Welcome to Daz Smith's Music Business Resources Website.
If you need to know how to go on in the music biz at the 'rough' end, or if you are studying Music Business as part of a course - this is the place for you.
It's not a 'how to get rich and famous' site (do you think I'd be here if I knew that!!!) - it's a 'here's some advice from an experienced musician who happens to teach music business for a living aswell' site.
LATEST: AS OF JAN 2008. There is a new section in development about music and the internet. I felt the need to write this because of the presence of, among others, myspace.com, which in the last couple of years has exploded. Alongside this are numerous web only based distribution/retailers for unsigned artistes. I will try to cover most of what seems to be important at the time of writing. Come back regularly to check for this update.
The information was originally put together in this form to help me in my former job - as it meant I didn't have to carry around all this stuff in hard copy - I could go onto the net and print it off if I needed to. I have continued to maintain and add to the site simply because of the emails I get from the many visitors - primarily asking questions, but many simply offering their support - for which I am grateful. All clearly find it useful.
Use the links down the right to find the topic areas discussed. Some of the topics have several pages, links to which will show in the menu when on that page.
Notice there's now a Google Search Engine on the site. You can search this site, or the whole web with it. It's in the top right corner of every page.
Apologies to visitors who use their screen res at 800 x 600. The Google search engine causes a horizontal scrollbar unless you use at least 1024 x 760 - sorry.
This site is primarily educational and the information on it is volunteered freely by me as a service to those who feel they may need it. None of the content is guaranteed to be effective or true for everyone - it is based on a combination of my personal experience and the research I've done as a music business teacher.
While the information contained on the site is based on some of the courses I taught, the site itself does not constitute a course. There is no qualification to be earned from studying the information. I neither claim nor expect any responsibility for the careers of anyone who happens to act on any of the advice herein.
Please note this site is written from the viewpoint of the UK music industry. Although much of the material is in principle tranferable to any country, some of it will specifically refer to the UK situation. This will mainly be those areas which refer directly and indirectly to UK Statutes, for example The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. Most topics covered however will be internationally useful.
