Go to U.S. Library of Congress's website and register for copyrights on your songs. Although it may take weeks to get confirmation, this is a formality that is only necessary to prove when your work was first registered. Your work is technically copyrighted upon its completion. Also, let your performance rights organization (ASCAP, BMI, etc.) know about your release.
Visit TuneCore.com and sign up for an account. TuneCore is a website that distributes your original music via digital files to online retail outlets such as iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic and others. Upload your music and artwork to the site and wait for confirmation that your music is ready to sell online.
Make lists of online music reviewers, promoters, webcasters and other music entities. Research these websites and compile contact information for each of them. Use these contacts to build an email list. Join one of the many email marketing services online or start your own. Request permission to send full song files or samples of your music to them once your music is for sale online. Send press releases about your musical release to online news publications.
Join social networks such as MySpace and FaceBook and add as many friends as possible. Let your online friends know about your music. Emphasize what makes your music special. Try to get others to comment on your music so that the word spreads to other people outside your networks. One way to do this is to agree with other artists to comment on their music if they comment on yours.
Build an online profile that you can present to larger media outlets such as college radio stations, public radio, terrestrial and satellite radio. Once you can get the attention of these media outlets that agree to play your music, you may see lucrative results in your online music sales. While major labels need close to a million buyers for a CD release to break even, digital download sales require a much smaller fan base to be profitable. For example, if only 1,000 fans buy every song on a 12-song digital download album, there is strong potential for five figure profits.