As a musician, I’m always on the lookout for online promotion tools for artists and other great services. One of the more common sites that every independent artist could benefit from is CD Baby, which not only allows anyone to sell their CD online to fans across the globe, but also provides digital distribution to the iTunes Music Store (and just about every other digital music store) and has an advice area on their site in which musicians can discuss promotional techniques, making money with music, touring tips, etc. Also, their sister site Hostbaby is website hosting geared specifically towards musicians. Both sites are well known for their artist-friendly attitudes and attentive customer service.

One of the more interesting concepts I’ve come across recently is SellaBand.com. The site is basically set up to allow fans (called “believers”) to become angel investors for bands that they like. They find bands registered with SellaBand and invest as little as $10 (or more if they desire). Once a band reaches $50,000 they record an album and everyone who invested will receive a free copy (well, almost free… The $10 is more like a pre-order). Then the profits from the music that gets sold is split between the band, the site, and the believers who helped make it all happen.

Something of a revolutionary concept, really. While it may not be the ideal scenario for some bands (if you’re a garage band playing the local talent show circuit, good luck finding up to 5,000 people to support you), it just may be a sound business model for today’s internet-savvy indie bands. If you’re interested, check out their how it works page to learn more!