The music industry has undergone significant changes, placing much more responsibility directly on the artist. Gone are the days of the carefree hippie lifestyle of the 60s, where many artists realized too late that being carefree often came at a financial cost. Today, running your career means running a business, and the era of just partying, playing shows, and hoping for the best is long gone.

Unfortunately, this shift has left many artists behind—those who fail to grasp the demands of the modern industry. Frankly, I’m exhausted from cleaning up after people who seem completely clueless. For instance, I’ve spent over three weeks chasing an artist just to get the master file of a song. Now, as the release date looms, I’m unsure if everything will come together in time. The artist insists they started sending materials a month ago—which is true—but they sent them in disjointed fragments: a photo one day, codes another, and songwriter details much later. All these elements need to be compiled seamlessly, and in today’s landscape, artists are expected to handle this themselves. Back in the day, the label would do it for you, but now, if you want to be paid, you need to get your act together and provide the right materials at the right time.

Just today, I received an email from someone complaining they hadn’t been paid for four albums and accusing us of charging their credit card. A quick investigation revealed we didn’t even have those albums—they had uploaded them to DistroKid instead. It’s maddening to waste time on issues like this. Honestly, if you don’t know which distributor you used, you shouldn’t be allowed to publish music at all.

Then there are the artists who can’t grasp basic processes. One recently sent an invoice for a grand total of €1, but to an email address we stopped using five years ago. For years, our system has prompted users to update their contact information, yet some still can’t follow simple instructions. On top of that, he sent the invoice at the last possible minute and then added a reminder fee that’s six times higher than the amount owed. When we asked him to resend the invoice to the correct email, he did—but still included the inflated fee.

It’s clear that individuals like this are not equipped to build sustainable careers. They struggle to function in a professional environment, let alone navigate the complexities of the modern music business. We’re wasting valuable time dealing with these issues. Perhaps it’s time to establish a system where only professionals are allowed to participate, and everyone else can stick to uploading their music on YouTube.