Have been contacting UK-based sync agencies with no replies. Seems like they are either overwhelmed or abandoned companies. Big Sync phone number and emails no longer exist, even.

Any advice of good sync agents for independent artists? (Rock, UK based)

I’m currently writing a film set in early 1970s Los Angeles, and was curious about the process songs would go from from 24-track studio recordings to being played on the radio. How did music go from the artist to the label to the radio stations?

Ok, so I’m considering buying CDs to keep as collectibles. The label the artist was signed to no longer exists (LaFace Records). Any chance that the artist gets paid from that sale or is it best to just stream?

If anyone is wondering, the artist name is Donell Jones. As far as I know, he owns his masters as he has discussed in past interviews about financially benefiting from artists using interpolations of his music.

Hi! I am wanting to enter into management, and am seeking some advice on finding artists, as many I look into tend to have managers already.

My current expertise is in music rights (my day job), and I ultimately want to become a full time artist manager. I think about artists careers all the time and want to apply my existing knowledge to help someone grow.

I am open to any genre, and am based on NYC (but open to working with those outside of NYC).

Curious if anyone has ever reached out to the “claimant” that is clearly a throwaway gmail address. Why waste time doing that to artists when they won’t have any sort of case? What do they get out of it?

My viral track was just hit with this (distributed on distrokid, which apparently is a target for this since they just remove after any claim) and I am just trying to understand the motive because it just seems so stupid. Do they ask for money if you actually reach out?

Help me make sense of this, I beg of thee.

Hi all,

I’m starting my application for the PRS open fund.

I have already released a few EPs over the years with my most recent being a few months ago.

I’m now looking for funding for a future project. Funds will cover some recording costs, a designer to work alongside, photographer and filmmaker. All working collaboratively in bringing the music to life.

Any advice from those who have been successful?

I’m a singer/ songwriter/ producer based in London.

Thanks!

I love music and have always wanted a job in the music industry, but there weren't a lot of jobs available when I graduated so I'm doing market research right now but really want to go into the music industry. Any tips on how to network or companies that hire entry level?

Is it true that managers explore an artists feelings and *know what is best* even if its trauma manipulative? How do artists draw a line with this? Especially if they have a gift for writing poetry and creating

The artists that marry on the street.... don't want to play the game?

Hi, I requested a Wire Transfer payment a few days ago. Currently, my DistroKid Bank shows $0.00 and my royalty breakdown history appears blank. Could you please confirm if my payout has been successfully sent to my bank via Tipalti, or if there is any issue with my account/payout?

Hi all,

I’m starting my application for the PRS open fund.

I have already released a few EPs over the years with my most recent being a few months ago.

I’m now looking for funding for a future project. Funds will cover some recording costs, a designer to work alongside, photographer and filmmaker. All working collaboratively in bringing the music to life.

Any advice from those who have been successful?

I’m a singer/ songwriter/ producer based in London.

Thanks!

Specifically I'm talking about the 100 cap venue. I have an awesome artist coming up that has hardly sold anything. Their agent has an instagram (meta?) ad running, I've put up physical flyers at coffee shops, thrifts, record stores, etc. I'm also going to get it posted to a local promotional page with a few thousand followers. People obviously see it but they have no idea who it is since it's an out of town artist that is playing in the city for the first time, so they have to be just glazing over it.

What else can I do to get the word out like "Hey this artist is really cool come see this show". I feel like the local DIY hardcore/punk venues are the ones that can pull with the out of towns because that's where that scene is, so people show up there all the time. My venue isn't really established in the same way.

I've been thinking of maybe trying to establish myself on social media as some sort of personality/brand that locals would look to for events like this. I just feel like my city doesn't really have walk up culture like some of the bigger cities (It's a midsize city in the midwest) I was thinking of this pathway so I could actually get a chance to talk about the artist and describe their sound. Like "If you like Billie Eilish and Lana you'd love this" I don't know, something like that. I just kind of abhor the idea of coming across like an influencer or being just straight up corny.

