Seth Godin's blog of the day talks about how crowded it is on store shelves these days. There are too many products vying for the same space. If you truly want your product to be seen, you have to stand out from the crowd.

It's easier said than done of course. I've spent a large part of my music career trying to create something for they discount shelf at Half-Price Books. Back in 1999, I found a cassette of Irish Drinking Songs. It cost two or three bucks. I marveled at how easily I picked up that album and learned every song on it. It was an inspiration.

So much so, that three years later, my band released Songs of Ireland. It too was designed for that shelf. Yet, I couldn't even find a way to get it on one.

My idea of theming all my CDs was based on this concept. They're easier to get off the shelf when you know exactly what they are about.

The shelf is probably my biggest marketing error though. Not Every Day Is St Patrick's Day and Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion are good albums and the digital sales will earn me a nice residual income that'll feed the family. But those are ultimately shelf CDs. The later may be remembered, but only because it's a good album title. The former?

Meanwhile, Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers, Firefly Drinking Songs, Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits, those are niche albums that no one will put on shelf. But they stand out, they sell because they are so bizarre and compelling for their niche markets.

One of my Celtic Cats, Patricia, told me how it was while searching for a Celtic Thunder cd on Amazon, she saw a link to the cat cd. Now she's a Celtic cat lover.

Now that the St Pats and Scottish CDs are done, I don't feel like I need to create for the shelf. I want to focus on the extraordinary, the albums that will blow minds and leave you wondering, “what just happened? I want more!”

There lies the greatest challenge.