Getting started
how to use Bemuso.com

Quick start site guide

Bemuso is all about the music business for DIY artists and independents. Here’s a quick introduction to the site for beginners and some tips for finding your way around. If you want to dive straight in the Getting started page gives an overview of the DIY music biz. The music business is very complicated. Don’t be surprised if you can’t digest it all in one go. It took me years to understand all this and I’m still learning.

Getting started		About web sites
Here you’ll find… • getting started • the main points • DIY summary • things to do		Here you’ll find… • basic costs • what you need • about web hosts • complexity • special files
What is the music biz?		DIY music checklist
Here you’ll find… • what it means • what is here • what isn’t here		Here you’ll find… • business steps • tax and accounts • running a label • online retail • DIY choices
About record labels		About independent labels
Here you’ll find… • history • market share • about Majors • about indies • trade bodies		Here you’ll find… • what is indie? • DIY advantages • making records • publishing songs • basic costs
About music publishers		Copyright
Here you’ll find… • history • music publishing • about publishers • trade bodies		Here you’ll find… • what does © mean? • protecting songs • how long it lasts • copyleft and CC • public domain
Writers, songs and recordings
Here you’ll find… • various ID codes • CAE, ISWC, ISRC • releasing a track • notifying societies		Here you’ll find… • MCPS, PRS, PPL • joining societies • some disadvantages • reasons to join
Collecting music royalties
Here you’ll find… • collecting royalties • royalty societies • mechanicals • performances		Here you’ll find… • self-written gigs • black box money • foreign royalties • rest of the world
CD mail order, cost breakdown		Downloads cost breakdown
Here you’ll find… • mail order CD • cost breakdown • cost calculations • DIY CD example • High Street example		Here you’ll find… • aggregator costs • cost breakdown • cost calculations • DIY download example • Big Label example

Finding stuff

There is a vast amount of information on this site and several ways to find your way round it.

Lists and indexes

• Checklist—the step-by-step DIY checklist links to relevant pages.
• FAQ—the music business FAQ links to relevant pages.
• Glossary—the music business glossary links to relevant pages.
• Site map—there is a comprehensive site map of every page.

Searching

• Each page can be searched by your browser (Ctrl&F on PC, Command&F on Mac).

Menus and pages

The whole site is organised under the menus shown at the top of every page (and the bottom of most).

• Bemuso about the web site
• Music biz about the music business
• Music DIY making records and using the web
• Articles my articles about the music business

Most pages also have these three navigation aids at the bottom.

back to the top of this page

jump to the index for this section

jump to the site home page