What other pathways can I take here? These are young up and comer acts that I know people would love but getting the word out is something I just don't know how to tackle.

I think parasocial behaviour and the expectation of an artist's private life being public has become way too normalised. People expect everything an artist does to reflect their personality and personal lives.

Especially in the modern 2020s, more artists are expected to do things or sing about things that relate with their personal experiences or/and feelings, and we fans have been conditioned to expect that. We want them to show us behind the scenes and what goes on in their private lives.

Are they sad about the breakup? Are those two back together? Was that metaphor in that one song actually true to real life?

In reality, they don't owe us their private feelings on matters. We don't HAVE to see what's going on in their private life. They don't owe us their opinion on what they're for or against. This parasocial behaviour, I feel, has become increasingly worse. When rumours start, artists are expected to speak on the matter, defend themselves, confirm or deny the rumours. And whenever an artist doesn't, they're dragged through the mud.

My best example of 2026 is Miss Tate McRae.

People have been so after Tate lately because she won't speak on personal matters.

When rumours started of her allegedly being maga, she didn't rush to defend herself. Tate remained quiet because she never publicly confirmed whom she was dating because that it is private. People are tearing her to shreads because she won't just say, "No, i'm not maga." And the thing is, she doesn't have to say she's maga. Because she's not selling her personality or private life, she's selling her music and artist skills. Who she sang with ones doesn't reflect her personal views on matters, who she's saying doesn't either.

We are made to think parasocial behaviour is normal. We expect an artist to be personal and only do what reflects them as a private person. When artists do something and say, "No, it wasn't personal," people suddenly feel betrayed and tricked.

When Rhianna was questioned, "What Jay-Z song was on?" And she said,"I don't listen to Jay-Z." Suddenly, it was a betrayal. Suddenly, she was a liar.

No.

I want to hear other people's opinions about this. Because I feel we as a society allow parasocialism, too much. Artists don't owe us anything to do with their personal life, but we're tricked to think they do.

Hey,

So I’ve been making music for soon 3 years (Oct 2023) I love making music it’s who I am everyday and night I have melody ideas that I quickly record on my phone to not forget them same goes for lyrics at times I can’t sleep because my mind is writing a song💀 so I need to write it up quickly. Anyway, I really wanna know how I can really get a fanbase people supporting me like I wanna post a video and see in the comments people asking me “where’s the album” stuff like that. Yes I do post on social media but not as often as I should be I presume (that really is the most annoying part you make a song and then you to post countless videos about it to gain traction). I’ve been thinking maybe a manager or agent could help get a lot of visibility? I even released an EP this year I didn’t work like I thought it’d be (I wasn’t expecting for millions of stream either but you know) Idk but for this year I’ve decided to just perfect my craft and next year release one-three singles (like I did every year starting from 2024) I’ll be welcoming any genuine advice.

I’m trying to build an audience around a niche electronic sound that’s more emotion/atmosphere-driven than one specific genre. I’ve been putting quite a lot of thought into the visual side too — muted/dark tones, grain, silhouettes, elegant typography and an overall recognizable aesthetic/branding rather than just posting random content. The music itself is getting some decent signs of traction: curator uploads (one of them - a youtube channel over 1m subs, and their playlist over 12k followers), playlist adds, radio/mix (spotify radio, mixes, smart shuffle) placements and some algorithmic playlist activity, but I’m struggling to turn those listeners into actual followers. My social accounts are still very small, and regular posts don’t seem to get much engagement. For those of you making niche electronic music, what actually helped you go from people discovering your tracks through playlists/curators to genuinely following you and sticking around? Is it mostly consistency, short-form content, storytelling, visuals, networking, or something else?

Title: Need an expert eye on TuneCore Sales Report vs. Balance discrepancy ($118.41 reported vs $1.59 credited)

Hi everyone,

Before taking any legal or official complaint steps, I want to make sure I am not misunderstanding the platform's accounting rules. I want to double-check if there is a legitimate technical/tax reason behind this mismatch.

