For independent musicians, the Internet only works for the bands that market themselves well offline.

Of course, that poses a problem for bands that are new to the digital age. To that end, Tim Sweeney and John Dawes have written a book called The Complete Guide to Internet Promotions for Musicians, Artists and Songwriters.

Divided into five sections, the book outlines how to put together a marketing strategy, how to promote a website and the dos and don'ts of creating a website. But Dawes said all of the online marketing is irrelevant unless bands do what they do best –- play music in clubs.

"I encourage my artists to concentrate on performing as much as possible and then creating a website to feed the demand from that," said Dawes. "What doesn't work is hosting songs on large portals at first. Most of the users from those services are looking for established artists. If you are unknown, you are unfound."

But independent bands that are successful have a shot at real success on their own if they market themselves well.

With the average major label band making about 54 cents per CD sold, according to Dawes, the potential for mid-level selling artists just isn't there. Independent artists however, have the opportunity to sell their own CDs for a much higher profit while charging less than retail outlet prices. That can allow musicians to shed their part-time day jobs and concentrate entirely on their career.

While it might seem more economical for the bands to do the online promotions in-house, Dawes said is usually best to look to partner with other companies that can focus on marketing that is specific to the Internet, such as Web page development and back-end retail.

What bands should do, said Dawes, is focus on making the website an extension of the live performance so that fans will continually return to the site to find out the latest news. By creating that fan-friendly environment providing interactivity, daily updates, and information that can't be accessed at other places, bands will have an easier time creating traffic.

He also said that giving away music might be fine for some bands, but not if you hope to make a living.

"I suggest that artists put a track that could end up on the radio, something that has friendly airplay," Dawes said. "But I never, ever recommend putting up all of their tracks on the website. You want to have enough to tantalize people to know that if they if buy the CD, they get more."