While some may believe that, once upon a time, it was easier to break into the rock-and-roll world, the reality is it’s always been tough and will continue to remain difficult.

But contests such as “Road to Rock Fame” can be a tremendous first step for those unsigned bands whose members want to make it in the rock world. According to the contest Web site, musicians from all over the country will submit a bio, photo and one demo song. That alone gets the proverbial foot in the door. However, with the entries judged by “a panel of music industry professionals” it won’t be easy to grab the listener’s ear among dozens, maybe even hundreds of performers.

Each submission must contain a complete original song. Each participant must own all copyright and performance rights to music submission. A submission must not exceed 10 minutes in length.

Some really good news has come out of the “Road to Rock Fame” site – the contest is extended to August 31. This adds a month the original deadline of July 31. The grand prize will include a week of professional recording services. Accommodations are included. The performer or band will also be featured in an industry magazine. Email questions to questions@roadtorockfame.com.

Tags: indie, music, indie music, independent music, Road to Rock Fame

I just was notified that the Indie Venue Bible has been released. This is a directory aimed at touring artists providing listings of over 26,000 music venues and 2000 booking agents in the US and Canada.

The venue directory includes anything from clubs to churches and community centers. There are even over 1000 colleges if you are thinking of starting a college tour.

The product is from our friends over at The Indie Bible which has been a proven tool for independent artists.

Tags: indie music, independent music, indie, music

A Wall Street Jounal article, Indie Bands: Hit Music, has reported on 3 Indie Bands that are featured on this week’s Billboard’s top 200. In the brief article, they mentioned 3 bands that had their best first week’s ever, hitting the Billboard Top 10 and attributed it partially to online digital retailers.

One of the the three bands featured in this week’s Billboard’s top 200 is our very own Spoon, an Indie rock quartet from Austin Texas. They actually debuted in the top 10 earlier in the month with ‘Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga’ (Merge). Expect to see a bio here on Indie Update shortly.

You can read the WSJ Online article here.

Hardly words that inspire the independent musician to cry with joy, but another record label has been established by Corey Taylor, of Slipknot fame. Great Big Mouth Records even has their first act lined up and ready to go in the shape of local Iowa band Facecage. The aim of the record label, according to Taylor, is to promote bands local to the Iowa region and bring a little unity to the local music scene. He goes on to state that record labels are dubious about traveling to the Midwest because there are no direct flights. As such, there are a lot of really good bands waiting to be discovered. That’s where Taylor and his label step in to take over and lend a helping hand. While we would certainly agree that there are doubtless plenty of good bands in the Midwest it remains to be seen whether Great Big Mouth Records will go the same way as many other labels – to the bank with their artist’s money.

Everyone’s heard of Amazon. It’s as synonymous with the Internet as Ebay and Google, and is one of the most visited websites in the world. So, it seemed a sensible place to look for books that cover the music industry and, in particular, the music business. Much to my joy, they even have an appropriate section – woo hoo, I’m in business. Short of giving you a complete run down of the top ten, I’ll give you a brief annotated version of what features at the present moment. The second bestseller is a book called All You Need To Know About The Music Business. Unfortunately, the 464 page mammoth book consists of how to pick managers and the such, so not ideal. Number 4 is where the Indie money lies. A book entitled Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook claims to bestow virtually everything you could possibly need to know in order to market your own music. At number 6 is a book on how to start your own record label. This 304 page book is the expanded version but does offer some genuinely useful insight for those looking this far ahead. Finally, at number 8 is perhaps the most viable option in the list. The Indie music,/tag> handbook really is packed full of invaluable information including niche areas to promote your service. It won’t be the be all and end all of your success, especially as that kind of information becomes outdated relatively quickly, but it is a good starting point. Another book of note is the frighteningly titled “Losing My Virginity” by Richard Branson. You can view the list at the Amazon site.