Music Business/Law Tips - "Business Formation"

Once an artist gets serious about a career and starts to make money, its wise to have a professional business structure. There are several options, and the factors involved in which entity to choose are normally based on liability protection, taxes, complexity of the artist's situation, and set-up cost. The 4 most common types of business forms are: (a) sole proprietership, (b) partnership, (c) LLC, and (d) corporation. The differenses are beyond the scope of a short article, but a good attorney or accountant can help the artist make the correct choice. In genera however, at first a sole proprietship works OK for a solo artist and a partnership for a band (and can be converted to an LLC or Inc. later once the career progresses). Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Marketing and Promotion"

Since there is normally a direct correlation between awareness of a record release and sales, it is important for any product commercially released to be backed by as much marketing and promotion as possible. This normally means advertising and publicity in areas like radio, online, TV, press, in-store promotions, etc. At a record label there are marketing and publicity departments that handle this. If an artist is indie - and even if signed - they may have to do some/all of this themselves to reach fans. It does not make sense to spend the time/money to record a record and then not properly promote it. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com