Online Music. The Big Picture

Using the internet to find an online music download that you like to listen to and build your music collection in any style of music is an easy and affordable way to add to your music library. You can easily burn your own CD's or download mp3's to your iPod or other mp3 music player. It is also a great way to find out about current and new artists, new album and single releases, access a free music download and even online sheet music. The popular free iTunes software and music library allows you to create your own music library, find TV shows, podcasts and get free music downloads and for only $0.99 a song download you cannot really go wrong. Plus there are a lot of websites online where you can find free online music videos and mp3 downloads like YouTube, MySpace, CDBaby, Soundclick and so many others.

Recently I discovered an online music site that offers services to independent musicians that is far and away light years ahead of these major players. The paradoxical nature of this is that it allows artists to set their own prices, allow their fans free online music downloads whilst keeping 100% of the royalties.

The Bandcamp player at the end of this post does just this. It allows for online music streaming of the entire album as often as you like. If you decide that you like the album enough to download to use the codeword thistle view the discount.

What does this mean for the future of music? With the everyday consumer buying on average 2 new music albums a month this could have an effect on the music industry but most shops like Virgin, Sony BMG and other well known music retail shops also have online websites which offer even more discounts and sometimes a music community so the music lovers using the internet can only boost music sales.

The internet is also a good place for independent artists without a major record label to upload and promote their music. There are a lot of independent music websites where you can create your own profile, update fans with your news and even sell your own music. The royalty companies like ASCAP, PRS, Harry Fox and BMI also have internet music licenses you can get so that you receive royalties and commissions for all music plays on internet radio stations, and for any music downloads and mp3 or CD sales.

You can even make your own music by buying and downloading music production and creation software you find online to your PC or laptop and if you have a good sound card and microphone you can make and record your own music and beats very easily. In fact, you can find hundreds of free loops and backing tracks you can download and even license for commercial use making it easy for the music producer and songwriter to make their own music.

If you want to learn about music, study an instrument or get advice on the music industry you can do a search on the internet and find so much free and useful information in articles and on music websites and blogs.

Does this take away the traditional way of making and playing music for the musician? Some think so but you can look at it like this; the internet has opened up the whole globe to us and you can make good music contacts from all over the world and build your own worldwide fan base just by promoting your music online. Music you may never have even heard of has become easily available and the whole music scene and industry has benefited and grown because of internet and satellite communications.

You can see then that using the internet connects music lovers around the world and Cyber Technology has made it easier for the songwriter and musician to create and record their own music. Plus it opens doors for the independent music artist and also increases exposure for major record label artists so that they can build their fan base and sell more of their music.

Music Deserves The Right Promotional Tools

There are a lot of things that musicians do trying to make a living with their music that amounts to little more than spinning their wheels. Here are 3 easy ways to begin building a solid financial foundation for your music career.


Firstly, find the appropriate tools that will work for you or your band. Don't waste money on tools that will not help you as there are plenty of free tools staring right at you. The new music industry is turning out to be a mixed-matched combination of independent labels, D.I.Y independent musicians and the major record labels finally making efforts to join in the game. One of the results of this new music industry is that there have been hundreds of companies popping up offering products and services designed to accomplish what only the major labels could accomplish in the old industry model. Some of these companies are nothing more than hacks. It really does pay to check these sites out befor commiting anything. Some of these companies are incredible in what they are offering and how they are serving musicians. Certainly they are not all created equal. Furthermore it is near impossible to determine whether the product or service that is being offered is something that will work for you and your music. Fear not! There are plenty on companies that are both legitimate, sincerely interested and more than capable of serving your needs.

Secondly, measure your results. Use analytics and statistics tools available. You absolutely have to pay attention to what results you are getting from your efforts. This way you can tweak your approach until you are being as effective as possible. There are many analytic tools available. You can use Google analytics for free. I use Google analytics myself and can't speak highly enough of it. Google analytics will give you a wide variety of statistics about your website including how many visits, how many unique visitors, which links are being clicked on and what page your visitors are leaving from.

Any good online distribution service will offer your band analytics as to which tracks are being downloaded from which stores and so on. This is so important. You have to know what things you are doing that are producing the best results. This way you can continuously correct your course.


