Music charts are a good promotion tool.
Posted February 2nd, 2008 by Oliver CheslerFiled Under: music, promotion
Each month on the first I make a top 10 music chart. Songs I am really into at the moment. There are a few good reasons to do this. If your a band or an artist, some of your fans will be interested in what your current tastes are. The fact that I know I need a chart each month forces me to discover and seek out new music. As a musician it’s important to be always listening to what’s out there and not get stuck completely in the past.
There are places you can post your chart other than your own website. Your MySpace, Facebook and Last.fm pages can host your chart. Slow news week but it has been a while since you sent an email newsletter? Make it look a little more meaty with a chart. If all the songs in your chart are on iTunes then turn your chart into an iMix. Likewise, if your music is entirely available on Beatport you can publish the chart on Beatportal.com. Anytime your interviewed include your current top 10 chart. If your known enough many magazines print DJ charts each month. Groove Magazine often prints my chart.
Should you put your own songs in your chart? Hell yes! If your own new material isn’t in your favorite new songs of the month then you shouldn’t be releasing it to the world! If you want to get fancy make the song titles click able links to a place where someone can hear and buy the song right away. Also consider including a photo of yourself or the album cover of the number one song on your chart. If you like you can even include a little description of your chart’s style. I add a disclaimer to my chart because I put everything on from Country to Minimal! Don’t forget to put your website next to your name and a little message somewhere saying “feel free to reprint this chart anywhere”.
With the onslaught of a million net labels charts have become an important tool to find hot songs. I like to read them and make them.
The Horrorist – Top 10 – February 2008*
www.myspace.com/oliverchesler
01 Electric Feel – MGMT
02 Washmachine – Workidz
03 Nietzche – Abstrackt Keal Agram
04 Story of an Artist – Daniel Johnston
05 You Should Tell Me So – Orilla Opry
06 13 Dobermans – The Horrorist
07 Bubbleblitzen – Miro Pajic
08 Beneath You – Mark Mendes
09 U Turn – Mark Ramsey
10 Stereos and Such – Popof
*The Horrorist chart is not your normal DJ Chart. The music here is not normal. These are songs Oliver Chesler is listening to now. If your weird and like great music then listen to these songs. If you are normal I am sorry this chart is not for you.
photo credit: phil_h.psd
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You missed perhaps the best site for making charts – imeem.com – you can find almost any track and assemble a playlist as a single embeddable flash widget. imeem also provides full length on demand streams for most major artists, supported by advertising, so it’s even possible for producers to get paid for plays on imeem if they can bring enough traffic.
Hi Robert, I never heard of that site before. Big thanks for the heads up! I signed up and am exploring the site now.
It seems imeem has some copyright issues. For example some of my music is available for full play on that site without license. I don’t go after, report or push these kinds of things in general. Getting music to people is more important but I thought it would be worth mentioning. Also some of the music I would like to use in a chart is not on that site. Nevertheless, a social network based on charts (playlists) is definitely cool and worth visiting.
Lucky fucker , no balding whatsoever!
Hah… thats funny you say that! It’s coming. Every time I take a shower I look at the bottom of the tub and sigh. My brother is four years younger and already lost most of his. Well I am 38 I can live with it! I guess Ill start the comb over to one side cut sometime in late 2008!
nice article. i’ve always found the personal charting system weird myself cause it’s hard to say which song is higher up on the list than another. i think last.fm’s scrobbling system is brilliant at addressing this – although i dont use it myself.
that’s a bummer to hear your songs are on imeem without you being the one to upload them. interestingly – facebook’s new “Pages” make you submit a jpg of your photo identification(ie driver’s license) in order to have your page setup. it won’t fix the problem but it’s just one additional step to help discourage people from uploading other group’s music.
Well to be honest I’m not extremely concerned with piracy. People who value music will buy it. Even if they don’t they will pay to come to live shows, The most important thing is the music gets heard.
I agree on your views about piracy, but if imeem staff were behind the upload of your music then that’s a bad way to be building up their site’s content. it’s a good site though
Oh I think it’s user driven material on that site no? I don’t think the staff is the ones putting material up there.