Chartlex
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Issue Nº 35Live · August 26, 2026Weekly · Tuesdays

The Brief.

A weekly dispatch on streaming, royalties, marketing and the music industry — written from real campaign data, not theory.

In the archive
333 dispatches
Read by
5,000+ artists
AllStreaming121Marketing73Business59Touring16Money44Career20
Business

Filed under Business

A spare-room record label office: a whiteboard release schedule with artist rows and quarter columns, two laptops on a worn desk, white-sleeved test pressings leaning against the desk, a framed debut album poster on the floor and a hand-made label sign on the wall.
Business

How to Start a Record Label in 2026: Complete Guide

Daniel Brooks16 min read
A musician's desk with a laptop showing a blurred three-tier pricing page, a printed comparison sheet annotated in blue pen with one column circled and one crossed out, a Casio calculator, a bank card, receipts on a spike, and a half-finished coffee.
Business

TuneCore Pricing 2026: Every Plan, Fee & Hidden Cost

Daniel Brooks13 min read
A bedroom studio corner at dusk: a phone on a MIDI keyboard showing a blurred royalty dashboard, headphones on a mic arm, a notebook open to a handwritten pros and cons list, a basketball on the floor and sneakers on a shoebox by the wall.
Business

UnitedMasters Review 2026: Pricing, Payouts & Verdict

Daniel Brooks14 min read
A label business-affairs desk after a contract signing: a thick licensing agreement open to a freshly signed signature page with an uncapped fountain pen across it, a second bound copy, espresso cups, and shelves of vinyl and awards blurred behind.
Business

AI Music Licensing Deals 2026: Every Label Deal Tracked

Daniel Brooks13 min read
A music industry analyst's desk by a window: a printed half-year report stack with yellow sticky flags, handwritten notes with circled figures and a drawn arrow, reading glasses, stacked trade magazines, and a laptop showing an earnings-call slide.
Business

Music Industry 2026 Report: H1 Data on Revenue, AI, M&A

Daniel Brooks15 min read
A game studio audio bay at night: two monitors showing a level editor and an audio middleware session, a MIDI keyboard with a coiled headphone cable, a printed cue sheet with ticked checkboxes, a game controller, and acoustic foam panels behind.
Business

Video Game Sync Licensing 2026: Rates + How to Pitch

Daniel Brooks17 min read
An independent artist at a kitchen table reading a printed distribution agreement with a magnifying glass beside a laptop and calculator, one clause highlighted in yellow, in soft afternoon window light.
Business

CD Baby Review 2026: Pricing, 9% Cut & Is It Worth It?

Daniel Brooks12 min read
A musician's desk with a laptop showing a distributor royalty dashboard as a soft-focus silhouette, a printed pricing sheet with yellow highlighter marks, a calculator and a coffee mug in morning window light.
Business

TuneCore Review 2026: Pricing, Payouts & Is It Worth It?

Daniel Brooks13 min read
A desk with a printed stack of customer feedback pages beside a laptop, one page marked with a highlighter, reading glasses and a pen resting on the pile in soft daylight.
Business

Chartlex Complaints: Every Negative Theme, Answered (2026)

Chartlex Team14 min read
A musician's desk at night with a laptop showing a split page of praise and criticism notes, a paper checklist with handwritten ticks, headphones, and a cooling mug of coffee under a warm desk lamp.
Business

Chartlex Reviews 2026: What Customers Actually Say

Chartlex Team14 min read
A musician at a kitchen table at night reading a review page on a laptop, taking handwritten notes, coffee and phone beside the notebook under a warm pendant lamp.
Business

Is Chartlex Legit? An Honest Answer From the Team (2026)

Chartlex Team13 min read
A researcher's desk at night: printed histogram charts of Spotify follower distributions annotated in pencil, a spiral notebook with percentile calculations, a ceramic mug of black coffee, and a warm desk lamp lighting a stack of survey pages on dark walnut wood.
Business

State of the Independent Artist 2026: Original Data on Who Actually Seeks Promotion

Daniel Brooks13 min read
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