Finally, don't let band merchandise weigh your down. There are companies that are set up to manufacture all types of merchandise and will drop ship directly to your fans. You do not need to order 1,000 t-shirts and sell 50 in a 3 month period ending up with five boxes of t-shirts in your basement, or worse, renting a storage space to store the t-shirts that you lost money on. Of course your profit margins will be smaller with this method but it is a great way to offer the merchandise without having to carry inventory.

I hope that this brief entry will be of some benefit to you.




Enter the codeword thistle to grab your copy of "Mean Business" for ONLY $5 (AUD)

Independent Musicians Can Make Money Against The Odds

The independent music industry seems to be in a something of a slump of late. It seems like there is nothing good being said about the industry at all. Everywhere you turn independent musicians are reminded about how the illegal music downloading, low album sales, minimal video play on national TV, radio playing only a handful of songs, and lets not forget a glut of awful music being made by people who just became musicians yesterday have all killed the music scene.



All of those things paint an extremely dismal picture, BUT it's not all bad. True enough it's hard for even the biggest mainstream musicians like Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton to sell a million records, which just a few short years ago could be done in a week or two. Artists aren't even selling gold, which is half of that, even months after their album comes out.

The reason that I say it's not all bad is relies on your willingness to reprogram yourself on how the industry works. I'll break down some strategies that are not necessarily new, but for many artists a refresher is in order.


Be independent: With all of the successful examples of independent record label success, many artists are still shopping demos and breaking their necks to get signed to a major record label. The reality is that major labels are only taking chances on mega artists with huge followings and proving sales records, and even those mega artists are finding less support from the majors. For new artist, or those who have been dropped from the majors, starting an independent label is the way to go. Don't be afraid or embarrassed of being on a smaller scale, because there are bigger rewards and dollars in it for you. Take an artist who sold 300,000 albums, but was considered a failure on a major label and was subsequently dropped. Just think if he starts an independent label and sells that same 300,000, but this time he keeps all the profits. At $5 to $10 a copy...well you do the math. Let's say that you don't have that huge following, but you got what it takes to sell one, five, or even ten thousand albums or better. You're making more than some people make at their jobs.

Become internet savvy: Sounds like a no brainer, but just because you and your music is online doesn't make you savvy. The internet has almost crippled major labels like BMG, etc. but for independent artists who really have serious online campaigns, the internet is a powerful weapon for gaining exposure and sales. You must have a professional website, Facebook, YouTube, and other online campaigns and make yourself stand out from the average Joes. Please take note of the term professional. With an amateur image online, you're asking to not be taken seriously, plus you won't sell any songs via download, ringtones, or whatever other merchandise you have to offer.


Make your name a brand: Artist are and have been attaching their star power to products to sell everything from clothes, soda, movies, and even gold and platinum teeth. Too many think that record sales and performances are the only ways to get paid. Even on a small scale, independent artist with significant buzzes can make small fortunes hawking merchandise like T-shirts, bobble heads, g-strings, and even mouse pads via their online and offline presences. Having said this, don't focus on merchandising as an income. Utilise it as a free advertisement tool. People buy your t-shirt with your name on it. How many people do you think will see this? Lots. How many people may be curious about you (as yet) unknown name? More than you think. Any profit that you make on merchandise is, of course, always a bonus.

The music industry may be in a slump, but I'm confident that with the music going away from its corporate shackles and back to its underground roots, independent artist will finally get back to providing the airwaves with good, solid music of all genres and save us from this extreme 'same-ness' we're being force-fed. For those of you who have been inspired by this article, I encourage you to seek all of the knowledge that you can get to prepare yourself to further your independent musical career. Remember by starting an independent label, getting with the times and being internet savvy, as well as branding your name is a recipe for success.

I truly wish you well.

How Your Band Can Make Serious Money Online

Musicians have NEVER had the amount of freedom and advantages of being an independent artist as they do today.  In earlier ages, the record companies were everything.  Don't underestimate them in today's world though, they still have 1,000 times more contacts and resources than the independent musician will ever have, but my point is that independent musicians have never been able to strive in the past as well as they can today.  Let me explain.

What is the most popular form of music purchasing in today's world?  Most will say the internet of course.

Before the internet, you had to buy CD's from retail stores.  Of course the independent musician could sell their own CDs after shows, but that isn't much compared to having your CD in every retail store throughout the country.  In this obsolete situation, only the artists with record label support could get their CD on the store shelves.  Why would a store waste shelf space by putting an unknown album on their shelves when they can put other CDs that are guaranteed to sell thousands of copies? 

