The first step is to have music that you've recorded and is ready to sell. You don't even need a nice looking CD if your just selling your music online. The best place on the Internet to sell music as an Independent artist is through CDbaby (cdbaby.com). You can even upload your MP3's directly to them. You don't even need to send them a hard CD copy any more.
You will also need a cover graphic for your album or songs. At Cdbaby.com, you can set up everything about your album or songs. The cost is minimal; currently 35 dollars to set up the album and another 20 dollars for a bar code.
After you've set up the basics about your album on Cdbaby and sent them your songs and cover graphics (see the cdbaby.com website for more details about this), you're almost ready to start selling your music on the Internet.
CDbaby distributes your music to all of the popular online music download places such as iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and Napster. iTunes, however, is the biggest online music seller and you'll probably make most of your money from them. Your music will be on iTunes all around the world. The competition is fierce, but if you've recorded good music, it will sell.
A few weeks after setting up your album on Cdbaby, you will see your music available for download not only on their site, but on all the music download sites that you've agreed too. Be patient while waiting for your sales and download numbers to come in. Each company sends their sales reports at a different time. Cdbaby takes care of all of the reports for you. You will soon be making extra income from your own music by having it available on the Internet. Follow these steps and you'll be on your way to making extra cash from your music.