BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) is a performance rights organization that represents songwriters and publishers by licensing their musical works for public performance. The organization acquires rights from writers and publishers to grant licenses to music users, collects license fees from each user, and distributes all money collected (other than what is needed for operating expenses) to their writers and publishers. BMI only licenses performing rights, and only non-dramatic performing rights at that, such as radio and television broadcasts, nightclubs, hotels, amusement and theme parks and the like. They do not license mechanical and synchronization rights, which must be obtained directly from the publisher.

bmi.com

ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) is a performance rights organization that licenses and collects royalties for the public performance of its members’ musical works. ASCAP licenses the public performance of its members’ compositions in all media including broadcast radio, television, Internet and live performances. ASCAP collects license fees from those who wish to use its members’ works and distributes royalties to its members based on the number of performances of their works. ASCAP also provides its members with legal protection and advocacy in the music industry.

ascap.com

SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers) is a performance rights organization that licenses and collects royalties for the public performance of its members’ musical works. SESAC acts as an intermediary between copyright holders and those who use and 'perform' their music. It has a unique approach to the traditional PRO model, as it is a for-profit organization and retains a higher percentage of royalties than most other PROs. SESAC administers public performance, mechanical, synchronization, and other rights, and also provides its members with legal protection and advocacy in the music industry.

sesac.com/

Global Music Rights (GMR) is a performance rights organization that collects royalties on behalf of its members for the public performance of their musical works. GMR provides licensing for a wide range of media, including satellite radio, streaming services, and cable networks. GMR focuses on building relationships with music users to ensure that its members are properly paid for their works. It also provides its members with legal protection and advocacy in the music industry.

https://globalmusicrights.com/

The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) is an administrator of digital voluntary licenses for various royalty types, including mechanical, synchronization, and print rights. HFA issues digital voluntary licenses as well as mechanical licenses for reproductions of musical compositions embodied in sound recordings that are manufactured and distributed in the U.S. HFA also provides a variety of online tools such as Songfile, which allows the public to search through millions of songs and purchase licenses if desired.

www.harryfox.com

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office pursuant to the historic Music Modernization Act of 2018. The MLC is committed to ensuring songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers receive their mechanical royalties from streaming and download services in the U.S. accurately and on time. The MLC has built a publicly accessible musical works database, as well as a portal that creators and music publishers can use to submit and maintain their musical works data. 

http://www.themlc.com

SoundExchange is a nonprofit organization that collects royalties from digital music services on behalf of sound recording copyright owners and featured artists. SoundExchange administers statutory licenses for digital public performances of sound recordings and collects and distributes digital performance royalties to copyright owners and featured artists. SoundExchange also works to ensure that copyright owners and featured artists are fairly compensated for their works. 

www.soundexchange.com

Music Reports is a music rights management platform that provides services such as music licensing, administration, royalty accounting, and more. Music Reports' Songdex® is the world's largest neutral database of music copyright ownership and related business information, encompassing over 180 million distinct sound recordings and compositions. Music Reports also offers a cue sheet management and analytics system and is dedicated to providing individuals and organizations with expertise and solutions in music rights licensing. 

www.musicreports.com

The Artist Development  Touring Bundle is a comprehensive set of free tools & templates for artists and artist teams at all levels.

https://artistdevelopment.gumroad.com/

Master Tour is a powerful tour and event management platform that enables tour managers and promoters to manage every aspect of their tours. Master Tour's features include artist schedules, set lists, fan clubs, ticket sales, tour accounting, merchandise tracking, and more. The platform also includes an integrated mobile app to give tour managers and promoters access to all of their tour information on the go. 

www.mastertour.com

Artist Growth is an all-in-one platform for managing the business side of being a musician. Artist Growth helps musicians to stay organized and keep track of their finances, tour dates, marketing campaigns, and more. They also offer mentor programs, self-care courses, and educational resources to help musicians reach their goals. 

www.artistgrowth.com

atVenu is a live event platform used by over 125,000 shows and venues around the world. It enables promoters, venues, and artists to manage their merchandise sales and credit card processing, and provides features such as inventory management, pre-sales tracking, and more. Additionally, atVenu offers a powerful Register Report that provides detailed analytics of ticket and merchandise sales.

www.atVenu.com

Renting a van or sprinter as an artist can be a great way to travel to gigs and events while carrying all the necessary equipment. Many companies offer vans and sprinters with additional features such as Xbox, tow package and more. There are also a variety of campervans and RV rentals available for those looking to explore the great outdoors. Renting a van or sprinter provides a convenient, cost-effective way for artists to travel and perform.

