The Music Business : Career Opportunities and Self-Defense

Rating:
Summary: Well worth my time
Review: The first book I ever bought on Amazon, I decided to order this after seeing it in my high school library in 97 or 98. It struck me as something that could be very useful in the future, as amateur a musician as I was. It then sat on my shelf, even though it got abused traveling everywhere I lived since then, until just last week. The pages were yellowed - and it was already an outdated edition - by the time I opened it up. I thought I was bad at staying committed to any book, but I'm already more engrossed in it than I've been to anything in years.

This book explains the music industry from top to bottom, so as a new band member I understand where every person in the business is coming from. The system seems huge, intimidating, and unrelenting, but at least I can get an idea of how the pieces work. I can't imagine how anyone could have a career in music (performing, especially) and not read a book like this one. Anybody who sets out without the prior background work is doomed to failure. (Even luck doesn't last.) It's obvious that every chapter itself is a simplified summary, and probably a book could be written on each, but the moderately bite-sized pieces are what I can handle. As it is, I'm only on page 88 right now, but I can't wait to pick it up and read the next chapter.

And when I'm all done, I can head over to the library and read everything revised in the new edition. Then I'll have my jump-start!