Make money with your craft online

— -- Are you a budding musician or photographer? Do you have a knack for handicrafts? Then why not make some money off of your talents? You can, thanks to the Internet.

Selling digital downloads has always been difficult. Complex e-stores have been needed to manage sales and deliver the goods. If you sell crafts, eBay and Craigslist may seem like your only outlets.

Well, a bevy of websites are here to help. You can sell music, photos and crafts online. There's no messy e-store to manage. And getting started is simple.

Music

More people are buying music digitally. That levels the playing field for small, unsigned musicians.

At Last.fm, sign up to promote your music. There is no sign-up fee. Last.fm is an Internet radio site. Once you upload music, others can play it.

Unless you're the next U2, your earnings will be slim. You get a portion of advertising revenue generated when your music is played. Plans are tiered. Expect to earn 10% of advertising revenue, starting at fractions of a penny. The more people listen to your music, the more you can make.

Amie Street also promotes up-and-coming artists. You begin by uploading your music. Songs are initially offered for free. But prices can hit 98 cents. This is based on how often a song is purchased.

You take 70% of the money earned after $5. The $5 covers storage, bandwidth and transaction costs.

Getting music on big retailers' sites is challenging. It helps to have record label backing. But, for a small investment, you can get on iTunes, Rhapsody and Napster.

TuneCore puts your music on 10 major music sites. You pay 99 cents per track to upload and 99 cents per store per album. You also pay $20 a year for storage and maintenance. You keep all the profits.

Also try CD Baby. There's a one-time-ever $35 charge to set up a new CD in their store. CD Baby distributes your music to major download stores like iTunes and Rhapsody. You keep 91% of profits.

Arts and crafts

Etsy has made a name for itself for its handmade goods. You can buy clothes, art, furniture and more. Sellers set their own prices.