Do It Yourself As Real Network's Rob Glaser has said, "unsigned artists are a legitimate sector." These are bands that are just hoping to find an audience willing to buy their work, however unlikely that may be. But perhaps more importantly, these bands are willing to pay, either in terms of cash or promotional efforts, for someone to help them get their music online. And that's where the latest generation of Internet entrepreneurs comes in. There's a whole sub industry that has sprung up around the "internet-only record label." Now, anyone with a little server space can set up a page and solicit bands to sign up for a variety of services. Sometimes this involves allowing bands to set up pages for themselves and handling credit card transactions. Other business models involve charging a band to join a site, creating compilation albums or shopping records to real-world brick and mortar stores. CMJ this year was packed full of companies trying to pitch an ever-increasing plate of services to bands, from radio promotion to manufacturing/marketing/printing/sales all-in-one packages. Generally, these sites will sell your album to the public for you after you send them as few as five CDs and a membership fee. A few of the companies offering to help indie bands spread the word include: Joe's Grille: This site, around since 1996, is set up to help unsigned artists promote their music. For a $25 yearly fee, Joe's Grille will sell your CD and post MP3 tracks. Joe's Grill also sends compilation CDs to college radio stations. They'll also be happy to manufacture you're CDs and promotional materials for you. CD Baby: This site calls itself "just a good ol' fashioned record store." For $35, they'll list your CD and sell it for you, keeping $4.00 out of every CD sold. All Indie: These guys are setting up an online record label. They'll sell your CD's and keep 30 percent of the proceeds as well as your $100 membership fee. IUMA: The Internet Underground Music Archive will post MP3s and Real Audio on a site you create with their online editor. They'll split the proceeds from your CD sales with you 50/50. SoundClick: You can create a simple band page and sell your CDs with SoundClick. They also publish compilation CDs. Some of the bigger forces in the music biz are getting in on the act as well. Billboard has a site called the Billboard Talent Net, where, for a fee you, can be listed and post MP3s. CDNow has started an offshoot site, Cosmic Music Network, for unsigned bands. We've come a long way from the days of dubbing off cassettes and home four-track machines. The garage band is now as likely to exist in a desktop computer, which can also serve a digtal editing system and even burn CDs. The barriers to distribution have fallen, but the static in the online music playing field has increased. With all these services aimed at promoting unsigned bands, there's one fact that seems to have been overlooked—most of these bands are unsigned for a reason. previous      how to be a rockstar