I suppose it's a lot easier for an indie band to sell records nowadays. Ten or fifteen years ago they mostly depended on the sales at the local record store and at their live shows. Now they have internet. But I don't think that there are a lot of indiebands who get rich from selling records. Their music get's hardly no airplay at the popular radio stations and that's always the best way to get known. Or even better: a television performance, but that doesn't happen to a lot of unknown bands. But sometimes their lucky, like The Whigs have proved recently.
This young band from Athens, Georgia debuted late 2005 with the album "Give Em All a Big Fat Lip". The recording and release of this record was payed for by Parker Gispert, Julian Dorio and Tim Deaux themselves, but it was re-released about a year later by ATO Records. This album was probably one of the reasons why The Whigs appeared in the list '10 Artists to Watch 2006' from Rolling Stone. Two weeks ago they released their second album "Mission Control" and that's the reason why they have appeared at David Letterman and why they also will appear on the show of Conan O'Brien in ten days.
I dont know what this means for the sale of their CD, but I suppose it will mean that The Whigs will sell a lot more records. The next question is, if they will stay an indieband much longer. Their music is appealing enough. One prove is for instance the song "Already Young" from their new record, but the mp3 below is also worth downloading.
>mp3: Right Hand On My Heart