Jonathan Coulton doesn't measure his success as a musician by the number of appearances he's made in the music magazines or blogs -- who needs that when you've got Google Analytics?

According the search engine's Web measurement tools, Coulton's Web site gets 50,000 to 60,000 visits per month, and about half of those are by people new to his site. wow gold Some visitors download a song and opt to pay a buck; many more download a song but don't pay. Coulton doesn't sweat that particular ratio so much because he's happy enough to be making more than he did a few years ago as a software programmer.

"The ratio of sales to free downloads is still pretty small," he said, but he has no way of knowing how many of those freeloaders come back later to buy a T-shirt or a CD or a concert ticket. "Whatever is happening, the bottom line works out for me and I'm making enough to make a living this way."

Coulton, who is Web-famous for his geeky and witty songs about software coders and zombies, is headed to the area this week to play at the Birchmere in Alexandria. And even though he's sold out two previous shows at the 500-seat venue, most recently in February, don't look for write-ups at RollingStone.com or Pitchfork. A recent search for his name at the sites of those influential music publications comes up empty.

Coulton's musical career is an ongoing bit of proof that a performer can build an audience with the aid of free or low-cost Web tools. What's more, in Coulton's case, wow gold you can even do all that without getting any radio airplay along the way.