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• Music biz

  • What is the music biz?

    • The music business
      • What “music business” means here
    • Things I don’t cover here
      • Computers and audio
      • Contracts, forms and boilerplate
      • Complete trade directory
      • Promotion
      • Gigging, touring and merchandise

  • Composers, works and recordings

    • The main ID codes for music
      • The main music identification codes
    • Releasing recordings
      • MCPS paperwork
      • ISRCs for tracks
      • Bar-codes for CDs
      • Identification codes
        • Other identification codes for music
    • Joining a royalty collection society
      • Notifying royalty collection societies
        • A note about Catco
      • Do I need to join a collection society?
        • Reasons not to join a collection society
        • Reasons to join a collection society

  • Music royalty collection societies

    • Collecting music royalties
    • Royalty collection societies
      • A note about PRS for Music
      • A note about what happened to PAMRA and AURA
      • Royalty collection facts and figures
      • A note about the Copyright Tribunal
    • Collecting royalties for copying recordings
    • Collecting royalties for public performances
      • Performing rights organisations
      • Performing a self-written set
        • PRS Gigs and Clubs Scheme
        • PRS collection overheads
      • Black box—unclaimed royalties
      • Performance royalty calculations
    • Collection societies in the rest of the world
      • International music royalty collection
      • The main national collection societies
        • A note about SARRAL

  • Music royalties and licenses

    • How musicians and writers earn royalties
      • A note about the meaning of royalties
      • Live music income and rights
      • Recorded music income and rights
      • A note about the meaning of performance
      • Where music royalties come from
        • A note about royalty payments to writers and performers
      • How music royalties work
      • A note about the meaning of mechanicals
    • Some other music licenses
      • Other blanket licenses
        • Joint online license
        • Library music license
        • Sampled music license
        • Ringtone license
        • Digital DJ license
        • Dubbing license
        • Blank media and file player levies
        • A note about the meaning of blanket license
      • Some one-off licenses
        • Master use license
        • Sync license
        • Grand Rights license
        • Buy-out license
    • Who buys music licenses?
      • Commercial licensees and royalty payments
      • Some PPL and PRS performance licenses

  • Record companies and labels

    • The rise and fall of record companies
    • Licensing recordings for release
      • A note about the meaning of record companies and record labels
    • The Majors and independent labels
    • The Major record labels
      • A note about record label mergers and acquisitions
    • Independent record labels
    • Record label trade bodies

  • Music publishers

    • Music publishing
    • Music publishers
      • A note about music publishing mergers and acquisitions
    • Music publishers trade bodies

  • Music copyright law

    • What does copyright mean?
    • What can be copyright?
    • How is something copyright?
      • A note about neighbouring rights
    • Protecting your copyright
      • A note about proof of copyright ownership
    • How long does copyright last?
    • What format is the copyright master?
    • Can chords and beats be copyright?
    • Are arrangements copyright?
    • Music copyright in practice
    • Does copyright apply to everybody?
      • A note about changes to copyright
    • Assignment of copyright
    • International copyright agreements
    • Copyleft and Creative Commons
    • Public domain

  • CD media basics

    • CDs
    • Types of CD
    • Recordable CDs
    • Identifying CD types
    • CD speeds
    • Copy-protected CD-DAs
    • Unbranded recordable CDs
    • The Red Book standard
    • Future disc standards

  • Digital music distribution

    • What is digital distribution?
    • Digital content distribution
      • Digital music warehouses
        • Independent aggregators
      • Digital jukeboxes
      • Kiosks
      • Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks
        • Peer-to-peer (P2P) poisoning
    • Online music distribution
      • Podcasting
      • Illegal download sites
      • Artist download sites
      • Community download sites
      • Social networking sites
      • Buying music online
        • Online music retail
        • Home media centre cable services
      • Digital rights management
      • Watermarks and fingerprints
    • Digital music broadcasting
      • Digital radio (DAB)
      • Satellite radio
      • Satellite, cable and terrestrial TV
      • Internet radio
        • Music discovery programming

  • General business and music

    • The music business
      • Earning royalties
      • Paying group members
      • Paying other recording contributors
    • Trading status
      • Different kinds of companies
    • Tax relief
    • Government links
    • Grants and funding schemes
    • Music business accountant
    • Getting bar-codes
    • PO Box
    • Protecting a band name or other names
      • A note about names online
    • Music organisations
      • British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
      • Association of Independent Music
      • Musicians’ Union
      • Music Managers Forum

  • Online payment options

    • Mobile payment
    • Selling by mail order online
    • Online payment services
      • Credit card payment gateways
      • Dedicated seller accounts
      • Some questions for payment services
    • The main ways to sell your music
      1. Download sales
      2. CD sales online
      3. CD sales offline
    • The main ways to take payment

