NEW YORK (www.dilvie.com) - Independent musicians are looking to the Internet as a powerful avenue for music promotion, and new technologies make the job a lot easier. Blogs exploded in popularity in 2004, and musicians are taking notice. Many musicians are releasing free MP3s as promotional tools, and a new kind of blog is emerging to spread the word.

MP3 blogs make music files available for free download. Typical MP3 blogs post music that is hard to find or out of print, and often do so without the permission of artists and labels, but some offer promotional MP3's with the full knowledge and cooperation of the artists. Several bloggers are overwhelmed with music that is sent to them for review.

The climate is producing a new kind of grassroots marketing for independent acts. While major labels fight music downloads or sell songs with DRM (designed to make it difficult to copy), independent acts go out of their way to spread their music as far and wide as possible.

According to Dilvie, a Salt Lake City musician who has served well over 100,000 free music downloads, "MP3 blogs are a bit like radio stations." They provide a variety of channels, each with an established audience. There are blogs that cater to almost every style of music, and new blogs start up every day.

Some even offer charts that feature the most popular tracks, based on the number of clicks on a particular song. For instance, Dilvie runs a blog titled, "Free Music Downloads" that offers a pair of monthly top ten charts. Dilvie's top ten list is syndicated, both on the web, and in print.

"To make money, we need to gain a lot of fans. To gain a lot of fans, we have to be heard. Major labels have easy access to mainstream radio. Independent artists need to do everything we can to overcome that advantage. That's why I started my blog, and the featured artists love the exposure."

http://download-electronica.blogspot.com/
http://www.dilvie.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3_blog