Customer Reviews

Garage Band Cookbook: Business Start-Up Guide

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My friends and I are just starting a band. My high school band director had heard about this book and recommended it to me. I got hold of a copy and shared it with the members of the group.

The book has helped us focus our efforts in regards to the business side of the music business. We had no idea that there was so much involved! We downloaded the sample business plan from the free Web site that goes with the book. My dad helped us, too. Now we have a business plan with goals of our own. It makes our group so much more organized. There is information about lawyers, managers and agents. There is also tips about equipment and sound systems.

I showed the book to a beginning music teacher at school and she is thinking of using this book for a class.

Therefore, we recommend this book to people (and bands) like us.

After a quick breeze through of the contents this turned out to be a business "how-to" book with a few chapters about music at the end. The business portion was simple no-brainer material, and the music section wasn't linked in to the business end at, but just examined elements of gigging and gear. If you are looking for a rock-business guide I suggest: Managing Your Band by Dr. Stephan Marcone, All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald S. Passman, The Indie Band Survival Guide by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, and JAM! by Jeff Carlisi and Dan Lipson. JAM! is not a straight-ahead business book, but one of the better reads I've found in a while.

Written by music industry veteran Dan Titus (who draws upon his years of experience as a musician, DJ, producer, and writer), the Garage Band Cookbook: Business Start-Up Guide is a definitive, step-by-step, do-it-yourself, "how-to" manual for establishing a band as a successful commercial venture. The president of the business media-publishing firm Venture Marketing, Dan Titus shows how to start a "for profit" company; provides a business start-up checklist; explains how to finance a commercial venture in music; explains sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, partnerships, and corporations; shows how to write a business plan (a sample plan is included as a template); demonstrates how to write a marketing plan (including the use of publicity); explains how to select a lawyer, an agent, and an accountant; as well as providing invaluable information on insurance and government permits. Garage Band Cookbook is enhanced with a tandem website that includes PDF ebooks and free software downloads. If you are contemplating taking your band from amateur to professional status, give the Garage Band Cookbook a close and careful reading. Also very highly recommended are two other "how to" books by Dan Titus: DJ Cookbook: Business Start-Up Guide (1582911088, ...) and Video Cookbook: Business Start-Up Guide (158291-110X, ...).