mp3smith.com is not a for profit organisation. We reserve the right to change our mind in the future, at which point we will fish the shopping trolley out of the canal and get it re-chromed...but, for the time being our sole intention is to offer a help service to those needing to get out more (on the music front) and provide access to some quick links to helpful stuff. Having been involved in music long enough to tell an up from a down, we are fully aware that simply creating original music is very rewarding in itself. We are also aware that after a while you can start to feel that you wish there was more.
The internet is the portal to the world as far as original music is concerned...particularly good for performers with an existing following. Your followers will gladly log on to your online band page. Beyond friends, followers and family you need to put your music out there. 320kbps mp3's are the staple diet of 'download' sites and while it's a sure bet that you need a folder with your tracks in high quality raw wav format, it's a certainty that you need them in another folder titled 320kbps or 128kbps for some of the free band pages.
You will also benefit from having some artwork ready to upload that compliments your tracks or album (itunes suggest 600pixels by 600pixels, other sites will state their own preferred sizes, such as 100pixels by 100 pixels). It's usual to require a larger size for 'cover art' and common to rquire a smaller size for thumbnails. The requirements will be found on the site of your choice.
Most photo software offers the option of resizing...search all the dropdowns and links on the software..you should find it.
Paint is a pretty basic but easy to use piece of software that can be a godsend for adding text to your picture. The normal format for pictures is jpeg or jpg (the same thing). Right click the picture you want to add text to and choose 'open with' and then choose paint. Play around with the features, if you don't like what's happening, 'close' without saving and try again.
If your photo software saves your photo in a format that paint doesn't like, open the photo in that software ans click on'file', click on 'save as' and check if you can save as jpg or jpeg, if not you should be able to save as 'bitmap' which will also work.
Try to get your picture to the recommended size as bigger pics take a while to upload and slow down the loading (and scrolling) of your page, which can be off putting for people using it.
If you choose to upload cover songs, check with the publisher first. The publishers details should be found on the original artists media, either on the disc or the packaging. If you are changing the 'work' to a great degree you are advised to consult the writer of the piece MCPS - PRS alliance who deal with UK music licencing. Here is the link to save me waffling too much (not that I've finished).

Link to the MCPS - PRS to obtain rights to perfom the works of others on the internet.

While we are allowed in the UK to perform cover songs and offer them for download, you can only do that without doing anything else if the site they are on is serving the UK only or has world rights licencing. The licence that they have requires them to notify MCPS or PRS of any downloads.
If you host tunes for download on your own website then you need a licence anyway (even for your own original tunes) as you are classed as a provider of music. If you want to release a cover on a world site i.e. USA then you need to obtain world rights from the link above.
If you want to offer other artists commercial recordings for download you definitely need to speak with the MCPS.