The compressed audio format MP3 has burst onto the music scene this year, raising concerns about rampant music piracy. But the format also has opened the door for musicians to get their music heard.

It's not just the up and coming, unsigned bands that are benefiting from the MP3 format and the exploitation of it by MP3.com. There is another breed of musician who can benefit from this format...

I'm an amateur musician who wouldn't know what to do with a hit single if I had one. For years, I've written songs and made recordings on home equipment. Occasionally I've played the music for friends, who simply nodded politely after hearing it.

With this less than enthusiastic response to my limited listening tests, I had no great expectations when I took the MP3.com plunge.

The web site has a "top 40" but also a "bottom 40," and that's where I figured my songs were headed. Nonetheless, I set up my page, uploaded my files and lyrics and waited to see what happened.

For the first few days, I got what I expected. There were few "previews" and even fewer downloads, plus a smattering of page views. Then one day I went to the statistics page and the chart showed a spike. What was going on?

After checking the statistics for each song, I discovered that I had a "hit" - at least by my humble standards.

One of my songs had taken off on the rankings of the Christian Pop genre. These charts rank songs according to a "proprietary formula," but I would guess it is based on downloads and previews. In a couple of days, the song went to no. 2 on the Christian Pop "chart" and started racking up downloads.

I considered my "hit" song to be one of the weaker ones that I had uploaded. In fact, I had put it on MP3.com almost as an afterthought. It was one of my early 4-track recordings and was a rewritten version of a song I had originally composed at age 17 - some 23 years ago. But something in it must have appealed to the listeners, for it stayed at no. 2 for three days before it started to slide.

Here I was - succeeding against more active and more talented musicians, most of whom probably put a lot more money and work into their recordings.

I had put the song on the D.A.M. CD, but I had named the CD after another song. Figuring that I needed to capitalize, I re-named the D.A.M. CD after my "hit" and put together some cover art. This was before I learned that D.A.M. CDs don't sell well, even for artists with thousands of downloads.

[Editors note: DAM (Digital Automatic Music) CDs are compact discs containing songs in both MP3 and standard CD audio format. You can listen to them from your computer MP3 player or your stereo CD player]

After about two weeks, downloads for all of my songs combined exceeded 300. This would be discouraging for an ambitious young musician hoping to crack the big time. But it was a thrill for an amateur musician who had never received any more than lukewarm response for his efforts.

Some of my other songs surprised me as well. One song made it to no. 10 on the Christian Rock chart, while another hit no. 4 on the Christian Blues chart. Three top 10 hits! Wow!

Who are these people? Why are they downloading this music? They weren't buying it - my only D.A.M. CD sale was to myself. But that was helpful in that I discovered that one of my songs had 30 seconds of silence at the end. A couple of e-mails to CD support, and I learned how to fix the problem. MP3.com expects the artist to do quality control. I suspect the process of producing the D.A.M. CDs is highly automated. I think the CDs are made after orders are received, which is fine. Mine is priced at the minimum - $5.99 - and I get half of the proceeds. However, I won't see a check until my earnings exceed $50.

MP3.com also charges $1.75 for shipping, which is reasonable. Don't expect professional mastering - I'm not sure what kind of preparation is done to the songs on the D.A.M. CDs. Mine sounded good, and I liked seeing my name printed right on the disc. It's not a bad deal for a one-off CD, and once I add more songs, I might order several to give away.

Speaking of giving things away, I elected to make all of my songs available for free download. MP3.com allows you to designate songs for the D.A.M. CD only, but I wanted to see if anybody would listen to them. After my "hit song" falls off of the charts, I might withdraw it from free download.

To keep things in perspective, my "hit" song's overall rankings barely cracked the MP3.com top 500. I don't expect any record labels to be calling. The fact that a few hundred people took the time to download one of my songs is highly encouraging. I still don't expect to ever have a real "Top 40" hit, and I'm firmly committed to my day job.

But I'm spending more time writing, recording and playing. My relative success has made me feel better about my only regular "gig" - singing and occasionally playing guitar or bass for my church choir. In a sense, I feel vindicated for believing in my music.

MP3.com states that they welcome all artists, even folks like me. I'd like to think I've helped MP3.com generate a few page views and traffic. What they have done for me has been liberating.

While some artists may be discouraged if MP3.com doesn't help them make the big times, I suspect there are others like me who are getting a kick out of discovering that they at least can give away their music.

Tim Wood's MP3.com page is at www.mp3.com/tmichaelwood

More on MP3s:
www.GuitarSite.com/mp3.htm

MP3 news & articles also frequently appear in Guitar News Weekly:
www.GuitarSite.com/newsletter.htm

Wired journalist Jennifer Sullivan recently examined MP3.com and came up with some interesting observations based around the ratio between song downloads and CD purchases... "Bands Speak Out on MP3.com"
www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/culture/story/21188.html
by Jennifer Sullivan

The truth about selling CDs with MP3.com
www.hitsquad.com/smm/news/9908_117
by Geoff Nicholson

MP3.com FAQ
www.mp3.com/help

See also:

Christian Music @ GuitarSite
www.GuitarSite.com/christian.htm