It'd be helpful to enhance invoices by allowing for deposits without having to create a 'payment plan'.

Payment plans are great for invoices that require multiple regular installments before they are paid in full.

However, for commissioned products that only require one payment up-front to get the work started and then a final payment when the work in complete, a 'payment plan' is a bit incongruous.

Glory St. Germain is the Founder and CEO of Ultimate Music Theory, an award-winning music education company dedicated to helping teachers and students master music theory. An international bestselling author of over 60 books, including Teach Music, Change Lives, she also created the UMT Certification Course and UMTC Elite Educator Program, empowering music teachers to elevate their teaching, increase their income, and build six-figure studios. A three-time TEDx speaker and entrepreneur, Glory is passionate about building meaningful business relationships, fostering collaboration, and helping musicians turn their expertise into sustainable, profitable businesses.

In this episode, we discover how musicians can turn their passion into profit, diversify their income, and build a sustainable music business through strategic teaching, a growth mindset, and the power of community.

Key Takeaways

• Build new income streams from your musical expertise: Discover Glory's POW system—Problem, Offer, Win-Win—and learn how to turn your skills into valuable offers that serve your audience while increasing your earning potential.

• Grow your teaching business and increase your income: Explore how group teaching, strategic pricing, and creative education models can help you reach more students and build a thriving, six-figure teaching studio.

• Develop the mindset and community needed for long-term success: Learn how continuous growth, collaboration, supportive relationships, and embracing technology can help you overcome business challenges and create a lasting impact.

Learn more about Glory and her work at: ultimatemusictheory.com

The music industry is fighting over who controls the future.

Universal calls DistroKid an “AI slop pipeline.” Universal and Sony are suing Suno over its supposedly clean AI model. Meanwhile, session musicians are suing the labels themselves for a share of AI licensing revenue.

Everyone is fighting over ownership, distribution, and compensation—but where does that leave independent artists?

Michael Walker, Chris Saunders, Sol Gold, and guest artist Jason explore how AI is rewriting the rules of music, why Spotify is moving into artist development, and whether the next generation of gatekeepers will look suspiciously like the old ones.

Along the way, we ask:

• Is AI destroying the democratization of music distribution?

• Can an AI model ever be truly free of copyrighted training data?

• Is AI-generated music fundamentally different from human creativity?

• Is Spotify becoming the new record label?

• Who deserves to get paid when AI companies license music?

In this episode, we discuss Universal vs. DistroKid and the rise of AI-generated music, how AI could create new gatekeepers for independent artists, Suno’s $9 billion legal challenge from Universal and Sony, whether AI-generated training data can resolve copyright issues, the debate over AI creativity and human originality, Spotify’s Fresh Finds Forward artist development program, session musicians’ fight for a share of AI licensing revenue, Street Team’s announcement of free music distribution to 450+ stores for subscribers with AI disclosure requirements, and Samantha Dingle as this week’s Music Moment winner.

Key Takeaways

• New gatekeepers are emerging: AI is making music creation easier, but platforms increasingly control distribution, discovery, and monetization.

• Don't rely on one platform: Diversify your channels instead of depending entirely on a single service.

• Build direct fan relationships: Create a loyal community you can reach beyond streaming platforms.

• Understand your rights and revenue: Know how your music is used, who profits from it, and where your income comes from.

• Own the fan relationship: The real power lies not just in who owns the music industry, but in who controls the connection between artists and their fans.

Time for a weekly check-in!

What are your wins & gratitudes for the week?

Currently a fan can only purchase 1 item at a time from the community facing store front. It would be highly beneficial to allow a cart feature for multiple products.

Additionally, perhaps we can use this cart feature in the funnel setting instead of having the fan checkout multiple times, they could go from page to page adding to their cart, and then check out at the end - this might also give us the opportunity to deliver a discount for the final cart depending on the number of items the fan chose to purchase.