OK, so you've completed your CD, now you ask yourself "What should I do with it now??" Well, first and foremost make sure the CD is the highest possible quality, you will want the most positive reviews of your CD, and there are times some reviewers will bash you bad for a sloppy job on the CD. I think the biggest thing to remember is, what do I look for when I am buying music? I know if I see some Indie CDs in music shops, and the packaging itself looks terrible, I'm going to keep on walking. I am hesitant to buy music in ratty packages, because the first thing that comes to mind is that if the artist/band doesn't care enough for their product, why should I buy it.

Also if you're actively playing your music live, you can start by selling it at your shows, remember not to overprice your CD when it gets done. Now you've started that process and you just can't seem to make your money back for the production cost. I have to tell you something I learned a long time ago, you have to spend money to make money, start sending your CD to music mags (online or printed) and see if you can get it reviewed. Also there are a lot of radio stations that will play your CD, but it can be a short specialty program, and sometimes they may only broadcast the show once a week.

Now, you may be asking yourself "Where can I find all the answers I need to best promote my music". I think one of the many publications can help you get the ball rolling, and one of the most jam packed reference guides for promoting your music would be the Indie Bible, over 4000 places to get your music reviewed, radio stations that will play your music, and a wide variety of help as well.

So, you want to know more about The Indie Bible, where to get it etc., well it just so happens I had a chat with the founder of The Indie Bible launching the kick off  Thursday ,October 23rd of the fifth edition of The Indie Bible, and I just had to find out what makes him tick, why is he doing this, what makes The Indie Bible unique, and more. The interview is a straight forward Q&A format that I believe may answer some of the questions you may have in conjunction to The Indie Bible

So now, it's time to pick the mans brain and see what kind of info we can get out of him. In it's entirety, the conversation with the founder of  The Indie Bible.

Some may not be familiar with the Indie Bible, so if that's the case, let's just find out a little about the man between the covers of The Indie Bible

RR: So now, for the benefit of my readers that may not know who you are, let us have it, the scoop.... Are you a musician yourself ?

RR:   Now we know who you are, when did you come up with the idea for The Indie Bible.

DW:   The first edition came into being in October of 1999. It was a very low budget book that was photocopied and had a plain white cover. Fortunately for me, even though the book was as simple as it gets, the value became apparent to those that were trying to get exposure for their music. People That bought it just loved it. The initial feedback was overwhelming!

RR:   In 1999 I was in the process of recording my first CD. During the last
months of recording, whenever I was away from the studio, I searched online for places that might help the CD to get some attention - radio stations that would play my songs, publications that would review the CD etc. I wanted to be prepared so that there would be a lot of places to send the CD to once it was pressed and ready to go.

When I started out, I knew almost nothing about the Internet and what could be found on it. I began my search suspecting that I could find at least a few websites where I could gain some some sort of exposure for my music. I began my research, and it wasn't long before a "massive" new world opened up to me. The number of places online that were willing to help Independent artists was mind-boggling!

I spent hours every day finding places that I could send my CD to in order to get a review or airplay. I was happily surprised to also find a lot of online services that were willing to help sell my music. I stored all the information about the various services I was finding in a spreadsheet. It wasn't a very well thought out system. It was a simple system that helped meto keep notes on who I sent my CD to and when. After a few months of
research I had accumulated 1000 contacts or so.

When the recording of the CD was finally finished, the band I was building (and planning on touring with) broke up. I was heavily in debt, so the idea of trying to form another band, and then tour around, was not very practical. I needed to start paying off some of the bills, and selling a few CDs a week wasn't going to cover the expenses. I also knew that if I was to try and put a new band together, there was no guarantee that it would last
long enough to get any momentum going.

Then the "life-changing" thought struck me. During the whole time I was researching throughout the Internet, I was wondering why I couldn't find some sort of directory that lists the addresses of all the helpful websites for Independent musicians. There had to be one somewhere, but I couldn't find anything anywhere? I did purchase a few resources that I found in my research, but when they arrived in the mail, I was disappointed. The books I bought looked like they had been thrown together very quickly.

