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Music

The companies that define the music industry, each read on the same nine-check website rubric — a 0–100 score with the exact fixes — alongside the concepts, the developments and the questions that shape the field.

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The companies

23 companies in the music industry, each graded on the nine things that decide whether a buyer or an AI assistant can find and trust them online. Open any name for the full write-up and the specific fixes.

70+ solid   45–69 gaps   under 45 costing customers

Sites we couldn’t reach

14 businesses whose website blocked our scanner — common when a site filters datacenter traffic, and not a sign the site is broken. A blocked site is never scored zero.

Who defines the music market

The firms, funds and institutions that set the terms in music — context, not local listings; never scored.

Music guides

Concepts

Master recording vs composition

Two separate copyrights in every recorded song. The master is the specific recording, usually controlled by the label or the artist who paid for it. The composition is the underlying song, controlled by the writers and their publishers. Almost every music deal question resolves to which of the two is being licensed.

Publishing split: writer's share and publisher's share

Composition income is conventionally divided into a writer's share and a publisher's share. The writer's share always belongs to the songwriter; the publisher's share is what a publisher takes for administering, pitching and collecting. A songwriter with no publisher can hold both.

Mechanical royalty and the CRB rate

The royalty owed for reproducing a composition, historically on physical copies and now overwhelmingly generated by interactive streams and downloads. In the US the streaming rate is set by the Copyright Royalty Board, the three-judge body that decides statutory rates in the Phonorecords proceedings, under a headline percentage-of-revenue formula rather than a fixed per-stream amount. Its rulings move songwriter income more than any private negotiation.

Performance royalty

Money owed when a composition is publicly performed: radio, television, streaming, live performance and background music in venues and businesses. Collected by the PROs and paid to writers and publishers separately.

PRO affiliation

A songwriter affiliates with one performing rights organisation. In the US that is ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR. Affiliation determines who licenses your performance right and who pays you; a co-writing team can be split across different PROs on the same song.

The MLC and blanket licensing under the MMA

The Music Modernization Act of 2018 created a blanket mechanical licence for US digital services, changed the rate-setting standard and addressed pre-1972 recordings. The Mechanical Licensing Collective was designated to administer that licence, match uses to works and pay registered copyright owners. Songs must be registered and matched, or the money sits unclaimed.

Sync licence vs master use licence

A sync licence is permission from the publisher to synchronise a composition with visual media: film, TV, advertising, games, trailers and social content. A master use licence is the companion permission from the master owner to use one specific recording. A placement normally needs both, and missing either kills the clearance. Neither has a statutory rate, so fees range from token to career-changing depending on use, term, territory and media.

One-stop clearance

A song where a single party controls both the master and the whole composition, so a licensee gets everything with one signature. Music supervisors under deadline heavily favour one-stops, which is a structural advantage for self-released artists.

Sync agent / library

A third party that pitches a catalogue to music supervisors, or licenses production music from a pre-cleared library. Agents typically work on commission; libraries often take a share of both master and publishing in exchange for volume.

Neighbouring rights

Performance income for the recording itself, owed to the master owner and featured and non-featured performers when a recording is broadcast or publicly performed. Widely paid abroad and collected in the US only for digital performance, which is why US artists often leave foreign money uncollected.

SoundExchange and digital performance royalty

SoundExchange collects and distributes the statutory digital performance royalty for non-interactive services such as internet radio and satellite radio, paying the master owner and, uniquely, paying featured and non-featured performers directly rather than through the label.

Per-stream rate

The retrospective average an artist earns per stream. It is an outcome, not a price: services pay out a pooled share of revenue, so the effective rate moves with subscription pricing, ad revenue, market mix and total listening.

Pro-rata vs user-centric payout

Pro-rata pools all subscription revenue and divides it by total streams, so heavy listeners' money flows to the most-streamed artists. User-centric would allocate each subscriber's fee across only what that subscriber played. The choice materially changes who gets paid, and remains contested.

