You're not a household name until I say so

THAT'S A JOKE but I do have to say that you should make it easy for folks to find out about you and your music and make it even easier for them to get your CD.

Forget the 15-year-old girls. Think about everyone else out there who is buying music and ...

SELL THE DAMN THING.

Don't take anything for granted until you are Coldplay, and even then don't take it for granted.

Coldplay doesn't take anything for granted.

I can't tell you the number of young bands and solo artists who don't even have a direct link to their website or myspace page from their Twitter account.

Or they are evidence of a very, very disturbing trend in narcissism: "Google me."

UM, HOW ABOUT NO?

Are they really worth those keystrokes? I will never find out because "Google me" is a huge turnoff -- such a huge turnoff that I probably won't find out.

Keep in mind there are 5 million bands and artists out there. And that even Coldplay has a direct link from their Twitter page to their website: http://twitter.com/coldplay

If you are going to go through the process of giving birth to a CD, please, darling, sell it. Sell the damn CD. And I don't mean sell it on your myspace page or on your website. No, no.

SELL THE DAMN CD.

Don't make me beg for it. SELL IT. Sell it on CDBaby. Sell it on Amazon. Get it into Independent Records. Get it into Twist & Shout. Wax Trax.

GET YOUR STUFF OUT THERE.

Remember that there are institutional buyers out there who will not, I repeat, will not look for you beyond one or two vendors. TWO vendors -- that right there is a huge amount of effort -- and I do not care if you are going to surpass The Fray eventually, because eventually is right now. And tomorrow is tomorrow. If you are going to surpass The Fray tomorrow you will be available via mainstream vendors, and it will take zero effort to purchase your music.

I buy local music for a library and I can't tell you how difficult Colorado artists make it on themselves. Say I put together a list of 40 bands that have received favorable reviews in Colorado publications. Maybe six of those will be available at one retailer we like to buy from -- maybe six more via CDBaby.

So what if it is just one little public library, right? WRONG. Because maybe you are Blue Million Miles -- and are on fire -- so I was gonna buy two copies. And maybe 10 public libraries were going to do the same thing. JUST IN COLORADO. It is NOT that you just blew it on selling 22 copies. Not at all. It is that those libraries were probably going to promote your stuff in some small way, via a review from staff, a listening station, etc. (Same with the retailers btw, on the listening stations.)

HELLO. PEOPLE. LISTENING STATIONS. YOUR CD. IN ONE.

So you got reviewed in CMB. Get your CD out there already.

Some time in the near future I'll blab on about what you need as a bare minimum on your CD. Our ACE Local Music cataloger -- a woman who loves music -- just sent THE Oblio Duo + The Archers Nuclear War EP back to me. YES. BACK TO ME.

Her note: "Ugh! Jeanie! I can't put this one in the system. It's not a 'real' recording and there's NO info. on the disc for me to use. How could they do that?!"

I'm not kidding. I am not even going to send her the Epic Stand CD I purchased for $1. That CD is fabulous. ZERO info.

It is NOT that you used ProTools in your bathroom. It is that you did not put the bare minimum on your CD.

Stay tuned for more on that: the bare minimum you need to have on your CD for it to be "real."

DON'T MAKE IT HARD ON YOURSELVES, PEOPLE.

And don't be arrogant. I am not going to Google you.