This Business Of Music

I'm cross-posting this from my personal MySpace blog. I posted it back in August and just thought it was worth posting here. Both are good books. Check 'em out. The links are good reads too.

I'm reading a book right now by Donald S. Passman titled "All You Need to Know About the Music Business". I've got another waiting called "This Business of Music". Both are highly regarded and contain essential information for navigating the murky water of the music industry.

It's somewhat disheartening to hear about how hard it is to make a living playing music. Of course, few of us do it for the money. However, money IS a means to an end and if your goal is to play music full-time, you need to get paid for it (or achieve some other level of financial independence). At the same time, it's encouraging to see things change. There are more options for independent musicians than ever before.

Here are few articles worth reading:

The Problem With Music - Steve Albini describes very well the trap a major label contract can be. This is a lesson in what not to get into. I hope this is the worst case and not truly the norm.
http://negativland.com/albini.html

Beck's New Album - He's always been an envelope pusher and he's still forging ahead, looking at new ways to sell his work.
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/beck.html

New Nettwork Management - Mavericks in the industry are starting to lead artists out of the old mold. Better returns!
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/nettwerk.html

There are some other links to the right of the Wired articles that will become active in a day or two. I've read these in the hardcopy and they're worth checking out.

Finish each day better than you were the day before.

G