Stream monetisation threshold

Spotify's model requires a track to reach a minimum number of streams in a rolling twelve-month period before it accrues recorded royalties, redistributing very small payouts into the wider pool. It changed the calculus for catalogues built on many low-performing tracks.

Label deal types

Distribution (label supplies distribution and marketing, artist keeps the master), licensing (master licensed for a term, then reverts), joint venture (shared ownership and profit), and traditional (label owns the master). Each trades ownership and control against money and infrastructure.

360 deal

A label agreement taking a share of income beyond recorded music: touring, merchandise, sponsorship, publishing. Justified by the label's investment in building the artist, and the clause artists most often regret without carve-outs and sunset provisions.

Advance and points

The advance is prepaid, recoupable money the artist lives and records on. Points are the artist's royalty percentage of a defined revenue base. A larger advance usually buys fewer points and a longer wait before any further money arrives.

Recoupment and unrecouped balance

The label recovers its recoupable spend out of the artist's royalty share before paying anything further. An unrecouped artist can generate substantial revenue and still see no royalty cheque, because the balance is repaid from a fraction of income while costs were charged in full.

Reversion

A contract term or statutory right returning master or publishing rights to the artist after a defined period or on defined triggers. Negotiated reversion is the difference between renting your catalogue out and losing it.

Work for hire

A structure in which the commissioning party is the author and owner from the outset, common in session, jingle and library work. It removes any later ownership claim, which is exactly why the clause deserves reading before signing.

Controlled composition clause

A US record-deal clause capping the mechanical royalty payable on songs the artist wrote or controls, often at a reduced rate and a limited number of tracks. It quietly reduces songwriter income on the artist's own record.

Split sheet

A short document signed in the room recording who wrote what percentage of a song. Cheap, unglamorous, and the single most effective way to prevent a dispute that later blocks a sync or freezes royalties.

Sample clearance

Permission to use part of an existing recording, requiring approval from both the master owner and the publisher, usually for an upfront fee plus a share of the new song. Uncleared samples are found by content matching and can pull a release down entirely.

Interpolation

Re-recording or replaying part of an existing composition rather than using the original recording. It needs only publishing clearance, not a master licence, which often makes it faster and cheaper than a sample.

Producer royalty and the producer declaration letter

Producers typically take points on the master plus a fee. The producer declaration letter is the instruction, signed by artist and producer, directing the label or distributor to pay the producer's points directly out of artist royalties.

Session musician and AFM scale

Union-negotiated minimum rates, session lengths and special payments for recording musicians under American Federation of Musicians agreements. Union sessions also generate downstream payments through funds that pay performers on secondary uses.

Catalogue valuation and multiples

Song and master catalogues are priced as a multiple of net publisher's share or of annual net earnings, adjusted for decay, income mix and the reliability of the data. Multiples move with interest rates, which is why the acquisition market cools when money gets expensive.

A&R

Artists and repertoire: finding artists and songs, shaping releases, and pairing writers and producers. Modern A&R is data-assisted, watching regional streaming and short-form video traction rather than only club shows.

Playlist pitching: editorial vs algorithmic

Editorial playlists are curated by humans and pitched through the DSP artist dashboards before release. Algorithmic placement is earned by listener behaviour such as saves, completion rate and repeat plays. Editorial support usually feeds the algorithm, not the other way around.

Release waterfall and pre-save

Sequencing singles so each release pulls listeners back into the previous ones before an EP or album lands. A pre-save campaign collects commitments ahead of release day so first-day activity signals demand to the platforms.

EPK

Electronic press kit: bio, photos, streaming and video links, press quotes, live history and contacts in one link. It is what a talent buyer, festival, publicist or supervisor opens first, and a weak one costs bookings silently.

Guarantee, door deal, versus and the split point

A guarantee is a fixed fee regardless of turnout. A door deal pays a share of ticket income after costs. 'Versus' pays the greater of the guarantee or the backend percentage, and is the standard structure for touring acts of any size. The split point is the threshold where box office covers the guarantee plus agreed show expenses, after which the artist takes an agreed percentage of everything above it. Where that point sits is the real negotiation in most offers.

