CMU Trends is a series of guides that explain the inner workings of the music industry, and analyse key developments in the music business.
New guides are added here on a regular basis. You can also access all the guides – alongside reports, slides and other resources from CMU Insights and CMU:DIY – in the CMU Library.
You can buy individual guides from the CMU Shop. Premium subscribers can access and download all the guides for free – CLICK HERE to go premium with CMU for just £5 a month.
MUSIC INDUSTRY BASICS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the wider music industry, providing an overview of the different strands of that industry, and explaining why artists work with multiple business partners to monetise their music-making.
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DIGITAL MUSIC MARKET IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the digital music market today, summarising the evolution of digital music over the last two decades, and then explaining the basics of the modern streaming music business.
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DIGITAL DOLLARS IN TEN STEPS
Based on the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ research CMU Insights has undertaken for the Music Managers Forum, this is a ten step guide to how streaming services are licensed by the music industry and how digital royalties are calculated each month
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STREAMING CHALLENGES IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the biggest challenges facing the streaming music business in 2020, including both issues for the industry at large, and issues that specifically impact on artists and songwriters.
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SAFE HARBOURS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the copyright safe harbour, the music industry’s grievances with the way it was implemented, efforts to have the principle reformed and the resulting music industry v YouTube battle.
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CMU TRENDS GUIDE TO MUSIC RIGHTS
Based on the CMU Insights seminar series ‘Making Money From Music Copyright’, this is the CMU Trends Guide To Music Rights, providing a concise overview of music copyright and the music rights business
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COPYRIGHT BASICS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide explaining the basics of copyright law, music rights and music licensing. It explains how songs and recordings are protected by copyright, and the ways the music industry exploits those rights for profit
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COPYRIGHT JARGON IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to copyright jargon, providing definitions, background and context to ten copyright terms people use a lot in the music industry.
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COLLECTIVE LICENSING IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to collective licensing, explaining when and how the music industry licenses through its collecting societies, how the different societies interact, and the pros and cons of this approach.
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MUSIC RIGHTS DATA IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to music rights data, introducing the key data standards and databases of the music rights industry, and explaining why bad data can be such a big problem for artists and songwriters.
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ARTIST AND SONGWRITER RIGHTS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the rights artists and songwriters enjoy over their music even and especially when they no longer own the copyright in the songs and recordings they contributed to and created.
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SYNC LICENSING IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to sync licensing, explaining how deals are structured when music is synchronised into video and the copyright complexities that need to be navigated
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MUSIC PIRACY IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the music industry’s battle with online piracy, explaining what copyright law says about infringement, and how music rights owners have dealt with the challenge of widespread non-commercial infringement online
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THE EVOLUTION OF RECORD DEALS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to how the artist/label relationship has changed over the last two decades and the options now available to artists when choosing a business partner to work with on their recorded music.
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THE ANTI-TOUTING CAMPAIGN IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the growth of the secondary ticketing market and efforts to regulate the resale of tickets for profit by touts online.
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THE MUSIC MARKETING TOOLKIT IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the music marketing toolkit – covering gigs, social, direct-to-fan, press, radio, TV, clubs, playlists, influencers and advertising
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PRESS RELEASES IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to how to write better press releases as part of a music PR campaign. It considers where press releases fit in and what elements make for more effective media communications
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THE EVOLUTION OF CATALOGUE MARKETING IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to the evolution of catalogue marketing, looking at how record companies go about managing, monetising and marketing their catalogues in the streaming age.
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BRAND PARTNERSHIPS IN TEN STEPS
This is a ten step guide to brand partnerships, looking at when brands work with artists and the music industry, and the specifics and complexities that often come with those deals and relationships.
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You can access older articles from the CMU Trends archive HERE.
