Step 2) The Backpack
A.K.A. "Business Basics"
1) Business
2) Publishing
3) Team
4) Brand
5) EPK
You’re going to climb a Mountain, so pack up your Backpack. You'll reach in and pull things you need from it every day. Since you’re starting a business, we call these the “Business Basics”. You’re going to set up your business infrastructure properly, efficiently, and solidly without missing chunks. Future You is going to thank Present You, a ton.
Step 2 is the most checklist-y Step compared to the others, and we’re insanely proud of it: we’ve spent (and will continue to spend) many years boiling it down to everything you truly need, to set you up fully so you can grab any opportunity that comes your way. We cut out all the unnecessary fluff that commonly distracts musicians and drains their time and energy.
A few things you should know before we share the lists:
∆ Beware: if you skip any part of this Step, you risk not being able to capitalize on an incredible opportunity that comes your way, or you’ll have to scramble and potentially stress out trying to get everything together that should’ve been set up in your business’ foundation already.
∆ These lists are optimized - meaning, put into the chronological order that best serves you, so you don't have to double back. We highly recommend going in the deliberate order we set up for you.
∆ Lastly, a lot of this Step sets you up for future Steps - so if it doesn’t make sense to you why we’ve included something, hang tight, it all adds up! Again, Future You thanks You.
Every music career is different, so this is the list our Mountain Strategy Consultants use to talk our clients through the Planning and Setup of 5 "Business Basics" categories (Business, Publishing, Team, Brand, & EPK), while customizing it to the individual artist/band. You know the drill, we share The Mountain here on our website for free because we believe in doing so (our main page can remind you why we’re so arguably strange!), so if you don’t plan a Consulting session with us, this list will help you head out on your own. Customize it to yourself when necessary, but remember that all of this is our highest recommendation to make your life easier, and your career more fluid, so don't skip the important parts.
Since this is our personal Consulting list, some of it isn't explained fully the way it would be through Q&A in a Consulting Session. Since you're reading the words of MIC Founder & Lead Mountain Strategy Consultant Emily Plazek right now, I'd like to take a moment to mention that in the past, I tried to flush all of this information out here in writing, too, and the website got way too long. Way too long. So, for this missing, granular detail, we're working on behind-the-scenes on videos for you, very soon, as soon as we can, soon so soon. (We know most people are visual learners anyway; this written Mountain is simply the most information-packed version we knew we needed to share with everyone first - it's our own foundation.) In these videos, I'll talk you through everything the way I would for a client or intern: at high speed with lots of gusto and stories to make the potentially boring business stuff sticky and memorable.
Regardless, this written website page will be your reliable home-base to come back to, a reference sheet to lead all your planning & setup. Heck, take one more hot tip from us: turn it into a spreadsheet in your “Masterplan” like we do for our clients, so you can check off the items as you go. Also, Google Drive gives everyone free softwares that autosave & allow access for multiple people at the same time - and one of those softwares is indeed a spreadsheet maker like Excel.
A final note, so to avoid any potential overwhelm at what may look like a pretty extensive list: Step 2 takes a handful of very solid work days, across a few weeks or months, so pace yourself and know most of it will never have to be repeated, only maintained (wahoo!).
CLick the following HEADINGS TO OPEN/CLOSE the SECTIONS:
1) Business
You're an entrepreneur, starting a business that offers a Music World to the public. The following list helps you plan, setup, and learn more about how to start this business as a protected legal entity through which you can make a living - which is presumably what you wanted when you said you wanted a music career, not a music job. We'll say it again: Full-time income generation from music is indeed possible, but you can't get there at all if you don't set up the foundation properly to support you through career-type things like filing taxes and protecting yourself from legal risks. So, here's our Consulting checklist for you to do just that.
