This couldn’t have come at a better time, right in the middle of my series on How to Promote Your Album on a Budget, inspired by the original 8 Tips for Getting Your Music Heard for Free!

If you haven’t joined Grooveshark already, now is the time to get on it. It’s 100% free, and very similar to Pandora (but actually a lot better). Lots of you may have heard of it, but maybe not – I only found out about it about 6 months ago because my friend knows a few of the developers in FL. Grooveshark will promote your music via streaming radio through browser, desktop, iphone, android, etc. They just released a Band / Artist Appreciation program, and they are having a promotion to give smaller artists free plays. You just sign up here:

then after signing up, you just upload a few tracks (or as many as you want). It’s totally free, and all you need is an email address.

After you have created your artist account and uploaded some songs, you create a referral link and pass it around. Every 5 people that sign up, you get 2,000 guaranteed plays.  More information is on the Grooveshark Artists Blog.  But seriously, just click the link above and get started now, instead of waiting until later.  All you need is an email address and at least onesong in mp3 format.  I remember when I put off joining Myspace Music back when everyone was just starting to talk about it. It wasn’t a huge missed opportunity or anything, but I wish I had promoted my music on it a year earlier than I did.  Same goes for Twitter. Screw Facebook.

Check back soon for my review of Grooveshark’s AutoPlay program for paid plays, along with Jango Radio, SoundOut track reviews and more…