What is the best way for an independent band to promote themselves?

[Madcamp389]

All of the above. That, and play, play, play. Honestly, the Myspace/Twitter thing can be good. Maybe out of every 20 or 30 accepted friend requests, 1 or 2 people will actually check you out. Twitter could be good for rallying people who know about you to get to shows, let them know band news, but you're not going to get better promotion than from playing good show after good show from place to place, working your way up the ladder to get gigs with better acts.

My best advice is to get a good, quality recording and send about 4 songs (always leading with your best track) to the venues you want to play at and try to land good shows.

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Listen to Deke. Great answer!