Make Money From Your Music Online

How to make money in the music industry is a lot easier than you think, however, people often complicate it till this very day. Too many people make the common mistake of beginning and never finishing in any venture that they try. I feel that when it comes to music, this mistake is too common. I'm going to briefly help you lessen your mistakes and make the most out of your music venture.

Sign Up for as Many Social Networking Sites as You Can
This is a very important step that many people fail to take because they feel as if they only need one website to market their self. You need to have as many social networking pages as possible because this creates maximum exposure. If I were to sell 10 CDs a day in front of my house, I would possibly make decent money. If I were to get 10 people selling 10 CDs a day in front of their house also, I will more than likely be more successful in the music industry. The same thing applies to social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and more. For one, it's less work that you have to do in the long run and two, more pages equals more people, meaning more money in your pocket. Another trick you can do is sign up for Myxer.com and Soundstation.com. You can use Soundstation to sell your albums directly to your fans and use Myxer to sell ring tones right on any of your social networking sites by embedding the code's onto your pages. So many people struggle trying to figure out how to make money in the music industry and one of the answers is as simple as the above.

An Extra Street Marketing Tip
As I said before, the more people you have to sell for you, the less work you have to do. Too often I run into people who have fans that are so into them, they feel it not robbery to enthusiastically tell the artist as if they were in love with the musician and the response the artists will give the fan is "thank you very much." This is the worst response you can give someone with that much enthusiasm from listening to your music. If you offer to pay them a percentage of sales for the number of records they promote and sell for you, they will more than likely take it because they love you that much. This is a trick that many musicians don't follow, therefore, now that you know about it, you have an edge on them.

Selling Music Online

For musicians, most of the revenues come from the rights to their songs and the albums that they sell. For an independent musician especially, money can come in very slowly if at all. However, the power of the worldwide web can help them to gain higher profits. There are more resources than you can ever use available online. Plus, you can reach new fans anywhere in the world quickly and easily and sell them your music. Here is a look at ways that you can use the internet to your advantage as a music artist.

First, you need to take advantage of the independent music resources that are available to you online. These are numerous, and can be used to spread the word about your songs and music, as well as assist you with album sales. Chat rooms, websites, online radio broadcasts, communities of music lovers, and even online stores that sell music can all be ways for you to get your name and music out there. Remember, the people visiting these sites are already interested in music, and many times specifically your genre, so you will have a captive audience to listen to, critique, and purchase your music.

Selling your MP3 downloads is a great way for you to get your music out there without spending a small fortune. Focusing on selling CDs works for some artists, but a lot of times the money will not come in quickly due to the costs of packaging, shipping, and other items associated with CD production. Selling MP3 downloads can allow you to save on the majority of these costs, making each sale nearly pure profit. Plus, there are plenty of ways for you to market your MP3s, from your own website to music communities. While you may have to pay a fee to the website, you still end up selling your music at a high profit. You can also ask friends or other website designers to sell your music as well. A flat fee or percentage of the sales can be enough of an incentive for other people to help you sell your music. Plus, you may find that using others can broaden your fan base and bring in fans from places you may not have even considered. Lastly, you can use the efforts of other musicians to teach yourself how to become successful at marketing music online. Watching other musicians that have had success can help you to get an idea of what works and what does not. You can find music interviews to study, picking up the strategies that have made other musicians money. You may also be able to avoid common pitfalls of marketing your music online.

The internet is a literal pool of millions of music listeners and the people that create the music. Musicians of all types and all skill levels are available for download, so expect some competition. At the same time, many of these musicians are finding ways to profit from the demand for independent music online. Now is the time for you to get out and share your individual music and talents with a captive and awaiting audience.

Indie Artists Deserve Every Cent

Unbeknownst to the vast majority of music fans of the independent musician, climbing the ladder to 'success' in the music industry is a lot of work. It takes years of building networks, cultivating fans, practice, backbreaking work, and getting used to the word no. In the past, bands were just out of luck in getting their album distributed unless they could get signed via band managers to a record label. Playing clubs and promoting your band can get you a lot of attention, but you can't expect to make a lot of money without selling your music. Your fans want to be able to listen to you any time, and booking shows every weekend is almost a full time job.

