The best setup for a home recording studio hardware is:
1) A gsp 2101, great for an array of sounds, get one on eBay for around 200 bucks.
2) Sonar recording software.
3) Digidesign Mbox 2 USB Audio Interface , great all in one solution for recording from external musical equipment to a computer.

This list will grow but if you have the above you can record some great stuff!

For music marketing I woud suggest trying websites like:
taltopia.com