How to Submit Recordings to the Renaissance Festival Podcast

This podcast focuses on music, entertainment and comments from groups and individuals who are are currently performing at Renaissance Festivals around the nation. If your band is performing at an uncoming Renaissance Festival, we would love to feature you.

To feature you, we need two things: your permission and your music. The podcast is hosted under a creative commons license. This means by giving me permission, the only payment you get in return is promotion in the podcast. We do our best to give the band name and your website URL for each song we feature. If you're playing at a faire. We also try to tell our audience what faire you are currently performing at.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

This podcast is not self-sufficient. We don't have the money to buy the dozens of CDs needed to run this show. Instead, we rely on you to submit recordings to the show.

How to submit recordings

As this is a digital email program, you can send us recordings online by email or by snail mail throught the U.S. postal service. If you decide to send MP3s, we prefer that you encode it at a minimum of 128kbps. We also give preference to acoustic music, like that you might hear it at the faire.

1. ZIP up your album and you can send your entire album via YouSendIt.com.

2. Email an 1-3 MP3s to music at renaissancefestivalmusic dot com
   Put REN FEST PODCAST in the subject line.

3. If you want to send me a CD, you can mail it to:

Renaissance Festival Podcast
c/o Joe Haydu
415 N. Summit Ave
Woodstock, VA 22664

I'd appreciate it if you would email me after you send the album so I know it's on the way.

What Is PodSafe Music?

Due to our Creative Commons license and the rules of the Performing Rights Organizations, the Renaissance Festival Podcast is restricted to playing music that is "PodSafe". Podsafe music is music that is either public domain, written by the band, or any song for which we should not have to pay royalties. So if you send MP3s, please make sure that they are Podsafe. Otherwise, I'll check songs in you CD liner notes.

Promoting Your Group Through the Podcast

We are extremely excited to host this podcast. Every week, we find more great entertainment from a variety of musicians and entertainers. Unfortunately, as we find more musicians, it will become more difficult to be featured in a thirty minute show. So here's how you can better insure your feature:

1. Talk to Me. Please don't add me to your general email list. I delete those. Instead, take a moment every few weeks before faire to drop me an email. Tell me what faires you will be at. Typically, I find out who's playing where by visiting the faire websites. If they don't have you listed, ask the faire to list you. If you submit music and aren't featured when your faire comes out, email me so we can get you on the show ASAP. This show is about inclusion. So I try to include as many bands as I possibly can.

2. Add a link to our Site. Like all these suggestions, this is no requirement. But it is a nice courtesy. The Ren Faire community loves to hear about other activities in that community. So it is brilliant when you can help share the news of other bands. This is also a great way to endear you to your fans all the more.

3. Leave a Radio Sweep. There's nothing cooler than hearing your favorite performer announce the station they're being played on. Well, why not do that with the Renaissance Festival Podcast? With these suggestions, it is quick and easy to do.

4. Sell your CDs on CDBaby. CDBaby is the #1 website for independent music online. There are over 100,000 independent musicians like you and me selling their wares. It also hosts one of the largest number of Renaissance Festival CDs anywhere. Plus, your CD will get an extra link in the shownotes if it is hosted. This is currently the only way the show makes money, so that small addition is greatly appreciated.

5. Submit to the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. If you play any Irish/Celtic songs and offer free, full-length MP3s, submit your band to the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. This email newsletter goes out to over 7,000 people every week. I give special attention to Ren Faire bands because they deserve it. The secondary benefit is that this is another great way to get your band's name in my ear for additional features in the Renaissance Festival Podcast.

Musician Resources

I consider online music promotion essential to the success of any band. Here are a few of the tools and resources I use to promote my group.

• How to Successfully Promote Your Music Online
  Learn the tips that allowed musician, David Nevue of the Music Business Academy, to earn over $5000 per month promoting his music online. This is solid advice from someone who has walked the walk, and continues to do so daily!

• Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook
  With this manual, you'll discover that music marketing doesn't have to be expensive to be effective. Whether you're promoting a fast-growing indie label or a one-man (or woman) act from your basement, the Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook gives you the tools you need to get the maximum bang for your buck!

• Free Music Marketing and Promotion Tips Ezine
  A free music marketing and promotion website for working musicians. Tons of great tips for promoting yourself online.

• Houston Web Hosting Discount
  Reviews of inexpensive web hosting services without banner ads and that cost as low as $35 per year.

• MP3 Postcards - MP3 Hosting + Revolutionary Music Promotion
  Triple your fanbase in no time flat with viral music promotion. Viral music promotion means is like the movie Pay It Forward. One fan tells another who tells another. This a revolutionary program for building a fan base AND it's a great way to host MP3s to be featured. You can take a no-risk test of the service for just $1.

• SoundClick.com - Free MP3 Web Hosting
  Soundclick is my favorite place to host MP3s. It's absolutely free, and there are MP3 music to promote your music and earn new fans.

Music Promotion Articles

Marc Gunn writes a periodic free music marketing and promotion newsletter. Here are a few articles of interest for Renaissance Festival performers.

• 14 Ways Musicians Can Increase their Tips
• Your New Best Friend: Your Mailing List
• Who Buys CDs?
• Two Easy Steps to Describing Your Band for Greater Web Traffic and More Fans, Part 1
• Diehard Fans for Life
• Google Hijacks Press Clipping Services
• How Do You Sweeten the Deal?
• The Biggest Reward Your Fans Hope to Receive
• Confessions of a Master CD Sales Woman
• Selling More CDs at Gigs. A Case Study: The Rogues
• The Unsigned Bands's Sniffling, Sneezing, Coughing, Aching, Stuffy Head, Fever So You Can Rest Medicine