mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?

Subject: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 04:54 PM

I want to post some songs. It seems like the best place I have found so far. What is good about it? What is bad? Anything to watch out for? Is the extra service worth the $20.00 per month??

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: hesperis
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 07:02 PM

It really depends.

If you play live a lot, really promote the site, and have hundreds of fans already, then the premium service may be worth it. The thing about the premium service is that the return for all gets smaller as more artists sign up. The "earnings" of the non-premium artists are taken out of the pot as well, even though the non-premium artists will never see those "earnings".

If you are

a) very serious about taking the next step towards being signed, and are already playing live, and don't mind the possibility of being ripped off, or of having your music available to mp3.com for any use as they see fit, in perpetuity, even if you leave the site,

or

b) not serious at all and just grateful to have a place to upload your music so that your cousins from away can listen to it,

then mp3.com is a good idea.

You will also need a good promoter. Talk to mudcatter Alice, as her promoter is really good. Also do a forum search on "mp3" and "mp3.com" as that will bring up many relevant threads. Also search for "Class Action".

mp3.com has definitely tried to do shady actions on more than one occasion, and they also tend to introduce changes to their basic services without enough notice for one to leave before the new "service" is put into action. Please read the other threads carefully before you make your decision.

mp3.com may be a very useful tool in your online promotion efforts, but please go into itwith your eyes open.

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: hesperis
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 07:18 PM

I forgot to say, I was on mp3.com for just over a year when they introduced the changes, and I had previously encouraged other artists to sign up. I was an NMA member. My mother, Jande, made enough in her first month to sign up for the premium artist service. She began to have less earnings from increasing plays... and was not able to justify the expense when it dipped down below the cost of Premium. Unfortunately, I don't have the money either.

If you have money to burn, or a promoter with a LARGE mailing list, then that's fine.

So, I have mostly removed my own stuff from mp3.com, and have started a site to sell CDs online instead. It's really pretty, and I am doing my best to promote it well. (Without spamming!)

www.serpent-goddess.com

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: GUEST,ROBDALE from Home
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 01:42 AM

Thanks for the Info.

It is a pretty site!

Cheers

Rob

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Alice
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 09:19 AM

Mp3.com is an imperfect tool to be able to reach people with your music. If you figure out what it is you want to do with your music on the internet, then having recordings hosted on that site can be helpful. John, at Celtic Ways, is a musician (originally working in Scotland and Britain, from folk to rock and roll), and he puts alot of time and effort in helping "Celtic" musicians get their music out to listeners. Here is my page:
Alice Flynn

All the best to you.

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: hesperis
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 09:10 PM

Thanks!

Alice said it best. "An imperfect tool". Yeah.

The best part of mp3.com is the "stations" and the name recognition of mp3.com itself, though that might also be a liability. There is an amazing lot of great music on there, but it is mostly hidden in the charts.

Besonic.com has "playlists" which are similar to "stations", but besonic doesn't have the instant recognition that mp3.com does.

There are a lot of different Online Music Distributors, so check them out, and use them as you need to. (I tend to run into the "top" artists at more than just mp3.com. One band has their music up on 12 mp3 sites!!!)

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Deni
Date: 29 Jun 01 - 01:33 AM

My husband Ned & I as MAD RUSH, have had our debut album, How Well i Remember, on MP3. com for three or four weeks. So far, our 'English & 'Celtic' music has been listened to and downloaded by nearly 900 people and things are starting to happen in other areas as a result of the exposure. PLUS We'd have to play small folk clubs for a year to be heard by that number of people.
The thing that annoys me is that the 'royalty' payments displayed on the page, give no indication of the time scale. Our pathetic earnings are not going to look very impressive beside someone's earnings of $5,000, but they might have been on the site a lot longer.
Yes, there are a few problems with the system, but I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the quality of the CDs they put out and handing out cards with your mp3 com site address, is the most effective and cheapest way of getting inormation to people. Saves a lot of paper and printing costs.

Deni

http://www.mp3.com/Mad_Rush

(I wish I had a link fairy)

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Alice
Date: 29 Jun 01 - 08:47 AM

Here is an example of one of the many suggestions that John has provided to mp3 musicians that can help send listeners to your sound tracks. This actually would work for any website, not just music. A relatively new free service, called StartBlaze - click here, allows you to have your site in a rotating list that opens as the home page in people's browsers. You set your browser home page to a StartBlaze URL, and each time you log on, you see a different page provided by one of the other participants in StartBlaze... and they see your page.

I set it up yesterday with my website, showing links to both my mp3 page and illustration portfolio, and I have already noticed more mp3 plays after 24 hours of having StartBlaze working. As Hesperis suggested, there are many choices for sites to host your music, so you could upload to more than one site if you want to.

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Alice
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 01:28 PM

UPDATE: forget StartBlaze - I tried it for awhile, and had way too many slow loading pages with pop ups to deal with. I don't recommend it.

Here's a way to listen to other Mudcat member's music that is more personalized for you than the stations at mp3.com. When you join mp3, you get a page called "My MP3". When you are viewing a page of a mudcat musician, click on the button that adds the tracks to "add to my Mp3". That way you can create your own playlist of music on your My Mp3 page, customizing it to your choices and adding new tracks that you want.

Here is an updated list of the names I have for Mudcat members on mp3.com.

Add tracks you want to your My Mp3.com page:

Alice click here

The Banshee click here

Bill Cameron (Willie-O)click here

Celtic Dragon click here

Chagall Hannah (hesperis)click here

Cole Prior Stevens click here

Dave Auty click here

Erica Smith click here

Hardtack & Homespun click here

J. Seanna Rowe (Jande) click here

Jon Loomes click here

Khaetidawne Quirk click here

Mad Rush (Deni) click here

Malcolm Douglas tune "La Blanche Biche" performed by Noise Factory click here

Paul Evenden (Musicman) click here

Paul Garfinkel click here

Sandra Parker (Muzishun) click here

Simon Skinner (from clansfolk) click here

Upsala click here

Whoreticulture (English Jon) click here

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: Bsondahl
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 10:32 AM

You can add me to your list Brad Sondahl http://www.mp3.com/sondahl Fingerpicked guitar and original songs

Subject: RE: mp3.com Who uses it? Good or bad?
From: GUEST,Alice
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 11:25 AM

OK, Brad. I'll be back at my other computer to add you to the Mudcat station, later today. Thanks.

Alice Flynn