When a lawyer speaks, it’s a good idea to listen. Luckily this lawyer, Donald S. Passman, has a lot to say about what you care about: the music industry. He has worked in it for over 20 years.
All You Need to Know About the Music Business’s title may give the idea it is a road to success in the industry. It is not. This book does not tell you how to get a record deal or how to connect to a booking agent. What it does is give very specific information on how to survive financially in the business aspects of the music industry.
Do you need this book? Yes, if you want to get paid.
This book is not needed for everyone, but any band that wants to make money should buy it. The book lays out a foundation for bands to advance in the music industry with the most beneficial chapters about label and management contracts.
If a band is about to sign its first contract with a personal agent or a small recording contract, this book is a vital tool. Bands can quickly find themselves in a hole when they get little profit and lose control of their music.
The first person in the band to read this book needs to be the acting personal manager. And, if you do not know what the difference is between a personal manager, a booking agent or a touring manager, read the first two chapters. The description of the players in the music industry will show bands how they overlap and who to go to for each step the band takes.
Picking the book up can seem overwhelming. It’s 441 pages long with a simple cover and nothing but long paragraphs. But guess what? Passman makes it easy for you with Fast Track and Advanced Overview.
The whole book can be read on a long road trip. For everyone else the book copies
the Choose Your Own Adventure format called Fast Track.
The Fast Track option cuts several hundred pages of as needed topics like licensing a Greatest Hits packages. And, for the severely short of patience is the Extremely Fast Track. This track is less than 60 pages of who’s who in the industry and how these people will try to take your money.
The book is soon to release its seventh edition, and tries to keep up with the changing industry. Yet, the book itself does not seem to be adapting to current styles and technology.
Technology wise the sixth edition of the book has not been released in a digital download for devices like the Kindle, but instead had been released as audiocassettes. Hopefully the seventh edition will have a digital download, so bands can read it anywhere they can bring their iPhones or e-readers not an old Walkman.
The book could also use a design upgrade. Information graphics explaining the more technical aspects of royalties or flow charts of how to set up a publishing company could make the reading easier for both understanding and for referencing.
Even if Passman’s publishers are not getting with the time, the book strength is its timelessness. Agents, lawyers and mangers make up most of the music industry, and this book is to help musicians navigate those that want to help and those that don’t.
Brett Lohmeyer is an editor for detone8.com and an online producer for the Globe-Democrat. Brett has worked in different aspects of the media industry for several years including The Montage, The St. Louis Beacon, The Webster-Kirkwood Times and SLPS Channel 20 in St. Louis, Mo.