In recent years, many bands don't want to get signed. A new theory has emerged that an independent solo artist can sustain him/herself with a base of 1,000 true fans. The person used as a model for the theory was Jonathan Coulton who gets visits from 3,000 fans a day with his songs being downloaded. Somewhere between 1,000 true fans and 100,000 fans is a promising number for struggling bands everywhere.
When it was still a big deal for bands to get signed, labels would sign bands that sounded like the big thing. This was the reason for the novel bands begetting imitations, i.e. Nirvana begat Bush, Pearl Jam begat Seven Mary Three and Creed and so on.
Labels would also sign a group of bands that had a similar sound, promote one of them and shelve the rest, making the one band have an "original" sound.
But before all that hullabaloo, there was a time when labels would find unique bands like Klaatu or Captain Beefheart knowing that with the right promotion, they would find 100,000 fans. Of course those bands had more than 100,000 fans but the idea was that there was a core audience of that number for every band signed.
So, in a time when bands tend to venture out on their own without record companies, 100000fans.com can really make a difference. They accept artist submissions from members and promote them. And they're gaining ground.
Every week they add two new artists to their line up (which started with 10 selected talents) and you can visit the site to sign up and download albums of the featured bands. If you're so inclined, you can also submit artists for their consideration.
The artist page contains a bio and a listening station. There is a link to download the album free of charge and a link to donate to the artist. There are also links that allow you to promote the artist via Twitter, Facebook or email.
This type of boost will really help certain artists get their work out in the public eye. They might get signed, they might not but they will probably draw enough fans to have staying power.
