IndieFeeds Daily Dose of New Music for the Masses

Way back in 2004, during the earliest days of podcasting, before most people and trade associations like the RIAA knew what podcasts were, Chris MacDonald started the indiefeed podcast. The idea was simple; several times each week deliver one great music track with details about the artist and the song. Simple, but this idea would not have worked if it were not for the quality of music selected by Mr. MacDonald and his team based in Washington DC.

Indiefeed started out with a just handful of podcasts that could be subscribed to, according specific genres listeners could narrowcast themselves into. Regardless of your musical taste, the format remains the same; one good song with all the pertinent details that benefit the featured artist. As people became familiar with the idea of Podcast subscriptions, having great new music automatically downloaded to your iPod (or other audio device) established excitement and credibility, not just for indiefeed, but for all future podcasts as well. Today indiefeed provide six music genres, plus a few spoken word options that were rolled out in 2008.

According to the information Mr. MacDonald provided for this post, indiefeed averages more than 2.5 million downloads monthly, as confirmed by the Nielsen ratings service. When we break this down to unique programs each week, per musical genre, we are still left with averages that place subscriptions at roughly 20,000listeners  per genre, with nearly twice that going to the long running Alternative/Modern Rock stream (according to Chris). The current music genres, as of this posting, are:

* Alternative / Modern Rock
* Blues
* Dance
* Electronica
* Hip Hop
* Indie-Pop

With the popularity of podcasts continuing to build as people actually figure out how to use their iPods and iTunes, having your music considered for the indiefeed podcast should be a primary goal for most independent musicians. Mr. MacDonald and his staff are waiting and review every submission.  What follows is a quick preparation checklist for those of you ready for your four minutes of indiefeed fame:

1. Make sure your website is ready: Even if your track only intrigues 1% of 25,000 people who might listen to your song, make sure those 250 new visitors can take action and engage on your website. That means capturing email addresses (and zip/postal code!), providing future tour dates (not last years) and having merchandise/music available for purchase and download. Also keep in mind that while you can expect traffic to peak with early with the podcast release, do not be surprised if you continue to receive podcast traffic for a month or two following the release.

2. Make sure your music is ready: The submission form clearly states they do not want your Myspace links to music or links to download your entire album. Pick ONE track. If you need help with that, email me and I’ll find the one for you. Be sure that it is encoded to at least 128k which is what they use for their podcast (I would encourage 256kbps just to make sure your quality is at its best). I would also encourage you to make sure your mp3 file is properly tagged with all the right information (artist/album/url/etc.). Also, do not waste time with WMV, OGG or Flash file formats.

3. Make sure your background details are triple checked: On the indiefeed submission form you’ll need to provide a description of the track and a bio for your band. You’ll also need to provide artwork for your track (GIF or JPEG only), which should include both your band name and your URL (again avoid Myspace and Facebook to push traffic to your website).  Again, refrain from sending the staff to look through your flickr account and give them the ONE image they need that you want them to use, that has been triple checked for accuracy. Do not got overboard with the size – something 600 x 600 will likely cover the bases. Make your submission based on the expectation that you will be featured and if not, do not give up.  Try again in a few months with a new track.

My final strong suggestion (demand) is to actually subscribe to indiefeed.  If you’re uncertain about which genre your music would fit best with, subscribe to the feeds and listen for yourself.  Also keep in mind that many of listeners to indiefeed are musicians themselves, along with “industry types”.  If you get featured, don’t be surprised to be considered for additional interviews, tours or other possible deals.

And don’t forget who helped you!  Remember -being on your VIP guest list is all I’m asking for when you’re in NYC or Boston.

-pjc

First Post – PodCasters

This category will be dedicated to review PodCasts that either feature or specifically include music from new artists & bands. This will not be necessarily a review of those podcasts, but more of an attempt to connect bands to those specific podcasters.

-pjc