- Establishing Identity & Security (Identity Theft & Stalkers)
∆ Band/Artist Name & SEO/Confusion Potential - will guide LLC, PR & social media handle choices - balance artistic integrity with business savvy
∆ Permanent business address and phone number - "Registered Agent" requirement for LLC
∆ Password service for Masterplan's “Important Infos” tab (i.e., LastPass's free version)
∆ Brief education: birthday/SSN privacy, geotags, credit monitoring, radio silence & documenting threats and stalker activity with screenshots
- Legal & Accounting
∆ LLC (protection & taxes) & EIN (like a SSN but for a business) - DBA placeholder option, but not recommended - sole owner or partnership determines how artist/band files annually - check requirements for annual reporting/filing other than taxes, add to Planning Structures
∆ Business Banking: checking account & credit card; get physical checks - understand cash minimum or monthly maintenance fee
∆ Monthly/Annual Budget & Bills - setup autopays, minimize all
∆ Paypal/Venmo accounts for invoices & tip jars
∆ Insurance - Personal Articles/Renters Policy for equipment, and other related policies
∆ Personal Financial Portfolio (self-employed & freelancing): health insurance, retirement, life insurance, renter’s/home insurance, disability insurance
∆ Brief education: legal samples/covers/pics, passive income vs active income, Accounting Doc business expenses/categories detract from nontaxable income
- Organization
∆ Cloud Services other than Google Drive (Dropbox and Box)
∆ Physical Hard Drive
∆ Physical File Folder/Envelope for Accounting receipts & other financial paperwork
- Mountain Backpack Folder on Google Drive (all Consulting clients receive their own Backpack Folder)
∆ Masterplan Spreadsheet - tabs: The Mountain - SETUP, The Mountain - MAINTENANCE, Important Info, Song Info, Goal Info, Touring, PR, Sync
∆ Accounting Doc Spreadsheet - copy/paste Monthly/Annual Budget & Bills from above
∆ EPK Downloads Folder - fill any releases folders, if applicable (will finish filling out in later Step 2 sections & during releases)
∆ Brand Assets Folder - include any assets already created
∆ Track Progress Folder - will be a part of your Monthly/Quarterly Planning Structures, used for pitches and future CI
∆ Other Folder - Playlist Spreadsheet, Touring Spreadsheet, PR Spreadsheet, Sync Spreadsheet, Template Licenses & Agreements, Team Agreements, Process Manuals, etc.
2) Publishing
Let's get it set up so when you do it in Step 4, you were all prepped and ready. First, what is Publishing?
Publishing = Distribution + Royalty Collection.
That's the simplified equation we at MIC use for ourselves, our clients, and our intern classes. It works very well for indies to see Publishing this way. Publishing is, by far, the most confusing & elusive aspect of music careers for musicians. We've even talked to Publishing professionals and professors: even they say it's a field of endless learning, and it's very often confusing even for their expert minds, too! Take that for what it's worth, to comfort you that The Mountain will get your Publishing set up & running, and you'll continue to learn about it as you go (i.e., new royalties you can claim, contracts you gain experience and wisdom working through, etc.) If you're not following us on social media @theMICmountain, this is the time to do it - we share these kinds of discoveries as we mine for gold in our research, too.
Ready to read the most simplified & easiest music copyright/publishing summary of key details you've ever read? Here are 3 main points that'll get your feet wet in understanding Publishing (we're pacing you):
1) Copyright:
You naturally own a song's copyright when you create a song & record its creation somehow (write down the music or record any kind of demo, even like a phone's crappy voice memo). If you'd like additional legal protection in court, in case someone claims you stole their song or vice versa because you want to charge someone, you may register it with the Copyright Office of your country. However, it isn't necessary to do this registration in order to record and release music. There is a cost involved in registering your songs with the Copyright Office, and we know some tricks to save money, like if you register before your publishing date and you own both the PA & the SR, you can do a batch register! Many indies don't have hundreds of extra dollars in their budget at the beginning of their careers to do this step, which we understand, but we definitely insist you understand the risks here if you're not going to do the registration process.
2) PA & SR:
There are 2 sides to every song: the PA (Performance Art, the "Song" itself) and the SR (Sound Recording, the "Master", that particular recording of the "Song"). Simplified: the PA is owned by the songwriter and the publishing company, and the SR is owned by the artist and the record label. Often, indies play all 4 roles, and therefore own "200%" of their songs (which is helpful in the Revenue-Generator Sync Licensing, see Step 4).