  • Web site basics

    • Web site options
    • Internet services
    • About search engines
      • Directories
      • Indexes
      • What search engines want
    • Internet links
      • Search engines
      • Names, hosting and forums
      • Internet tools
      • Internet information

  • Music business organisations

    • Main UK professional music bodies
    • Other UK professional music bodies
    • EU music organisations
    • USA music organisations
    • World music organisations

  • Music business glossary

  • Music business history

  • Music business books

    • How the music business works
      • How the USA music biz works
    • Music business stories

  • Music business FAQ

• Music DIY

  • Getting started with DIY music 1

    • Getting started
    • Selling CDs and downloads
    • Getting your music online
    • Earning royalties
    • Music copyright
    • Protecting your work
    • Publishing and distribution
    • New music media
    • Legal, tax and trading
    • Signing contracts
    • Clubs, guilds and associations
    • Things to do

    Getting started with DIY music 2

    • Getting started with music online
      • Getting more fans
      • Free downloads
      • Buying music business services
    • Common web resources for music
      • Common Internet resources
      • Common resources for music
      • Social networking
        • Facebook
        • Twitter
        • LinkedIn
        • Using social networks
    • Other DIY web music sites
      • Music broadcasting and discovery
      • Off-the-shelf record labels
      • Fan funding
      • Getting and publicising gigs
      • Online music sharing
      • Online fulfilment and music retail
      • Online music (digital) aggregators
      • Music business hubs
    • Summing up
      • Questions to ask about music sites
        • Getting more information
        • Understanding costs
        • Considering usability

  • DIY music checklist

    • The main steps
    • Preparing for business
      1. Sorting out your names
      2. Joining professional bodies
      3. Do you need any legal stuff?
      4. Do you need any contracts?
      5. Keeping accounts
      6. Paying tax
    • Running your online label
      1. Setting up a web site
      2. Making and releasing a CD
      3. Selling downloads through other sites
      4. Mail order
      5. Local and online record shops
    • DIY record label choices
      • What does DIY mean?
      • Some music business options
      • Opting out of the music business

  • CD costs and prices

    • CD mail order costs
      • Digipak mail order
      • Standard jewel case mail order
      • CDs, post and packing
    • Setting a DIY CD price
      • CD cost breakdown
      • CD cost calculation
        • Converting costs before and after VAT
      • An example of high street CD costs

  • Download music costs

    • Music download retail costs
      • The component costs of a retail music download
      • Cost breakdown using a retail aggregator
      • Example cost breakdown with an aggregator
      • Example cost breakdown for a big label download

  • CD release activities

    • CD duplication
      • Audio mastering
      • Choosing a CD duplication format
      • Choosing a CD duplicator
      • Burning CD-Rs
      • Pressing CDs
    • A CD package
      • CD cases
      • CD body art-work
      • CD booklets and inserts
      • CD information checklist

  • Download music formats

    • Why use different formats?
    • More open download formats
    • Less open download formats
    • Masters and compressed copies
      • Concatenation loss
      • Format convertors
    • Uploading your downloads
      • Music download file sizes
      • MP3 web server space
      • Downloading or streaming?
    • Online releases
      • Packaging and paperwork
      • Getting your tracks onto the Internet
      • Download sites and aggregators

  • Making your web site

    • What you need for a web site
    • Web site running costs
      • Basic web site costs
      • Extra web site costs
    • Making this web site
      • Web pages
      • File utilities
      • Audio tools
    • Web site name scams
    • ISPs, registrars, hosts and gateways
    • Web site building tools
    • Web host space requirements
    • HTML and different browsers
    • Web site complexity
    • Forms, counters, databases, etc.
    • Some special files
      • index or default
      • robots.txt
      • favicon.ico
      • stylesheet.css
    • Can anyone build a web site?

  • Search engines

    • Getting visitors
      • Web site design
      • Web site links
      • Web site statistics
    • Search engine tips
      • Search-friendly HTML
      • Meta name tags
    • Submitting this web site
      • Free search engines I used
      • Search engines I didn’t use
      • Web site submission lead time
    • Summary of web site publicity

  • DIY and independent labels

    • Making records and publishing songs
      • How much does it cost to make a record?
    • DIY, indie and Major labels compared
      • What’s the difference between Majors and indies?
      • Big music and small music
    • Independent record labels
      • What does independence mean?
      • The advantages of an independent label
      • How big is the independent sector?

