Bob is the author of "The Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" and "Branding Yourself Online: How to Use the Internet to Become a Celebrity or Expert in Your Field."

"It's all geared to self-promotion, and it just snowballs. If you sit at home like other really good (much better than me) musicians and say, 'You can't make a living from your music in New Zealand,' then it's true, you won't. However, playing music is my full-time job now."

Using Your Unique Qualities to Your Advantage

Josh of Josh Max's Outfit says his band has sold more than 550 copies of its "Make It Snappy" CD. Not impressed? You may be when you find out how.

Josh explains: "We sold 150 to fans at our shows so far, but the way we moved 400 CDs was to hook up with a fashion magazine for plus-size women and promote our singer, Julie James, who is plus-sized and an amazing, sweet yet powerful singer. Julie has loads of personality -- and the media love juicy people like her.

"The magazine bought 400 copies of our CD," Josh continues, "and distributed them in goodie bags at trade shows around the Northeast. It's a great deal because it's free publicity and the bulk sale made us back a lot of the money we laid out for the disc."

It's also a good example of a band taking what some in the business would percieve as a weakness and exploiting it to the band's advantage. Therein lies the lesson: Any characteristic of your band can be repositioned to be perceived in a fresh light.

(Have a success story like this you want to share? Send your tale of triumph by e-mail to bob@thebuzzfactor.com.)

Get FREE music marketing ideas by e-mail when you sign up for Bob Baker's weekly newsletter, The Buzz Factor. Just visit www.bob-baker.com for details. Bob is the author of "The Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" and "Branding Yourself Online: How to Use the Internet to Become a Celebrity or Expert in Your Field."