The self-appointed Wiki-police need to get lives.

But there is a back door. If you find pages on other artists or subjects where you have respecable web pages to link to, then it’s perfectly legit to add those links in the appropriate pages.

As far as feeling like it might not feel right … well I don’t understand that, as long as you keep anything you write to facts and history.

Mind you, I suppose if you can get enough contributers….

Mike

Well worth the effort, but it’s just that…an effort. And if the artist is just getting establishe, probably not the best place. But wikipedia is definitely a database not to be dismissed.

I participate in a an online collaborative wiki radio station Whole Wheat Radio.
http://wholewheatradio.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

It’s basically a wiki based Internet radio specifically for independent music. It’s listener/artist based and both participate in building and maintaining the database and in the daily programming of the station. However, we’re not near as strict as wikipedia! ;-) Wiki definitely has a learning curve, but it’s here to stay and wikipedia has proven the popularity of grassroots, contributor oriented parking spaces on the web.

Always enjoy the information from “New Music Strategies”…great work and I hope to see you in my Reader for many, many years to come!

Randy Fullerton (a.k.a. atuuschaaw)

Unfortunately I am not tech savvy enough to build the site myself…As a result, I have also been soliciting like minded peers who are tech savvy enough to help me.

Through this process I have learned several things:

1) I wish I had learned more about web design / HTML

2) Lots o my peers / friends are tech savvy, brilliant at it even.

3) Many of these people have sites, make great music but see no noticeable results due to their domain.

and 4) The reason for this I think is because the social networks have gained prominence over dedicated sites (for many reasons).

Strictly regarding “unknown” artists:

The social networks offer all the functions of a dedicated site with the added advantage of built in traffic. They offer convenience and there are several that are “useful” (as opposed to the multitude that are not) like Last FM, iMeem, Amie Street, and even Myspace.

For the artist without a budget beyond a few hundred dollars a year to spare, the social networks offer a realistic and promising alternative to domain anonymity.

Google offers the most legitimate of the “free” options for web pages or blogs thanks to the way they structure the domain listings, i.e.:

http://www.ultrameek.blogspot.com

or

http://www.ultrameek.googlepages.com

Sure their brand is in the listing but they had the foresight to put the artist / bloggers name first. Unlike Myspace and many others who stick it on the end.

My point in saying all this is that I believe that there are very economical ways to create a web presence for your music (especially if you are HTML deficient like me).

A dedicated domain is always the way to go if you are capable. These alternatives mentioned above give folks like me complete control over our content and schedule of implementation.

I am not suggesting in any way that total control equals a great web presence (just visit any of those URL’s I posted!)…But that is the individuals responsibility to make it worthwhile…And I hope I develop those skills soon!

It is important to note: This is also the perspective of an artist with a full time day job, wife, and father of two with not a lot of time to spend making (much less) marketing music.