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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This month saw a good amount of coverage on past and future music listening and purchasing practices.

Hypebot covered two points on user data this month. One discussed how UK music buyers prefer CDs to digital, and another discussed music sharing data.

As for preferring CDs, it is difficult to imagine this to be fully true, but in reviewing the comments to this piece perhaps there is a compromise scenario here where when you download an album you can opt to get the CD at cost (w shipping) or for a few bucks more. This guarantees ownership in a way that digital downloads do not, and can provide access to album art, lyrics etc. After all, with the economy being what it is, consumers more than ever appreciate the value of what they are paying for. Digital downloads have zero incremental costs to artists, where CDs have more actual hard costs, so purchasing downloads and paying a bit more for a CD too at the time of sale could be a great way to create renewed interest in music purchasing.

Interestingly, these thoughts are consistent with what Apple is beginning to do with record labels. Apple is collaborating with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group with an eye towards creating an interactive bundle on their iTunes shore that includes material such as liner notes, lyric sheets and photos. The “interactive book” would apparently let users play songs without having to return to the iTunes software.

The goal is to spark sales of digital albums, “with a nod to the music-listening habits of a bygone era.”

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During every interview, convention panel, startup negotiation or conversation with an industry peer, there is inevitably a moment when someone says something like, “All this talk about social networking, new media and digital marketing is exciting, but does it work? And if it does, where are all the successful artists that have made it because of music 2.0?”

This excerpt from Hypebot’s “Let’s Prove That Artists Don’t Need Major Labels to ‘Make It’” speaks to the core of what Volume 11 and other related web sites and services for independent musicians are all about.

Who has been using these new models and services to grow?

How exactly have they done it?

What can we learn from them?

As we all know, there are so many ways we can now spend our time marketing ourselves. Role models and/or examples of what is possible and how to do it are vital for independent musicians in this day and age. But with limited time and resources, we need to focus.

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This month’s blog post of the month is Bruce Warila’s post on Music Think Tank: “Don’t go over the self-promotion cliff; crush your local radio station instead.”

His thesis – the promotion tools of the Internet are trends that come and go, and don’t offer the type of return for your time that they should.

However, if you are going to make the effort, focus on “where the puck is going to be”, which according to Bruce will be niche channels of similar content, which will develop their reputations by selecting and continuing to keep organized the best group of music in a particular niche.

Some excerpts:

Look at the fragmentation of the music consumption marketplace this way: genres are coastlines, niches within genres are beachfront properties, and standalone artists are rocks or grains of sand. Sticking with the metaphor: coastlines and beachfront properties are compelling, interesting and entertaining; rocks and sand are things that get stuck in your shorts and sandals.

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This Wired article was so informative and so interesting that I couldn’t wait until the end of the month to post it as V11’s April Post of the Month.

The article is definitely LONG, especially for Internet articles. However, it offers some incredible insight as to what is going on behind the scenes of the most forwarding thinking band for internet marketing – Nine Inch Nails.

The article describes NIN’s new iPhone app as well as highlights the importance of fan interaction, and will give any band an endless supply of things to consider for their website.

The article also highlights the future and depth of fan interaction and music marketing.

Here are some excepts:

Label execs have no idea where to turn. “They’re in such a state of denial it’s impossible for them to understand what’s happening,” Reznor says. “As an artist, you are now the marketer.” And the only marketing vehicle that makes sense is the net.

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March’s blog post of the month comes from Mike Tunnicliffe’s piece in Adweek. This article describes how advertisers may be the new viable vehicle of distribution for musicians. By striking deals to include music in commercials and the like musicians are able to both (1) get paid and (2) get exposure.

His examples:

• The world’s largest consumer brands company formed a record label: Procter & Gamble/Def Jam’s Tag Records, to help break new urban acts through its advertising.

• Bacardi partnered with British Dance Act, Groove Armada, to build a global marketing strategy based around music.

• Red Bull and Levi’s set up labels and studios to help create and break new music.

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Every month we will highlight the blog posting that stood out to us the most from the previous month. This past month it was MusicThinkTank’s What Successful Internet Marketers Know and What Musician Marketers Don’t.

This article represents an important reminder of the fundamentals of marketing in the current digital age.

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