3) Indie's 4 Collection Buckets:
The PA and SR both generate different Performance & Mechanical royalties, to be collected from different locations. Independent Musician Royalty Collection will be (essentially) complete when you collect from what we call the"4 Buckets":
2 PA = PRO + Publishing Admin Company
2 SR = Digital PRO + Distributor
Like we said before, Step 4 will elaborate more on Publishing (see the "5 Pockets" section), but the reason we brought it all up here in Step 2 because we're about to get you set up to prepare for that moment:
- Collect Important Documents (you'll need these when you sit down to "Create Accounts" in the next section)
∆ Picture of Voided Check from Business Bank Account
∆ Picture of front/back of Driver's License (for every member of band)
∆ If you're a manager: you need your artist(s) on call for signatures, to tell you SSN & to forward emails to you if you're not using a shared email address
- Create Accounts with Royalty Collection/Distribution companies (varies by country - some PROs include a Publishing Admin service)
Independent Musician Royalty Collection 4 Buckets, 2 PA + 2 SR
2 PA = PRO + Publishing Admin Company
2 SR = Digital PRO + Distributor
∆ Publishing Admin Company - Songtrust - Full Legal Name - $100/songwriter - Complete before other signups because of $75 worth of discounts: $25 coupon code for Songtrust signup awarded after attending an online Songtrust webinar ("Publishing 101 Session"), $50 PRO Songwriter fee waiver upon signup through Songtrust
∆ PRO Songwriter Account - ASCAP/BMI (USA) or Other - Full Legal Name - $50/songwriter **or $0 if through Songtrust discount, above
∆ Digital PRO - Soundexchange - Artist Name - $0 - will require you to generate a W9 & sign an agreement
∆ PRO Publisher Account - ASCAP/BMI (USA) or Other - LLC name as Publisher- $50/publisher as "self-administered individual" (yes, even if using Songtrust to collect Publisher-side royalties, you need this Publishing Company to claim ownership not collection[!], and safeguard for future collaborations/releases with non-Songtrust users that do the publishing work, or potential changes of Publishing Admins instead of Songtrust.) Publishing Managers, you can use one Publishing account for all the songwriters you work with.
∆ (If you noticed that this list doesn't include a 4th Bucket, good eyes: the Distributor account will be created when you distribute music, so you either created this already if you have music released, or it will come when it's time in Step 4.)
- Once all accounts are created (may take some time waiting for confirmation emails)
∆ Set up direct deposit on all accounts where it's possible
∆ Register all songs on Songtrust - will auto-register to your PRO Songwriter Account after 1-6+months
∆ Register all songs on Soundexchange - in both the Rights Owner and the Artist Catalogues if you are the artist doing your own publishing
∆ Register all songs on PRO Publisher Account - as ownership, not collection (Songtrust will do the collection and pay you out on their portal)
∆ Update Song Infos in Masterplan with your PRO IPI #'s and all ISWCs (Planning Structure will remind you to check back for registration updates within accounts because all may take anywhere from days to many months.)
3) Team
A music career contains a lot of roles to be covered. Many of them can be taken on by one person (often it's just the musician him/herself starting out and that's okay - beware overwhelm though!), and a lot of roles will be put on a side table till later activation. This list will show you almost all of the typical roles & duties and how they spread out among both indies and major label artists/bands’ teams - feel free to add in any you feel are not represented. (One exception to calling this “typical”: “Publishing Manager” is a creation of MIC not seen elsewhere in such terms, and we’re very proud of it; our interns practice it in the real world while managing bands and artists, to create the win-win of both the musician and manager gaining long-term passive income.)
You will pursue some, not all of the items on this list - and you may swap out items over time. “Expectation Management” is the name of the game here: you’re taking on a full career, with a lot of work, and The Mountain is here to help make it simple for you, but it’s not easy, and we’re not in the game of sugarcoating. Yet, there is a great deal of wiggle room for you to cater a music career to your unique Definition of Success, so do not feel any pressure to fill out this whole list of roles - if you have a sufficient budget though, you can indeed hire some people or companies for a lot of these tasks. Be picky and patient though, bringing parties like that in only when it's definitely time to do so, and when you've vetted them out thoroughly.