Deposit

A portion of the guarantee paid in advance of the show, typically to the booking agency, confirming the promoter's commitment and protecting the artist against a cancellation or a promoter that fails.

Settlement

The post-show reconciliation between promoter and artist: tickets sold at each price, taxes and fees, agreed expenses, merch and the final payment. Settling accurately, with documentation, is the core competence of both a tour manager and a venue.

Merch cut

The venue's percentage of merchandise sales, sometimes different for soft goods and recorded music, sometimes waived if the artist sells the merch themselves. On small tours the merch line is often the difference between profit and loss, so the cut is negotiated, not assumed.

Radius clause

A contractual restriction preventing an artist from playing another show within a set distance and time window around a booking, common around festivals and major markets. It protects the promoter's draw and constrains routing.

Hold and confirm

A hold is a provisional claim on a date, ranked first hold, second hold and so on. A confirm converts it into a contracted booking. Routing is built out of a board of holds that collapses into a confirmed run.

Show advance and day sheet

The advance is the pre-show exchange of load-in time, backline, sound and lighting specs, hospitality, parking, curfew and payment details. The day sheet is the resulting one-page schedule everyone on the tour works from that day. Distinct from a financial advance.

Load-in

The scheduled time gear enters the venue, setting off the whole show clock through soundcheck, doors, support and curfew. Missing it compresses everything downstream and is the most common source of show-day conflict.

Hospitality and technical rider

The two attachments to a performance contract. The technical rider specifies PA, monitors, backline, power and crew; the hospitality rider covers dressing rooms, food, drink and towels. Small rooms negotiate riders down rather than refusing shows.

House PA and backline

The venue's installed sound system and engineer, and any shared amplifiers, drums and keyboards. What the house provides decides how much a touring act carries and therefore what the show costs to put on.

Capacity and occupancy load

The legal occupancy set by fire and building code, which is not the same as the number of tickets a promoter puts on sale after production, staff and standing configuration are counted. Overselling against occupancy is a licensing risk, not a rounding error.

All-in pricing and ticket fees

Face value plus service, facility and payment fees is what the buyer actually pays. US rules now require the total price to be shown up front in live-event ticketing, ending the practice of revealing fees only at checkout.

Presale, scaled pricing and VIP tiers

Presales release inventory early to fan lists, cardholders or platform members to seed demand. Scaled pricing sets different prices by section, and VIP tiers bundle early entry, seating, merch or meet-and-greets to lift yield without raising the base ticket.

Tour routing

Sequencing dates so drive times, days off, market size and radius restrictions all work. Bad routing burns fuel, crew and money faster than a bad guarantee, and is the main reason a run loses money.

Support slot

Opening for a headliner, typically for a modest fee and sometimes for a buy-on, in exchange for access to an audience the support act could not draw alone. Judged on audience fit rather than on the fee.

Direct-to-fan, fan CRM and superfan subscriptions

Selling and communicating without an intermediary: an owned email and SMS list, a store, vinyl and merch, and recurring subscriptions on platforms such as Bandcamp or Patreon. Fan CRM is the discipline underneath it, treating the audience as a database rather than a follower count by capturing email at the merch table and on pre-saves, segmenting by city for tour announcements, and measuring who actually converts. A small number of superfans routinely out-earns a large passive streaming audience.

Independent vs signed economics

An independent artist keeps a far higher share of a much smaller gross and pays every cost up front. A signed artist trades ownership and share for capital, marketing and infrastructure. The honest comparison is per-release cash flow and ownership at the end of the term, not headline royalty rate.

