Customer Reviews

How I Make $100,000/year in the Music Business (Without a Record Label, Manager, or Booking Agent)

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

If you are new to the music business and haven't read any other books, then you might find something useful in this book. For the rest of you, there isn't anything new, and there certainly isn't any in-depth coverage of any topic.

You can read this entire book in just a few hours. Large type font in an already small book, lots of grammatical errors and missing words that weren't caught by a spell checker (no proof reading). It looks like this book was written in probably one weekend.

Some topics have barely one or two pages of information, which is not much at all considering the type size and spacing.

Yes, it's good to give you some basic ideas, but you are not going to find any type of game plan here or any detailed information.

Tim Sweeney's Guide To Releasing An Independent Record is much better as a practical step-by-step guide. Follow that one up with one of the Guerilla PR books. Then get "Confessions Of A Record Producer" to learn about all the stuff that the other books don't tell you about. If you are really ambitious and want to get very detailed about things, get Donald Passman's book as well.

Sorry Misters Hooper & Kennedy, but while the title of this book seems indeed quite alluring, you can hardly make 100K by following the vague and obvious advice given in this thin and outdated volume. I've been a struggling musician for about ten years and there's not alot here I wouldn't have figured out from my own common sense.

For a real, updated look at the business, I suggest you check out Bobby Borg's Musician's Handbook, or Justin Goldberg's The Ultimate Survival Guide to the NEW music Industry - Handbook for Hell - which is the best step by step program available ANYWHERE in the world independent music business stratgies. From what other musician's tell me, this book is just a lure into the world of a music marketing company that continually seeks more $ out of a very dry source -the unsigned, independent musician.

I own Moontower Management and represent an artist out of Orlando, FL named Jeff Coffey. Since my success depends upon looking at the Music Business as just that - purely a business, I decided to order David Hooper & Lee Kennedy's book titled How I Make $100,000/year in the Music Business (Without a Record Label, Manager, or Booking Agent). I have over 7 years professional experience in Business and Marketing with a successful track record and have implemented most of the strategies in this book, but this reading has advanced my skills in the music business incredibly.

Although it is written for the individual musician, I would recommend it as a must read for anyone serious in taking their career in music to the next level. It teaches you to step back from your current situation and look in from an outside view that will gain the favorable results you desire. No matter where you are in your career this book will guide you through those tough areas of the business and give you real life true stories from artists like yourself. Use this information and strategy to do what you love for the rest of your life...play your music...and get paid well for doing it.

I gave this book 3 stars because it does contain some genuinely good nuggets advice--though much of it seems only appropriate to certain types of bands, i.e. cover bands, bar bands.

I bought this book hoping to find strategies for my band, which is generating some buzz, getting press, and landing good gigs in NY and Philadelphia. From the title, I was hoping for a detailed account of how the author does it, but instead I got a lot of generalities and marketing for beginners.

What really got me mad though was the high price-tag. While the cover may look professional, from the inside it's plain to see that this is a low-budget book produced by a no-name publisher. The type is large and the spaces are big, so the thickness is quite deceptive. The last chapter is just page after page of quotes from "industry" types, many of whom are from companies I've never heard of.

And the glowing reviews below? I wouldn't put it past the author to enlist friends, employees, etc. Not a bad intro, but not what it's cracked up to be.

I'm sure Hooper is a nice fellow & means well. If you are an absolute moron (like I was), then go ahead & read this fluff. This is hands down probably the worst example of an insightful work on this subject. It offers nothing but basic common sense, that only an idiot or absolute novice, would find useful about marketing & the music business. The intelligence level of this book is for a sixth grader. The book is double spaced & laced with idiocy & repetition to make it appear like it has any worthy content. The best thing about the book is the title & the front cover. That is where Hooper & company did well. It hooks a potential reader & reels them in like a fish so Hooper can participate in the free market system & fleece every penny of the inflated price of this croc of dribble. A great companion book to this would be "Tim Sweeny's Guide To Releasing Independent Records." These two books together repesent the apex of badly written, over priced worthless dribble. There is not one insightful point in either book. No wonder Hooper talks about making 100K a year in the business. It's all those book orders he's getting from the neophyte & well intentioned masses that would like to learn more about the daunting aspects of the music industry. Don't waste you time & money.

Buy it. This is a very practical book about the reality and truth of making it as an independent musician. Work through this book, apply what you learn from it and see if you don't start earning more money and taking yourself and your career more seriously.

All indie artists should have this book on their bookshelf as an outline of how to earn a living in their music career. There is basic music business knowledge here that is invaluable, opportunities and markets that you may not have thought of, practical tips on how to present yourself and your music to increase your bookings, your CD and merchandise sales, website traffic and publishing deals. Great ideas and advice about promotion, designing your press kit and website, how to make your own video, playing live, getting air play and press, the reality of touring, how to build relationships in the business, using direct mail and fanbase mailing lists and getting corporate sponsorship. Also a great section with A&R staff, music publishing companies and Film/TV supervisors speaking out about what gets their attention and what they are looking for.

This book is a good start to taking your music career to the next level of success. Buy it, read it, apply it and don't look back. You'll be on your way to a good living in this business of music before you know it. I highly recommend it.

This book is packed with a vast amount of knowledge that will help any serious independent artist, booking agent or manager hit the streets running on a solid foundation. Every chapter has many useful do's and don'ts based on the real world experience of the authors. There's also a bonus articles section with tips from many other music professionals that taught me how to generate over 2,000 song plays (which you now get paid for) at mp3.com within a two month period!

How I Make $100,000/year in the Music Business (Without a Record Label, Manager, or Booking Agent) by David Hooper, Lee Kennedy made me re-think the way I have been developing the business plan for my next album. It provides me with sound advice from the expert authors along with a plethora of resources to access contained in this 190 page book! It's a reference well worth the small amount of purchase which you will get back if you use the information contained within.

This book is bogus. It should be called "How to Get Small Time Gigs for the Complete Idiot". But if it were from the Idiot's series, it would be better written. Another soar point for me was that it was written by two guys from Nashville. I've been in music for fifteen years and even lived in Nashville for a few of those years. What I learned is that the "music business" mainly exists (on a corporate level) in LA and NYC, while Nashville is where the *country* music business exists in its own little bubble. The authors of this book fully embrace the old Nashville attitude of "sure! I'll take that gig in the Burger King parking lot if it pays $50! Golly gee!". If you are looking to make a *mediocre* living playing in clubs and at weddings, AND you have NO natural sense of business: A) Keep your day job, and B)Buy this book, but make sure you read it within 30 days so you can return it if you hate it as much as I do.

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? It's amazing! I was totally lost with my music business plan and I had no idea. I got this together with the Music Business Goal Planner and things are now happening for me quicker than I ever imagined that they would. This book has helped me to see that I was going about making a living in music the wrong way. I am ordering a copy for everybody in my band!!

Easy to read, entertaining, and full of good advice for the independent musician who wants to make more money making music. What more could you ask for? I have been waiting years to read a book like this. I especially liked the part about how to promote your music online. I have seen David Hooper all over the Internet and now I know why. He knows what he is talking about!!