Music industry dictionary

Artists & Repertoire, the person at a label who finds and develops artists.

Money paid up front by a label or publisher, recouped from future royalties.

The process of a label earning back its costs from your royalty share.

A deal where the label takes a share of income beyond recordings.

You keep the masters and license them to a label for a limited period.

The person running a label's day to day operations.

The person who runs your career strategy and team.

The body of releases you own or control.

The point where licensed rights come back to you.

Tax deducted from your fee in the country you perform in.

A short written summary of agreed terms.

The clause covering events outside anyone's control.

Before costs against after costs.

Costs you pay back from income, against costs the label absorbs.

An agreement where a publisher handles your compositions in return for a share.

You keep part of the publisher share instead of only the writer share.

A publisher only collects and registers, and owns nothing.

Lets you exit if the specific person who signed you leaves the company.

A company recouping the costs of one project from the income of another.

The label right to require further albums after the first.

The geographic area a contract covers.

A partner gets to match any offer before you accept it elsewhere.

Whether a contract can be transferred to another company.

A promise that no other party gets better terms than you.

Your rate improves once agreed targets are hit.

A promise to cover the other side losses if your warranties turn out false.

The rights in a specific recording of a track.

The rights in the composition, melody, chords, lyrics, arrangement.

Payments earned each time your music is streamed, sold, played or licensed.

Organisation that collects performance royalties for songwriters.

Royalties for performers and master owners when a recording is broadcast.

A written agreement of who wrote what percentage of a track.

Permission to use part of someone else's recording or composition.

Licensing music for film, TV, games, ads or trailers.

Money owed to the songwriter each time a track is copied or streamed.

Royalties collected but never matched to an owner.

A clause that caps the songwriter rate a label pays you.

You are paid a fee and the client owns the result.

A local publisher collecting for you in another territory.

Money earned when a composition is played in public or broadcast.

Permission to reproduce a composition in a recording or a download.

A license the law grants you without the owner agreement.

Works whose copyright has expired and which anyone can use.

The automatic legal right in an original work you fix in a recording or a file.

The United States body that pays performers and master owners for digital radio.

One license covering an entire catalogue rather than single works.

A royalty rate fixed by law rather than negotiated.

Re recording a recognisable part of another composition instead of sampling it.

A composition written by more than one person.

The right to be credited and to object to damaging treatment of your work.

A statutory right to claw back rights you granted decades earlier.

The company that delivers your music to streaming platforms and stores.

The information attached to a track: artist, title, ISRC, credits, genre.

International Standard Recording Code, the unique ID for a recording.

The barcode identifying a release (single, EP or album).

A vinyl release with no printed label information.

A one off cut of an unreleased track for DJ use.

An unofficial rework of someone else's track.

A period when a release is available on one store only.

A shorter, clean version made for airplay.

The long club version with DJ friendly intro and outro.

A period where one store or platform gets the track first.

When files reach the distributor, and when the public hears them.

Removing a release from stores and streaming.

The exact file specs a store or label expects.

A streaming or download store such as Spotify, Apple Music or Beatport.

A service that delivers your release to every store on your behalf.

Releasing everywhere on the same day instead of staggering formats.

Releasing tracks one at a time instead of a full project at once.

Manufacturing a record from a cut lacquer or a digital master.

A small run pressed for approval before the full order.

The code etched in the run out groove of a record.

The YouTube system that matches uploads against registered recordings.

Recognising a recording from the sound itself rather than from metadata.

The industry standard for exchanging release data between companies.

A flag marking a track that contains strong language.

A rerelease adding extra tracks, remixes or live versions.

A new master of an existing recording.

A remix uses the original stems; a rework rebuilds parts around it.

Grouped audio exports of a track: drums, bass, synths, vocals.

Balancing the elements of a track into one coherent whole.

The final polish that prepares a track for distribution.

The loudness unit used by streaming platforms.

Producing a track that is released under someone else's name.

Ducking one sound whenever another plays.

The space left between your loudest peak and clipping.

The real peak level after digital conversion.

How much processed signal you hear against the original.

A finished song you compare your mix against.

The tempo of a track.

The tonal centre of a track.

How many times per second audio is measured.

The resolution of each audio sample, which sets the dynamic range.

Exporting your session to an audio file.

Software instruments and effects loaded inside your DAW.

A channel that several tracks are routed into together.

Recorded movement of a parameter over time.

Snapping notes or hits to the grid.

Changing the length of audio without changing its pitch.

Tuning a recorded performance.

The ordered processing applied to a vocal.

Keeping healthy levels at every stage of the signal path.

A processor that stops audio exceeding a set ceiling.

Stacking sounds to build one bigger sound.

Building or shaping sounds rather than using them as found.

A single hit sample rather than a loop.

A saved set of parameters for an instrument or an effect.

The person who sells your live and DJ shows to promoters.

The list of technical and hospitality requirements for your show.

A fixed fee versus a share of ticket income.

A contract term limiting nearby shows around a booking.

Confirming all show details with the promoter beforehand.

Tickets sold before general release.

The equipment list you need on stage to perform.

Travel, accommodation and backstage needs.

Equipment supplied by the venue or promoter.

A full sound test against a quick signal test.

Cash instead of a promoter provided item.

The names you are allowed to add for free entry.

A diagram showing where your equipment and performers sit on stage.

A numbered list of every signal you send to the desk.

The share of merchandise sales a venue takes.

Opening for another act against topping the bill yourself.

Two or more DJs playing back to back on the same setup.

A recurring booking at the same venue or party.

The time by which music must stop.

The private room for artists at a venue.

The time and route for bringing equipment into the venue.

The front of house engineer mixing sound for the audience.

The engineer mixing what the performers hear on stage.

What happens to fees and costs if a show is called off.

Part of the fee paid before the show.

Letting fans save a release before it comes out.

Electronic Press Kit, your one link professional summary.

A private service that sends unreleased tracks to DJs for feedback and support.

Getting a track onto editorial, algorithmic or curator playlists.

Ranking in genre sales charts on DJ stores.

Short looping visuals shown next to your track in apps.

Human curated lists against machine generated ones.

How often listeners leave your track early.

The share of listeners who add your track to their own library.

A single page telling media what the release is and why now.

The planned run of activity around a release.

An outlet publishing your track first.

The Spotify dashboard for claiming your profile and pitching tracks.

The Apple dashboard for your profile and performance data.

Personalised Spotify playlists driven by listener behaviour.

A specialist who pitches your music to radio shows and stations.

Organised press and media work around a release.

A short clip published before a release to build anticipation.

A simple looping video made to carry audio on video platforms.

A video that displays the words as the track plays.

A plan of what you publish and when across the campaign.

Interactions measured against audience size or views.

How many people saw something against how many times it was shown.

The share of people who clicked after seeing a link or an advert.

Content made by fans and other creators using your music.

The audio entry other creators use when they post with your track.

Financing a project directly from your audience.

What you earn per stream after the service and the chain take their share.

Two ways of dividing streaming money between rights holders.

The number of unique accounts that played your music in the last 28 days.

The rules deciding whether a release can count towards a chart.

An award for reaching set sales and streaming levels in a country.

The recorded music bodies of the United States and the United Kingdom.

The United States law behind online copyright takedown notices.

A formal letter demanding that someone stops an infringing activity.

Protection for a name or a logo used in trade, such as an artist or label name.

A narrow United States defence for using protected work without permission.

Dramatic performance rights against ordinary public performance rights.