To get more fans to attend their concerts, some musicians post flyers in conspicuous places, such as music stores and colleges. Some take out ads in newspapers. And still, others stand out in front of subway stations passing out postcards to their concerts.

Moreover, to increase CD sales some musicians host CD release parties, visit local radio stations and sell their CDs in local record stores.

Although these methods are excellent ways for musicians to attract more fans to their shows and to sell more CDs, they are limited in that these methods only reach a limited audience.

To attract more fans, musicians are starting to discover the power of the online press release:

An online press release, a one-page document distributed to the media via the Internet publicizing newsworthy events of a person, company or organization, can benefit a musician in several ways:

First, sending an online press release may create opportunities for you and your band to get interviewed by music journalists and to have your music written about in feature articles and music reviews. This can happen very easily in that many music journalists subscribe to and monitor industry specific RSS feeds, which give them up to date music news. Sending an online press release can ensure that you will not miss out on this potential form of publicity for your music.

Second, you and your band will experience increased website traffic. How you ask? Online press releases are oftentimes indexed by major search engines, such as Yahoo, MSN and Google for music fans to search. When your press release is returned in a search, your website address is listed in your release, thus allowing music fans and others to find your website.

Moreover, you can include a MP3 file in your press release. This is beneficial for you, because music journalists and fans have an opportunity to hear your music as they read your release.

Although the online press release is an excellent tool to generate free publicity for your music, what happens if you do not know how to write one? Simple. Submit your release to an online distribution service. These services will create and submit your release to the music media, search engines and RSS feeds on your behalf.

Many charge fees starting from $150, depending on where you want your release distributed. Some examples of paid distribution services, include

vPRNewswire.com
vPRWeb.com
vBeatwire.com

Other services are free if you already have a press release ready to submit, but invite contributions from the writer to upgrade services to paid services. Some examples of free services, include:

vPrLeap.com
vClickpress.com
vPR.com

Submitting online press releases do not guarantee that you will get an interview from a music journalist or that your CDs will sell. To increase your chances of success, you should send a release only when you and your band have some news to share, such as

vGetting a record deal
vHosting a CD release party
vParticipating in a charity event
vWinning an award
vOpening up for a major music artist

When you have something newsworthy to share with the music media and your fans, remember to send an online press release, which will help increase visibility for you and your band, garner free publicity and in the end, help you sell more CDs.

Dee Owens is a music publicist. For info about online press releases, visit http://www.oneuppromotions.com/musicpublicity.html