Just today this news item was released by NewMediaAge in the UK:

Music chain Tower Records is up for sale having filed for bankruptcy for the second time in two years.

It's reported that the company's debts have mounted due to the rise in digital music sales, sparked by the popularity of Apple's iTunes music store and its iPod player.

A court document filing released today confirms the Sacramento-based chain will be sold in 60 days.

The troubled retailer, which has 89 stores in 20 states across the US and overseas, is reported to be up for sale having not paid bills, prompting three record labels; Universal, EMI and Warner Music to stop shipping to the retailer.

Now there was a time, not so long ago, when artists would come to us asking for nothing more than distribution. A channel. A way to get their CDs into the mainstream and in front of consumers. Distribution, many thought, was the key to the kingdom.

Distribution may still be important, but with Tower going down for the second time in two years it is clear that distribution is not what it used to be.

For all the complaining by Tower and others about iTunes and other digital download mechanisms, it is still true that more music is sold on CD than in any other medium. A lot more. As time goes on that balance will change, and someday I'll be writing that "today digital download sales exceeded CD sales for the first time." Not yet, but it is coming.

For the moment, though, hard good distribution through retail is still a very big business. I'm a little sad about Tower, to tell you the truth, but big box retail is no longer the gatekeeper it once was.

So how about it? Do you want to get a group together and buy Tower?

As I write I'm listening to the John Mays episode from our Make It In Music podcast series (Series 1), and I've got to tell you that it is really good. But only if you want to make it in music.

John is the VP of A&R (Artists and Repertoire) at Centricity Records. The label is based in Washington State but John is based in Nashville.

And even though he has been in Nashville for a long time and has discovered and signed some of the most famous, most successful recording artists ever in the Christian music industry over the last 19 years, he says he has never discovered someone in Nashville!

So if you've thought all along that you have to go to Nashville to get discovered, you may want to rethink that. But then how do you get discovered? Well, John has some advice on that, too, and I'm going to shorten it to this -- kick up some dust where you are.

Of course there's a lot more in this podcast, and the whole series contains an amazing amount of good information.

To subscribe to the Make It In Music series, just follow this link. But even if you aren't a subscriber, leave us a comment on what you think the best path is to get discovered.