> About FGM

I know from experience that there is great talent lurking in basements, dorm rooms, and corners of book stores and coffee houses that needs to be discovered. No one's getting their big break playing at the local tuba museum. I created FreshGrownMusic for this very reason. This site is not designed to promote musicians on MTV and VH1 or top 40 radio. It's for independent musicians who are trying to make it on their own, and need more exposure for their music. I want that talented singer, songwriter or musician to have their music heard by the world. Maybe they'll get a big fat contract, and maybe they won't. Either way, they'll have a place where their music can be heard and appreciated by friends and total strangers from all over the world.

I'm a musician who happens to be a web & database programmer as well. I work on about 40 programming projects a year. If the members of this site make promoting the site a priority, I'll make adding content to the site a priority. I have great things in mind for expanding the site's features, and I hope its membership will grow so I can do all the things I want to do. My ultimate goal is to have a group of publishers and A&R folks who are active on the site, looking for new talent and helping our membership move toward their musical goals. We'll need numbers, both artists and fans, to make that a reality.

The day it's released, this site will offer the following FREE features:

• Info page for each artist, including photo, bio, web site link
• Create a playlist of your own music by song or collection of songs (album)
• Visitors to your page can listen to your music online using our built-in MP3 player
• Fans can rate your music by song and album, and leave comments
• Any music you upload is auto-entered into our searchable database, and can be searched by artist, album, song, genre
• Support forums where members can ask for help or offer suggestions
• Our weblog will build over time, and will contain articles written by our members as well as industry professionals, all designed to help you further your musical goals.

Other content goals I have include:

• An internet radio station which plays only content from our members (we'll need at least 100 full songs from artists to make this feasible)
• Online sales of members' music (coming soon)
• Online booking will allow this site to act as an agent for you, collecting deposits from clients and allowing online reservations for available dates you specify.
• Event scheduling including online ticket sales
• Online merchandise sales (clothing, promotional items, signed items, etc.)
• Email announcements to all of your fans on material release, upcoming events in their area, etc.
• ... and more! If the site grows like I hope it will, new features will be developed based on popular request from users. There's hardly a limit to what we can do.

Does this sound like something you want? Would these things expand your musical horizons? If so, help me help you. Invite musician friends and fans alike to create accounts and support this community. Together we can make something really great, and enrich the lives of everyone involved.

I'll be active on this site at all times, on the forums, the weblog, adding my own music and checking out your music. I hope to see you around as well, and want to hear about your successes. Post on the forums, add your music, and send your friends and fans over to support you and the community.

Thanks!
Dave Dowling, Founder of FGM