Van + Sprinter Rentals

Tour bus leasing is a great option for artists looking to travel to multiple destinations. Leasing a tour bus offers more space and amenities than a van or sprinter, and can provide a comfortable way to travel with a group of people. Tour bus leasing allows artists to customize their bus to their needs, offering features such as WiFi, satellite TV, and more. For those looking for a stress-free way to travel, tour bus leasing is a great choice.

Tour Bus Leases

Kevin Kelly's "1000 True Fans" is an essay that explores the idea of creating a successful career as an independent artist. In the essay, Kelly argues that having just 1,000 true fans who are dedicated to supporting your work is enough to sustain a successful career. He explains that these fans will purchase every product you create, and provide ongoing engagement with your work. The essay has become a popular idea among independent artists, and is seen as a blueprint for success in the creative industry.

1000 True Fans

How To Eat Healthier On Tour

CANVA is an online design and publishing tool that allows users to create stunning visuals for a variety of platforms. It offers a wide range of features, such as drag and drop design tools, templates, and a Magic Write AI writer. CANVA also provides access to millions of images, illustrations, and fonts to help users create unique designs. With CANVA, anyone can create beautiful designs in minutes. 

www.canva.com 

FIGMA is a powerful cloud-based design tool that makes it easy to create, collaborate and manage design projects. It allows for easy collaboration between teams, making it ideal for designers and developers who need to work together on a project. FIGMA also has a range of features, such as vector editing tools, auto-layout, and animation tools, making it possible to create beautiful user interfaces quickly and with ease. 

www.figma.com

Buffer is a social media management platform that helps businesses manage their social media accounts and content. It has powerful scheduling and analytics tools, allowing businesses to easily schedule, automate, and analyze their posts. Buffer also offers a variety of other features such as content curation, collaboration tools, and team management. With Buffer, businesses can manage their social media presence more effectively. 

www.buffer.com 

Wrike is a powerful and comprehensive project management platform designed to help teams collaborate, manage tasks and deadlines, and stay organized. It offers a suite of features tailored to fit the needs of businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. With Wrike, teams can easily share and assign tasks, track progress, and communicate with each other in real-time. Wrike also offers integration with dozens of popular third-party applications, making it easy to stay connected and organized. Wrike's intuitive interface and powerful features make it an ideal solution for businesses looking to manage their workflow more efficiently and effectively.

wrike.com/vs/

The Artist Development Organization Bundle is a comprehensive set of free tools & templates for artists and artist teams at all levels.

https://artistdevelopment.gumroad.com/

Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Currents for employee engagement; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. 

workspace.google.com 

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that helps teams organize their ideas, notes, and tasks. It’s an intuitive and powerful platform that allows users to create, collaborate, and manage their projects with ease. Notion provides a range of useful features such as databases, task lists, file sharing, and more. With Notion, teams can work more efficiently and get more done. 

www.notion.so 

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps businesses create and manage their email campaigns. It comes with powerful email design tools, automation capabilities, and comprehensive analytics, allowing businesses to optimize their campaigns and track their performance. Mailchimp also offers a suite of other services such as social media management, ecommerce, and more. 

http://www.mailchimp.com 

GarageBand is an audio production and music creation software available for Mac and iOS devices. It is designed for users of all skill levels and offers a wide range of features and tools to help create, mix and produce music. With its intuitive user interface, users can quickly and easily write, record, and produce their own music. 

www.apple.com/mac/garageband 

Logic Pro X is a complete professional recording studio on the Mac. It includes a wide range of features and tools to help musicians create, mix, and produce music at a professional level. Logic Pro X has an intuitive design and user interface, allowing users to quickly and easily write, record and produce their own music. 

www.apple.com/logic-pro 

Ableton is a multi-platform Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that includes a suite of effects, samplers, sequencers, and synthesizers. It is designed to enable musicians to create and perform music in real-time. Ableton also offers a suite of other services such as Max for Live, Push, and Link.

www.ableton.com 

Pro Tools is a powerful Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) for Mac and Windows. It includes up to 128 audio tracks, 60 virtual instruments with thousands of sounds, effects, and more. Pro Tools is designed to help musicians, producers, audio engineers and other professionals create and produce amazing audio projects. 

pro-tools.com 

Founded in 1958 by Bill Putnam Sr., Universal Audio has been synonymous with innovative recording products since its inception. Universal Audio offers a wide range of professional recording and production tools, including preamps, compressors, EQs, reverbs, and more. 

uaudio.com 

Apogee Digital is an award-winning audio technology company that specializes in making high-quality products for musicians and producers. Apogee’s products include digital audio interfaces, preamps, convertors, and more.

