It's actually rather simple. What you have done by spreading the gospel of your music to the heathen crowd is create demand. Absolutely nothing sells without demand - be it manufactured, necessitated, or otherwise. But what exactly remains to be sold when for all intents and purposes you have already given your music away?

Only everything. You see, the idea that music is somehow some fleeting thing that has been trapped on wax and doled out in album sized portions vanished the day that the first 14 year old schoolchild downloaded an mp3. The idea of restricting the distribution of digitally encoded music is akin to attempting to hold onto a handful of water by squeezing your fingers tighter. It is impossible. But what is not impossible is to direct that raging stream of digital downloads in such a way that it promotes and buoys your career.

For you see, there are many creative aspects to an artist's portfolio that are not so easily digitized and distributed. And it is precisely these aspects that can be exploited and developed in order to sustain the creative process. All of those people who heard your music at a friends place, downloaded it from your website, or heard it on a radio show when a DJ played one of your tracks he or she liked? Well they told their friends about your music and made them a copy, and now there are enough people in a town you may never have even heard of to create demand for you to play a show. And in the artist economy, you obviously do get compensated financially for performances - and all without anyone else's hand in your pocket. One show can lead to another, as people who came to the performance perhaps to see a different act are exposed to your music and stick around to hear more. As a fan base swells, your contact with other, more established artists can escalate as well, creating further opportunities for exposure and collaboration. Not to mention the associated merchandising possibilities that are limited only by your imagination and crassness.

Once the exposure ball is rolling, doors begin to open across the board: licensing tracks for commercial use and films, television, video games, scoring, and promotional compilations for large events. I have only briefly touched on the specifics of opportunity presenting themselves, but the main concept that I am trying to impart is that the time is now for throwing off the yoke of musical indentured servitude, and embracing the future of online distribution. Once this is understood, it will be that much easier to comprehend what I have tried to do, and continue to do with Repent Tokyo Records.