They wouldn't.  So in this obsolete situation, you would be out of luck.  BUT, since major distributors have become the main sources of music purchasing, you are in great luck.  When CD sales relied on selling hard copies off store shelves, guess how much that costs?  The materials, packaging, etc can cost up to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars depending upon the quantity. For this financial outlay, there is NO guarantee that you will end up in the black.  Guess how much it costs to sell that same album in digital form via a major distributor?  Nearly nothing.  No material costs, no packaging costs. This sounds like the ideal place to distribute your music digitally Why? because major distributors are all attempting to monopolize digital distribution. Show a fan an album of yours with a fancy wee logo and they're likely to jump on it purely for that reason.

This has to stop. Not only do you have to pay an initial fee but  an annually recurring fee to keep your material there. Most major distributors give the artist NO control of the pricing of an album. Case in point: I have an album, "Catharsis" with a major distributor. It's priced it at $16.99!!! Admittedly it's a 15-track album but I am in the midst of making it much cheaper for you whilst maintaining the same sound-file format...and more! Who's going to buy a $16.99 album from a barely know artist such as myself when the likes of The Rolling Stones, etc. are priced lower?

I have discovered a site called Bandcamp which allows independent artists to upload their music in more file formats than the major distributors. The upload and download process is very fast. For fans, they can download the file format of their choice. If you check out the Bandcamp player to your left, you can play the album "Mean Business" in its' entirety....as often as you like. Additionally, artists can offer discount codes. The discount code for "Mean Business" is: thistle  Feel free to enter the codeword at checkout to observe the hefty discount. You are under no obligation to proceed at this point. It is this flexibility and transparency that appeals to this independent musician.

Theoretically, all you have to do is make ONE copy of the song and that ONE copy can generate MILLIONS of sales, where as in the obsolete music business it would take MILLIONS of copies to make MILLIONS of sales.  See what I mean?  You can have an equal amount of product on the "digital shelves" as any famous singer in the world - that eliminates your dependance on a record label to fund the massive production costs of putting an album in every store across the nation.

For the first time ever, independent artists are able to put their music up for download/sale on the digital shelves of iTunes just like all of the major artists with massive record deals. You, and anybody else in the world with access to the internet, can now put your very own music up for sale just like any other independent musician. You get the money for all of the sales, where as a record label would have taken 80-90% of the profits from you.

Its your music, and you should get paid for it - ALL of it, not just a small fraction. Of course getting a record deal will significantly boost your career, but it is no longer true that you can only achieve success with a record label. The tables have turned, the doors have opened, and ANYBODY can walk through them.

Custom Search

Get Your Music Discovered On The Internet

In this entry will briefly address what is out there for the independent musician to connect with their fans, namely the internet.


As you may know, my book "Online Music Traps" deals with this in great detail. The difference between the book and this blog entry is that I intend to give a brief overview of the means by which the independent musician can utilise the internet. If you wish to delve deeper and get the full story then I highly recommend grabbing "Online Music Traps."

First things first; Blogs. There are many such sites. This is an internet name for a diary. You can even add your own on your web page. They are how you give your fans a piece of your soul. The daily/weekly ramblings of an suffering artist or crazy superstar. In addition, since these are likely to be one of the most regularly places you write, they can get you noticed by Google if you do a little bit of research regarding layout, keywords, their positioning and so forth.

Facebook is an opportunity that simply can't be overlooked. Since mid-2009 until May2010, it's popularity in the global 'sharing' stakes has risen by 10% to 35%.This is an immense shift.At the moment (2010) this is the king of the internet social sites. It has an almost arrogant disregard for musicians and their wishes. It is said that people go here to meet friends and get news. Not to search for new people. It is not to be ignored simply because it is the largest. Have a presence there. Most importantly, have a fan page there. A fan page is where people can join the club without having to wait for your approval. Thus you can just push out info to anyone who wants to listen.

Hubpages is a place for you to place articles about what you think is useful. It is probably more likely that your fans, management, P.R, team (more likely to be your best friend under the cool title of P.R. manager) would write these. They take some writing ability. These should be knowledgeable and mention you in subtle ways. This can get you noticed by the industry and industry followers.
 This is the one place you could get people to listen to your music for free without sending them to your webpage. At the time of writing, Myspace is having discussions on what it is going to do with this particular service. Meaning, they have no idea if they can find a way to make money out of it. 

