How the Modern Music Industry Actually Works
A practical guide for independent artists
The music industry can look like a giant web of labels, distributors, managers, publishers, collecting societies, agents and platforms, all using terminology nobody properly explains.
You don’t need to memorise the whole thing. You need enough understanding to work out where a problem lives, who deals with it and what questions to ask next.
This free guide includes:
A checklist for releasing a song
The difference between the recording and the composition
A guide to where different types of music income come from
A decision tree for working out what support you actually need
A plain-English explanation of who does what
Questions to ask before paying, hiring or signing
Common warning signs and industry red flags
A troubleshooting framework for when something goes wrong
A glossary of music-industry terms and organisations
It was created to accompany my How the Modern Music Industry Actually Works workshop, but it can also be used as a standalone reference by artists trying to navigate their own careers.
The most important thing to remember is:
Start with the problem, not the job title.
This resource is for general educational purposes and isn’t legal, financial or tax advice.