What’s the key to success in the entertainment industry?

Fox’s Glee has to be one of the smartest shows on TV when it comes to merchandising.

Now I’m not talking about t-shirts and DVDs, Glee is killing the competition with music.

Every week the Glee cast releases a few songs and every week, they skyrocket to the top of iTunes. When the Glee kids went to regionals, they dominated iTunes the very next day.

In the first season alone Glee sold 12.9 million digital tracks with another 3.6 million in album sales. That helped them reach #28 on Billboard Music’s Top 40 Money Makers. [source]

What other shows need to learn here is that the public loves music and the love to get their hands on it now.

Every show should have their episodes soundtrack ready for download as soon as the show airs. I’m willing to bet that the most downloads happen within hours of the show ending, not weeks or months later when a soundtrack album finally arrives.

For Glee, the future is bright. As long as they keep creating good music, the show will continue to rake in big bucks, not to mention the viewers.