I will admit – I feel completely unoriginal for choosing a Seth Godin post as the post of the month. Still, from my perspective it offered the most thought provoking concept this month for musicians, or entrepreneurs catering to musicians.

In the ultra fast world of online marketing, free may be so 2008.

The underlying hypothesis in Seth’s post is that “some things may be better if they are not free.” He uses Craigslist as an example. If Craigslist charged $1 for every listing the site would be more efficient (less scams and bogus postings) and the site would generate tons of cash to perform whatever social good they would like.

So how does this apply to music? Haven’t we all accepted that music is free now and there ain’t nothing we can do about it?

Well despite the many opinions to the contrary, I am not convinced that charging for music is lost forever.

Rather, I remain convinced that there are still ways to organize music in ways that add value for the listener / purchaser such that paying for such a service will become a rational choice.

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London’s The Independent published an interesting interview with Tony Wadsworth, former EMI chief when Radiohead left EMI.  His view of the industry is worth a read. An excerpt: “The industry is moving from a transaction based business to a usage and licensing business,” says Wadsworth. He cites the interactive computer games Guitar Hero and Rock [...]

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The major problem for an independent musician in the Internet age is cutting through the abundant noise of the online world and getting noticed.

New Rock Star Philosophy’s August post “The Worlds Biggest Cover Band” highlights how one band has used cover songs to lead their path of success.

The important point to realize from this article is that it shows a band using the realities of the situation and making it work to their advantage. In an era when there are seemingly infinite ways a band can market themselves, it may be helpful to stick to a few practical means, that, because of human nature or other reasons, just works.

Simply put, the cover song approach seems to help get people’s attention.

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