Luckily times have changed drastically. In recent years due to the popularity of the internet. It is now easier than ever for an independent band to get their music distributed to their fans. I haven't performed a live gig in several years but am quite confortable selling my music over the internet as an independent musician. No band managers, no band politics, no egos. There is, however, quite a lot of work involved when distributing ones music exclusively on the internet as mp3 downloads. Having said this, I am slowly but surely turning my marketing and promotional activities into a well-oiled machine.

In the music industry, the musician is the only one that is going to have a sense of urgency in making your product available to the masses. A&R Coordinators get hundreds of demo cds a week, and may not even listen to their music if they they don't have a band manager to hound them. Even if they do get signed with a record label, they are dealing with hundreds or even thousands of other bands and musicians, so they aren't going to be their first priority. Making money in the music industry is not about live performances in the beginning. Independent musicians may make a little money from the club circuit, but chances are most of that will go to overhead costs like equipment, transportation, and practice space.

Selling their music is the best way to get money from their hard work right away. Getting distribution was hard for a long time, until the internet came along. The internet is receiving a lot of criticism from the music industry because of illegal downloads, but the popularity of internet shopping could work in favor of the internet musician. As previously mentioned, they don't have to be signed with a record label to record their music. It's not cheap, but they can purchase time in a recording studio to record quality, professional sounding albums. There is also new software that allows them to indulge in recording at home. This is a fraction of the cost of a professional studio but with the right audio recording software combined with the right 'ears,' (ideally a sound engineer), home recording is the way to go and I am already hearing vast differences in the quality of home recording efforts by independent musicians....and let's face it, audio recording software is only going to get better.

Once an independent artist has recorded an album to the standard that the desire, they can offer them for sale from their website, Amazon and so forth. I have began distributing via Bandcamp. The player to your left allows you to listen to the entire "Mean Business" album as often as you wish. Should you want to buy it, enter the codeword thistle and receive a 50% discount....thus making the album only 5.00 AUD.

Promoting an album is easier than ever too. Not only can albums be offered for sale at shows, but independent artists can spread your website there as well. Loyal fans will spread the word of the music, and direct sales to the band webssite. Social networking sites are good for attracting new fans too. A link on a social networking site to the bands sales page will let new fans hear what the band is all about. 

The independent musician chose to make music their career. Many musicians don't make a lot of money, but it doesn't have to be that way. Distributing ones own music is easy, and it promotes an independent band more effectively than what could possibly be done through word of mouth.

Independent musicians work hard. Don't let the speed of the internet fool you into thinking otherwise.

Custom Search

mp3 Or CD?

For musicians, most of the revenues come from the rights to their songs and the albums that they sell. For an independent musician especially, money can come in very slowly if at all. However, the power of the worldwide web can help them to gain higher profits. There are more resources than you can ever use available online. Plus, you can reach new fans anywhere in the world quickly and easily and sell them your music. Here is a look at ways that you can use the internet to your advantage as a music artist.



First, you need to take advantage of the independent music resources that are available to you online. These are numerous, and can be used to spread the word about your songs and music, as well as assist you with album sales. Chat rooms, websites, online radio broadcasts, communities of music lovers, and even online stores that sell music can all be ways for you to get your name and music out there. Remember, the people visiting these sites are already interested in music, and many times specifically your genre, so you will have a captive audience to listen to, critique, and purchase your music.

Selling your MP3 downloads is a great way for you to get your music out there without spending a small fortune. Focusing on selling CDs works for some artists, but a lot of times the money will not come in quickly due to the costs of packaging, shipping, and other items associated with CD production. Selling MP3 downloads can allow you to save on the majority of these costs, making each sale nearly pure profit. Plus, there are plenty of ways for you to market your MP3s, from your own website to music communities. While you may have to pay a fee to the website, you still end up selling your music at a high profit. You can also ask friends or other website designers to sell your music as well. A flat fee or percentage of the sales can be enough of an incentive for other people to help you sell your music. Plus, you may find that using others can broaden your fan base and bring in fans from places you may not have even considered. Lastly, you can use the efforts of other musicians to teach yourself how to become successful at marketing music online. Watching other musicians that have had success can help you to get an idea of what works and what does not. You can find music interviews to study, picking up the strategies that have made other musicians money. You may also be able to avoid common pitfalls of marketing your music online.