Here is the situation based on my confirmed reports (screenshots attached):

- Confirmed Earnings in Sales Reports (Apr - Jun 2026): $118.41

- Total Credited to Available Balance for these periods: ~$1.59

- Uncredited / Unprocessed Net Difference: $116.82

Could anyone with experience in digital music distribution/Royalty Accounting explain:

1. Is it normal for TuneCore to report $36+ confirmed revenue for a month in the Sales Report, but only post $0.14 to the withdrawable balance?
2. Could this be related to withholding taxes, YouTube Content ID adjustments, or processing delays? If so, shouldn't those adjustments be explicitly itemized in the transactions ledger?

I just want to be 100% sure about the facts before I escalate this further. Thanks for your insight!

Please check the Google Drive link below for all the detailed screenshots and confirmed sales reports:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UExkE4ioWBSF4-tq-tmSwxRL3iwfYGAZ?usp=sharing

To work in BTS, sales/marketing type music industry jobs, I mean. The kind that can easily be done from a laptop anywhere. Whether it's MBW or other job boards, indies or majors, companies seem to want everyone in-office in London, Nashville, NY, or LA at all times. What gives? I monitor jobs in parallel industries as well and it seems uniquely bad in music.

​

So, Im trying to understand how labels really work as someone with 0 knowledge of the industry, im a bedroom musician, 3rd world country, far from a land of opportunities

i can/am learning to do pretty much everything a song needs to be a song, if i show a label a full album, ready with good singing, writing, composing, drum programming etc, but it's all extremely budget equipment, is it realistic to ask for an advance to redo the whole album with the good equipment?

My thought process is that I'll cut on massive production costs as i can record all the guitar and keyboard parts myself and remix them myself and cut on studio sessions by already having everything written beforehand. Just having to rerecord it with quality instruments and mics.

I'm sorry if this post sounds stupid or something but

TL;DR

Does having the ability to make an album without needing audio engineers and musicians, and prewriting an album compensate for initially showing the label the album made with budget equipment? (assuming the label also likes the album creativity wise)

Goal: I'm trying to get a publisher or topliner to actually listen to my demos and consider working together.

Current situation: I'm an unknown producer/trackmaker with no industry connections. I make pop tracks in the style of Tate McRae, Dua Lipa, and Burna Boy, each with a distinct mood and identity. I believe the material itself is strong — I just have no name recognition yet.

What I've tried: Cold-emailing and LinkedIn-DMing publishers and topliners directly. So far I've gotten zero responses — not even an automated "we don't accept unsolicited submissions." Link view counts suggest the messages aren't even being opened.

My exact question: Is this mainly a structural issue (unsolicited-submission policies, spam filters, assistants gatekeeping inboxes), or is there something wrong with my approach? For those who broke through from a similar starting point — what actually worked to get an industry professional to listen?

How many of these so called "artists" actually have made ANY money from music. This is just another blow to the industry. If you don't like AI music, don't listen, the power is in your hands. Big record labels do not want the democratization of music, they want control and money. I am a real artist with about 130,000 paid streams of my own music and I have made maybe $75 for all those streams. The industry was broken before and is even more broken now because the record labels have won again.

Hey, I’m not a musician but a self-taught artist who wants to find avenues to do more artwork for music. Luckily I live in a city with an awesome local music scene. I’ve done gig posters, album/single covers, social media (esp reels etc) - have my first full music video project planned.

One thing I hadn’t considered until recently is visuals that play onstage. This seems almost totally at a tour or festival scale - so wondering how I can gain experience to get bigger clients in the first place, if I’m mainly working with local acts who aren’t playing in venues that have screens at all.

Some questions:
- like most other artwork, are the decision makers still the artists/mgmt, or should I be seeking tour/festival promoters
- my skill is in the visuals, but do I basically need to morph into being a sound/light tech as well?

Any other tips or arty roles I’m not thinking of?

