Yahoo! Music Launches Unsigned Artists to Success

More and more independent and unsigned artists are entering the market every day.

These artists are quickly discovering that they must find a way to make their band stand out apart from the rest. Online marketing is the new radio of the 21st century, with single-song downloads at an all-time high and Web sites like “MySpace” and “Pure Volume” showcasing bands’ music.

One site that can help independent and unsigned bands gain fans is at music.yahoo.com.

In 2001, the Yahoo! Inc. took over LAUNCH for its music portion of the site. LAUNCH was started a decade ago as part of a CD-ROM magazine and then became one of the early pioneers in the digital music industry.

“The main goal is to get the right music out to the right people,” said Jay Frank, head of programming and label relations for Yahoo! Music. “We want people to discover music through identifying their tastes and introducing them to new music based on those tastes.” Users of the site are able to create their own “LAUNCHcast” radio station by filling out a quick survey of bands they like, then rating each song that comes up on their personalized station.

“We also want to use our large music community to make an experience that’s both entertaining and easy,” Frank went on to say. “This happens by giving people a choice of the type of music they want. If you simply want to listen to radio, you can. If you want to create and share playlists, you can. If you want to watch one music video or every-one in our catalog, you can.”

Frank has been with the company for more than four years and oversees all the radio and video programming in what he calls that “largest outlet for music online.” He also coordinates all relations with record labels and artists, ensuring that “their experience with Yahoo! Music is the best it can be.”

At Yahoo! Music, users can access music news, view artists’ videos, read artist reviews and interviews, artist pages and more. They can also use the site for free, up to a certain amount. Yahoo! Music Unlimited members pay a fee for use per month, and can buy digital downloads as well.

But what can Yahoo! Music do for independent and unsigned artists?

“Yahoo! Music treats music based on potential fans,” Frank said. “With that, an independent or unsigned artist gets placed for airplay at an equal playing field to artists on major labels. From there, it’s up to the audience to show who it will play for. The more people like the music, the more the music is pushed to like-minded fans. Yahoo! Music really does level the playing field in this regard.”

Although the main page of the Yahoo! Music site features many major-labels acts such as Green Day and Shakira, when the user does a little more digging into the site, they will come upon lesser-known and independent-label artists.

In order for an artist to get their material on the site, they should send two copies of a publicly-released version of their album—no burned copies—to Yahoo! Music. But, as Frank warns, do not call Yahoo! Music on the phone.

“We will get your music up in due time and the system works so that, unlike radio, it will get some airplay without pestering the programming staff. If the audience really responds to your music, we’ll contact you for the next steps.”

Frank does have a few tips for artists trying to gain their place in the spotlight.

“Work the community and recognize who your fans are, not just who you want them to be,” he said. “You may think you’re like Band X when, in reality, your fans like Band Y. Don’t ignore that fact and actively go out and work to find more fans who fit a similar profile to fans of your band.”

“Keep making music. Too many artists belabor over trying to achieve the perfect album,” he went on to say. “What you really should be doing is constantly making music. Don’t worry if it’s perfect or not. The more music you make, the more your fans can hear. The more they hear, the more your base will grow. The more it grows, the more you have to earn money and make a living. Creating music should be a top priority, always.”

Any submissions that bands would like to send to the site should be sent to:

Yahoo! Music
Attn: Media Assets Dept.
2700 Pennsylvania Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404