably just leave, never to return.
The goal of your web site ought to be to provide your visitors with what they are looking for. You want them to spend time on your web site because they have found the information they are looking for and find it useful, not because they can’t find it.
In order to attract visitors to and keep visitors on your web site, you need the following:
* A professional look – I’m not saying this has to be boring or designed by a high-priced expert. What I’m saying is that it can’t look prefer you just threw it together in a day. additionally, avoid cutesy animations and graphics. You want the web site to express who you are, but you additionally want it to indicate you’re a pro (even if you’re just starting out!).
* Simple /intuitive navigation – If I can’t figure out how to get to other pages on your web site, how will I learn more about you?
* Clean design – Make it simple for me to read the text that you have on your web site. Use colors that contrast well (black on white, for example). If I want to know about you, I need to be able to read what’s been written!
* Simple access to the information I’m looking for – This ties in with navigation, but is additionally about what information you include on your web site. What are your audiences or potential business partners looking to get from your web site? That ought to drive what information goes on your web site.
The above points are beginning standards for creating a professional country music Website.  Don’t forget, you want to look prefer a pro and let people know you’re serious about your career. For more pointers on how to establish your web site, see the next article in this series, Optimize Your Country Music Website : Part 2 – What to Include.