---
title: The Music Business Lexicon: an open CC-BY dataset
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/datasets/music-business-lexicon/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-12
---

> 30 music-industry terms with the mechanism, a worked example, what each is confused with and a primary source. Machine-readable JSON, CC-BY 4.0, commercial reuse permitted.

Released · v1 
 
# The Music Business Lexicon

 
14 terms from the recorded-music and publishing industries, each with the mechanism by which it moves money, a worked example, what it is commonly confused with, and a primary source. Machine-readable, openly licensed, and it is the same file the glossary pages are generated from.

 
 CC-BY 4.0 
 30 entries 
 Commercial use OK 
 as_of 2026-08-11 
 
 
Download lexicon.json Read it as pages

 
 

 
 This dataset is the source of truth, not an export of it. Every glossary page on this site is generated from this file, so the published pages and the open data cannot drift apart. If you find an error in one, it is an error in both, and fixing the file fixes both. 

 
## What is in each record

 
 - definition one sentence, written to stand alone if extracted out of context

 - mechanism what the term actually does to the flow of money

 - example a worked example, with arithmetic where arithmetic applies

 - confused_with the neighbouring terms and the precise difference

 - matters_because why a working artist should care

 - sources primary or authoritative, checked to resolve

 - aka other names the same concept is filed under, so a search in any dialect finds it

 

 
## Scope, and what it deliberately excludes

 
Mechanisms, not rates. Statutory and negotiated rates are jurisdiction- and period-specific, so this dataset teaches how a term works rather than quoting a figure that would be stale within a year.

 
## How to use it

 
Reuse is permitted including commercially. Attribute RapCanon and link back, and you are done, with no permission request necessary. Build a tool on it, embed it, translate it, correct it. Coverage spans credits, economics, ownership.

 
## Corrections

 
Errors are fixed in the dataset and the version is incremented, so a correction propagates to every page in one step. If you find one, that is a contribution rather than a complaint.

 
Data by RapCanon. Free to reuse, including commercially, with attribution and a link back. Method standard: how we source.

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). The Music Business Lexicon: an open CC-BY dataset. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/datasets/music-business-lexicon/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-datasets-music-business-lexicon,
  title  = {The Music Business Lexicon: an open CC-BY dataset},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/datasets/music-business-lexicon/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-12}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=The Music Business Lexicon: an open CC-BY dataset |url=https://rapcanon.com/datasets/music-business-lexicon/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-12}}
```

Licensed CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.
Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/datasets/music-business-lexicon/