Have you ever wondered what you can do to help introduce people to your favorite independent music artist (or author or fine artist) friend? A musician without a label or an author without a formal publisher doesn’t have the publicity machine that gets their “signed” colleagues noticed. They often have to rely on word of mouth for at least a good portion of their publicity. If you know someone (even if they aren’t me) there are some things you can do to really give them a boost and help spread the word.

1. Write a blog review. Do you have a blog? Use that medium to tell your circle of friends about your indie artist friend (referred to here on out as your IAF). Even if you don’t think you have a lot of readers, you would be surprised what one little inbound link can do for a search engine ranking.
2. Write a peer review. Chances are, you probably don’t have your own blog. You can still review your favorite IAF. Go to where ever your IAF’s work is for sale. Amazon.com? CDbaby.com? iTunes? All of these stores have a built in customer review mechanism and studies show that people who buy products online are VERY INFLUENCED by peer reviews.
3. Request them. Do you listen to any independent music podcasts? Do you listen to the radio? Some stations would never play an “unknown” artist, but you’d be surprised how many would. You don’t have to be annoying about it, but if you know of a station or podcast that’s friendly to music that’s out of the mainstream, you’ll probably have some luck requesting your IAF’s stuff with them.
4. Support them in word and deed. Of course I would expect that you would contact them and let them know you love their stuff, but sometimes people don’t feel comfortable doing that. Trust me, it means a lot. By word AND deed, I mean, tell a friend. Pass it along. Give a recommendation on Facebook. When it comes to my music, I know the only way I’ll make a living doing this is if more people than my friends are fans. Make a copy of my album and pass it along.

I do want to take a second and recognize that there have been many people who have done these things for me. Had I not been encouraged to pursue my music, I wouldn’t have a CD (and now two). Had I not been reviewed by a blog or magazine here or there, I probably wouldn’t have been taken seriously by other people. If no one was willing to buy my music, I wouldn’t have bothered duplicating a CD. It really does snowball, to exploit an overused metaphor. So thanks–you know who you are.