Music Business Registry

What Music Business Registry does

Music Business Registry (doing business as Music Business Watch, Inc.) is a Los Angeles–based publishing company that has produced contact-information directories for the music industry since 1989. The company's core product line comprises four continually updated contact directories — the A&R Registry, Music Publishers, Film & Television Music Guide, and Music Business Attorneys — distributed in PDF, print, and Excel/CSV formats and covering A&R executives, music publishers, music supervisors, film/TV/video-game music licensors, and music attorneys across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. The underlying technology is a proprietary, human-verified contact database updated through direct outreach, press releases, and trade publications, with data assets spanning 900+ music attorneys, 6,295+ film/TV music companies, and 5,400+ Spotify playlists, among others.

The company sells exclusively direct-to-consumer through its own e-commerce website (musicregistry.com), with digital products delivered via WeTransfer and printed products shipped via USPS Priority Mail. All revenue is generated through one-time purchases (per-issue or multi-issue bundles) priced from $39.95 to $750; no subscription or SaaS revenue model is disclosed. Beyond the four core titles, the company has expanded into streaming-era products (Indie Spotify Bible, Indie YouTube Bible, Apple Music Bible), independent-artist resources (Indie Bible 25th Edition), a TikTok influencer database (Essential Influencer Power List), a music PR masterlist, a music blog directory, and a CD-ROM contract-template product, alongside a curated email newsletter called Score.

Customers are predominantly long-tail individual buyers — independent musicians and songwriters seeking A&R, publisher, attorney, and playlist contacts — alongside music business professionals and PR firms using the directories for outreach and business development. The company operates with 1–10 employees, has been entirely bootstrapped with no disclosed venture capital or private equity investment, and is led by Publisher Ritch Esra.

Name

Music Business Registry

Legal name

Music Business Watch, Inc.

Website

https://musicregistry.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Music Business Registry is a Los Angeles–based publisher selling contact-information directories for music industry professionals and independent artists across A&R, publishing, film/TV music licensing, and music law in PDF, print, and Excel formats via direct e-commerce.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Industry Directories

NAICS

Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYCRALAEAB

Sheet Music & Music Books Retail

Consumer Products & Retail/Specialty Retail (Hobby, Books, Office, Pet, Toys)/Music Instruments & Sheet Music Retail

Keywords

• Music industry directories
• Contact databases
• A&R contacts
• Music business publications
• Playlist directories

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Directory Publications Sales: One-time purchase model for printed and digital directories including PDF and Excel formats. No recurring subscription mentioned. Products include A&R Registry, Film & Television Music Guide, Music Publishers, and Music Business Attorneys directories.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Music Business Registry publishes contact information directories for music industry professionals, including A&R executives, music publishers, film/TV music supervisors, and music business attorneys. Products are sold as one-time purchases in PDF, Excel/CSV, and printed formats, with continuously updated data verified through direct outreach.

Product overview

Music Business Registry is a contact directory publishing company that has operated for over 35 years, providing the most up-to-date contact information directories for music business professionals. The core product line consists of four main directories: the A&R Registry (continually updated contact directory for A&R executives at major and independent record labels), the Music Publishers Directory (major and independent music publishers), the Film & Television Music Guide (comprehensive music licensing contacts for film, TV, and video games), and the Music Business Attorneys Directory (music attorneys and legal affairs personnel). These directories are available in PDF, print, Excel/database, and online formats through MBLists.com. The company also offers supplementary streaming playlist directories including The Indie Spotify Bible (5,400+ playlists), The Indie YouTube Bible (3,500+ playlists), and The Apple Music Bible (3,500+ playlists), along with indie artist resources such as The Indie Bible 25th Edition. Additional products include the Music Blog Directory, Music PR Masterlist, The Essential Influencer Power List, and Music Industry Contracts Deluxe Edition. Physical products are shipped via USPS Priority Mail, while digital products are delivered via WeTransfer.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Score: Newsletter with curated news items of interest to the music business community.

Products and services

• A&R Registry

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Sheet Music Plus: Sheet Music Plus is a leading online retailer of music books and sheet music. Operates a comparable direct-to-consumer e-commerce model selling music-related books and reference materials to musicians, though focused on performance music rather than industry contacts.

Emerging players

• Songtradr: Songtradr operates a music licensing marketplace connecting artists with brands and supervisors — overlapping with Music Business Registry's Film & Television Music Guide value proposition but delivered through a transactional platform rather than directory publications.
• MusicBrainz: MusicBrainz is an open-source music encyclopedia maintaining structured data on artists, labels, and releases. Comparable as a music industry reference data project, but community-maintained and free rather than a paid directory service.

Direct peers

• AllMusic: AllMusic operates a comprehensive music industry reference database covering artists, albums, labels, and credits — directly analogous to Music Business Registry's curated reference data model, though focused on discographies rather than contact directories.
• Discogs: Discogs maintains a crowdsourced music database with label and contact information, serving a similar niche of music professionals and enthusiasts seeking verified industry data. Comparable as a music-specialized information/reference business.
• Music Reports Inc. Music Reports provides music rights, cue sheet, and industry contact data to licensees, broadcasters, and streaming platforms. Closest direct comparable as a music-industry contact and rights information services provider.

Broad incumbents

• TuneCore: TuneCore serves independent musicians and music industry professionals with distribution and industry data tools — comparable as an indie-artist resource platform, though focused on distribution rather than contacts.
• ASCAP: ASCAP is the largest US performing rights organization, maintaining comprehensive songwriter and publisher directories and licensing data — a broad incumbent operating adjacent contact-data infrastructure for the music industry.
• Hal Leonard: Hal Leonard is the world's largest print music publisher, distributing method books, sheet music, and educational music publications through retail channels — a larger incumbent in music-related book publishing with overlapping distribution and customer profiles.
• BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.): BMI is a performing rights organization maintaining extensive songwriter, publisher, and music industry contact data — a much larger incumbent serving similar music industry professionals with comparable reference information needs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/musicregistry
• Facebookfacebook.com/musicregistry
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/music-business-registry
• Instagraminstagram.com/musicbusinessregistry

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Music Business Registry