One of the benefits of following a marketing strategy like the one outlined in Music Marketing Manifesto is that, if done right, you stand a very good chance of charting on key sales charts such as those in Billboard Magazine. A chart position can be valuable to an up-and-coming artist because it helps to build “the story” which can in turn help to open various industry doors.

However, it is surprisingly difficult for independent artists to report sales made on their own website to Nielsen SoundScan (the sales tracking system that is needed to make all of those sales count). Historically, the only real way to do this on your own (without spending a small fortune) was to go through a distributor such as CD Baby.

Last year in episode #29 of the MMM Podcast I introduced you to a service that made reporting easier for indie artists. Unfortunately, shortly after that podcast episode was released the company in question lost it’s ability to report to soundscan and there really hasn’t been a replacement option ever since.

Fortunately a new service called Single Music has changed that and independent artists are able to easily report their website sales once more.

I had a chance to catch up with the company’s Founder and CEO, Tommy Stalknecht, to discuss their service, as well as direct to fan marketing and the increasingly debated topic of “sales vs streaming”.

To listen to the this episode just go to iTunes >> Search “Music Marketing Manifesto” >> and subscribe. The episode should start to download immediately. You can also click on any of the following links and go directly to iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

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Have any questions or comments about Single Music, or any of the specifics regarding how to report website sales to soundscan? Post them below in the comments.