The Business of Independent Music: A Guide for the New Band on the Block

A Guide for Emerging Independent Artists

We often hear that music is a business, and yes, there are multiple business aspects to a musician’s vulnerable and unsuspecting position.  Bands must promote, book shows, design websites and flyers, sell CDs and merchandise, and create a fan base.  Management, booking agents, and promoters can take this pressure off of a band, but how does a band decide which of the plethora of these businessmen to hire?  And are they comrades interested in the mutual benefit of the business and the band, or are they snakes in the grass?  How can a new band progress if everything they make is given away to pay for these services?  What kind of business is this, when the compensation for the product (the musicians) is neglected, while the venues, promoters, and agents make their piece of the pie? And how does the business end prosper, if the bands they work for don’t pull in enough people to a show to cover the costs?

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