This month: the split nobody wrote down, and three studios that fixed it.
How to split a song without losing friendsGuide · 9 min
Forty sessions, zero awkward textsStory · 6 min
Mobile money payouts, now in KenyaProduct · 2 min
Journal
The journal, for people in the credits.
Guides on splitting songs fairly, stories from studios in London, Lagos and further afield, and the odd note on what we've shipped. One issue a month, on the 1st, alongside payday.
GuideHow to split a song without losing friends
Song versus recording, who counts as a writer, the usual starting points and what to write down before anyone leaves the room. The conversation nobody wants to have, made a lot shorter.
Read the guide
StoryForty sessions a month: how a Yaba studio keeps the paperwork out of the room
A two-room studio in Lagos on starting every session with a sheet, and why the engineer is the one who sends it round.
IndustryWhere unclaimed royalties actually go
Missing writer IDs and half-filled registrations leave money sitting in society pots. A plain look at how that happens and how to get in front of it.
GuideFeatures, guest verses and the share nobody agreed
How to handle a feature when the verse arrives by voice note, the fee is already paid and the split hasn't been mentioned.
ProductWhy we rebuilt phone signing from scratch
Collaborators were dropping off at the account screen. So we removed it. Notes on the redesign behind v4.2.
StorySix years, three members, one back catalogue
A Manchester four-piece on tidying up 60 old tracks after their drummer moved to Accra, and what they wish they'd written down at the start.
IndustrySong money and recording money, explained with one piano
Publishing, master royalties, neighbouring rights: the two halves of a track, why they pay different people and why both need a split.
GuideWriter IDs: what they are and where to find yours
The nine-to-eleven digit number that follows you through every registration. How to get one, and what to do if you've never joined a society.
ProductMobile money payouts now reach Ghana and Kenya
Collaborators in Accra and Nairobi can now be paid straight to their wallet on the 1st, in cedis and shillings.
StoryThe session player who started asking for a sheet
A London guitarist on going from flat fees to recording shares, and the one sentence that made the conversation easy.
The TrackLedger letter · monthly
One email a month, on payday.
A new guide, a story from a session somewhere and what changed in TrackLedger. Short enough to read while the bounce renders.
Read by 2,400 artists, producers and engineers. Unsubscribe in one tap.Before the bounce
Settle the split before the session ends.
Start a split sheet in the room, send it round, and let every share find its own way home. Free for every track you make.
- £0Split sheets, forever
- 11 minSession to fully signed
- 1stPaid every month