  • Indie music zines

  • DIY people and projects

  • Indie music forums

• Articles

  • The new music business model

    • Music business models
    • The original record industry model
      • 1895 Invention
      • 1910 Expansion
      • 1925 Amplification
      • 1945 New standards
      • 1955 Rock and roll
      • 1960s Pop and rock
    • The second record industry model
      • 1970 Media artists
      • 1980s CD and MTV
      • 2000 Crash
    • The new record industry model

    Big labels, no future

    • Ten years after Napster
      • The big labels are shrinking
      • The obvious first step is now DIY
    • The “new music business model”
      • Web 2.0
      • Embedded advertising
      • Social network advertising
      • Selling virtual goods
      • Collaborative music discovery
      • The best stuff is still copyright
      • The broadband police and music tax
      • There is no new music business model
    • So what next?
      • Goodbye audio, hello multi-media
      • More music, more channels, less control
      • Live income up, recording income down

  • The money sponge

    • Changes
    • One for you, nineteen for me
    • It’s the business, stupid
    • Chiselling points
    • The music industry is not the world
    • Where are the songs?
    • Making the Internet work
    • Record industry profits, cost, quality, market, etc.
      • Footnotes
      • 1. Major record company profits are thin
      • 2. Big record label operating costs are 95%
      • 3. Four out of five acts signed by big labels fail
      • 4. Most records are bought by the over-thirties
      • 5. The royalty system rewards the big players

  • Do it yourself

    • Be a record label and music publisher
    • Getting specialist help
    • How to get started

  • Get signed, get singed

    • What is a record label?
    • What does a record label offer?
    • Where does the money go?

  • How do I get signed?

    • Getting signed
    • What getting signed means
    • Management
    • Contract jargon
    • Exclusivity
    • The Territory
    • The Term
    • Copyrights
    • Publishing
    • Recordings
    • Package deals
    • Promotion
    • Checking promotion claims

  • Popular delusions

    • My stuff is better than everything in the charts
    • I’m better than everyone in the Top 10
    • Let’s bring back the diversity and quality of Sixties music
    • Everyone who matters in the music biz works for a big label
    • The record industry is the music industry
    • All record labels are the same
    • Artist managers are a bunch of spivs
    • Somebody else will take care of business
    • Good music will sell itself
    • The web music revolution changes all the rules
    • The web music revolution will kill the corporate dinosaurs
    • I can’t compete with free
    • I have to “engage my fans”
    • I need to know the latest web marketing secrets

  • Short history of downloads

    • Before MP3
    • The dawn of MP3
    • Playing early music files
    • MP3 web sites arrive
    • Round One to the Majors
    • The Major label strategy
    • The Majors start to lose
    • After DRM
    • All over bar the marketing gibberish

  • The Beatles books

    • Beatles insider books to avoid
    • Recommended Beatles books
    • Beatles biographies
    • Beatles business
    • Beatles music, recording and events
    • Further Beatles reading
    • More detail on The Beatles

    The Beatles business

    • Why The Beatles?
    • Beatles music business
      • The Beatles main companies
      • The Beatles business in 1965
      • Northern Songs, NEMS and Apple Corps
    • The Beatles albums, EPs, singles and films

  • The Beatles timelines

    • Recordings, releases and key events in order
      • Recording and chronology notes
        • The table layout
        • The tracks and releases
        • Pete Best
    • Songs in recording session order
      • Polydor Germany recordings
      • Decca audition recordings
      • EMI Parlophone recordings

  • The damage done

    • What’s up?
    • What are artist’s rights?
    • Who benefits from artist’s rights?
    • How does it affect independent artists?
    • How does it affect the public?
    • The future

  • Songwriting

    • Songwriting
    • What’s the formula for a song?
    • What is a great song?
    • Writing a song
      • Originality
      • Writer’s block
      • Some songs don’t work out
      • Creativity techniques
      • Collaborating on a song
      • Reference books for writing lyrics
    • Recording a song
      • 1. Write the song
      • 2. Do a demo mix
      • 3. Do an arrangement
      • 4. Retake/remake
      • 5. Stop
    • The end result
      • Why do you write songs?
      • A strategy for songwriting
      • Using a music publisher
      • Songwriting guilds and associations

  • Recording

    • Recording
    • General studio approach
    • Basic recording equipment
      • Good headphones
      • Good microphone
      • Effects unit
      • Multi-track recorder
      • Guitar tuner and pre-amp
      • Instruments
    • Soundproofing
      • Soundproof hard disc recorder box
    • Recording and mixing
    • Audio compression, EQ and reverb
    • From multi-track to master
    • The main steps to CD and MP3
    • Audio input to computer
      • USB audio problems
    • Computer audio tools
      • Tidying finished stereo tracks
      • Burning CD-R masters
    • Studio notes

  • Does A&R work?

  • Music piracy ahoy!