Looking at this list before climbing The Mountain in Steps 4 & 5 will familiarize you with the vast amount of tasks covered by music teams, so you can start to visualize who you already have, or will need, to help you cover roles you can’t cover alone. The bolded “MIC Mountain 5 Industry Pocket” sections will make more sense later in Step 4, and like we said, very few musicians tackle all of them, at least not at the same time. There is only so much time, energy, and money in your life.
- Roles for Team Expectation Management (bold indicates the MIC Mountain 5 Industry Pockets - see Step 4)
∆ Artist / Band - create the Music World in recorded music & live performances
∆ SM Manager - daily/frequent social media posting, documenting behind-the-scenes CI collection, interaction, and strategy planning
∆ Business Manager - pursue new opportunities, manage team
∆ Publishing Manager - distribution + royalty collection, contract collecting
∆ Sync Licensing Agent - outreach sync, catalogues submissions and YouTube microsync, legal contract work
∆ Playlisting Agent - daily submission sites, lead generation & email/IG outreach
∆ Touring Manager - social media, work with booking agent, share daily tour itinerary on the road
∆ PR Publicist - event promo (releases, touring), all PR (Press, PA, Sponsorships, Collabs, Co-pros, (Other: SEO, Endorsements))
∆ Personal Manager/Assistant - catchall especially while touring (may be an intern)
∆ Adjacency Manager - pursue Adjacencies like Sponsorships, Collabs, Copros (see Step 5)
∆ Lawyer - clear samples, negotiate contracts, represent in court
∆ Accountant - track expenses, budget, file taxes, acquire insurances
∆ Radio Promoter - get music played on college/community radio (or top 40 if massive budget & gatekeeper connections)
∆ Merch Store Clerk - manage online store, promo, inventory, accounting, and sets up/runs table at live shows
∆ Live Show Team - Producers, Live Music Engineers, Light Engineers, Roadies, et al.
∆ Booking Agent - industry-connected optional goal - book shows (Talent Buyers represent the venues)
∆ Talent Agent - industry-connected optional goal - adjacency work with gatekeeper access, and more
∆ Publishing Company - industry-connected optional goal - do your publishing for you, pursue sync licensing opportunities, and more
∆ Record Label - industry-connected optional goal - loan the money for your project, assemble your team, use gatekeeper connections to promote and connect, and more
- Team Setup
∆ Digital World of all team members: Email addresses & signatures, LinkedIn, website “Contact” page, potential social media references
∆ Preferred communication methods for work/life balance
∆ Agreements drafted & signed
4) Brand
"Brand" is a loaded word. Let's keep it simple: Brand is the way your Music World is perceived by those who experience it (and how people identify it compared to other Worlds). It's often expressed through something that can't be touched or heard but is rather felt or expressed through an idea, and these intangible ideas are then represented by the tangible elements in your Brand Manual (logos, profile pics, bios, etc).
First you'll create your Brand Manual that plans out your artistic strategy all in one place (which is necessary for a team to get on the same page), then you'll activate all of that vision by Creating the Brand across your Digital World by gathering assets and updating all your digital real estate accordingly.
Brand Manual
- CF Messaging (Critical Few - 80/20)
∆ Brand Message from Artist (Tagline Bio)
∆ Brand Message from PR (Third Party Principle)
- Identity
∆ Location/Hometown
∆ Language
∆ Aesthetic / CI Categories
∆ Image/Style (accessories, signature items, etc.)