What’s happening

• AI-generated music moved from novelty to litigation to licensing. The major labels sued Suno and Udio in 2024 over training on copyrighted recordings, and by late 2025 that fight had begun converting into licensing arrangements and equity-flavoured settlements with Universal and Warner, while new suits and disputes continued from publishers, independent artists and the musicians' union. The centre of gravity has shifted from whether AI companies may train on catalogue to who signs the licence and what artists are owed under it. 2026-08 source ↗
• Voice and likeness protection has become its own legislative track. The NO FAKES Act would create a federal right against unauthorised digital replicas of voice and likeness, and Tennessee's ELVIS Act already made voice a protected property right at state level. For artists this is the first serious answer to convincing vocal clones; for platforms it creates a takedown and provenance obligation that does not yet exist federally. 2026-08 source ↗
• Streaming economics were rewritten from inside. Spotify's model requires a track to pass a minimum stream count in a rolling year before it accrues recorded royalties, and Universal's artist-centric approach with Deezer reweights payouts toward tracks with genuine engagement and away from functional noise and fraud. Both changes push value toward artists with real fanbases and away from volume strategies. 2026-08 source ↗
• The catalogue acquisition boom cooled. Higher interest rates repriced song rights, Hipgnosis Songs Fund was sold to Blackstone and rebranded, and buyers moved from paying for any catalogue to underwriting income durability and data quality. Consolidation continues at the corporate level, with Universal's move on Downtown clearing an in-depth European Commission investigation in February 2026 only after UMG agreed to divest Downtown's royalty-accounting platform, Curve. 2026-08 source ↗
• The US government's antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, filed in 2024 by the Department of Justice with a coalition of states and seeking structural relief up to divestiture of Ticketmaster, is the most consequential live-music legal action in decades. The Department of Justice settled mid-trial in March 2026 for conduct remedies rather than a breakup — third-party ticketing access at major concert venues, limits on exclusivity, amphitheatre fee caps and divestitures, and a compliance monitor — while the plaintiff states pressed on and won an April 2026 jury verdict that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolised, with remedies still to be set. Either way it has already changed how promoters, venues and ticketing partners write exclusivity into contracts. 2026-08 source ↗
• All-in ticket pricing became the rule rather than a courtesy. Federal rules now require live-event ticket sellers to display the total price including mandatory fees up front, alongside state laws pushing the same way. It compresses the gap between advertised and actual price, and forces venues and promoters to defend fee levels that used to be hidden until checkout. 2026-08 source ↗
• Independent venues are still working through the after-effects of the pandemic. The National Independent Venue Association formed in 2020, won the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant programme, and has since turned to ticketing reform, insurance costs and tax treatment. The structural problem persists: rooms operate on thin margins with fixed rent and rising labour and insurance costs while ticket demand concentrates at the top of the market. 2026-08 source ↗
• Austin has been losing venues to economics and redevelopment for a decade, and 2026 added a landmark. Empire Control Room and Garage went dark after a contested control fight ended in eviction and a court ruling, with its ownership publicly looking for an independent operator to take it over. It follows a long list of closures and displacements driven by land value, rent and construction rather than by lack of audience. 2026-08 source ↗
• Austin's policy response has hardened around preservation rather than promotion. The city's Music and Entertainment Division and the Austin Music Commission channel hotel-occupancy-tax money through the Live Music Fund to musicians and venues, and the argument has moved from marketing the Live Music Capital brand to keeping the rooms that earned it, through venue preservation, sound and land-use policy, and displacement mitigation along redevelopment corridors. 2026-08 source ↗
• The Texas Music Office has made state-level infrastructure a real asset. Its Music Friendly Texas certification programme pushes cities to build local music offices and liaison structures, and its business referral network and industry directory give Texas artists and companies a public, state-run route to opportunities that in most states exists only privately. 2026-08 source ↗
• Sync has become a primary revenue line rather than a bonus. Streaming originals, prestige television, games and short-form advertising all consume enormous volumes of licensed music, and supervisors under deadline reward one-stop clearance. For independent artists who control both master and publishing, sync is often the single largest cheque of the year. 2026-08 source ↗
• Short-form video is now the primary discovery engine, and the industry has restructured around it. A song can break from a sound before it has an audience, catalogue tracks resurface decades after release, and labels sign against short-form traction. The fragility is platform dependence: TikTok's years of US regulatory uncertainty — resolved only in January 2026, when its US operations were spun into a new American joint venture — and its continuing retrenchment from parts of its music-industry operation have made artists and labels less willing to treat any one platform as a permanent channel. 2026-08 source ↗
• Direct-to-fan and superfan monetisation have moved to the centre of artist strategy. Bandcamp purchases, subscriptions, vinyl and D2C merchandise, and paid community tiers convert a small committed audience into meaningful income, and the majors have publicly built strategy around a paid superfan tier above the standard streaming subscription. Ownership of the fan relationship, not follower count, is the asset. 2026-08 source ↗
• Touring costs are pricing out developing artists. Fuel, vans, crew, insurance, hotels and production have all risen while club guarantees have not kept pace, so mid-level runs that once broke even now lose money and merch has become the deciding line on a tour budget. The practical consequences are shorter runs, regional routing and more artists treating live as promotion rather than income. 2026-08 source ↗