Skype, Msn and Yahoo are just messenger platforms. The thing with these is that they have webcam ability. I have a feeling that this webcam phenomenon, though it was one of the earliest developments on the web, is not even close to being really developed. 

Squidoo has been nicknamed the great "Lens". I think this is supposed to indicate a thing through which people will view you. It is not dissimilar to Hub pages. You can post many things to this. You can put things from across the various social networks into this as well as post articles. It You can put things from across the various social networks into this as well as post articles. It is an overall look at everything you think your fans should know, see, read and hear.

Twitter takes some getting used to. What is important about this? Well it is such an individual item that there is no real competition. For this reason almost everyone works with it and not against it. You can use it to post across the board. You can connect your other social sites to it. Post once on Twitter and it is instantly beamed magically to all of the other sites. And you can try to gain those all important followers.

Your website is your own personal web real estate. The one place that you can, if you know how, do what you want. It is your calling card, your living room, your own magazine. It is as much part of your image as your clothes. If you can't dress it well, then do not show it. It is also one of the places you can make money. Not the only place but possibly the best for you and easiest to control.

Xing is a business oriented site. Although a friend of mine said he had to leave because of all the others trying to 'chat up.' I find it is great place to interact with the business community. The People with the real money. Your manager should definitely be part of this. It is the internet Golf course.


YouTube is the all Seeing Eye. Here you can post your videos. It is the other place you can get your music heard and even better, get yourself seen. If you want to perform, this is where you can show your possible fans what you look and perform like. But be careful. It may be where they see your downfall. It has a great ability to attract people. It reaches two senses, sight and hearing. So double whammy. Don't forget to post your website address all over this. 

This is a small list, dear reader but is nowhere near 'the' list. That list will appear as a fullyy-fledged book....which at present has a name smd s few scribbles here and there.

Make Cash Aside From Music.

The vast majority of independent musicians know how difficult it is to make a decent wage from their music whether it be from digital downloads, performing live or a combination of both. Many independent musicians work 'regular' jobs which lessens the drive to earn a sustainable wage from their music.


As you may or may not be aware, I am in something of a more unusual position than most independent musicians. In June 2009, I finally got around to retiring from my 23-year career as a State Registered Nurse on mental health grounds. There went my 'stable' income. Additionally, as a seasoned live performer, I refuse to go down that road again due to cynicism towards the music industry and most people involved in it.


What was I to do? The solutions were immediately quite obvious. Firstly I completed and released the album, "Catharsis,"....all fifteen tracks of it. It was my first 'concept' album. This opened the floodgates for me to not only blog the album but to do spread it as far and wide as possible.I also shot two YouTube videos of tracks from the album, 'Dear Artist' and 'Crooked.' The results were astounding. Until the release of my latest album "Redemption," which can be downloaded with the additional bonus to fans of a discount voucher, "Catharsis" had been my highest selling album. Album sales of "Catharsis" continue to rise almost a year after release. 


This was/is all very well but I had another trick or two up my sleeve.



I have enjoyed writing poetry, short stories and so forth for as long as I can recall. I began blogging 'seriously.' Prior to retiring from nursing I had been blogging in a rather random manner; basically whatever sprung to mind when thought of musical weren't at the foremost of my mind. I did a little research as I had seen ads pertaining to earning money by using adsense in an astute and non-obtrusive way in my blogs. To me it seemed (and still does) simply a matter of marginally re-wording what you want to convey without compromising content. Not exactly rocket-science.


Long-story-short....if you have the time and are a writer, give adsense serious consideration. It works.



I was then approached, almost on queue, I received a mountain of emails from disgruntled independent musicians about their dilemmas with regard to being constantly bombarded with 'requests' from numerous distributors encouraging them to upgrade their account to a 'paid account' and all the exposure and so forth will pour in.


I was 'curious' for want of a better word so undertook extensive research and followed up countless emails from these disgruntled members of independent music industry. My curiosity moved into 'annoyance.' This annoyance led me to write a book on the matter, "Online Music Traps." Not only has the book been met with open arms and critical acclaim, it has helped me to pay more than a few bills.


