So you got a band and you got some tunes huh? Well now what? Before you think about trying to get a record deal, you should consider managing your own distribution online. The online sales of music over the last few years has skyrocketed to levels unperceived before.

According to the statistics, 48% of US teens did not buy a single CD in 2007. More people are downloading their music through various mediums, including sources such as ITunes. That is just one example of how music sales in general are changing form and a indication that online sales are on the rise.

I am going to cover some do-it-yourself methods for selling music online and some 3rd party options as well to help you get a better idea of what you can do with your music online; so lets get to it!

3rd Party Sales

There are a more then a few websites online right now that allow you to upload individual songs or an upload entire CD to be distributed through there site. The key, I would say, is to go for a lot of them.

Most people that shop online, about 90% of them, are looking for exactly what they want. The other 10, roughly, is looking for just something in general to buy. That means exposure is key for a unknown artist because thats the only way to dig into that other 90% of online shoppers. Here are a few good sites that I recommend.

CDBaby

In my opinion this is one of the coolest sites out there for undiscovered talent on the web. Anybody can sell a CD on Cdbaby right now. One of the best things about CDbaby is that if you sign up for digital distribution through them they send you music to Itunes , Rhapsody, Napster and other online music stores for no extra charge.

All you have to do is send them 5 CD’s, homemade is acceptable as long as it looks good, and they set you up with a personal page on there site where your music is sold. There is a one time fee of $35, which is still a great deal, and they keep $4 for every CD sold and 9% of digital sales. You also get to set you own CD price which is great too. Go to CDBaby.net for more info.

SNOCap

Now if you are a artist and want to sell your music online you should already have a Myspace band site setup. Myspace is a social networking website, whereas SnoCap is a flash program you can use to sell music and place on your Myspace page. Don’t worry about how much Myspace commercializes music, its still great exposure, for it connects you with many people globally. In addition, this service is really easy to use.

There is no setup fee and you set your own price for songs. Sell your single tracks or your whole album; its up to you. They setup a small window on your profile where fans can buy your music directly. Almost too simple. There are other distribution methods through SNOCap as well you might be interested in so check them out here at:
SNOCap.com

SoundClick

Now I have no personal experience with SoundClick, but from what I have read about them, they are great for exposure and they are free for most of there services. You can get your own artist page and upload a unlimited amount of songs.

They have a Mp3 store where your music is sold and there is no monthly or sign-up fee. Sounds pretty straight forward. I am going to give them a try and if you would like to too you can find out more at SoundClick.com.

Do-It-Yourself Store

Now if you know how to create your own webpage, you can sell your music directly from your own site with just a bank account and PayPal. You don’t need to buy a domain name or pay for a hosting account either, although I do recommend it for a whole host of reasons, but we won’t get into for now.

With that aside, you can get a free hosting account and page from many websites online right now. I recommend X10Hosting.com for there ease of use and great features but there are many more on the web to check out as well. Once you have your free hosting account and your page built, all you need is a PayPal account. Its easy to set up as long as you have a bank account. Paypal has a really great option under Merchant Services where you can make payment buttons right on there site.

After you make your button just insert the code into you order page and you are all good to go. Now anybody with a major credit card can buy your music online and they don’t even need a account with PayPal. If this sounds a little over the top for you I recommend going back to the third party options for a solution. More info on Paypal can be found here.

Conclusion

Well that should cover the basics on what you can do with your music in terms of online sales (for now). Remember, there is no get-rich-quick scheme to selling music online so make sure you have some quality content to distribute before jumping into the deep end of the pool. So if you got some tunes throw them out there. It can’t hurt and you might just be surprised by the results.

What are your methods and ideas about selling music online? Leave a comment below on what your experiences have been.

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