A New Revenue "Stream"

With the economy in the state that it is, fewer people are as loose with their money when it comes to entertainment as they used to be.  Not only that, but the decline in album sales in the past years and the trend in the youth pirating the music they do download, it is often hard for new artists to make ends meet.  A lot of bands have realized the old model of doing things just simply doesn't exist on a small level anymore, you can not support yourself of music sales and need to find other ways to make money.  Thanks to the Internet, there are a lot of ways for artist to share their music and promote shows, allowing them to reach more people and get "bigger faster."  However with the majority of their income coming from concerts and tours, where do they make money while in the studio or writing or doing anything besides touring?

Well a few artists have found a very interesting way to "Stream" their revenue in the downtime.  Online "Streaming" is becoming more and more popular in all fields of entertainment from music to video games.  With multiple site options available virtually anything is available for view. Dave Melillo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
is one such artist utilizing online streaming. He does a show every monday called Melillo Monday's during the time he asks from requests from viewers, answers questions and more or less provides his community with a "live vlog" experience. Streams provide the artist with the ability to manually run ads or have the run at certain times, the amount of viewers as well as clicks on the ads that run are what makes up the income for the artist.  Depending on the amount of viewers this income can really start to add up.  There are also options to "donate" to the streamer as well as the priceless ability to plug new shows/merch and releases.  This one week show is just one way artists are making money with streaming, some bands could do studio/rehearsal streams or even concert streams,  not unlike the Ben Folds ChatRoulette Concerts. Some streamers like Steven "Destiny" Bonnell II, a professional video game player, make the majority of their income from money made streaming.  I hope we see a surge in the music industry a few months down the road as streaming begins to catch on, this is an amazing way to connect with fans while earning a little extra income.