Under the pressure of this financial crunch, I wondered how practical it would be for me to publish a resource that would list all these places I'd been finding (in some sort of order). A resource that would enable musicians and songwriters to avoid spending the incredible number of hours it took me to find the resources in the first place. I asked the opinion of a musician I had met from

Boston, and she said it was a great idea and that I would probably sell a lot of them. That's all I needed to confirm my belief that such a resource was needed. It was at that moment that the "Indie Contact Bible" was officially born. From that point on I began to consciously research information that would be added into this new resource I was about to
create. I also realized after a bit of thought that if I was to succeed at publishing this resource, I would need to include "all" genres of music, not just resources for the styles of music that I enjoyed listening to. That took some adjusting, but it turned out to be quite fun because many new worlds opened up to me.

RR:   I know you have a love with The Indie Bible, so be as fair here as you can, and tell us what you believe makes The Indie Bible stand out from the other reference books, or musician "Self Help" books if I may.

DW:   The Indie Bible is highly targeted towards "Recording" artists, whereas most resources don't assume that you have recorded a CD, they just that you're a musician and that you're playing, touring, looking for a manager etc. Any recording artist can flip open the Indie Bible and be presented with loads of places that will specifically help them to gain exposure for their music. It's a small piece of the over musician market, but this is what has always made the Indie Bible unique.

RR:   Just so the readers know, a lot of people are utilizing services of The Indie Bible , roughly what would you guesstimate your circulation of The Indie Bible?

DW:   Each edition the number increase quite nicely. Between licensing deals and sales, over 20,000 copies of the Indie Bible will find their way to
musicians of all genres in 2004.

RR: I Know your trying very hard to help the lesser known indie artists, what other services do you offer at Big Meteor Publishing?

DW:   The Indie Contact Newsletter: A free monthly e-mail newsletter with helpful articles and LOTS of contacts for Independent musicians.

The Indie Link Exchange: A free and easy to use resource that generates more traffic to anyone with a music related website.

I also have a couple of links pages that anyone in the music is welcome to hook up with. BestMusicZines.com and IndieResourceLand.com

RR:   What improvements have you made to the 5th edition that makes it better than the last incarnations ?

DW:   Once I reached the 3rd Ediiton, I had pretty much set the template for future editions. In the last two editions the remaining genres that were not covered in previous editions were added (this includes Women in Music, Classical, Latin, Reggae, Children's and Local Music). For future editions, it's just a matter up updating the current listings, and finding new
listings...as well as adding in a handful of new helpful articles. The number of articles is now up to 53. Many people have said that the articles
alone are worth the price of the book (Which Goes For $29.95 US).

RR:   What are the benefits of the Indie Bible for the indie musician/artist /band?

DW:   The Indie Bible shows artists where they can sell their music, get it played on the radio and reviewed. The 53 articles can give any musician a solid foundation of information, which can only benefit them as they move towards a longlasting career in the music business.

People can purchase the Indie Bible online at: www.indiebible.com You can order using VISA, MasterCard or PayPal, or you can print out the order form and send a check. (Rikks note: Or simply click one one of the banners here at Rikks Revues and be transported directly to ordering)

It is also available in most music and book stores throughout North America including The Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Borders, Barnes & Noble and in Canada at all Long & McQuade stores. It is also available in the UK and Australia. I'm not sure which chains are carrying it there? I have a distribution point for my Internet sales now in the UK and Australia, so musicians can get their copy a lot quicker than in the past.

RR: David, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to have a little chat, now is there anything you'd like to add in closing?

DW:   I think the key to success in anything is to always be moving forward. Do something, however small, every day. Don't waste your time bitching and mumbling when something is put in your path. Get up and do something, anything that is helpful to your career.

And don't listen to the thoughts that tell you that it's hopeless. Nothing is hopeless, as long as you keep moving forward, one tiny step at a time.

Rikks End Note.....You can truly see that David cares about the indie artists, and has built up a lot of  resources, and there are many more to come as he is always scouring the net to find new resources that will help the indie artists. 

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