and 
2002 to 2013, All rights reserved.
Bemuso is a web site about the UK music industry. I wrote it to help music biz newcomers understand what matters and what doesn’t, for themselves. This is who I am (a musician, music lover and retired IT professional).
| Theodore Sturgeon’s Law: |
|---|
| 90% of everything is crap. |
Here’s my philosophy about the music industry and the Internet in a nutshell.
Of course, Theodore Sturgeon formulated his law long before the Internet decreased signal-to-noise ratio substantially. On the web, at least 99% of everything is now crap, I have checked. You may not agree with my conclusions, some people don’t.
You don’t need to get signed to join the music business. This site is about distributing your own music. It tells you all about DIY record labels, self-publishing and how the music business works. It also tells you how to set up your own independent music site and how to sell your music online.
The Music biz and DIY resources are based on my research and experience in the UK. I’m a keen supporter of independent artist labels and DIY in the music business.
The Articles are random ponderings about the music industry in general. If you’re trying to get signed you might be interested in working for yourself instead and you should read How do I get signed?
You may find a bogus “Bemuso” online, my site name Bemuso is sometimes used by other people. If the content doesn’t look or sound like me it probably isn’t—I never post phonecam photos on Flickr or Stuff for example (this is my rather empty Bemuso page on Flickr). Please let me know if you see any dodgy uses, I can normally get them deleted. Thanks. Google will also throw up a lot of spam directories, link farms and middleman sites trying to sponge hits for advertising or click-through scams.
In January 2011 I started Facebook and Twitter accounts. So these are genuine.
In Portuguese “bem uso” means “well use” so search engines will also generate quite a few foreign language hits. If you are interested in Portuguese web sites this is a feature.
Bemuso is a resource for independent artists, DIY record labels and self-publishers. The Music biz and DIY will help you set up your own music web site and introduce you to the basics of the music business in the UK. The only aspects I don’t cover are material, performance and publicity (and a few others). I suggest further reading.
Some of the resources would help with any web site, including other kinds of music sites, and the music business information may be useful whether you have a web site or not.
This site is completely independent. Bemuso attracts a lot of visitors but I always refuse advertising, sponsorship or reciprocal arrangements. Every recommendation here is a genuine personal suggestion as a result of my own experience and research, but please bear in mind I’m not recommending everything I happen to mention.
(In December 2007 I added the Donate page with a good merchandise affiliate, it didn’t sell any T-shirts so I took it down after about a year.)
I won’t pass, give or sell any of your details (name, address, email address, etc.) to anyone, ever. I only send information about the site and CDs to my mailing list (so you won’t hear about my scheme for recycling hamster bedding as breakfast cereal).
You’re very welcome to quote verbatim or link to this site—linking is better because it connects to current pages where information is updated frequently. If you do quote anything please credit www.bemuso.com. You may not copy whole pages, graphics or articles without asking (see Copyright). Please email if you have any questions.
There are over 800 external links on this site. A couple of links change each week, so I fix or delete them. Unfortunately this means some information will be lost but far more new links crop up than expire. I also delete links that turn out to be pages cut and pasted from an original source.
and 2002 to 2013, All rights reserved.
Bemuso is an independent music resource written by me. The site and everything on it is copyright including all rights to the text, graphics, HTML and recorded work.
If you want to copy anything you must ask. I don’t bite (unless you don’t ask or credit the site, in which case I do bite quite hard).
If you find a problem using the site please email details and say what OS (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.), browser and version you’re using. Thanks.
I like to get email from anybody in the music business but especially independent and DIY artists. If you can’t find what you’re looking for or need something clarified, or have some tips to pass on please get in touch.
twothousandandfourteen@bemuso.com
To avoid spam, email addresses are no longer clickable on this site and email is bounced from all other addresses at Bemuso. Sorry.
I change this address when it gets onto spam lists, so it might get out-of-date in your address book.
In December 2008 I launched the Bemuso forum as an additional point of contact for artists and labels. We got 113 members and some useful posts but not enough to sustain a forum. There are many other DIY and indie music forums so it’s no loss.
Feel free to contact or follow me on Twitter.