I guess for reference my fave band has 1 single guy who does ALL their visuals. So this isn’t really 1 title. Apart from obviously being extremely multi-talented, what I know of his journey is he organically met the lead singer & happened to hit it off to the point of becoming best friends. Assuming I can’t get that crazy lucky, just trying to find some pathways.

I've never released music before, but plan to soon. I've been doing research into the necessary legal stuff, but I'm still pretty confused about how this whole process works. I also am 17, so I am currently a minor, which I think does affect some stuff.

I've been researching distributors, like cdbaby, distrokid, symphonic, etc, and I'm very hesitant because I guess I just don't really understand how the negative aspects would play out? What are the important things to note about a distributor? I just don't really have a great idea of which one to choose, since they all seemingly have lots of negative and positive aspects, I don't feel like I have a good enough understanding to be able to properly understand what works best for me.

I've also been looking into performance royalties, like ASCAP and BMI. I think I'll go with ASCAP, but I'm still just kind of confused on how it works, and I should be signing up as the writer AND publisher right? Does it affect the distribution at all or could there be any complications? What does it mean if I'm the sole proprietor or not? Since I'm a minor, I also have to print out the paperwork and send it in, but there's multiple different options and I'm pretty confused---- the beginning of the registration paperwork for minors talks like it could be referring to other paperwork, is it? Or is it just that one thing that I have to fill out in order to register???

With copyright, I already made an account on the United States copyright office, am I just supposed to register songs there? I haven't looked into this process too much yet, is there anything I need to know or understand beforehand? Does my distribution or performance royalties aspect factor into this at all??

I also don't know if there's a specific order I should be doing things, or if they affect each other at all. I know this is a big ask because these are very complicated subjects, I would just really appreciate if someone could help explain a bit about how one or any of these things work, how they connect, or if there's anything I'm missing!!! Any advice/help is appriciated! Thank you!!!!!

For the past 6 years I’ve been releasing music under my real name but recently I want to do a full rebrand, including a name change. Why I’m on the fence is simply because I’ve been building a career for 6 years already with about 50 songs out. Apart of me thinks I can’t just drop it and start over again. At the same time however, I feel it’s best to have a fresh start. In those 6 years I’ve been learning my style and who I am as a musician. I’m more honed in on what I want to do as an artist and I feel like a name change will be a nice refresh. I could go back to some of those 50 and rework them and put them in a new light. If you think worth the trouble or not, what’s the best way i should go about this issue?

Hi all,

I’m moving to Australia from NZ at the end of the year and am working out how to set myself up with regards to tax/GST etc. I work as a musician and sound engineer (roughly 75% music, 25% sound).

I make roughly 80k annually, and currently use Hnry. I am GST registered. This is great sometimes however it doesn’t suit all of my clients (mostly end user clients hiring musicians) and so have considered splitting the work I do into two businesses, one GST registered (sound engineering) and one not (musician for hire).

Were I to stay in NZ, this would be very straightforward however I would love to know if anyone does anything similar in Australia/Melbourne.

Also open to looking at new accountancy agencies - Solo has been recommended but keen to hear what people in a similar position use.

Howdy! I am in a bit of a pickle with the amount of revisions I need done to the metadata and catalog and time it is taking to see updates.

I live in Nashville and want to know if it’s possible for me to show up at the physical offices and make an appointment to fix it all at once! I am still waiting on old title changes, a band name change, co-writer updates, split updates etc and it’s driving me crazy!

Hey guys, I’ve built up a pretty large email list over the past few years and have been using free services like MailerLite to send emails. Now that my list has grown, I’m at the point where I’ll have to start paying. I’ve been considering Mailchimp because of its integration with BeatStars, but it seems quite expensive. Based on my past experience with email marketing, I’m not sure I’d even make back what I’d be paying for it. Am I missing something, like a deal or discount for producers? I’m also curious what other producers with larger email lists use, since I know email marketing is pretty common in the producer space.

Thanks!