ABOUT CMU
All about CMU and what we do
THE BASICS | CREDITS & CONTACTS | ADVERTISING
CMU – or Complete Music Update – helps people to navigate and understand the music business through media, training, research and events.
Founded in London in 1998, CMU brings together, informs and educates the global music community, and champions great music, music-makers and music businesses. Read on to find out more about our work.
CMU MEDIA | SIGN UP FOR FREE
CMU’s media keeps you up to speed on all the latest developments, deals, debates and disputes in the music business and the wider music community, analysing and explaining what’s happening each step of the way. Stay in touch via our daily email bulletin, weekly podcast and the CMU website.
CMU INSIGHTS | INFO
This is our music business consultancy, supporting music companies and companies working with music through our webinars, seminars and in-house training; regular research reports produced in partnership with our industry partners; and an acclaimed programme of music business events.
PATHWAYS INTO MUSIC | INFO
The Pathways Into Music Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation launched by CMU to build connections between music education and the music industry, to support music educators around the UK, and to help early-career music-makers plan their personal pathways into music.
CMU:DIY | INFO
This is CMU’s music business education programme, providing tips and advice for aspiring artists and songwriters, and future music industry talent. We deliver lectures at universities and music colleges, and present educational workshops and events with numerous music industry partners.
CMU DAILY | READ | SIGN UP FOR FREE
The daily email bulletin from CMU keeps the music community up to date with all the latest news and developments in the world of music-making. Covering music, music people and the music business, it ’s seriously good reporting and analysis that never gets too serious.
SETLIST | LISTEN
It’s the weekly music business podcast from CMU available via your podcast app of choice. Published each Monday morning, Setlist sees CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last seven days, dissecting and explaining what has happened.
CMU APPROVED | READ | LISTEN
Each Tuesday and Thursday, the CMU team recommends a new track, video or release in the CMU Daily and on the CMU website, championing great new music and some of the most exciting new music talent. All the approved tracks also appear in a special Spotify playlist.
CMU DIGEST | READ
With so much happening in the music industry, it can be hard to keep up. The CMU Digest is for the super busy music industry professional, providing a super concise summary of the five biggest news stories in the music business week just gone, published every Sunday evening.
CMU JOBS | READ | ADVERTISE
The CMU Jobs service is one of the most effective recruitment platforms in the UK music business, utilised by employers across the music industry looking to fill everything from entry-level to senior roles. Check out the latest roles or advertise your opportunities today.
CMU LIBRARY | READ
CMU Library is our online educational resource for the music industry. It curates the reports and guides produced by CMU Insights, the Pathways Into Music Foundation and CMU:DIY – as well as other educational editorial content – organising them by each strand of the music industry.
DISSECTING THE DIGITAL DOLLAR | INFO
CMU Insights has been working with the UK’s Music Managers Forum since 2015 on the ‘Digital Dollar’ project, helping managers, artists and songwriters navigate and understand how music streaming works, and all the various ongoing debates about the digital music business.
IMPALA ONE STEP AHEAD | INFO
CMU Insights works with IMPALA – the pan-European organisation for the independent music community – to deliver One Step Ahead, providing briefings, reports and webinars to enable independent music businesses stay one steap ahead on all things digital.
MUSIC COPYRIGHT EXPLAINED | READ
CMU Insights was commissioned by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office to produce ‘Music Copyright Explained’, a free user-friendly guide explaining the ins and outs of music copyright, available in the CMU Library or via its own musiccopyrightexplained.com website.
ARTIST:ENTREPRENEUR DAY | INFO
An educational partnership between the UK’s Featured Artists Coalition and CMU:DIY, A:E Day is an artist-to-artist learning programme providing practical support for early-career music-makers through interactive guides and artist-led conversations, delivered live and online.
CMU was founded in 1998 by Chris Cooke, Alastair Walker and Fraser Thomson with the aim of creating something that brought together everyone working in music and the music media, originally utilising the college network to reach the grass roots. This was done initially through a print magazine and, since 2002, through the CMU Daily and our other online media.
Chris continues to lead CMU as Managing Director, writing for our media and working on our training and research projects, while Fraser remains a good friend of CMU since returning to his first love of radio.
Unfortunately Alastair is no longer with us. He died, quite suddenly, in August 2001 after suffering a heart attack brought on by diabetes – he was only 29.
CMU’s eclectic and wide-ranging music policy was created by Alastair, and we feel that while we continue to adopt that attitude to music – always looking for something a little bit different – his passion for music lives on. We marked the tenth anniversary of Alastair’s death in August 2011 by compiling a CMU playlist that we think demonstrates his eclectic music tastes.
Today’s CMU team also includes Andy Malt, who heads up our editorial operations, and Sam Taylor, who leads on the commerical side.
Caro Moses, who is Editor of CMU’s sister media ThisWeek Culture, is also an ongoing advisor. Phil Nelson heads up the Pathways Into Music Foundation which he co-founded with Chris, while Kaya Robertson supports the team and works across our various projects.
We also have a network of writers, editors, designers, illustrators and researchers – as well as music industry experts and educators – who we regularly call on to support our work and projects.
CMU is owned by 3CM UnLimited, a London-based company that champions and supports the content, culture, communication and music industries through media, research and training, educational initiatives, and live events.
Last Updated: January 2023
