Indie bands, take note: last week, CD Baby announced a new CD distribution partnership with Alliance Entertainment, the largest wholesale distributor of audio, video, and software home entertainment in the United States. Read more.
From the category archives:
The Future of Music Coalition just released the results of a research project they conducted where over 5,000 US-based musicians were surveyed about how they earned money. Here is the list with their findings. 1. Publisher advance. Bulk payment to songwriter/composer as part of a publishing deal. 2. Mechanical Royalties. Royalties generated through the licensed reproduction of recordings of your songs — either physical or digital. 
Music sales are up. That was the big news at the beginning of the year, and it’s an encouraging sign that maybe things have leveled off in the music industry. Sorting through the numbers, there are some interesting things to note, and other curiosities to get you thinking. Total albums sold in 2011: 330.6 million. That’s up 1.3% from 326.2 million in 2010, and it’s the first increase since 2004, which is the big reason why this is welcome news. 
I work in waves. I can write a ton of songs in a few months then nothing. I used to freak out that my songwriting creativity was gone forever. Now I know this is just how I work. I have three phases of my music career process: the touring, the creative and songwriting, and the business. They seem to weave in and out of each other. When I’m in touring mode or song writing mode, I’m never really psyched about booking, making phone calls, or sending emails. When my touring and creative spurts are over, I kick my music business plan into high-gear.
