The Manager & Label

Looking after other people’s releases as well as your own? The release information lives in a group chat, the metadata gets typed at midnight, and the moment you're doing this for more than one artist the notes-app approach stops being charming.

What you're buying

• Real spreadsheet formulas. Change one number and the rest answers back.
• A worked example, filled in end to end. You see how a real campaign runs before you touch a cell, so you never start from a blank page. Click through it here before you buy; it opens view-only.
• One purchase covers you and your team. Copy it per campaign and per artist.

The seven release-ops tabs you don't get in The Artist

• Label Roster. One list the whole team reads from.
• Release Catalogue. Everything else keys off this.
• Track Metadata. Writer splits, ISRC and AI disclosure. A misspelled artist name splits a streaming profile; this is where that never happens.
• Release Assets. What exists, what's missing, who's making it.
• Distributor One-Pager. Type a catalogue number and the top half fills itself. Export it and the distributor has what it asked for, weeks early.
• Release Registrations. Six ticks per release: ISRC, PRO, distributor, The MLC, SoundExchange, copyright. Blank boxes there are usually royalties accruing to nobody.
• Label P&L. Every artist on the roster, twelve months each, and the label's own bottom line once they're added up.

What comes with every edition

The planning spine, plus the money at project level, meaning per-show economics, streaming and ad maths rather than your books: a One-Page Plan that sets the campaign, a 12-Month Planner, the Content Planner with A-B-C storylines, an Ad Budget with floors and a per-city calculator, the Calculators, a Pitch Tracker with lead times, the Gig P&L, the Grants pathway, a Fan Funnel, and Decision Guides that hand back a verdict once you feed them your numbers.

The step up from The Artist buys those seven tabs and nothing else; everything under them is the same file. This is also the manager and label edition, with the roster layer built in.

Is this you yet

Worth it the moment you're handling releases for anyone other than yourself. If it's only your own music, save the difference and take The Artist. If you also program, book or route live, The Lot has the live files too.

Already have a distributor and a calendar? Then this takes over the two things that live in a chat thread: the release facts everyone keeps asking you to re-send, and the one-pager every partner wants, which builds itself from a catalogue number. It leaves your calendar and your books alone; those aren't what it's for.

The details

• Market packs for the UK, US, Canada, Europe, NZ and Australia. The structures work anywhere; the dollar figures are cells you edit.
• Will you use it? It's built for the first twenty minutes. Open it, fill in the light grey cells on four tabs, then look up. Every file comes with a worked example filled in end to end, so you're never starting from a blank page.

Questions people ask

I only manage one artist. Still worth it?
Yes, the release-ops tabs earn their keep at one artist; a misspelled name or a missing ISRC costs the same whether you look after one act or ten. If it's only your own music, save the difference and take The Artist.

Isn't this just a template?
A template is blank and passive. This carries a worked example and a sample project, so you see normal numbers before you type your own, and the notes explain why each one matters.

Do I need to be a marketer?
No. The writing is plain English and it teaches the few terms worth knowing as you go. Every tab has hover notes written for someone with no marketing background.

Is it a course?
No. Nothing to complete, no modules, no videos to get through. A course teaches you things; this does the work with you.

A spreadsheet, in 2026?
A spreadsheet, on purpose. The maths has to run itself, and a database that looks nice can't do that. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, and the first open takes a moment while the formulas compute.

Do I need a Google account?
For Google Sheets, yes, and a free one does it. If you'd rather use Excel or Numbers, download the folder from your downloads page and open the file there.

I'm not in Australia. Does it work in my currency?
Yes. Every dollar figure is a cell you can change, and the market packs cover the US, UK, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Can my band or team share it?
Yes. One purchase covers you and your team, so copy it for each campaign and each artist.

I'm Caitlin :) In Cahoots is my marketing practice for festivals, venues, labels and independent artists, these files are that work written down so you can run it yourself, and the hover notes on every tab say what I'd say if we were on a call.