The internet is a literal pool of millions of music listeners and the people that create the music. Musicians of all types and all skill levels are available for download, so expect some competition. At the same time, many of these musicians are finding ways to profit from the demand for independent music online. Now is the time for you to get out and share your individual music and talents with a captive and awaiting audience.


Grab the 10-track album "Mean Business" for only $5 (AU) by entering the codeword thistle

Sell You Music Before Your First Performance

The vast majority of independent musicians are of the opinion that they had entered a new frontier when the advent of internet music thrust itself upon the world, only to be hunted down by unscrupulous corporations & bled for every penny that they are worth. The harsh reality is the unscrupulous corporations were here well before we were.

These sharks were circling before we even arrived!

These guys had such a head start it's laughable! They knew the ropes & what was coming next and being in the positions they were, all they had to do was what they would do were musicians any other commodity. Wait for the market to be willingly flooded by products that PAID to be there and make sickening amounts of money on the trickledown effect for them almost as an afterthought.

Yes, we were all dazzled when we first saw our photo & bio on iTunes or Amazon & heard our songs being played on fancy little widgets. How long did THAT novelty last before you realised something wasn't adding up?!? Some folks still enjoy that superficial side of the internet which is, sadly, only perpetuating a badly flawed system.

Never Mind The BoLLockS!

The horse has bolted on the online music industry for the small-time independent musician as far as creative freedom, financial viability & competitive conditions. “What can we do, Bob” I think I hear you think.

Firstly, instead of emailing ME, post the overall angst of your emails to sites that provide message boards & forums.*

(*Don't get me wrong, I DO appreciate your emails*)

Keep it tidy. Keep it clean. You're on display.

Introduce yourself on these boards & get involved, but conduct yourself in a professional manner. These boards are excellent places to subliminally advertise yourself for FREE!!!

How many musicians go to such places? Why is this? Because it's not “cool.” Well,

forget about being “cool.” That died off in the 70s. If you're being yourself, then you're cool.

Make a point in these forums, on these boards & in discussion groups of making music  LISTENERS aware of how the online industry is actually run, the actual pressure put on independent musicians (use yourself as an example to personalise the message) to provide free music & how much this 'free' music costs YOU. Make mention of how you feel cornered & overpowered by the big guns & how dedicated & serious music listeners are being seriously misled instead of being given the TRUTH by those who can afford to force-feed the market. In other words, call it as you see it.

You can PRE-SELL an album here!

I receive EXTREMELY surprised & genuine feedback from music lovers from these forums. I have been as surprised by their misconceptions as they are aggravated by

the way the online music industry operates.

The most effective way of informing music lovers of the state of the online music industry is to write to YOUR followers. ReverbNation & Facebook in particular allow you to write DIRECTLY to your followers. It doesn't get more personal than THAT online.

Spend some time writing your letter, keeping it concise & relevant. Save a copy and use the same letter for wherever else you have the ability to email followers of your music. Point out how music lovers are being kept in the dark about online music without even REALISING it. Avoid 'ranting & raving' & stick to the facts. Making the reader feel 'involved' isn't even a task as they already ARE involved. Suggesting any course of action is purely up to you & you WILL be humbled by the dedication of your followers. Believe me, I know.

Complacency doesn't work.

As irritating & time-consuming as it may seem, 'read the fine print' on every online document before agreeing to ANYTHING. Yes, they all appear to be the same and yes, certain online places suggest you skip the formalities & tick 'I Agree.' After being seconds from entering several song competitions when I initially began in the online music industry when I scrolled down to read of the 'non-refundable fee.'

WHY organisations practise this subversive activity is, to my mind, far from ethical. They are, of course, 'legally' entitled to operate this way but it's not in the spirit of what music is all about.

