Get your music on
last.fm as well. It sure can't hurt.
You can pay for radio plays here:
http://airplay.jango.com1000 plays are $30 (as opposed to
last.fm where 100 plays are $30). You have loads of options (e.g. listener targeting, allocation of credits for plays to the songs you want to be played, etc.) and statistics (how many people, which their favorite artists are, where they are located, gender, age, etc.).
There's also a service that can help you promote your music:
http://www.cdregister.com I just signed up for the priority list a few days back. It basically works like this. Each month they send out a music report to their affiliates which are movie producers, radio stations, college radios, etc. with new music. If you sign up, your information will be along there with the report. That way people can preview samples of your music (e.g. I gave them a link to my
last.fm page since I don't have my personal page up yet). If somebody likes your music, they will get back to you and request either a CD (in which case you should send them one) or MP3s (in which case you should give them a download location). I don't know exactly under which terms, but they probably offer you royalties.
In any case, I once sent them a mail to ask whether the CDs need to be fancy with a box, etc., but I was told that a CD with a print is enough. That's why I bought that printer the other day that can print on CDs. xD Even though the design of the site is quite poor and somebody can come to think that it's a scam, it's not. The service is provided by 3000 Records. I have looked them up (I've spent HOURS trying to find dirt on them). They are a legit company. And they have actually loads of other services and pages that look very similar (I mean the poor design that looks like a giant ad with shitloads of testimonials).
So, even if things don't go as expected, you still have your fanbase and you still have all the other possibilities. You don't lose anything, you can just go on and continue your thing and then in a couple of months try to contact the label again.
EDIT: BTW, if you want to sell your music right away:
http://www.tunecore.comI signed up there almost a year ago and that's why you can buy my music now online in various stores. Their fee is not that small (currently $50 per album for a year and $1 for each store you choose), but it makes sense to get your music at least out there. After all, it means something if you have your music on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, Limewire Store, etc.
If you don't like Tunecore's terms, there are other services. I primarily chose Tunecore because they can send you checks as payment and you can pay over PayPal. They don't take any of your royalties where some of the other services don't charge you anything in advance but take a percentage of your royalties. Remember, I've spent hours and hours trying to gather all of this information. This is what suited me best, but it might work for your as well. The only good alternative that I found was
http://www.cdbaby.com But their terms appear a bit too much for me and their pricing is significantly higher. I think that they are more known, though. Basically, I don't think your sales depend on which you choose of those. So you might just go with the low-budget Tunecore.