You live in or near Seattle. You make music. You want people to hear it. How can you maximize your time to achieve this goal, a goal shared by thousands of other musicians around here?

You could stake out some real estate on that site owned by right-wing billionaire Rupert Murdoch to get your music and message out. But other options exist for Seattle-area musicians looking to promote themselves to local audiences, promoters, and label moguls (those most likely to impact your destiny): The Stranger Bands Page at www.thestranger.com/bands.

In Seattle's competitive music scene, everyone's looking for leverage. The Stranger Bands Page can give you that edge.

Our Bands Page lets you upload MP3s and images, promote your shows, keep your Seattle fans informed, post manifestos—anything you please. The site is searchable, attractive, and easy to navigate, and more than 1,000 bands are already listed. There's unlimited space to describe your band, network, send e-mail, and you can include as many links as you like.

Once your band's info and MP3s are up on The Stranger Bands Page, we will be able to direct readers to your page when we write up your shows or review your CDs, and soon our online listings will include links to your page on the Bands Page every time you play a show, allowing online readers to check out your band instantly.

Happily, The Stranger Bands Page provides easy access for Stranger writers to discover talent. This way you'll be helping us to help you. And it's all free.