YOU can help keep the online music scene real.

Discount Voucher Code for "Redemption" is: raunchy

Come Gather Round People, Wherever You Roam.

Not many

musicians actually start off with the notion of making a career out of it but when the remotest of possibility of this becoming real occur, people tend to literally lose their minds. All of a sudden they begin to dress differently, speak differently, behave differently and worst of all treat people differently, depending on who they are. We perform music. That's all. Anything that happens either side of this is for the musician & the music enthusiast to opt to pursue....or not.

Primarily we're performing for people who truly enjoy our music and enjoy it enough purchase it and provide well-informed feedback that displays that they are actually listening. Some musicians, however, are 'performing' for solely for major distributors hoping that somehow, some major player will find their needle which is placed in a multitude of haystacks. This is no musical performance. This is when the seedy business side comes into play.

It is here that my grievances with so-called 'music distributors' begins.

Firstly, from a musicians perspective, these organisations couldn't care less who you are....and they don't. Keep paying your annual/monthly subscription and they'll continue on their merry way, oblivious to the fact that you're even there.

They have their subsidiaries telling eager independent artists the benefits of this, that and the other....ALL of which are at a cost and from what I've seen & heard, do little to further the musicians career.

Perhaps if independent musicians were shown the tiniest piece of courtesy & ALLOWED IN to this equation that, in theory, revolves around them & their followers, I suspect they would not be getting somewhat annoyed, as I am aware they are.

In 2009 this was highlighted when Warner Music Group finally managed to get iTunes to introduce their variable pricing scheme.

This allowed them to increase single downloads from their usual 99c as high as $1.29 and as LOW as 69c. The immediate result was a marked downturn in sales. It's infuriating to note that this was implemented during a global financial recession. Doh!

Interestingly the word 'musician' didn't feature in that equation. Hhhmmmm.

I found this news EXTREMELY heartening as music enthusiasts were able to make their displeasure known by not blindly following these price increases.

With the recent launch of the iPad, I am wondering if the same greed will hit such a tranquil activity as reading. It's common knowledge that the digital book industry has been working hard to increase THEIR prices. The great advantage that the ebook industry has is that it is early in the 'adoption cycle' which is a much stronger position to be in as far as securing financial flexibility.

With the book publishing industry having more flexibility than the music industry ever had, us consumers are left wondering which way the balance will swing. With Apple raising prices above $9.99 so early in proceeding, will this over-ride the other option of lowering prices & selling more ebooks.

Sometimes I just feel like just going out & buying an L.P. and a paperback.






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Garageband And ilike For Newbies

Whether it's a global phenomona or purely reserved for Australia, Garageband.com is very much an under-rated site for independent musicians.

Returning to the music industry in a recording capacity early in 2007, Garageband.com was one of the first sites that I staggered across. Initially I was somewhat wary, as I usually am, about the site as there is great emphasis on 'get this.' This is my green light to run away but for some reason I didn't.

Before creating an account at Garageband.com, I'd suggest creating a musicians account at iLike.com.

I'll get to that part further on. Once you have your iLike.com musicians profile hot-to-trot, jump back to Garageband.com and we're ready for business. Bare in mind that I'm giving you a combination of Garageband.com procedures and my own personal preferences. I'll be sure to clearly delineate the two.

Using the same login details on Garageband.com as iLike.com create your profile. Keep your profile blurb concise and consistent with any others. The next step is to go to your 'garage.' This is where you enter your artists' name. Once that's done, on the right of your page, to the right of your bands' picture is the option (amongst others) to 'upload a song.' The steps are clearly set out. Songs can be uploaded at 128kbs. Details such as 'sounds like who,' I find somewhat pointless,as I do with 'song lyrics.' I soon tired of 'song description' too but these choices are obviously yours.

Prior to clicking 'upload' there is the option to make a song 'free download,' free for Garageband.com fans' or 'streaming only.' Choose carefully here as changes may take up to 24 hours to take effect. These options are followed by the obligatory legal spiel, below which is a somewhat pseudo-cool statement to the effect of "....smoke something that you rolled yourself while the upload is in progress....." Oh, please.

