Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

Today's post is all about making you aware of some cool places that can help you reach a wider audience.

The first is Magnatune, which describes itself using the slogan "We're a record label. But we're not evil." The site makes non-exclusive deals with indie artists it selects and splits the gross revenues from download sales. Read founder/owner John Buckman's page on Why I Created Magnatune and see if you agree with his philosophy. I do. Submission instructions can be found here.

On Feb. 1, my pal and fellow author Joe Taylor Jr. will launch TryTunes.com. According to Joe, it will be a daily podcast designed to drop new music right to your desktop or MP3 player. He encourages indie artists to submit their songs to the site. Read this recent blog post for more details.

Fluxblog is one of the more popular destinations among a growing number of MP3 blogs, whose owners are sometimes called "MP3Js." The purpose of an MP3 blog is to help music fans sort through the avalanche of free music now available online.

According to this article on the No Innocent Bystanders site, Fluxblog is run by Matthew Perpetua, who started posting MP3s in 2002 and now offers one or two new tracks to download on a daily basis. His site receives nearly 5,000 hits a day -- and the numbers are rising. Music fans keep coming back for the chance to hear new or obscure music, but also to read Perpetua's commentary: witty and irreverent, forthright and opinionated.

Scroll down the Fluxblog home page to the Email Fluxblog section, where you'll find submission info.

And if you are based in the U.K., check out TuneTribe, another new digital download site. This one has no sign-up fees and pays artists 80% of every purchase. Note that for tax reasons, TuneTribe can only work with artists based in the United Kingdom at this time.