Questions people ask

What is the difference between the master and the composition?

define the sound recording as one copyright and the underlying song as another, name who typically owns each, and say that a licence for one is not a licence for the other

What is a PRO and do I need to join one?

explain that ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR collect performance royalties for songwriters and publishers, that a writer joins one and only one, and that not joining means the money is simply not collected

What does the MLC do and do I have to register my songs with it?

explain the blanket mechanical licence created by the Music Modernization Act and that unregistered works accrue unmatched royalties; say registration is free and self-service

What is SoundExchange and how is it different from my PRO?

explain that SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties on the recording for artists and rights owners, while a PRO collects on the composition for writers and publishers; both can be owed on the same play

What is a sync licence and how is it different from a master use licence?

explain that sync covers the composition and master use covers the recording, and that a film or ad normally needs both, from potentially different owners

What is a split sheet and when do I need one?

explain it is a signed record of who wrote what percentage, made in the room on the day; say the absence of one is the single most common cause of later disputes

What is a 360 deal?

explain that the label takes a share of income streams beyond recorded music — touring, merch, sponsorship, publishing — and name what to look at rather than declaring the structure good or bad

What does it mean to be unrecouped?

explain that the advance and recoupable costs are repaid from the artist's royalty share before further payments, and that unrecouped does not mean the label lost money

What is the difference between a guarantee, a door deal and a versus deal?

define each plainly and explain the split point, and note that the advertised number is before production, sound, and any promoter expenses come out

What is a radius clause and should I sign one?

explain the geographic and time restriction on playing other shows, note it is negotiable in distance and window, and say it matters most in a market where the artist plays often

What is the difference between a sample and an interpolation?

explain that sampling uses the actual recording and needs both master and publishing clearance, while an interpolation re-records the melody or lyric and needs only publishing

What are neighbouring rights and why do US artists collect less of them?

explain the foreign broadcast and public-performance income on recordings, and that US terrestrial radio does not pay a recording performance royalty so reciprocity is limited; do not estimate what an individual artist would collect

What is a controlled composition clause?

explain that it caps the mechanical rate a label pays on songs the artist wrote, describe how the cap and song ceiling work, and say it is one of the least-read clauses in a recording contract

Who owns the song if I paid the producer?

explain master vs composition and work-for-hire; say a written split sheet and a producer agreement decide it, do not state a percentage

How much does Spotify pay per stream?

explain that there is no fixed per-stream rate — payouts are a pro-rata share of a revenue pool that varies by market, subscription tier and rights split — and refuse to publish a single cents-per-stream number

Why did my streaming royalties fall even though my streams went up?

walk through the mechanisms: a per-stream pool that shifts with subscriber mix and market, minimum-threshold policies, and the difference between recording and publishing shares landing at different times

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