Uhh,
Gotta step in here.
My day job is running a marketing company. We work with massive multinational clients and really small one man bands.
The big guns can afford to throw money at concepts to see if they stick. We are very often a part of it.
I run the business so I think that I have got a fairly good stand point to make *some* comment.
Firstly it might be worth seeing whether there is a market for what you are doing. Is it viable? (you don't have to be Britney to sell records / play gigs but if your stuff is shit then use the money to live for a year and get as much time making tracks in as possible.
if it is viable (peer review is prob the best way in your situation) find out by sending it to labels / dj's that you like./If you get some positive feedback then work your next step from there. i.e. if the labels are saying it's good but needs polish get an engineer in and work with them. if you get offered a deal then licence a track as a single, no option on future material until you have seen performance from the label. They willpromote you to an extent and you can use the money to live on. Util the cash starts to rollin. . . Which might be a while, and given todays climate for selling recorded music will probably be from gigging and t shirts etc. . .
Alternatively use myspace et all to build up a fan base. Loads of ppl say it doesn't work, I know people who use it sucessfully. There is a good downloadable pdf that some guy wrote about marketing your music through myspace. . . It's a great way to connect with other artists that are further on that may give you feedback. RJD2 might be too busy to check stuff that you have done but i bet there are a few people just a few steps further down the line that mgith be able to helpyou in some way. .
Untill you have a revenure stream and a viable product you are just burning your money on stuff like banner adverts. if the music is viable for your market (sorry i know this sounds offensive to some creative types but the reality is he is talking about investing into his own business so these things are important)
Ask people who have done it. Other artists,independant smaller labels etc., A few might tell you to piss off but the music community as a whole ends to be inclusive and if you have good stuff you willvery quickly realise cos pplwill want to talk to you do deals with you etc. Be nice, polite humble etc. We work with a few small companies that basically get services from us at loads less than others mainly cos we like them.
Don't listen to advice on forums like this cos most of the people who are making it in their chosen profession aren't wasting their time posting here (this applies to me as much as anyone else!)
There is a lot of disinformation spread in places such as this so the best way is to research by asking people who are actually successful in the way you want to be / music you want to make. . .
Everyone has an opinion.This is just another one
Albeit from someone that has seen loads and loads of companies burn marketing funds.
Don't spend any money until you have drawn up a list of pro's cons of what you could spend that money on. . . Think about it, ask other labels what has worked for them. Make contacts with people and don't do anything untilyou have researched it fully. Test your market before bringing the product out and spending your money on it. invest oher ppls money in your business if you possibly can.
Pesoanlly I would use it to live for as long as possible, pay your rent / phone bills etc and get marketing your self using all the free tools there are. You can get stuff sold online for next to nothing so going into a market top heavy is fine if you are pepsi or coke (and it often doesnt work for them even with their million pound budgets!) but seems to me that it's almost always a waste for anyone else. . .
My 20 yen for what it's worth. . .