Well friends, as the summer comes to a close, I thought it’d be fun to post a final recap of each book covered in our weekly Summer Reading posts. While Summer Reading might be over, it certainly doesn’t mean we’ll stop writing. Send us your suggestions if you ever come across a book you feel your fellow musicians might want to know about. Tweet at us @sonicbids or feel free to email me directly!
Without further ado:
All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Seventh Edition
Now in it’s 7th addition, Donald Passman has created what many consider to be “the industry bible.” There’s a reason why we started off the series with this book. Covering everything from recording, publishing, merchandising, copyright, management, to digital media, All You Need To Know About The Music Business hits just about every aspect of the music industry. Simply put, it’s the what’s what of the music industry.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition
This book explores the awesome power music has on the brain. The author, Oliver Sacks, is a Neuroscientist who went looking for the answer as to why certain songs get stuck in our head, or how brain trauma can have a dramatic affect on how we perceive music. One example is of a middle-aged surgeon who had no notable interest in music, but after getting struck by lighting became obsessed with piano and even went on to play and compose his own pieces. As musicians, we often get caught up in our own musical success and sometimes forget why we even chose music as a lifestyle or even a career choice. Musicophilia helps us understand exactly what’s happening in our brains causing us to make these decisions.
So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful Of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer's Life
In this memoir, Jacob Slichter, recounts his experiences going from a Friday night bar band to selling out stadiums and festivals in the ‘90’s hit band, Semisonic (yeah, you remember this song). His writing is witty and honest, making it an easy read and something you don’t want to put down. Along the way, he describes with brilliant detail, the process of getting picked up (and dropped) by a major label, the corrupt business of radio, how nothing is actually free, and what it’s like to play in front of 100,000 screaming fans all singing along to lyrics you wrote. Slichter’s book is the best artist memoir I’ve read to date to learn about the realistic inner-workings of the music industry.
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World
David Kirkpatrick may not have written this with a musician audience in mind, but it’s still important to understand the digital era we all live in – whether we like it or not. Lets face it, starting a band really isn’t much different than a startup. And like a startup, bands need to find the right people to work with, create something cool and figure out how to get people to pay attention to it. In almost all cases, the examples used in The Facebook Effect can be applied to artists to help make your career more successful.
Futurehit.DNA
In Futurehit.DNA, Jay Frank provides 15 rules artists should abide by when trying to make a hit song. These rules take into account not just industry trends, but the ever-changing consumer market. How often do you listen to a song and immediately hate it within the first few seconds? We all experience this but don’t want anyone to feel that way about our songs. Frank uses technological changes in the industry to explain why this is and how to avoid it. Whether you’re trying to make a commercial hit, or just widen your fan base, Futurehit.DNA introduces important rules you might want to pay attention to.
Eating the Dinosaur
Not every book in this list is an industry guide to success. Some are for pure pleasure and entertainment, which is exactly what Eating the Dinosaur is. In this book, Chuck Klosterman explores the greater picture in American pop culture. Each chapter tends to be a philosophical prompt revolving around music or pop culture, and is completely unrelated to the last. Music lover or not, it’s an entertaining read that’ll have you laughing most of the way through. Was there really a connection between Nirvana’s In Utero and the Branch Davidian Cult?
The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution (Berklee Press)
Wouldn’t it be cool if record execs actually worked hard to make music accessible to everyone rather than charging $.99 per song, or $15 per album! Pipe dream? -- Maybe not. David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard, make predictions and suggestions to what the future of music might and could look like. They introduce ideas of a Utopian society where the music industry is more like a modern day utility company, charging a premium for unlimited access to music. The key takeaway here is that change is inevitable and necessary. More importantly, there are options. People just need to be flexible and willing to look outside the box.
Artist Management for the Music Business, Second Edition
Whether you’re an aspiring manager or just manage your own band, managing an artist’s career is not something most people do well. Paul Allen uses real world examples from real artist managers to teach every thinkable aspect of how to successfully manage a band. Not only does each chapter go into unbelievable detail, but he also provides actual templates for recording contracts, band partnership agreements, and more. This book speaks to both managers and artists and is an absolute must for any artist trying to propel their career to that next level.