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The web is providing bands and their record labels with new marketing opportunities in an environment where users can buy their products direct.

And it is also helping independent artists close the gap on the giants. There's now nothing to stop an unsigned artist creating their own T-shirts and CDs, or digital downloads, to sell online.

David Balfour, editor of music community site Record of the Day (www.recordoftheday.com), points out that online media has been a huge boon for bands that would otherwise struggle to be heard: "For bands that don't have a record label behind them, the internet offers a vital means of advertising and marketing." He points to The Darkness, which built up a strong fan base from the start, despite being largely ignored by media and labels. "By using their site effectively, they could communicate with their fans and community around the group. When the labels eventually showed an interest, there was already a committed fan base in place and a strong online brand," he adds.

The band Thirteen Senses had been going for 13 months before they signed to Mercury Records. Manager Phil Chadwick says that, pre-signing, they had a very basic site. "A friend set up a page with information about gigs and dates," he explains, but it had no interactivity, no messageboard, no mailing list. "Bands don't think about these things," he says. "We never really thought about collecting email databases and information from bands - a lot changed when we signed." On signing the band, Mercury Records launched a new site (www.thirteensenses.com), with a forum, mailing list, shop and downloads.

Recently, it launched an online 'barcode' competition, inviting fans to input the barcodes of the three different formats of new release, Thru The Glass, and win the chance to meet the band. "We get extra marketing support from the label and we can cross-pollinate with their mailing list (of similar bands)," says Chadwick. He says there is an issue of whether selling music from an artist's online shop should count towards the Charts.

Franz Ferdinand's manager, Cerne Canning, points out that there are further advantages in the international market, which became apparent during the band's 2004 world tour. "In Montreal, when the band played a track which had never been released in that market, the front rows of the audience were singing it," he says. There were also some 250,000 paid downloads of the track in the US.

The band runs and funds its own web site, developed by agency DS Emotion.

Cerne says the revenue from online makes up a "fairly minor part" of the band's overall income but "is increasing". In the UK, a digital-only download mix of This Fire made the A-playlist on Radio One for six weeks, he says. "When AOL streamed Take Me Out, it had 2.5 million listens and that will increasingly turn into revenue."

However, many indie bands may not have the money or skills to compete as yet. Eric Winbolt, digital media manager at EMI-owned label Positiva Records, says: "The internet is becoming a great leveller, but it's not there yet. Anyone can create a web site where people can find information and interact with others who share similar appetites, but we are still at the point where you need someone to make your voice heard in the space."

He points to peoplesound.com, which aims to aggregate huge numbers of unsigned acts online to provide power in numbers. "This presupposes that consumers want to sift through thousands of unsigned records," says Winbolt. "A label is not just about finding bands but developing and promoting them."

But, it's not always necessary to have the marketing support of a major label to succeed online (see box for Simply red.com, p43). Matt Johnson, fan-base manager for acts such as Mr Scruff, Fingathing and Homelife, says that while the label Ninja Tunes releases the records for all three, the management runs the sites. Mrscruff's database (www.sparklest.com) feeds into the consumer-facing site, Mrscruff.com, to power the shop and provide content. Johnson says they're looking at "developing the system to be available to external artists we don't manage".

The web site hosts sticky content and games to "keep fans coming back, engage them and to encourage them to interact on the forum", comments Johnson. Fans receive points when they do something to promote Mr Scruff online, which are redeemable against merchandise. It held a competition to find Mr Scruff's greatest fan, promoted through banner ads. The person with the most points (and best answers to a questionnaire) was flown to Australia to meet the artist.

Word-of-mouth endorsement is a powerful marketing tool for all genres. When Robbie Williams performed at Knebworth last year, fans could send photos of themselves, which were published online to create a mosaic image of the star. It was incentivised with a competition promoted via the database, with the senders of the 100 best photos receiving a poster of the image. Winbolt explains: "We got data out of it - it encouraged word-of-mouth exposure and people stayed interested."

