"How I Make $100,000/year in the Music Business (Without a Record Label, Manager, or Booking Agent)"
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OK, I admit my curiosity got the best of me for this month’s review. I’ve been seeing this book advertised everywhere for months and I wanted to get the scoop. The book has been updated just recently, but more on that later. David Hooper is a promoter and marketer of independent musicians and bands. He also started an indie community site in the mid-nineties that has a popular following. Lee Kennedy is an entertainer who performs throughout Northern California and Nevada and makes 100,000 each year performing and merchandising. The book is written in the first person as a composite of both men’s views. Kennedy lists himself as an entertainer, not just a musician, I got the impression from the book that he does a kind of acoustic act, has fronted for a couple of groups, and does some other solo stuff. Each chapter is called a section and most are brief. The book starts out with the standard "its a business" lecture that everyone has heard before. Section One has an interesting theory that the music isn’t important. What is most important is that an artist is able to bring in a crowd to a club, and that is all most owners are looking for. Unfortunately, I feel that this may be true more often than not. There are three more sections on press and promo kits, beginning and advanced. Peppered throughout the book are brief anecdotes and case studies by either Kennedy or Hooper. The next promo topic is something you don’t see emphasized enough, video promo. There are some very general tips on either making your own (probably not that good an idea), to using local public access outlets (a la UMTV) and getting professional video production. The next four sections cover live show options and how to pursue them. After that is a section on "Finding Hidden Work" that includes guidelines for weddings, travel and resort industry work, cruise ships, and college gigs. Other ways of creating income follow with tips on merchandising. Section Three dedicates more than a few paragraphs on your demo tape/CD. Here the authors discuss whether you should submit a tape and how you should consider investing in a CD burner. This book was updated in 2002; the thought occurred to me that this would be an excellent time to clean up some plentiful typos and change outdated references like this. After all, I’m probably one of the last people in America with a cassette player in my car, and I only use it to hook up to my MP3 player. Later I read an article at Artist Pro that I think may explain why there was an update. Some copyright infringement may have happened and the offending info had to be removed. However, the authors still could have used this opportunity to clean up and update the book. Sections continue on to discuss getting press, the Internet, with general advise on design and marketing. There are a couple of good sections on corporate sponsors and music conferences, two things that aren’t generally touched on in other books. Next to last is an address book of sorts that lists addresses for various segments of the industries, the list is kind of a hodgepodge of sources, some of which may be helpful. At the end of the book is a form for submission to Hooper’s "artist development organization." This book made me wonder why a guy who is a promoter would advise you not to use a promoter and then continue on to direct you to the services of a promoter (namely himself). Don’t get me wrong, this book is a good start if you haven’t read any books on the music business and some of the sections are on topics that aren’t’ usually touched upon. If I had a rating system I would give it two and a half stars on a five star scale. The Hooper sites are listed below for you to check out. His online development community is interesting, although not quite as informative as other sites that have sprung up over the past couple of years. Check it out for yourself. |
Book/Site Review