Create a BandsOfTheBay.com user name and password by clicking the “Sign Up” link on the top right of our home page. An activation e-mail will be sent to you. Once you’ve activated your account, visit the “Bands” page and click on the link in the green box that reads, “Enter your band” into the BandsOfTheBay.com database to create a profile page and to upload your photo and Mp3.

After your profile is completed (click the “submit” button), click the earBuzz link that will appear on the confirmation page to join earBuzz and to take advantage of our special 3 months free sign-up offer. Or come to this page and click the link at the top.

Founded in 1999, earBuzz.com is the ultimate tool for independent artists to sell high quality music and is the first and only music store online that returns 100% of the CD and Download purchase price back to artists.

Click here to visit the earBuzz registration page. You'll be asked to fill out an earBuzz/BandsOfTheBay.com registration form. Once earBuzz receives your music and creates a player for you (a 1-3 day process) you can embed code to put the player directly onto your BandsOfTheBay.com profile page. Your music will also be sold on earBuzz.com and anywhere else you put the player.

Create a user name and password by signing up on the site. An activation e-mail will be sent to you. Once you click the activation link in that e-mail, visit the Bands page to create your profile. There's a spot on the profile form to enter your earBuzz player embed code. The earBuzz/BandsOfTheBay program is open to artists who have chosen the $5/month option on earBuzz.com. If you have not chosen this option, you will need to upgrade your earBuzz membership to take advantage of the program.

The earBuzz Player is code that allows you to place your music for sale anywhere - your own site, fan sites, anywhere someone is willing to host the player. You earn 100% from all sales and listeners can sample and purchase your CDs or downloads. The player code becomes functional as soon as your music goes live on earBuzz.com.

Once you sign up for BandsOfTheBay.com and earBuzz, your band information and player will show up in the BandsOfTheBay.com band listings and in the search engine on our Music Store page, where we plan to regularly feature BOTB.com artists with music for sale. earBuzz will also promote you on their website.

You get your own artist page on both sites where all your music can be found, and you can use the earBuzz Player to sell your music anywhere else. Our buyers want to support independent artists and buy music from earBuzz because they know you'll get 100%. Every CD gets reviewed and with the earBuzz proprietary search engine, you'll be gaining an audience that may never have heard you before. And because BandsOfTheBay.com is a clearinghouse for San Francisco Bay Area musicians, you’ll be concentrating your publicity efforts on building a local fan base that can come see you perform at local venues. Bottom line? You'll be part of the revolutionary changes in the music industry. We think all revenues should go back to artists if no label or other entity has invested in creating that music and recording. It's your music, it's your money.

Artists can choose to be paid by check or PayPal (tm). Payments are processed every Friday. Amounts under $25 or rolled over into the next week. Artists are paid 100% of the CD and Download price.

The earBuzz.com/BandsOfTheBay.com partnership is a service so we charge a monthly music sales membership of $5. earBuzz charges a one-time encoding/processing fee of $25 per CD title which includes creating all clips, mp3, and 256-bit aac files from your CD, scanning, uploading, and hosting. Artists who do not want to sell their music on BandsOfTheBay.com can join BandsOfTheBay.com for free. BandsOfTheBay.com membership is not mandatory for Northern California earBuzz members, but we recommend it to give your music the most exposure.

Labels/management can submit artists, however earBuzz makes check payable in the artists' names. The artists are free to pay the label or representation the terms they've worked out between them. Compilation CDs will be carried with copies of signed releases from all included artists designating payee.

We use the highest quality settings available and allow the download of the buyer's choice of LAME codec mp3 (the best sounding mp3) or 256-bit AAC. The AAC files are the highest quality, however most people using mp3 players and speakers won't be able to hear the difference, so we offer both for convenience sake. Ordering the physical CD, which has the original files used to encode, has the best quality.

Yes, you can be on earBuzz! 99% of “exclusive” clauses apply if you want your music encoded and provided to other sites. Read your agreements or call us and we'll help you make sure. earBuzz is self-contained and does not rely on other services or aggregates. It's your music, you should have it where you want. The exclusive language of other sites is there so that 3rd party sites aren't getting the same songs from different music businesses (iTunes doesn’t want your album provided to them twice). We don't supply songs to any other site, we don't take music encoded from other sites, so no exclusivity danger. earBuzz has been, and always will be, non-exclusive.

You can cancel your earBuzz membership anytime. There's no penalty. Pay only for the months that your profile was live on earBuzz. We'll return your CDs to you for a charge equal to the delivery confirmation postage, packaging, and a $5.00 handling fee (normally totaling around $10). If you cancel your earBuzz membership, you are free to keep your profile on BandsOfTheBay.com, but your player will be removed.

Earbuzz has several programs that are free to artists to participate in like earBuzz Radio Ready, Live Buzz Shows, our Half Buzzed Daily and Buzz of the Week, Best Buzz clips. On BandsOfTheBay.com, you can list your gigs in our calendar, upload videos, chat about your work on our discussion boards and reach out to the public via our classifieds listings. We also produce our own live shows and have the ability to recommend bands to play at local venues and music festivals. And our bloggers also regularly highlight Northern California artists and venues.

There are several ways. First, you get your own URL on earBuzz and on BandsOfTheBay.com. These link to an artist page that includes your CDs and music available for purchase. Your BandsOfTheBay.com page includes a photo, a video and biographical information. Your fans can also rate your band and music, post comments or e-mail show information to their friends. Secondly, the earBuzz search function (BuzzSearch tm), will allow music buyers from anywhere to combine searches by region, genre, and alphabet along with the ability to search by influences, and cover song title. Thirdly, BandsOfTheBay.com members selling music will be highlighted on the music store page.