apogeedigital.com 

Native Instruments is a world-leading music technology company that provides a range of hardware and software solutions for music makers and producers. Their product range includes instruments, sound libraries, samplers, and more. 

native-instruments.com 

Slate Digital is a professional audio company that specializes in producing plugins, sound design tools, synths, guitar amps, demo multitracks, and masterclasses. Their products are designed to help streamline the production of social media content and unlock the full potential of your brand. 

slatedigital.com 

Antares Autotune is a powerful pitch correction and vocal processing software that allows users to quickly and easily adjust their vocal performances. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Autotune provides users with a wide range of powerful features and controls that enable them to create professional-sounding results. 

antarestech.com/en/products/autotune

Splice for musicians is a powerful music production platform that allows users to collaborate, create, and share their musical ideas. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Splice enables users to access loops, samples, and presets from their favorite artists, as well as create and share their own original music. 

splice.com 

sounds.com is a music production platform that allows musicians to explore, create, and collaborate with the world’s best sounds. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, sounds.com provides users access to millions of samples, loops, and presets from their favorite artists. 

sounds.com 

LANDR for musicians is a powerful mastering and production platform that allows users to quickly and easily mix, master, and deliver their music. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, LANDR provides users access to unlimited mastering, 1200 royalty-free samples, and 30+ plugins to help them achieve their desired sound. 

landr.com 

Waves plugins are a powerful suite of audio production tools for musicians. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Waves plugins provide users with a wide range of powerful plugins, including compressors, reverbs, vocal processors, and more. 

waves.com

iZotope plugins are the industry-standard audio production tools for musicians. With its award-winning audio software and plug-ins for mixing, mastering, audio restoration, and more, iZotope enables creativity with intelligent and award-winning audio software and plug-ins.

izotope.com 

Soundtoys plugins are essential audio production tools for musicians. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Soundtoys plugins provide users with a wide range of powerful effects, including compressors, reverbs, equalizers, and more. 

soundtoys.com 

Output plugins are the industry-standard audio production tools for musicians. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Output plugins provide users with a wide range of powerful effects, including vocal processors, synthesizers, and more. 

output.com 

With the Voice Memos app (located in the Utilities folder), you can use iPhone as a portable recording device to record personal notes, classroom lectures, musical ideas, and more. You can fine-tune your recordings with editing tools like trim, replace, and resume. 

apple.com/iphone/voice-memos/ 

The Notes app on iPhone allows musicians to jot down quick ideas, organize detailed information into lists, add images, web links, and more, all while on-the-go. The app is also integrated with Apple Pencil, allowing musicians to draw or write within the Notes app for added creativity. 

apple.com/iphone/notes/

RhymeZone is an invaluable tool for musicians, providing instant access to thousands of rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more. With its powerful search engine, users can quickly find words for writing poetry, song lyrics, essays, and more. 

www.rhymezone.com

B-Rhymes is an essential tool for musicians looking to find the perfect rhyme. With its vast database of words, B-Rhymes helps to quickly discover near rhymes, or 'false rhymes' that almost rhyme. 

b-rhymes.com 

Tuner Lite by Piascore is an essential app for musicians of all skill levels. With its chromatic tuner, users can easily tune their instruments with the highest level of accuracy. The app also features an intuitive design and user-friendly interface, making it easy for musicians to use. 

Tuner Lite

Simple Metronome is the perfect companion for musicians of any skill level. With its accurate and efficient metronome, users can stay in time and improve their rhythm. The app also features dark mode and history tracking, allowing users to review their sessions and make better use of their time. 

Simple Metronome

DistroKid is an essential tool for independent musicians looking to get their music out into the world. With its affordable pricing, unlimited uploads, and 100% royalty share, DistroKid makes it easy and affordable for artists to distribute their music to online stores, streaming services, and (more rarely) physical stores. 

distrokid.com 

TuneCore is a solution for musicians looking to get their music out into the world. With its easy-to-use interface, TuneCore allows musicians to distribute their music to hundreds of digital stores and streaming services. TuneCore also takes care of the hard work for you, allowing you to focus on the creative side of your music. 

tunecore.com

Ditto Music is an online music distribution company that helps independent musicians around the world to get their music out into the world. With its global reach and industry-leading features, Ditto Music makes it easy and affordable for artists to distribute their music to hundreds of digital stores and streaming services. 

dittomusic.com 

Stem.is is a platform for independent musicians looking for royalty services. With its innovative payment system and powerful analytics tools, Stem.is helps musicians manage their royalties and streamline their financials. Stem.is also offers a range of marketing services to help musicians grow their fan base. 

stem.is 

Spotify provides a comprehensive guide to best practices for promotional and engagement activities. This includes finding your audience, growing your followers, using Spotify tools, understanding metadata, staying tuned into the landscape, pitching your release for playlist consideration, refreshing your artist profile, adding a canvas to your track, keeping building your Spotify presence, creating ads on Facebook, recording a song, being active after your release, promoting your music and engaging with your audience, getting cheaper followers, and determining if your music will connect to an audience. It is best to upload with plenty of time to spare and pitch at least 7 days before your release date. Following these best practices will help musicians maximize their visibility and success on Spotify.

