Q: What is UBL.com?

A: UBL.com (the Ultimate Band List) is an online community of independent recording artists and their fans. It offers an innovative new platform for emerging artists to promote themselves, as well as a unique set of tools and resources for selling merchandise, promoting gigs, researching the industry and more. For fans, UBL is a great way to discover new music and connect with fellow music lovers.

Q: Do I have to sign up to use the site?

A: Non-members are free to browse UBL.com and view artist and fan profiles, listen to audio streams, buy digital downloads and other merchandise, and much more. Members get to create a profile page, as well as post news, reviews, blogs and events in select areas throughout the site.

Q: Is it free to sign up?

A: Yes, if all you want is a basic membership. For a premium membership with more features and benefits, UBL offers a variety of pricing plans. Visit our Membership Plan Details page for more information.

Q: How do I set up my profile?

A: UBL offers a unique Dashboard that allows you to customize your profile by adding photos, band member bios, an album catalog, press releases, web links and more. After you sign up, you'll be able to use the Dashboard and read tips that will guide you through the process of creating a profile.

Q: How can I become a featured artist?

A: All Gold members are eligible to become featured artists and are selected by our editorial staff based on the quality of your music and your profile. We pick a new set of featured artists each week. You will be notified if you're selected.

Q: What are "Promo Tuesdays"?

A: Promo Tuesdays are a great way to get prime placement on the UBL homepage.

Q: What is "Ultimate News"?

A: The "Ultimate News" section is being constantly updated with important industry news and announcements from members of the UBL community. To have one of your news items appear in "Ultimate News," just post it on your profile! We randomly select news items to feature on the homepage -- yours could be one of them.

Q: What are "Ultimate Charts"?

A: The charts rank the most popular artists on UBL based on user clicks. The more people visit your profile to listen to your music, shop for merchandise, post reviews or just gaze longingly at your photos, the higher you'll rise in the charts.

Q: What does the Calendar do?

A: The Calendar feature allows you to browse all UBL member gigs, sorted by date, genre and/or location. Selected gigs each day will be featured on the homepage.

Q: What is ARTISTdirect?

A: ARTISTdirect is the sister site of UBL. It's the hub of the leading independent music network on the Web, with information, features, news and discographies for hundreds of thousands of artists, plus free audio and video streams, a gigantic and competitively priced online store, contests and special promotions, and much, much more. And here's the coolest part: When you list a well-known artist that you sound like on your UBL profile, you'll automatically get a link on that artist's ARTISTdirect page. No other online music community offers this level of exposure to its members.

Q: What are "UB-Newbies"?

A: UB-Newbies are the newest members of the UBL community, the ones who have just created their profiles. To welcome them to UBL, we have a special section on the homepage that gives these newcomers a little bonus exposure just for signing up. We're nice like that.

Q: What's that little lightning bolt on the navigation bar?

A: If you're new to UBL and just feel like browsing the site, click the lightning bolt. It'll randomly take you to any page on the entire UBL site. Try it! You never know -- you might discover your next favorite band.

Q: I'm just a fan. What do I need a profile for?

A: Your profile allows you to network with other fans and tell the rest of the world about your favorite bands. You can post photos, a personal statement, reviews, band links, and links to other fans. You'll also be able to post testimonials on bands and artists' profiles.

Q: How do I upload photos?

A: Go to the UBL Dashboard and click on "Photos." You can add photos up 100KB in size, but don't go nuts; too many large photos will make your photo gallery load very slowly for people with weak Internet connections. Your photos will be sized to fit into a space 400 px wide by 300 px high, so we recommend choosing photos of roughly the same dimensions. UBL supports JPG, GIF and PNG file types; JPGs tend to look the best of the three.

Q: How do I upload songs?

A: Go to the UBL Dashboard and click on "Catalog/MP3 Uploads." Use the "Audio Sample" field to upload your song, which must be in MP3 format. Type the song title into the "Sample Track Name" field, then hit "Save." You can use the "Product" fields to associate the song with a specific album, EP or single if you wish.

Q: How do I preview my songs once I've uploaded them?

A: As soon as you've saved a song, you can preview it by clicking on "edit" next to the product image, then clicking on "listen" next to the "Audio Sample" field. You can also go to your profile page and click on the speaker icon next to your MP3 in the "band catalog" section.

Q: It's not letting me upload my song. What gives?

A: First, make sure your song is in MP3 format, and that the file size is 8MB or smaller. (In Windows, you can do this by right-clicking on the file and choosing "Properties.") Also, check the file name -- make sure you're not using any characters (i.e. ?, !, $, %, (, ), @, /, \) that might cause our servers not to recognize your file. If you're still experiencing problems, contact customer support.