Agency Digital Outlook, which is working with two major pop acts targeting teen audiences, has developed Street Teams which links the record company, artists and fans through a network of support to encourage them to endorse acts. Fans are tasked with emailing artist information to friends, voting in polls, attending events like signings, and adding promotional email and messenger footers. The record company provides the information and resources to do it and offers rewards like the chance to appear in a video, advance tickets and merchandise.

Taking this offline, record label Universal recently hit the press by using a network of children to promote its artists in schools. But Danny Van Emden, digital media director at EMI Music UK, reckons this 'ambassador' method of promoting brands is old-fashioned. "People prefer to see the individual behind the site, so when a fan goes online they are talking to someone with a real voice - the artist or someone who is close to the decisions being made. You need to be there with them - you need to know what's turning them on or freaking them out."

Monitoring forums and interactivity is an ideal way to understand audiences, she says. "What are their user preferences? What do they like doing? You might find you have a huge gay following or 10 per cent of your audience goes to the cinema and this is a good way to work out how to involve offline marketing, where and when to market, and how to involve third parties." EMI wants fans to publish on the web site. "We want to encourage fans to review things, vote, have a voice and feel that they're recognised. The social context in which people discover news, music and videos is increasingly important," she adds.

Van Emden sees the profile area of messageboards as "the Holy Grail that brands want to get to. It is a source of loyalty with integrity where people tell you about their other interests." Communities eliminate that subversive Big Brother feeling of being watched when giving data, "but, where they feel they are treated with integrity, people can't do it fast enough", she adds.

This isn't exclusive to teen audiences. In a survey on EMI's information and distribution site, the-raft.com, at the end of 2003, 7,000 people responded in 48 hours, including pre-teens and the late 50s. "Older people are equally into music, but may have less time to investigate it. We can do so much more to engage older users. It's about their preferences and giving them a voice," Van Emden explains.

As Winbolt says: "A big change is that social networking like blogging means the consumer's voice is getting louder." Artists big and small are benefiting by offering a direct link for fans.

The Chemical Brothers launched a site to coincide with new album Push the Button on 24 January and is looking at blogs (see box, p41). Manager Robert Linney says the band used messageboards to compile a singles compilation album in 2003. "It's a correlation between using the site and impacting on the band," he says. "It's a way of keeping in tune with fans."

Mercury Records' new media manager Luke Bevans says punk rock band The Others uses niche interaction. As well as a relaunched web site (www.letskilltheothers.org), it communicates through a viral game, developed by agency Holler, that is emailed to fans (Revolution, January, p15), taking communication to an intimate level. The lead singer exchanges mobile numbers with fans at gigs and has about 2,000 numbers. "The band is about community," and all marketing must reflect that, explains Bevans. "People are used to being close to the band. We don't want to spoil that relationship."

As mobile becomes increasingly important in the marketing cycle, how are artists exploiting it? Sarah Sherry, digital media manager at Virgin Records, says Jay Sean, who has a young following, sells lots of ringtones and the label is looking at mobile blogging. "We haven't used blogs in a commercial sense - it's about creating a relationship and rewarding fans," she says.

For Starsailor's last album, EMI Records launched a mobile version of their new site, using XHTML feeds from the same content-management system, to coincide with their Glastonbury performance. The mobile site held bespoke content and fans could text photos from the festival to a blog published online and on mobiles. But, Winbolt warns: "It's not enough to take a site and put in on mobile. You need to think what content works on the move." The moblog was promoted to fans via bluetooth, as a way of targeting them in a field without SMS or flyers. A message formatted on a business card gave details of Starsailor's mobile site and how to send a blog, and 25 promoters mingled in the crowd to spread the word.

This is just the start of a lucrative future for mobile and online marketing in this sector, but there's one question: is it rock and roll? The worry is that this might destroy the mystery surrounding our musical idols.

Should we be able to text them?

Canning is wary. This year, Franz Ferdinand is exploring the use of webcams to provide content: "We'll see how far technology takes us," he says.

