Music Gorilla is a piece of cake to use & to navigate. Nothing sticky about its sweetness, either: MG’s sole purpose is to connect the music industry with talented musicians who need to be heard, and they make it easy to do. While the core of the site is catered to folks working in and breaking into the music industry, this very new very eager blog, We The MG, caters to all – the people who play in our showcases, the folks who sign them, and the friends who come out to support.

On a first visit to the site, you’ll want to join, explore our opportunities and our blog, and get hooked up with our newsletter and social media to keep up with MG news.

Industry pros join for free, signing up just as they would for an email address—from the home page, just by clicking on “Industry” under our main banner, or on the “Industry” header on the top of any page. Artists, too, can click on the “Artists” tab under the main banner on the homepage or the “Artists” header on the top of any page, and then can choose to either: A) sign up for free B) become a “Pro Artist” and pay a monthly twenty bucks for some great benefits. The “Artists” page makes it easy to weigh this choice. There’s a checklist for what each type of membership includes. So, if you’re a songwriter who plans to capitalize on many of our song submission opportunities, you probably want to become a “Pro Artist” and pay the twenty bucks a month to do so, because submission is free and unlimited to Pro Artists. But if you’re just starting out in a band and only have a few tracks, and not so much money, basic membership should suit. Under “Sign Up Now,” at the bottom of this Artists page, it reads “Still not sure which membership is right for you?” And if you’re not, click on contact us, and either send us a message or give us a call. Seriously. We have testimonials from MG alums on the site, so if you want a free sherpa, outside of contacting us, scroll down the home page until you see “Miscellaneous” at the bottom, and click on “Testimonials” under that heading.

Both artist and industry folks can use the white box in the bottom right corner of our homepage to sign up via email for our newsletter, which consolidates newest MG news and opportunities. At the bottom of the page, right in the center, use the twitter and facebook links to begin stalking us on social media. And to learn more about what our showcases and events look like, click on the flickr and youtube links.

OK, so those are all the things to do in an initial visit to the site. On return visits, you’ll get to the homepage and sign in. If you’re an industry person, you may want to check out your “watch list,” or search for music.

As an artist, once you sign in you’ll be redirected to a page that allows you to choose between “My Profile,” “My Music,” and “My Account.” It’s important to use the Profile resource– posting not only a link to your band’s music, but choosing things like your genre, or who you sound like, as well as uploading a bio and photo. “My Music” is where your band can upload songs. If you sign up for free, you have five songs to upload, and if you decide you’d like to have more, you can always get some credits, arcade-style, to upload more. Both the MG homepage and your artist sign-in page allow you to check out new opportunities for song submissions.

MG constantly updates its current and significant opportunities for artists to “break in” to the industry as songwriters. Our descriptions for each opportunity suggest what type of song is expected and when the deadlines are. Let’s say you play blues and soul and you’re on the Opportunities page; you see that John Legend is looking for “big, soulful hits.” So you start by clicking “more info” to read what more details there may be, note that the submission deadline is July 9th, and note the “cost.”

And finally, on your return visits to Music Gorilla, when you miss us so bad it hurts, EVERYONE should check out the latest from our blog, We The MG. We’ll be talkin’ about it all —- showcases and bands, the state of the industry, life, love, the third rail…

There’s your pretty quick and not so dirty on how to navigate MG. More questions about how the site works? Leave a comment or give us a call. And until next time..