Hey where should I send my band's rekkid?

CD Baby is a good idea until you land distribution/label/whatever - I believe they set you up with iTunes and some internet radio as well.

Otherwise, I dunno, if there's a blog or zine you like, send away. Same for college radio stations. Obviously check out their websites first, see what kind of music they play. See if there's a dj or staffer who would especially dig you. Again, stick to areas you're likely to play in to begin with - if you're an east coast band, a couple of plays on a west coast station are almost worthless if you're not coming out there anytime soon.

dude kinda sounds like a bro

Yeah, CDBaby is a distributor - you send them CDs (small or large amounts) and they sell them all over the world for you via their online store. Now, whether or not they give you a "healthy cut" depends on how expensive your CD is, which is a bummer. Rather than give you a percentage, which would seem to make the most sense, they simply take $4 from every sale (which doesn't include shipping - so if your CD is $8, the buyer pays $10 total and you see $4), which I think is kind of lame.

What they are good for, though, is digital distribution. They'll get your stuff in the iTunes store and many other online distributors. In this case, you get 91% of everything you make. This is where I've made almost all of my money from CDBaby, and it's been trickling in pretty steadily. It's pretty cool when people in Australia or Japan or wherever are downloading your stuff - and you can tell because the sales reports are broken down by region. But it will take them many months to get your shit into the store after you send it to them.

That's just mean, nklshs. You know Swan Station doesn't take unsolicited demo's anymore. Just like Morr, and Carpark, and Chocolate Industry, and Mush, and Thrill Jockey, and Merge, and Drag City, and, and, and...

Merge Records does accept demos. So do Sub Pop and Jagjaguwar, off the top of my head.

What is your demo tape policy? - "Rad Dude"

If you?d like to send us a copy of your band?s demo, you can. We don?t listen to demos every day, but periodically we go through a bunch of them. Please don?t call or email to follow up?if we want to reach you, we will. It is extremely rare that a band gets signed on the strengths of a demo alone so our best advice to you is to keep playing out, build a fan base, tour, and get your name out there?these are the things that will bring label representatives to your shows and this is what will help you get a record deal. Good luck!

Which is pretty much going to hold true for any better-known indie label, though proportions will vary (i.e. it will take less buzz to get on a smaller indie label)

Will you listen to my demo?

If you'd like to send us a demo, feel free to send it to:
Merge Records
PO Box 1235
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

We listen to everything people send us but we aren't able to give specific feedback to bands due to lack of time.

And:

DEMO SUBMISSION POLICY
We do accept demos at the address above and we do listen to everything we receive.
Due to the amount of time and resources it demands, however, we are not able to respond to every submission personally.
Please include contact information on your demo and we will contact you if we are interested in what you've sent us.

I sent Merge something a year or so ago and I got a (generic) postcard back from them which said they got it and listened to it, which I thought was quite decent of them.

But there are of course many smaller labels you should try, too.

Jagjaguwar might be slightly more realistic but it's hardly an unknown label. The Sub-Pop thing is right - best to build your base/buzz and bring the labels to you.

In order not to lead ZR astray, I went back and checked--Thrill Jockey and Drag City def do not accept demo's. Can't tell with Carpark and Mush, Chocolate Industries does take them. And I didn't get a chance to look long enough to see if Morr does--they have a weird website. Matador doesn't accept them, Mute does. And, uh, that's all I'm doing to atone.

I know you're being half-facetious, but one thing I've definitely learned is not to overestimate the power of a single review.