Last month, we covered the ABC's of digital distribution and how it can bolster the success rate of an independent release. We discussed splits and approaches, and whether you should sign up with a digital distributor or ride the digital snake all by yourself.

Now that you understand the basics, do you have what it takes to become a big winner?

In reality, success with digital distribution depends on your particular situation, your goals and of course whether your music or your label has the chops to gain a respectable audience (in other words, the same factors that have always determined success in the music business). Think of it this way: It’s easy to go sweet talk a few record stores into putting your CD on the shelf (especially on a consignment basis), but being on the shelf has absolutely nothing to do with whether people actually buy the CD.

With digital distribution "just making your music available on all the important services is not enough," says Bryn Boughton, the chief marketing officer for digital distributor IRIS Distribution. "You need to reserve time to market to them and with them as you would a brick and mortar store."

Indeed, getting your music up on a site like iTunes—while certainly a victory worth celebrating—is no guarantee of sales success. "For some reason people have the irrational notion that just because their music is for sale on iTunes that people will buy it," says Boughton. "Marketing is even more important in the digital realm as the volume of available music is so great."

So how do you break in? First, do your homework. "Spend some time researching, and even joining some of the major services," says Jack Campbell, label relations/production manager at San Francisco-based digital distributor IODA and formerly of Redeye Distribution, which is both a physical and digital distributor. "They are all competing right now, and many have free trial periods to lure you in… Knowing how the end product is delivered and used is a smart first step in helping you visualize your catalog alongside the stuff already in the digital storefront."

Boughton agrees that artists and labels should take their time before locking themselves into a long-term digital distribution deal. "Look for someone who will partner with you, guide you and represent your best interests as the industry is always changing," she says. IRIS, for example, just signed a deal with Xingtone that enables independent labels affiliated with IRIS to offer ringtones directly from their websites.

Of course, finding a reputable digital distributor can be a challenge. Consider the experience of Tom Wehrle, an awesome singer/songwriter rock dude who has a bit of a digital-distribution horror story to tell. About two years ago, he signed up with a digital distributor that was supposed to get his stuff to Amazon.com and iTunes. "Well, they never got it onto Amazon, and I did that myself," he says. "Then, a year after it had been out they got it onto iTunes. A few months after they got it up there, they went bankrupt and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone. After I got a hold of the guy who bought the bankrupt company, he informs me nothing in his deal to buy the company [included] anything about iTunes, so there was no money from iTunes coming from him."

Long story short, Tom says he never did track down the money from the downloads and that his music was eventually removed from iTunes. "I know there weren’t million of downloads for the CD, but still, it was sad that I never saw a dime, nor knew the stats on the project," he says. The good news is that Tom will have a new CD out on Aug. 30, and he’s looking for a new digital distributor. No doubt he’ll use lessons learned to improve his experience the next time around.

Meanwhile, managers—especially ones with artists who are signed to a record deal of some sort—and labels also need to do their homework and understand all the rights issues involved with digital distribution. "Labels should review their artist contracts to see if Internet delivery is even covered, if territory restrictions apply, etc.," Campbell says. "The goal is to be able to pass along good, current information, whether to a digital distributor or directly to a digital service."

And before you record your next album, consider this: The digital world requires that you be able to sell individual songs rather than just the full album, and this can have serious implications. For example, mastering your record as one long track is a definite no-no. And the common practice of putting a hidden track at the end (after 15 minutes of silence or something like that) will most likely create delays and complications when entering the digital space. According to Campbell, the key is to understand all of those issues and work them out before, not after, you’ve released your music into cyberspace. "It is exponentially easier to do it right before you deliver to services than to try to make corrections once it has gone live," he says.

At the label level, mistakes can stem from simple inertia and the lack of time that many executives have to research all the digital-distribution options. It’s also tempting to simply hand over digital distribution to the same distributor that already handles a label’s physical distribution needs. "Digital distribution should always be evaluated and negotiated separately from physical distribution as the two require a different infrastructure and knowledge base," says Broughton. "Even if a label chooses to work with the same distributor for both, they should evaluate both operations on their own merit."

Even making your music available at download sites requires advance work. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the sites and the various models they use (selling downloads; "renting" music for a monthly fee; combination of the two, etc). And yes, iTunes continues to be the top dog, but you never know how things will shape up over the next few years, so keep on top of it.

And in one final note, stay positive. It can be hard just getting your music out there in the digital universe. Case in point: After submitting my songs months ago (and whining about how they hadn’t been posted yet in last month’s newsletter), iTunes finally posted them just this month. But as I said, whether anyone actually downloads them is a completely different matter. So c'mon, would it kill ya to help a starving artist?

(Mike Grebb is a writer, journalist and singer/songwriter based in Washington, D.C. He has written for numerous publications, including Wired and Billboard. He just completed his debut solo record, Resolution, which is available at www.mikegrebb.com).