Money · The transparency problem

We tried to find out what this industry charges. Almost nobody will say.

We went looking for published rates across music PR, music video production and creative freelancing. One agency in the entire sector publishes a starting price on its own website. The silence is not an accident, and it is not neutral.

Money desk 12 September 2026 Source: cyberprmusic.com
Abstract illustration of an unbalanced scale

The figureseach one links to the agreement or government page it came from

Weverse Company president says payment and refund details were among the exposed records — freelancers should audit payments and contracts.
Weverse leak: 422,584 accounts exposed
www.musicbusinessworldwide.com
$1,000
The only published starting price for a music PR campaign we could find anywhere
cyberprmusic.com
£2,000
A complete music video, stated by the director who spent it
directorsnotes.com
£120
To enter one category at the UK Music Video Awards, plus VAT, non-refundable
www.ukmva.com

Reports

All reports →
YouTube playback preview and public view count on a creator video page
Public ‘views’ now count from the first frame; Agentio flags large gaps between public views and engaged attention.

YouTube view-count change and creator payments

YouTube counts views from the first frame (YouTube blog, Aug 19, 2026; change effective Aug 24, 2026). Agentio finds public counts overstate engaged attention by 40%.

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Awards & entry

What a year of entering things actually costs

Eight routes to being seen, priced from zero to £120 a category. Entering the same video into four awards and three outlets comes to several hundred pounds before anyone has watched it.

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Distribution

The annual fee is the advertisement. The clauses are the business.

Five distributors within about ten dollars a year of each other, and terms underneath that differ by an order of magnitude for anyone whose music travels through other people's videos.

Referencethe things you look up, not the things you read once

Funding

Grant deadlines for music, open now

PPL Momentum, the PRS Composers' Fund, the Early Career Promoter Fund and Musicboard Berlin, with amounts, eligibility and the next date.

Money

What paid submission platforms charge

SubmitHub and Groover, with the response guarantees that are actually written down.

Awards & entry

Where to submit a music video, and what each charges

Promonews, Directors Notes, Directors' Library and Booooooom TV, with runtime limits and eligibility windows.

Money

What Spotify publishes about payouts

The Loud & Clear figures, and the three things they do not mean.

Money

The size of the market you are competing in

Global revenue, and the two Luminate figures that explain why promotion costs what it does.

Funding

UK screen tax relief: what we could and could not confirm

An honest partial answer, published because a half-verified fact clearly labelled is more useful than silence.

By desk

Money

Money

Fees, rates, and what almost nobody will publish.

Funding

Funding

Grants and funds with published deadlines and amounts.

Production

Production

What productions really cost and who was on them.

Awards & entry

Awards & entry

The cost of being considered.

Distribution

Distribution

The terms underneath the headline price.

Everything, newest first

We tried to find out what this industry charges. Almost nobody will say.Money · The transparency problem Yoto 4th‑Gen Green Button: what creators need to knowYoto’s new Green Button and digital‑card push change discovery — the company has published prices and features, but not creator payment terms. beatBread hires Andreea Gleeson; Notes·fm adds Stripe payoutsA CEO appointment at beatBread and Notes·fm’s Stripe-powered payout product change how advances and platform payouts sit side by side. UMG–ElevenLabs deal leaves splits unconfirmedUniversal calls the agreement licensing plus 'product development'; Kobalt and Merlin previously committed to a 50/50 recording/publishing split for ElevenMusic (checked 11 Sep 2026). Deki Alem — Forget In Mass: Bandcamp price and published termsBandcamp shows a sale price, Amuse publishes campaign metrics and a vinyl date, but neither primary page publishes artist payout or revenue‑split details. YouTube view-count change and creator paymentsPublic ‘views’ now count from the first frame; Agentio flags large gaps between public views and engaged attention. Sonido Distrito Sur: UMG and Warner Chappell launch in EcuadorNew joint venture led by Juan Fernando Velasco aims to export Ecuadorian artists across the Andean region; ownership and funding terms were not published. What a year of entering things actually costsAwards & entry The annual fee is the advertisement. The clauses are the business.Distribution Ticketmaster joins Meta’s Muse as a live‑event connectorThe connector surfaces shows, seats and prices inside Muse, then hands buyers off to Ticketmaster; neither firm has published any change to ticketing fees or payout terms. Superstruct Artistic Code: what it changes for festival termsA public rulebook that fixes two red lines — safety and illegal speech — across Superstruct’s global festival portfolio. Three people, four people, one studio day: what crews actually look likeProduction Grant deadlines for music, open nowFunding What paid submission platforms chargeMoney Where to submit a music video, and what each chargesAwards & entry What Spotify publishes about payoutsMoney
The Creative Network briefing

What the work is actually worth.

Rates, incentives, contracts and hiring, with the source for every figure. For people who have to send the invoice.

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