I should be famous now, what went wrong....

The thing is, if you believe everything people tell you, uncritically, and without close examination or thought, you will not progress much in this life. I'm not saying that most people are, at heart, cynical deceivers, because that would be a little unfair. Most people are sorta decent folks, and do mean well. Just because they mean well, though, is not to say they are actually helping well; none of us are perfect... No, what I am saying, is that whenever someone, (or an organisation), wants to encourage you to do something which they see as mutually beneficial, they tend to emphasise the upside of their argument, and barely mention the downside, or ignore it altogether. Now, as a sweeping generalisation, the internet, is, in many respects, a microcosm of the world at large. Accordingly, because OMD's are run by people, they tend to follow the natural tendency of most folks, to put a mostly positive spin on their potential benefit to you. As far as that goes, that's ok, because OMD's do offer potential benefits. Those benefits will always remain, potential benefits, however, if you are not alive to, and aware of, some basic realities of life on the web.

So, lets go back to to your OMD website, the one you built a Band Page on, and uploaded some music to, only to enjoy a very brief moment of glory, and then not much else...Lets try to see what the 'reality' actually is, and why you are not on your way to the top of the charts....

You created a band page on the OMD of your choice. You told the world what is so good about you, your band and your music, and you uploaded a song or two...That's fine and dandy, that's what we all do. So far, so good. Your songs appeared in the 'latest 50 uploads' list on the site's 'Home page' or 'Genre page' for your music. Yup, fine, been there too, done that...

Ok. Your songs got some brief attention from random surfers or website subscribers. Why? Because they were briefly at the top of the 'latest 50 uploads' list, you and your songs were new, you were an unfamiliar name, in the list of 'usual suspects'. Our random surfers were curious, and took a listen. So, you got a play or two. In a short while, more uploads came in, and you began to slip down the list. Now, new or not, you are getting less attention from the people clicking in, because you are mid list, and surfers tend to click the first thing they see as new and interesting. Sadly, because most surfers are basically lazy, (er, me too!), and 'click happy', that's often the songs or bands at the top of the list...As time goes on, and more uploaded music comes in, you slip further down the list, and become, first, less noticeable, and then, almost, if not invisible....

So, you had some slight interest on day one, which slowly tailed off.... A couple of random surfers actually liked your music, and, maybe, played it a couple of times, perhaps even over a day or two, so, you get a few more plays, then the tailing off line goes completely flat....Nothing.

You are, now, nowhere to be seen on this OMD website. Yes, your Band Page still resides, in all it's glory, somewhere on the Website's servers, and if folks knew where to look, they might be able to find it. The odd random straggler might, actually, find it, but most web surfers will not know your name, or the titles of your songs, and, therefore, have no way of knowing that you and your wonderful music exist....

That, my friend, my fellow Indie Artist, is reality, on a typical OMD. It is why your name is not yet on the list of planned stars for Sunset Boulevard, why you aren't famous. It's what went wrong....