Overwhelmed with the internets

OK. I have to admit it right now.
I'm really really tired. It's been a long string of 12 hour + work days plus supporting my fiancé who just finished her masters thesis.

That leaves me feeling really easily overwhelmed. And it's one of the first things I keep hearing from people who are trying to figure out this online music business: it is totally overwhelming.

There are just so many competing players out there right now, that it's really difficulty to cut through the noise and figure out what's useful, what's fluff and who the hell is paying attention to all this stuff anyway?

I've been busy promoting my new band Super Adventure Club over the last several months and through it, I've learned a great deal about what's out there.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that I've learned what really WORKS. There are a few sites that I visit regularly (even when I'm this tired) and try to keep updated, but there are a lot that feel to me like they are languishing in obscurity.

So here are my top sites of use in my state of overwhelm-edness

1. MySpace - the original social networking site still has the biggest audiences and is a place where people come to discover new music. Commenting on other bands and friends pages is a very good way to keep people remembering that you exist. And that's a very important part of being in a successful band.

2. Facebook - this is more for my personal life. I keep track of my friends and can read about them. I don't really view it as marketing and I don't promote my band here very much. But I enjoy learning what all my long lost friends from grade school are doing...

3. ReverbNation - this is a new one for me and I'm just starting to discover its usefulness. The most useful thing about it so far, is that it has an excellent mailing list collector, lots of widgets you can employ to get your music on loads of websites and they are pretty artist friendly. I'm going to explore these guys more once I quit feeling so damn tired.

4. My own websites. - theoretically this should come first. And this is me, in my tired state, admitting shortcomings of self-promotion by not updating my own site enough (and not doing it first).

My approach to web promotion is still hackneyed and haphazard. The more I learn about what's out there, I'm determined to put a plan together. I have a feeling I'm going to need some help on that from some one who is younger, more dedicated to it and has a lot more time to devote to it than I do.

Or perhaps when I get some more sleep, I'll get right on that.