example of success purely from self promotion with new technology - Sandi Thom

Alexandria "Sandi" Thom[1] (born August 11, 1981) is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Macduff in Aberdeenshire. She released her first single in 2005 and received a great deal of publicity for webcasting her gigs from a basement in Tooting in 2006.

21 Nights from Tooting
21 Nights from Tooting was a "tour" consisting of 21 performances from the basement of her Tooting flat, from February 24 to March 16. These were recorded and then webcast. Tickets were sold, but the venue had a capacity of "six people" ("10 including the band").
The MySpace post announcing the gigs was posted in the early hours of February 22. Thom's website states that "the idea popped into her head" after her car broke down travelling from a gig in York (on the 22nd) to one in Wales (on the 23rd).
Thom states that she was familiar with webcasting, having had a show at the Edinburgh Left Bank webcasted.
Prompted by a contact from Thom's manager, news services noted Thom's promotion efforts. The audience for the first day was reportedly around 60 or 70, increasing to 70,000 (later quoted as 48,000) by the middle of the run, with viewers from Russia, the United States and Pakistan.[10].
The publicity surrounding the tour led to major label interest, with music label representatives attending the gigs in question.
Thom subsequently accepted an offer by Sony. This led to the single re-release being delayed until May, when it was released on Sony's RCA label. The news of this broke on April 3, 2006, the official signing itself being webcast. The single was placed on Music Week Daily's playlist that day. She was the first artist signed the RCA label since its reorganisation.

Controversy
Some observers have questioned how she was able to sustain production of the webcasts; critics suggest that she "could not have supported such a large audience on her webcast if she really was a starving artist". Others question the veracity of claims made about viewership. There are also questions as to the level of involvement of PR agency Quite Great. Her manager, Ian Brown, in an interview with the Guardian, asserted that the idea did indeed come from her, whilst her management and publicist claim to have conducted a large publicity campaign, including a million "virtual flyers"
Some critics accused Sony of orchestrating the campaign. Craig Logan, the managing director of RCA, denied these accusations, claiming that the label was "drawn to" Thom after hearing of the webcasting.
The Guardian's review said that it was "ironic" that she had "harnessed new technology to draw attention to the kind of pop made by her foremothers" - the single being a lament to the spirits of '69 and '77.