Become a Pro Musician
CourseMusic BusinessContemporaryIntermediate
Part ofMusic Business

Become a Pro Musician

$13/month

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Duration2h 33m
Modules40
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (2h 33m)

About this course

The modern music business has more routes than ever. You no longer need the traditional gatekeepers to build a successful career - but the business has also never been more complicated or fast-moving.

This course brings together artists who built their own careers - Katie Melua, Imogen Heap, Ed O'Brien (Radiohead), Jeremy Pritchard (Everything Everything) and Sandie Shaw - alongside the managers, producers and label people they work with. They cover the things they wish they'd known starting out: shaping an artistic vision, building and looking after a following, and working with producers, labels and venues.

It is a candid look at the working life behind the songs, useful whether you are releasing your own music or just want to understand how the industry really runs.

Who it's for

  • Gigging musicians ready to treat music as a career
  • Self-releasing artists figuring out the business side
  • Returning players rebuilding a path in a changed industry

What you'll learn

  • Shape an artistic vision you can actually pitch
  • Book your first tours and grow local audiences
  • Build a team and work well with producers

What you'll need

  • An active music project or one in planning
  • Curiosity about the business behind the songs
  • A few minutes most days to watch and reflect

Meet the Guru

Katie Melua

Katie Melua

Katie Melua is one of the UK's most successful recording artists, with more than 11 million albums sold worldwide and a string of multi-platinum releases. Born Ketevan Melua in Kutaisi, Georgia, in 1984, she moved with her family to Belfast as a child and later studied at the BRIT School in London, where she was discovered by songwriter and producer Mike Batt.

Her debut album 'Call Off the Search' (2003), released when she was 19, spent six weeks at No. 1 in the UK and went six-times platinum, driven by the hit single 'The Closest Thing to Crazy'. Its follow-up 'Piece by Piece' (2005) topped charts across Europe and featured her signature song 'Nine Million Bicycles'. In 2006 she earned a place in the Guinness World Records book by playing the deepest underwater concert ever staged, 303 metres below sea level on a North Sea gas platform.

A remarkable run of top-ten albums followed — 'Pictures' (2007), the William Orbit-produced 'The House' (2010), 'Secret Symphony' (2012) and 'Ketevan' (2013) — as Melua refined a sound that moves effortlessly between jazz, folk and classic pop songwriting. 'In Winter' (2016), recorded in Georgia with the Gori Women's Choir and produced by Melua herself, revealed a new depth to her artistry.

Her recent work is her most personal: 'Album No. 8' (2020) and 'Love & Money' (2023) drew some of the strongest reviews of her career, and 'Live at the Royal Albert Hall' (2024) celebrated two decades at the top of British music. She remains a captivating live performer, touring extensively across Europe and beyond.

Meet the Guru

Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien is the guitarist and backing vocalist of Radiohead — one of the most influential bands in modern music — and a founding director of the Featured Artists Coalition, the UK body that champions the rights of recording artists.

Born in Oxford in 1968, he formed the band that would become Radiohead with his schoolmates in 1985. Across nine studio albums, from 'The Bends' and the epochal 'OK Computer' to the electronic reinventions of 'Kid A' and beyond, O'Brien's atmospheric, textural guitar work became a cornerstone of the band's sound — favouring colour, space and effects over conventional riffing. Radiohead have sold tens of millions of records and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, and Fender honoured his sonic signature with the EOB Sustainer Stratocaster.

In 2020 he stepped out on his own with 'Earth', recorded as EOB with producer Flood — a debut shaped by his time living in Brazil, weaving folk, electronica and indie rock into widescreen songs. Following Radiohead's 2025 European tour, their first live shows in seven years, he released his second solo album, 'Blue Morpho' (2026), under his own name.

Away from the stage, O'Brien has long been one of music's most active advocates for artists: he helped launch the Featured Artists Coalition in 2009 and remains a prominent voice on fair pay, artists' rights and the realities of building a sustainable career in music.

Meet the Guru

Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap is a Grammy-winning English singer, songwriter, producer and technologist whose influence runs through two decades of pop, electronic and film music — and through much of the technology modern artists now take for granted.

Born in London in 1977 and classically trained on piano, cello and clarinet, she released her debut album 'iMegaphone' in 1998 before forming the duo Frou Frou with producer Guy Sigsworth, whose song 'Let Go' reached a global audience through the film Garden State. Her self-written, self-produced album 'Speak for Yourself' (2005) delivered 'Hide and Seek', the a cappella landmark that later powered Jason Derulo's chart-topping 'Whatcha Say' and Ariana Grande's 'Goodnight n Go', and continues to find new generations of listeners.

'Ellipse' (2009) won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical — recorded and engineered in her own home studio — and she went on to co-write and produce 'Clean' on Taylor Swift's Album of the Year-winning '1989'. She also composed the score for the stage play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'.

A relentless innovator, Heap developed the MI.MU gestural gloves — recognised with three honorary doctorates — and founded Mycelia and The Creative Passport, initiatives building a fairer data ecosystem for artists. In 2024 she returned with 'What Have You Done to Me?', created with her AI vocal alter ego Mogen, while a viral resurgence of 'Headlock' brought her music to millions of new fans.

Published with

Featured Artist Coalition

The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) was founded in 2009 to support, promote and protect the artist community in the music industry. A featured artist is a named artist on a recording - whether a solo artist or a member of a band - one of the recorded artists who do the deals and are credited on the record. They are often the writers of the songs they perform, and as independents they manage a range of skills from production to songwriting and promotion.

The FAC nurtures a community of artists and provides support, advice and education to empower artist entrepreneurs in the ever-evolving music industry. That includes running workshops, mentoring and networking sessions for members, as well as developing, informing and defending artists at every stage of their careers.

The FAC also raises artists' voices and concerns with trade, national and international policy makers and legislators, making sure artists are represented in the decisions that shape the music business.

The FAC board includes: Imogen Heap (CEO), Annie Lennox, Ed O'Brien (Radiohead), Fran Healy (Travis), Hal Ritson (The Young Punx), Howard Jones, Jeremy Pritchard (Everything Everything), Kate Nash, Katie Melua, Lucy Pullin, Master Shortie, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Paul Pacifico (Pacifico Blues), Roxanne de Bastion, Rumer, Sam Lee, Sandie Shaw.

As music and technology evolve, the FAC considers emerging forms of creative expression and new, innovative ways for artists to earn a living from what they do. The FAC works positively with the technology sector to stand up for the artist's position while identifying solutions and opportunities to enhance the options available to artists.

Featured Artist Coalition

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