Submit Music

The Renaissance Festival Podcast features music and entertainment from groups and individuals who perform at Renaissance Festivals around the world.  We also include interviews with folk who work the festivals, from faire owners to performers, vendors to patrons.  We want to hear you to be a part of the podcast.

For recorded music or entertainment, we need two things to feature you: your permission and your music.

The podcast is hosted under a creative commons license.  This means that the only payment you will receive is promotion through the podcast.  We inform our listeners who performed the song and what album it came.  Then we include your URL in the shownotes of every show.

Creative Commons License
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

You can send us recordings by email, thru our FTP site, or thru the U.S. postal service.  We prefer full-length albums for reasons explained below.

If you decide to send MP3s, we prefer that you encode it at a minimum of 128kbps.

Three ways to send us MP3s

  1. ZIP up your album and upload it via YouSendIt.com.
  2. Upload the entire album to our FTP site using a program like Filezilla.
    ftp.marcgunn
    logon: faire@marcgunn.com
    pswd: faire
  3. Email an 1-3 MP3s to music at renaissancefestivalmusic dot com. Put REN FEST PODCAST in the subject line.

Special Note: If you DO send MP3s, please, please, please, add ID3 tags to your MP3 before you send it.

Where to send physical CDs

If you want to send us a CD, you can mail it to:

Renaissance Festival Podcast
c/o Marc Gunn
2417 Wine Ridge Dr
Birmingham, AL  35244

After you mail the album, email me so I know it’s on the way.  Follow up a month later to insure that I received it and have added you into my catalog.

 

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.   If you send MP3s, please make sure that they are Podsafe.  If there are any that are not, we would appreciate it if you would let us know.

 

Why Do We Prefer Full-Length Albums?

Once upon a time, I hand-picked songs from our collection of Ren Fest music.  That became more and more difficult since I have several other podcasts.  Now I select songs using what I call the “iPod Shuffle”.  I have all of my Ren Fest music in a playlist and I hit random play.  That makes it easy for me.  However, there’s one drawback to this method.  If you don’t have a lot of music in my playlist, you’re not likely to get played as often.

Yes.  The more music you send me, the more likely you will be played in the Renaissance Festival Podcast.  So please do send us your older music as well.  And we’ll try to get you played as often as possible.

If you don’t have a lot of music, you an also just keep in touch with us.  Artists who communicate a lot with the podcast will also be heard more.

 

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 Us.  Please don’t add us to your general email list.  We delete those.  Instead, take a moment every few weeks before faire to drop us an email.  Tell us what faires you will be at.  Typically, we 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 us 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. Post Your News on Facebook
    Our facebook page has a very active community.  Join the group and share your news.  It may end up in the podcast.  This is also the best place to tell Rennies what festivals are you are at.
  3. Mail or Upload a full-length CD.
    We only need singles to play in the podcast.  However, the more music you have in my iTunes, the better your chances of being played.  So send us a CD or two.  And don’t forget to resubmit with each new album.
  4. Add a link to our Site.  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.
  5. Record 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Submit to the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. Do you play Irish/Celtic music?  Do you offer free, full-length MP3s?  Submit your music to the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine.  This email newsletter goes out to over 20,000 people every month.  Marc gives 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.
  8. Follow Up with Us.
    One of the reasons Marc started this podcast was to get to know other faire groups.  He want to know about you and your group.  Please drop us an email and let’s talk.

 

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.

Do You Need a Bar Code for Your CD?
I would love to supply you with your very own bar code for your album or single. It’s a service I provide to all musicians. Just $15 for CDs and $5 for singles.

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.

 

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.

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