∆ Ancestry / Personal Cultural Connections
- Visual
∆ Themes (i.e., nature, goth, tropical, eras, trends)
∆ Color palette codes
∆ Font names
- Competitive Advantages
∆ Business Strength Differentiation
∆ Brand Differentiation
∆ Music Product Differentiation
∆ Connections
- Adjacency Brainstorm (not directly related to music products)
∆ Activities/Hobbies - related to brand, and juxtaposed
∆ Brand/Creator Collabs - for relatively soon, and dream goals
∆ Sponsorships - for relatively soon, and dream goals
- Keywords (for Playlisting and SM #'s)
∆ Sound / Genre / Featured Instruments
∆ Moods
∆ Activities
∆ Cores & other Hashtag language
∆ Brand Keywords in Playlist language
∆ Other Differentiated Keywords
∆ Indie Market Keywords (for Step 5 - Phase 1 - FCBO)
Creation of Brand across Digital World
- Do Photo Shoot
∆ Primary Profile Pictures
∆ EP/Album Cover Art & Pictures (if applicable, or artwork)
- Hire graphic designer to make / make yourself
∆ Create Logos (if applicable) - ask for .svg files, and exports of the jpegs & pngs as large as possible
- Fill Backpack Folder
∆ Write Bios in Bios Doc (in EPK Folder)
∆ Pics into EPK Downloads Folder - Promo Pics: Logos, Primary Profile Pics, Smaller than 5MB pics
∆ Extra Pics into Brand Assets Folder - for other future uses like social media content
∆ Copy EPK Downloads Folder to Box & Dropbox, or other alternative clouds for EPK
- Make Website
∆ Website Domain (i.e., Godaddy) & Builder (i.e., Squarespace, EditorX)
∆ EPK Page (Electronic Press Kit), password-protected (list of elements below)
∆ Email list signup (i.e., Mailchimp)
∆ Merch store setup, link in website (i.e., Spring)
∆ Link aggregator created with option for website, pre-saves will be added before releases, etc (i.e., Linktree)
- Update Digital World with Brand Plan's Bios, Pics, and Linktree/other link aggregator
∆ Bio Locations - Tagline (semi-permanent): Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Deezer for Artists, Tidal, Anghami for Artists, etc (like other DSP backends available through distributor).
∆ Bio Locations - Small: Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Youtube About (also update your Youtube to include any live footage/music videos, with description sections including links to your website & link aggregator, etc), etc.
∆ Bio Locations - Medium: Website (if applicable), Spotify for Artists, BandsinTown for Artists, etc.
∆ Bio Locations - Large: Website EPK, Wikipedia (when applicable one day - requires SEO/PR work), etc.
∆ Pics Only - No Bio: Amazon Music for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, Pandora AMP (USA), LinkedIn, etc.
5) EPK
Your EPK acts as your resume for things like PR, touring, pitching to a label or other services, and more. It explains and proves value of product in both creative (written and visual) and business terms (numbers and statistics).
EPK styles go in and out of fashion, and currently the trend is a password-protected page of your website (as opposed to a downloadable PDF or print-out.) A password gives a sense of VIP access, and protects some of the materials that journalists or agents would need but shouldn’t be available to the public, like downloads of pictures or sneak peeks to unreleased songs.
Make sure you add your artist name to every single folder & item in your EPK Folder (in your Google Drive Backpack Folder), no exception! (!!!!!!!!!) If someone important downloads your documents to their computer and your name isn't incredibly obvious, they will most likely throw it in the trash bin because they don't have the time to figure it out.
While giving people a taste of your brand in one glorious first impression, here are the elements that people will expect to see in an EPK, that you can add without having to hit many milestones (while climbing in Step 4 & 5):
- Elements to include immediately
∆ Large Bio
∆ Streaming Links
∆ Music Widget (i.e., Bandcamp)
∆ Music Video Embeds (Youtube)
∆ Social media buttons/handles/links
∆ Links to EPK Downloads Folder (Drive, Box, Dropbox - all 3 recommended)
∆ Contact info
∆ Touring/Event History & Calendar
Then, as you climb in Steps 4 & 5, you'll shape your strategic decisions around achieving these more-elusive EPK elements:
- Elements to plan events to earn
∆ Press quotes and clippings
∆ Touring History and Live Video (showing audience interaction)
∆ Social Media and Streaming Platform Statistics (follower #’s)
∆ Accolades (festivals, openers, contests, sync placements, etc)
∆ Estimated Draw #/City
If you're here at the end of this page having completed Step 2, you deserve a massive congratulations. You just completed something phenomenal and rare. You've set yourself up in a powerful position. Now you're completely supported in your ability to go after all your dream music career activities. Keep going.
Continue to Step 3, Here.