I have had no problems uploading to Garageband.com but do find the absence of a progress bar somewhat irksome. Uploads take about as much time as it takes me to boil the kettle, make a coffee and smoke two or three things that come in a packet, courtesy of Rothmans....about twenty minutes. You are notified by email. Click the link and you're taken back to your 'garage' where a low-bit-rate and a hi-bit-rate version of your track awaits your approval. It isn't necessary to play either version prior to clicking 'approve' but I'd strongly recommend it.

That's the bare bones of Garageband.com from an independent musicians perspective. There are, as per usual, the paid promotional offer and subscriptions, etc. Additionally, Garageband.com seems very big on reviewing other artists. I managed to do four before I realised that reviewers are judged (!), hence I haven't bothered since. (Judged against what or who, I don't know). As mentioned, like most other music sites, the actual music isn't the priority for Garageband.com. Having said this, I can guarantee that you won't be bombarded with emails with 'special offers' and so forth.

The major plus with Garageband.com is that your music, once uploaded, will transfer to your iLike.com artists page. This can take anywhere from a few hours to over 24 hours.

I have found that the longer your Garageband.com and iLike.com pages are active, the speed of transfer increases. Don't waste five minutes trying to upload directly to iLike.com as you'll only be re-directed to Garageband.com.

iLike.com is perhaps the goose laying the golden egg with regard to online promotion for independent musicians. Although it doesn't come at any physical cost, there are a few 'quirks' that could be improved upon.

The fact that one doesn't have a remotely accurate time-frame for new releases arriving there unlike with Nimbit where a release can be planned to the second,  makes concise pre-promotion impossible, so a "coming soon" has to suffice. If your band has quite a few tracks that you want to upload and upload them a day or even days apart, these uploads usually only show in the updates section to your fans as all being released simultaneously. This sluggish response time on the part of iLike.com is also reflected if you decide that you wish to 'hide' a song that has been uploaded. It can take up to 72 hours and even then the song title is still visible.

Another aspect to be aware of with iLike.com is that fans, and possibly yourself, when they play any of your songs, are given the impression that they are for sale on iTunes. Unless you have made that song for sale on iTunes, then this is not the case and is out and out deception. I have contacted Garageband.com, iLike.com and iTunes on this matter and have received a deafening silence in return.

Having pointed these drawbacks out, there are many strong positives regarding iLike.com for the independent musician. iLike.com has always been a major player on the music promotion front but since jumping into bed with Google mid-late 2009, it really has surged ahead.

Getting in as soon as possible to iLike.com and having a solid profile page is, without question, the best start that any independent musician can have as far as 'searchability.' I am in no way engouraging you to dive in head-first with every song that you have ever recorded; quite the opposite. Plan everything.

It is imperative that your bio and website are exactly as you want them. Once your iLike.com page is into Google, there's a whole lotta people who are going to be seeing it; whether they want to or not. Have everything in place before you press a single button.

From your artists page you can post updates to your fans, post messages directly to Twitter, view statistics, write blogs, send new songs to your fans there. Videos can also be uploaded directly to iLike.com with no fuss at all. Additionally, all of these activities can be easily transferred to other sharing sites. In my instance it's generally to the Bob Findlay Music Page on Facebook. Embeddable playlists are a simple affair to set up too and a step-by-step guide is provided. I would recommend, however, that you place your playlists on sites with light-coloured backgrounds as the playlists appear as dark blue only.

Outside of the excellent promotional nature of iLike.com, the fact that it really is a low-maintenance site for the independent musician is the icing on the cake. I've found that this allows more time for interaction with people who enjoy what I'm doing, as opposed to be a seething lunatic waiting for a song to upload and generally not being in the mood for pleasantries by the end of it.

Listeners at iLike.com are very much music enthusiasts. To become a listener there they too have to have a profile page, so someone isn't going to go out of their way to create a page because they like your music unless they really mean it. Likewise, listeners who are already there are less likely to add you as an artist if there's any chance of it jeopardising their credibility.

Pay no heed to the numbers of fans on iLike.com. Quality counts. This should apply anywhere.