Spotify Best Practices

Apple Music has a number of best practices to help you optimize your artist profile and ensure your content is represented accurately. Some of these include adding an artist image from the Apple Music for Artists iOS app or website, using an appropriate format and size for your image, ensuring the image is not overly pixelated or blurry, and adhering to the guidelines for appropriate content. It is also important to review the formats and guidelines to ensure your artist profile picture displays alongside your content on Apple Music, the iTunes Store, and Shazam. 

Apple Music Best Practices

Amazon Music provides a range of tools and best practices for artists to optimize their presence on the platform. These include connecting with fans, marketing music, and optimizing your profile. Additionally, Amazon Music for Artists can provide insights into how your music is being discovered and listened to. It is also important to use high-quality images for your artist profile, and use recommended sizes for your artwork. Furthermore, you can use the Amazon Music for Artists app to connect with your fans, post content, and measure your success.

Amazon Music Best Practices

YouTube Music provides a range of best practices for artists to optimize their presence on the platform. These include optimizing your profile, using original artwork and descriptions, customizing your content, engaging with your fans, and using YouTube features like Stories and Shorts. Additionally, it is important to keep your video library up to date and regularly add new content. It is also important to use high-quality images for your artist profile and use recommended sizes for your artwork. 

YouTube Best Practices

Tidal provides a range of best practices for artists to optimize their presence on the platform. These include using your own artwork and descriptions, customizing your content, engaging with your fans, and promoting your music across social media. Additionally, it is important to upload your music in the highest quality available and ensure your metadata is complete and accurate. It is also important to use high-quality images for your artist profile and use recommended sizes for your artwork.

Tidal Best Practices

SoundCloud provides a range of best practices for artists to optimize their presence on the platform. These include optimizing your profile, using high-quality artwork and descriptions, customizing your content, engaging with your fans, and using SoundCloud features like Stories and Playlists. Additionally, it is important to upload your music in the highest quality available and ensure your metadata is complete and accurate. It is also important to use high-quality images for your artist profile and use recommended sizes for your artwork. 

Soundcloud Best Practices

And The Writer Is is a podcast hosted by Songwriter Ross Golan, who has brought the series back for its third season. This series explores a different aspect of writing each episode in an informative and approachable way. The podcast has almost reached 1 million downloads.

andthewriteris.com/

Broken Record is a podcast series hosted by Justin Richmond, with interviews by producer Rick Rubin, writer Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam. This series explores the emotive power of music and the stories behind the songs, with some of the biggest names in music. From hip-hop to pop, rock, and alternative, Broken Record provides a unique insight into the creative process of music-making. 

Broken Record

The Music Business Worldwide Podcast is an informative and entertaining show hosted by Tim Ingham, the CEO of Music Business Worldwide. Featuring interviews with industry leaders and artists, the MBW Podcast covers the latest news and trends in the music industry, from streaming and digital marketing to artist development and copyright. MBW Podcast is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the music business. 

musicbusinessworldwide.com/

Song Exploder is a podcast hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, where musicians take apart their songs and tell the story of how they were made. From hip-hop to pop and alternative, Songexploder provides a unique insight into the creative process of music-making and features artists such as Alicia Keys and R.E.M. Each episode features an artist breaking down a song, piece by piece, to explain the stories, influences, and emotions behind it. 

songexploder.net/

Switched On Pop is an entertaining podcast hosted by musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding, who pull back the curtain on pop music. Exploring the making and meaning of popular music, the podcast takes a deep dive into the musical, cultural and technological influences behind the world’s biggest songs. From hit singles to deep album cuts, Switched On Pop gives listeners a better understanding of the music they love. 

switchedonpop.com/

The New Music Business Podcast is hosted by Ari Herstand, the best-selling author of How to Make It in the New Music Business. This podcast focuses on people who are innovating in the music business, providing an invaluable resource for those looking to make it in the industry. From dissecting success stories to offering advice on how to navigate the new music business, Ari Herstand provides an in-depth look at the industry and its challenges. 

New Music Business