As a musician I am an ASCAP member, and as an ASCAP member I receive the ASCAP daily email newsletter.  Recently, I have read a couple of different articles about the digital music revolution, digital download song and album sales vs. physical CDs sales.  When discussed in the articles these topics beg a couple of bottom line questions that need to be answered:  one is - 'Which generates the most money?', and the second (and more importantly) is - 'What do your fans actually want?'  Both articles being reviewed were talking about artists you may have heard of and who may in fact have more clout to begin with than you and I--perhaps making you initially feel like, 'of course these artists can do these things because they have the money and/or awareness to.'  Regardless, there are still things independent musicians can learn from what is discussed.  Keep reading and near the end I'll throw my two-cents in about how I think you might approach such questions.

Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride Puts Fans in Charge of Bands:  In this article Nettwerk Music CEO, Terry McBride takes a holistic approach to the digital revolution and talks about crowdsourceing, a phenomenon related to your audience being active participants in the creation and marketing of your music (and/or other products), rather than your audience simply being consumers of your music.  This is a pretty interesting and feasible concept if a detailed road map on how to capitalize on your audience's participation in a measurable way can be outlined.  This kind of innovative approach offers an engaging experiential interaction between artist and audience, and certainly keeps the artist front and center in terms of creative control vs. a record label, yet--depending on how far you take this concept--the artist seems to merely guide the direction of their career letting go of a large portion of control that is now in the hands of the audience who determines how consumption of your music and your brand will pan out.  

The pre-requisite for such an approach to work is to have a solid fan-base and audience willing to participate in something like this.  For musicians, still working on a smaller scale than those mentioned in the article, the first hump to get over is having enough fans with whom to really crowdsource.  Now, to crowdsource you don't necessarily need a huge following, but you do need some of those fanatical fans who can provide a great deal of enthusiasm to give the effort some initial momentum.  Even if you only have a few fans to start your crowdsourcing, utilizing contests and such, it could be a great way to expand your viral music marketing reach to your fanatical fans, casual fans and friends of fans.

Single-Track Digital Downloads Death Knell To Artists?:  On somewhat of a different yet related note is the digital download song and album sales vs. physical CDs sales argument.  This article was also interesting because it referenced some major artist's like Kid Rock who have refused to allow their album to be sold as single track digital downloads.  In other words you can buy a digital copy of the album, but you are forced to buy the entire album if you choose the digital medium.  This obviously mirrors the idea of purchasing a full-length physical CD, in which case you would get every song on the album for the price without the option of selecting individual songs.   

This got me thinking, as I've only begun to get fully involved in the digital download realm.  Part of the reason for my own hesitation of fully embracing digital downloads has been that I don't have sufficient information from my audience that that is how they want to actually consume my music.  Thus, I've been dipping my toe in the water gently to test the temperature before taking a larger plunge.  Similarly, just because you build a web presence doesn't mean anyone will go to it once it's functioning.  You have to get the word out and drive traffic to it by giving people a reason to visit it.  

I certainly think it's increasingly necessary to have digital downloads available as it has become an expected format for delivering and consuming music, but to the extent you use the medium I think should be driven by what your audience wants from you.  So, I would suggest utilizing your email list and send a short survey to your fans to find out:
- where they typically purchase their music
- in what format (digital or physical CDs) they prefer
- how often they purchase such music (weekly, monthly, etc.)
- where/how they find out about new music

You can also just talk to fans at your shows and ask them some similar questions to get some general feedback and information. 

Then use that information to provide your fans a way to find and purchase your music that meets their needs and interests.  Then be sure to drive traffic to your website(s), or retailers or live performances where fans can buy and consume your music in the format they want.  Once you determine what works for you and your fans you can seek ways to make it scalable and sustainable within your business model.  And remember, what works for you may not work for others and what works in general now may change over time.   

The point is...you can speculate what your fans want and how they want it, but you'll never know the correct answer until you simply ask them.   

It's not too early to be thinking about some new years planning.  A new year always brings the opportunity of a fresh start.  As a gigging musician, professional artist or entrepreneur it's important to take some time each year to examine goals you may have for your endeavors in the year ahead.  

Even if fairly informal it's important to outline a few things you'd like to accomplish within the next year to progress your career.  I'm going to generalize for a moment, but quite a few musicians and artists I know are not real crazy about the business end of developing a career in their craft.  They want a career in their craft, but they haven't necessarily put pen to paper to formulate a plan or crunch some numbers to calculate the feasibility of making a living out of their passion, or at least recouping the expenses to get to and put on a show.  

I truly believe that to be successful one has to be a thinker and a doer...resulting in being creative as well as innovative and resourceful enough to realize your creations.  Being a creative person and coming up with interesting projects often ends up being the easy part when you face the challenge of bringing that creative passion to the world of commerce.  At that juncture the cream really rises to the top if there is an understanding of some business practices (i.e. crunching some numbers) to enhance the effectiveness of their efforts.  I'm talking about the kind of planning that can ensure that you'll never take a gig that doesn't recoup the expenses it took to put on the show because you'll have the information before you even take the gig allowing you to know exactly what it will take to recoup your expenses and/or make a profit.  Now, I'm not saying it's all about the money.  Often as you begin to gig in a new area that you've never played before or try to get new freelance work you sometimes need to do things just to get your name out there.  Those are things you do simply to get your name out, gain some exposure and pay your dues so to speak.  

A little planning can go a long way.  Here's a nifty gig calculator I found online (http://www.gigcalculator.com/index.html) put out by Kathode Ray Music of Nashville.  

As you plan here are a bunch of useful links that music marketer, Bob Baker recently published to his website (http://tinyurl.com/5c822z) it's good stuff.