Although one of the biggest players is leaving the scene, the jam band model of steady touring, long and varied shows, and encouraging fan community is now a viable alternative to the label-dependent radio and CDs model that has become a victim of the changing market of media consolidation, file sharing, and vast entertainment options for consumers.

Bela Fleck is one of the jam band model success stories:

One week in July, Béla Fleck performed with his band, the Flecktones, at three zoos in the Pacific Northwest. By Saturday, he had moved to Deer Valley to sit in with the Utah symphony. Then he was off to Interlochen, Mich., to start the Midwest leg of the tour. He'll play this weekend in Ohio and West Virginia.

Summer touring season is the working musicians' version of retail's holiday shopping season: a chance to reap bigger dollars from more people in a compressed period, before students return to school.

A look at banjo master Fleck and how he runs his business in the digital age shows how drastically the industry has changed. A new CD release gets attention, but with many young customers bypassing CD purchases for free pirated songs on the Internet, touring pays the bills. Fleck says concerts reflect 70% of the band's income, records 20% and merchandising 10%.

Fleck will realize 40% of his yearly touring income crisscrossing the country to perform with his jazz/bluegrass/world music band at amphitheaters, auditoriums, amusement parks — even a farmer's market in Kansas City. In summer, audiences swell from 1,000 to 2,000 people nightly to anywhere from 4,000 to 20,000. The Deer Valley show sold out, at 4,000 tickets.

....the Flecktones don't have a string of top 10 hits. They've never had a hit single, a gold album or substantial radio airplay — the usual tools needed to sell concert tickets.

Yet they'll perform to nearly 500,000 people this year in about 120 shows, grossing $8.5 million to $9.5 million for the tour. Bongiovanni says it's a rare act that can pull in audiences for so many shows. Of the top 100 touring acts last year, most average 50 shows or fewer. Only six did more than 100 shows.

Fleck has tapped into the jam-band phenomenon pioneered by the Grateful Dead in the 1960s and further established by groups such as Phish, the String Cheese Incident and Dave Matthews Band.

Like the Flecktones, jam bands specialize in long shows, varied set lists and a rapport with fans that allows them to tape shows freely — and encourages them to trade songs online.

Fans do that at the official Flecktones Web site, www.flecktones.com. ''It's helped our live audience to be bigger,'' says Fleck.

....Fleck plays the banjo — usually associated with country and bluegrass music — in a jazz setting, with backing from bass, sax and electronic drums.

The Flecktones often jam with musicians who sit in with offbeat instruments such as the bassoon, tabla, oboe and ukulele. Fleck also often plays classical music in shows and has recorded two classical albums.

''The strength of our business is having a diverse audience,'' Fleck says. ''It turned out to be a good business plan. We'll play some blues and maybe that won't win over 100% of blues fans, but 15% will like us and come back. Same goes for other styles. Pretty soon you have an audience that's significant.''

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