Digital Audio Insider -- the economics of music and other digital content

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Digital Audio Insider is David Harrell's blog about the economics of music and other digital content. I write from the perspective of a musican who has self-released four albums with the indie rock band the Layaways.

My personal website has links to my LinkedIn and Google+ pages and you can send e-mail to david [at] thelayaways [dot] com.

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February 06, 2007

About the Ads
by David Harrell

No, I'm not trying to "monetize" this blog -- the average daily traffic, counting page views and RSS readers, is in the low three-figure range. It's a good group of folks (according to the IP addresses on the server log, regular visitors include employees of Universal Music, eMusic, Warner Music Group, Ryko, TVT, etc.) but not large enough that it's going to generate any real ad revenue.

But I am curious about the whole Google AdSense thing -- what kind of ads it will serve up based on the posts, click-through rates, and so on. Hence the advertising experiment.

So far, it's generated a whopping 99 cents in AdSense revenue, $99.01 short of the minimum payout level from Google. Which makes me wonder -- how does the Google accounting work for all the blogs that never reach that threshold? Google gets paid from the advertisers for the clicks, but there are no doubt thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds?) of blogs and sites with Google AdSense advertising that will be abandoned long before reaching $100 in ad sales. I have to think that at some point Google gets to "keep" and recognize the portion of the ad fees that -- in theory -- are supposed to be shared with the blogs and sites that contain the ads. (Somewhat related: Chris Anderson of the Long Tail has a great post on a Google loophole for advertisers, more thoughts from Tom Evslin.)

UPDATE: Nicholas Carr at Rough Type posted last year about "the great Google float."

Anyway, let me know (via the comments or an e-mail) if you think the text ads are totally annoying -- especially the ones in the title bar. It's easy enough to take them down. Thanks!

tags: Google AdSense blog ads GOOG

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THE LAYAWAYS

Out Now -- "Maybe Next Year" -- The New Holiday Album:

"This is a sweet treat, deliciously musical without being overbaked for mass media consumption." -- Hyperbolium

"Perfect listening to accompany whatever holiday preparations you may be making today." -- Bag of Songs

O Christmas Tree - free mp3 lyrics and song details
Away In A Manger - free mp3

Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or Bandcamp. Listen to free streams at Last.fm.

"...about as melodic and hooky as indie pop can get." -- Absolute Powerpop

"Their laid-back, '60s era sounds are absolutely delightening." -- 3hive

"...melodic, garage-influenced shoegaze." -- RCRD LBL

Where The Conversation Ends - free mp3
January - free mp3
Keep It To Yourself - free mp3

Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or CD Baby, stream it at Last.fm or Napster.

"The Layaways make fine indie pop. Hushed vocals interweave with understated buzzing guitars. The whole LP is a revelation from the start." -- Lost Music

"Catchy Guided by Voices-like rockers who lay it on sweetly and sincerely, just like Lionel Richie." -- WRUV Radio

Silence - free mp3 lyrics and song details
The Long Night - free mp3

Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody.

"These are songs that you want to take home with you, curl up with, hold them close -- and pray that they are still with you when you wake up." -- The Big Takeover

Let Me In - free mp3
Ocean Blue - free mp3

Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody.

More Layaways downloads:

the layaways website