More recently I have joined EzineArticles and have been honoured by being recognised an 'Expert Author.' Although the site is a non-paying site, the traffic and recognition that I am receiving already is as humbling as it is astounding.


This is merely my story. 


Being musical generally lends itself to you having another artistic outlet, be it poetry, photography, art and so forth. Why not harness this gift that you have? You have nothing to lose for a start and the worst that can happen is that you don't make any cash that you've enjoyed doing anyway.


If any single person takes one single piece of my advice, give it a little bit of time and let me know how you get on. I'd love to hear how you get on.


Discount Code For "Redemption" is: lusty

How The Other Half Live

With so much commercially available music on the internet today it is very easy for ones’ perception to be skewed, particularly among the younger generation.

Big name artists such as Metallica, Pink, Coldplay and Robbie Williams greet you at every turn, not only on the sites of major distributors, but also in ads on a multitude of social networking sites. Make no mistake, I am in no way criticising these artists, they just sprung to mind. I actually happen to like them, despite being trapped in the rock music of 1972 as far as my taste in music goes. These artists are not only extremely talented but they have worked extremely hard for a long time to get where they are. There is no such thing as ‘overnight success.’

So where do lesser known or barely heard of artists fit into this picture? As far as the major distributors are concerned, they don’t. They are not making the distributor vast amounts of money so when such independent musicians puts their material up for grabs on the likes of iTunes and Amazon, etc, unless people in their droves download their mp3 and download it quickly, the artist may as well not be there.

Despite Apple, whose market is primarily U.S.A.-centric, recently increasing the price of 'popular tracks,' as they put it, infact only 26 of the top 200 songs are priced at $99c. These include tracks by the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus who have massive pulling power and are going to make Apple a truckload of money irrespective. Bands who really need their songs to be available for a cheaper price are obviously small-timers. I am absolutely disgusted by this almost arrogant and blaze' greed. In summation of iTunes they have just reinforced my longstanding suspicions that they hold no regard whatsoever for artists unless these artists happen to be money-making machines.

Despite Googles' claim that iTunes market share will decline it has infact increased. I can only deduce from a recent blog that iTunes/Apple are focusing on iPod sales. Having said this, iTunes still hold 69% of digital downloads in the States. With Googles' recently introduced search in partnership with iLike and Lala, which includes downloads from these sites available, I suspect that iTunes 69% hold on digital sales may plummet, hence their current focus on iPod sales.

To be a money-making machine takes one of two things....or both. A large amount of financial backing or a colleague well within the industry. The talent is a given. The unfortunate part is that younger folks are buying into it.

For the independent artist, all is not lost. Quite the opposite. If independent artists such as myself keep doing what we're doing, pay more attention to our target audience, maintain contact when possible (without irritating people) and throw each others name around on various blogs, websites and so forth. I exclude MySpace from this as it seems to be just a bunch of independent bands supporting other independent bands. It is physically impossible to do this and yet independent musicians are leaving in droves. MySpace have responded by adding a whole heap of musician-based gizzmos on there. I haven't had a chance to thoroughly check them out as yet, but I feel their days are numbered.

I see a massive resurrection  in the position of independent bands. Why? Lots of reasons. Most of us don't want to be famous or rich. Most of us are true to ourselves and won't buy into childish and borderline evil 'in your face' promotion. I'm even beginning to hear the younger generation complain about the narrowing of the field as far as readily available material is on the sites of these major distributors. Even people my age and older who are well into a specific genre of music are saying the same thing.

Certainly independent artists network via the internet. With the exception of word of mouth, which generally applies to local gigs, there is a vast array of internet sites where independent music can be promoted. It's a matter of finding what site or sites suit each musicians' requirements best. Utilising every site available isn't a feasible option unless a musician has someone to keep all of the sites up to date.

Independent artists such as Michael Charles and Joe Gande have this down to a fine art. They make a point of popping by the various music sites just to remind people that they're still around. I find this sort of professionalism so refreshing as opposed to being overloaded by emails from artistes every time they play a chord. Michael and Joe are true professionals in the marketing sense. Musically, they also deliver. I am yet to hear a song from either artist that has tarnished their credibility.

Contemporary music and musical trends are cyclical. As I sit here in sunny Stanley, Tasmania, I can't wait for the day when the classic rock style of music is once again readily available to me.