Legal Law

Music Business Books: The Top 2 Options for the Serious Musician

If you are a musician concerned with making money in your chosen field, you know that you need to educate yourself about the music business. Of all the great music business books I’ve seen, two stand out as ideal for the musician ready to do a serious study of the music industry.

donald passman Everything you need to know about the music industry It’s a great choice for the performer; In addition to delving into the nitty-gritty of copyrights, royalties, and record contracts, he guides musicians through the critical process of choosing lawyers, managers, accountants, and other professional managers. The great strength of this dense book is in its detail; Mr. Passman takes common music business terms and explains what they are and how they affect artists. Mr. Passman’s darkly humorous explanations and take-back illustrations – the practice of record companies charging all album expenses against artists’ royalties – are excellent examples of the information musicians need, presented in an easy-to-use way. to digest.

by eric bell Making Music Earn Money it is geared more towards songwriters, particularly in the field of pop, urban, rock and adult contemporary music. Mr. Beall’s book guides you, also with a touch of humor, more irreverent than grim, through the process of getting music from your desk through the Copyright Office, music industry executives, the details from standard record deals, to the release party, in record stores, advertising, movies, and money in your bank account. Mr. Beall’s anecdote-rich explanations and instructions on the art of “connecting songs,” that is, getting his song to people who can use it, are worth the price of the book. So are the lights it sheds on the work of musicians who decide to share editorial work more closely with their publishers (that’s called co-publishing) or handle all the publishing themselves (that’s called self-publishing).

Musicians hoping to have a profitable career should consider purchasing the two books above. Together they offer a complete vision of what awaits musicians in the music business. The first book gives artists great details about what they will face and the equipment they can build to help and protect them. The second book gives songwriters the knowledge they need to get their music off their desks and make real money. Don’t think of these books as the end of your study, and don’t treat them as a quick or casual reading assignment. If you need information at a glance, it won’t be quite right either. On the other hand, the music business is a complicated beast; The time you spend with these two books will pay off throughout your career.

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