The last couple of months I have brought to the table different ways to sell your music on-line. There are many music oriented companies out there ready and willing to help you reach the world with your products. This of course, all comes with a cost. What if you want to sell your music directly from your website?
E-commerce sites can be rather expensive to build if you have a web design company do the programming. I know that struggling artists do not usually have this much of cash on hand. So in this months issue I am going to discuss yet another option you have to sell your music in a global market.
www . paypal.com
Paypal.com is a great way to except credit card transactions right from your website. With many different features, paypal.com can help you bring your website up to speed, so to say. After signing up for an account, you list your individual prices to paypal.com, and you are sent an html code to insert into your website.
You may either use one of their purchase buttons, or create your own to go with the look and feel of your website. Once the consumer clicks the button to purchase the product, paypal.com collects the information necessary to complete the transaction, and returns the consumer back to your website. The money is then sent directly to your bank account or a credit card. How cool is that?
Now just like every other business on-line, paypal.com has to make money also. They are fees involved with using paypal.com. Starting an account and signing up are free. They keep 1.9% of all business transactions made from your account. Considering many of the music-oriented sites may keep up to 50% of your revenue, I do not think this is a bad deal. It also makes your site look very professional, which any frequent reader of my column knows this is a point I dwell on over and over.
You also have the opportunity to make some side cash with paypal.com. You will receive $5 for signing up for this service, and you can also receive $5 for people you refer to them. They do have anti-spamming policies, so you must be responsible with your referrals.
Macromedia
Have you visited those intense, flash based websites out there, such as
www.disturbed.com? Flash 4, (Flash 5 soon to be released), is one of the best investments you can make if you are building your own websites. It creates unbelievable graphics that load as fast as lightening. I have said over and over that flash 4 will eventually be THE way to make graphics on your website, and this premonition is becoming truer as the days go by.You can download a free, 30 day trial of Flash 4 at
www.macromedia.com. The program does take awhile to learn, but exciting news has come from the macromedia camp. The have teamed up with Element K, an on-line university, to bring you wonderful classes to show you step by step how to take advantage of all the program has to offer. From basic classes to web professional, they offer classes at every level. Visit http://macromedia.elementk.com/ to sign up for classes now!I learned much of what I know about websites from on-line classes. Many of the courses are a learn at your own pace, and you can take classes when you have the time. With our fast paced world we live in, this is an excellent way to learn computer skills. Also check out
www.learnitonline.com and www.elementk.com for all your on-line educational needs.Local Entertainment Site of the Month
I have decided to change this section of my column from "Band Site of the Month" to "Local Entertainment Sit of the Month". Since the Midwest BEAT Magazine is an Entertainment magazine, some of my readers felt people were being excluded from this section. The Entertainment site of the month is (drum roll please) OKR-One Kind Radio found at
http://onekind.homepage.com This is a local on-line radio station that includes many local artists music. Check it out!MidwestBEAT.com
Ah yes, yet another midwestbeat.com contest is in the works, with many awesome prizes! Stay tuned to
www.midwestbeat.com for details! I received many emails about our new XTRA! XTRA! Feature in the on-line e-zine! For those of you that don’t know, our on-line version of the magazine now features new articles and columns ONLY found on-line! Keep those article ideas coming! We always look for new material! I would also like to thank all the people that have been sending me the kind and supportive email about my column, and about the website. Being an extremely busy person, I don’t always have the chance to respond right away, but I WILL respond eventually, and I read them all. You people ROCK!! I can be reached via email at: kel@outtasiteweb.comUntil next time, happy surfing!