Customer Reviews

Nashville's Unwritten Rules: Inside the Business of Country Music

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I was upset. I was even angry. With the author? No, with the business. As a New Jersey songwriter, I am an outsider. More like an outsider looking to displace a Nashville "insider". We all want music to be our livelihoods. But there are only so many musical chairs. We all know this. So why do books that remind us of this fact disturb us so much? If you are absolutely determined to do all that is necessary to be a part of the country music scene, then this book is an easy read. For those circling like vultures, keeping their distances, but not willing to dive full force into the fray, this book will shoot you down. It is extremely well written, jam-packed with critical info, and is a one-stop country history lesson. I have a brand new appreciation for the Nashville machine. I hated what I read. But I believed what I read. Suggestion: 1. Buy the book, 2. Take a sedative, 3. Read the book, and 4. Well, you'll decide what's next.

As a reality-check, this should be considered a must-read by any aspiring songwriter, musician or singer before embarking on the pitted road to Nashville. Through incredible insight, research and experience, Mr. Daley illuminates the good, the bad and the eccentricity of the business of country music. His engaging style captures the tone of the laid-back, but unique, methodologies of the movers and shakers of the Nashville Community.

Daley's book still doesn't get to the insider track of what the Nashville music business is all about - mainly because he has not lived the experience - by trying to make it on music row. Rather, he uses the self-reports of others to guide his words.

For example, the quote ``Thou shalt live in Nashville,'' which refers to the industry's disapproval of anyone daring to commute between the main hive and the outlands.

However, he fails to explain why so many of the new artists signed to Nashville labels have never spent one minute in Nashville - compared to how it use to be. In short, he failed to mention that it is 'financial' backers paving the way for new artists, who have 'nothing' to do with the music business in Nashville.