Indie Music Web 2.0 Platforms Compared

While doing my daily scanning through Twitter today, I ran across a few tweets pointing out a small comparison chart of three web 2.0 music sites. Why only the three, I'm not sure since, there are plenty more than that, and listed within Listio's directory, as well.

I've also been running into a lot industry feedback on PLUGOLA, such as, "You're in a crowded market" or "it's just another indie music web site". Although that may be true, I believe this is causing a lot of the features that makes PLUGO.LA stand-out to be overlooked. Not only that, but it's tough for musicians these days to find what's best for them with all this new technology being thrown at them. So, I put together a little comparison chart of my own.

Please keep in mind that, this chart is only comparing Plugola's features against some of the other digital music distribution websites, based around some sort of community and independent musicians. I tried to remain unbiased as possible, so if you think I missed something important, or you think I made a mistake, please leave me a comment.

How to plug your music on Twitter

First, I should say, if you're not yet using Twitter to network with your fans and to promote yourself, you should sign-up and see what it can do for you. I didn't get it at first, either. I would think to myself, "So, what's the big deal?" I read an article suggesting to embrace Twitter in order to understand it. I embraced it and learned what a powerful networking tool it really is, and with a lot of potential to be so much more. Now, I'm not going to explain the basics of Twitter since there are already about a million articles out there on that topic, but I am going to explain a neat little service that you can combine with PLUGOLA's coupon system to market your music.

One of the cool things about twitter is that it has an open API, which basically means developers and tech geeks have free range to build whatever service they would like around Twitter's service. It seems almost daily a new Twitter (App) Application is introduced. Some of them are very useful while others are just for fun. One such useful and FREE app PLUGOLA musicians can use is, TwtQpon, which is a coupon/discount tool that can be distributed to your fans and followers on Twitter. Let me explain how you can make this work to market your music.

One of PLUGOLA's many features is offering it's musicians the option to make selected tracks available for free download. After one or more tracks are selected for "Promo", each musician is given their own coupon code. Once this coupon code is redeemed by one of your fans, your promo tracks will be available for free download to them. I go into further detail about our coupon system HERE. So, once you have your coupon code from PLUGOLA, head over to TwtQpon and enter the required info including your coupon code, the link to the sign-up page, customize the text and any images, click on the "create" button and voila! You have your own online marketing system ready to be announced to your fans on Twitter.

I purposely left out the nitty-gritty details about marketing your music, because that is completely up to you. If you're not sure where to begin; start-off with selecting one or two of your stronger pieces, or perhaps one with most mass appeal, and offer that/those tracks as "Promo" or free. Think of it as giving your fans a sample of what they will get if they decide to purchase/download more of your tracks, or even what they can expect when you play live.

Remember, you can use your PLUGOLA coupon code to promote your tunes, anywhere. I just thought this would be a fun and easy way to try it out. Be sure to follow PLUGOLA on Twitter. We can be found @ Twitter.com/plugola