"But I'm very cautious about marketing on the internet, and about the ways we interact with fans and keep in touch with them. It's critical that we don't get to the stage where fans get too much," he warns. "It's good to keep an air of mystique. It's more in keeping with the rock and roll image. How much did everyone really know about Kurt Cobain?"

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS INTERACT

Virgin Records launched an interactive campaign for the release of The Chemical Brothers' latest album, Push The Button, on 24 Jan.

It created a new site (www.thechemicalbrothers.com) in-house, which launched on 7 January. Traffic is driven from ads on single packaging and via links with third-party sites, such as NME and MTV.

The site hosts tour dates, a messageboard, a shop, downloads and a mobile area where users can download wallpaper, tracks and videos.

Exclusive content is key, says Sarah Sherry, digital media manager at Virgin Records, and interactivity is crucial. "We will have a blog on the site and encourage all our artists to do this," she says. "Fans will be able to take a photo, and send it by email or text, and upload it on the site - a 'moblog'.

"Fans want to interact. They want to see themselves up in lights. It's a reason for them to go to the site and tell friends. We are taking the link to the site, then to mobile. But we haven't used blogs in a commercial sense - it's about creating a relationship and rewarding fans," she says.

The label has created the first album preview on iTV, inspired by French political propaganda. The interactive ad, by Weapon 7, airs during a 20-second commercial by production company Cops and Robbers. Album previews can also be accessed on Sky.

Ben Curwin, senior product manager at Virgin, says: "The idea works on two levels: encouraging digital viewers to push red for added content, and the ad appeals to the analogue viewers and is an effective piece of 'standard' TV advertising."

SIMPLY RED GO IT ALONE AND SCORE A TOP-SELLING ALBUM

Simply Red is an example of how the internet can give power to a band, without the input of a major record label.

When Simply Red's contract with Warner expired at the end of 2001, the artist faced a dilemma. But the band had seen huge success with eight albums, so their manager, Ian Grenfell, felt they had the experience to go it alone.

"We decided to do everything ourselves and fund it," he says. "Some bands talk about doing this, but no-one has - they prefer to take the cheque." The company named itself Simplyred.com. "It's not an internet company, but it's one less barrier to getting to the internet and this gives us closer interaction with fans. We got experienced professionals (to create the site)." He feels they gained more intimate communications, leading to better market research and more control over content. And the band keeps all the revenue.

Grenfell says a lot of band sites are managed by the record label or a third party. "It's rare for management to handle every aspect. We run the site from our office, so the person in charge of online sits opposite the person deciding tour dates, A&R, etc. They're integral."

Fans can also research tracks before release. Simply Red's last album, Home, was the biggest-selling album from an individual label worldwide in the 12 months following its release in 2003. It has sold 2.5 million copies.

KASABIAN FINDS ONLINE CRITICAL FOR BREAKING THE MARKET

Sony BMG launched Leicester-based Kasabian via targeted marketing online.

The label signed the indie band in September 2003, when they were unknown, and their latest album sold 250,000 copies and was nominated at the Brit Awards.

"Online was critical in breaking this band," says Dan Ayers, head of online marketing at Sony BMG. "It was used to talk to fans and target them in a niche way." BMG set up Kasabian.co.uk with the aim of creating a cult destination to communicate with a specific, small audience via online social networking.

"Rather than saying 'join the fan club', we were saying 'join the movement' and created a fan base that was a separate entity to the band," he says.

The site pushes 'manifestos' and provides a means for the fans to arrange meet-ups.

"We are looking at how bands can use the internet in a way that wouldn't be possible with offline media. We are targeting a smaller number of people who really approve of what we do and would buy into the niche that we are marketing at, rather than mass marketing."

The site issues tasks to fans, such as waving a band flag at festivals, leading to press promotion. And the site informs about new releases.

Ayers says the indie market tends to rush out and buy multiple editions of a song on Mondays to show solidarity with a band. Pop acts sell continuously all week. This boosts mid-week sales, alerting radio stations, which then feel they should play it.

Kasabian's fan base has now grown from 3,000 to 30,000 people.