If you cannot tell an artist exactly where their money is, how much you have spent on their project, and what they owe you, you are not running a label. You are running a liability. Here is how to build the accounting system that keeps your label out of trouble.
Every song has two copyrights. A record label controls one. A music publisher controls the other. If you do not know which one your deal covers, you are either leaving money uncollected or giving up rights you do not know how to manage.
You do not need investor money to start a label. You need a budget, a release plan, and the discipline to reinvest what you earn. Funding is not about getting money. It is about deploying it well.
Nettwerk Music Group is a Vancouver-based independent music company founded in 1984 that operates a record label, publishing division, artist management, and a dedicated sync licensing department called Nettwerk One. The company represents artists like Sarah McLachlan, Passenger, Paris Paloma, and SYML for sync placements across film, television, trailers, advertising, and video games. In 2026, Create Music Group invested over $300 million to support a management buyout led by CEO Terry McBride.
Position Music is an independent music publishing, record label, and artist management company founded in 1999 in Los Angeles by Tyler Bacon. Specializes in sync licensing for trailers, film, TV, video games, and advertising. Operates five departments: Synchronization and Licensing, A&R, Administration, Label Services, and Artist Management. Places music across thousands of ad campaigns, trailers, and productions.
AUTODIA is the certified Greek collective management organization for music copyright, based in Athens. Licensed by the Greek Ministry of Culture since 2003, it replaced the collapsed AEPI society in 2018 and is now Greece's only CISAC-member CMO, collecting performance, mechanical, and digital royalties for composers and publishers.
