Customer Reviews

All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Seventh Edition

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Speaking as a music business consultant, if I had to recommend only one music business book for someone who wanted to break into the music industry, this would be it. Donald S. Passman's All You Need to Know About the Music Business is one of what I refer to as the Holy Trinity of music business books, along with This Business of Music and Mark Halloran's Musician's Business and Legal Guide.

Passman is well respected within the industry, with musicians and music industry executives alike. He explains complex concepts and legal terms well and is adept at breaking down the complexities while maintaining terminology music industry professionals need to know.

While This Business of Music remains the comprehensive music industry Bible, its legalese can intimidate those new music business concepts or those who are unfamiliar with contract language. Therefore, Passman's All You Need to Know About the Music Business serves as a great starting point to the concepts and terminology of the music industry. I especially recommend it as a prerequisite to This Business of Music.

This was a great book, and I would be outright wrong if I said it didn't provide a comprehensive overview of the music industry. The author does a great job keeping the reader intersted with humor and easy to understand examples.

The only thing I will caution is that it focuses MUCH on the recording industry and how they could mess you over and all of the contracts etc...but not enough on starting your own buisiness and small independant label. This book is great for those of you lucky enough to be at the point with big time label and publisher recognition, but not so much for us indie artist's wanting to start our own LLC or Sole Proprietorship. There are other books out there if the latter is what your looking for that would better serve you and hopefully when I get signed I'll be able to reach again for this book.

Overal great book, but in my case I wouldn't be writing this review since I just recently ordered "Music Law" which I'm hoping will go into more detail of where this book left off with the actual side of running your own buisiness/partnership.

Happy reading, regardless it's good that your reading any music law book since it's a little sad how nasty the recording industry is. Don't get too caught up in this stuff and don't forget to get down in the basement and write a couple of good songs if your a musician!

An incredible thorough explanation of all sides of the music business. You will find some info incredibly fascinating, other pages you won't want to look at, but the author does a tremendous job of allowing the reader to move from section to section without losing continuity or flow.

A great pickup if you are interested in learning more about the music industry as a potential career path. I interviewed with a finance guy at Warner Music Group, and he said this was "The Bible" of the music industry; I see his point now.

As a student taking a music business bachelors program, I can tell you that this book is like a road map for making your way through the music industry without getting caught in the spiders web of lies, deceit, and backhanded or cut-throat deals.

Whether your a musician trying to get a Good record deal or someone who wants to make a career in the music field, Donald Passman's book reveals secrets and truths that could cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to find out from industry professionals. The most astonishing thing is that and It really is easy to read and understand (not like a text book, but like a novel you can't stop reading). I'm telling you the truth when I say that this book is worth its weight in gold! If you really want to get into the music business, then you shouldn't hesitate in dropping 25 bucks to get "All You Need to Know About The Music Business!"

I started my foray into the music industry, as an executive producer, with the sixth edition of this book as my primary source of education on the business of music. The book was thoroughly informative and comprehensive -- so good that I also bought this seventh edition when it became available.

Just as important, the book is an entertaining read. No matter how informative a book may be, if it's a chore to read it will be difficult to absorb the information. This book is fun to read.

Also, a lot of the information in the book is backed with historical anecdotes that help illustrate the lessons; in several cases, the author describes a provision that frequently appears in music contracts, and then tells a story about the legal mess that had led labels to add such a provision, in hopes of avoiding a similar mess in the future.

The author does a good job of indicating whether a given chapter or section is important for different sorts of readers. (For example, performers who write all their own stuff don't need to study licensing of covers, and an all-covers band wouldn't need to read song-writer sections.) Some sections are even marked as being strictly of historical interest, but those are usually interesting enough to read anyway.

About the only shortcoming I can think of is that it's focused so strongly on rock, pop, and rap acts (with a brief section on classical music) that jazz (and probably other genres such as country, folk, elevator music, and more) are somewhat shortchanged. That's not enough of a limitation to knock off even one star in the rating.

Another small complaint -- for me as someone who read the sixth edition and then bought the seventh -- is that there's not an index of material new to the latest edition. But the author's web site includes a summary, which is a useful guide to readers who want to update to the latest edition.

Don't make a move in the music business until you read this book. This truly is filled with the best information you are going to find on the business. It is up to date, and concise. You would spend thousands of dollars with a music lawyer, and still not get the amount of knowledge contained in it's pages. I am a music publisher and recording artist; I have been for years, and I can say that based on my experiences in the business, this is the best info you are going to find in one book. Buy it before you wade out into the shark infested waters of the music business. It's your life vest.

Donald Passman writes in a humorous, friendly manner -- he's efficient in his use of space... meaning, you don't get a lot of pre-text and unneeded 'fluff' -- he gets right down to the subject. and if you take time to read the book's introduction, you will learn how to whiz through the book. he's a brilliant professional -- it's apparent, and his love of music and story-telling style makes it even easier for those that are not fans of 'business' books like musicians (:)to actually learn and enjoy the process. Thanks so much ATTY Passman for taking the time to share this knowledge!

I bought this book to get legal advice and copyright information that included international issues regarding publishing a manuscript and ebooks. I found this book to be phenomenally helpful. It seems to be a university course crammed into one volume. I highly recommend everyone in the music industry to have a copy of "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" but be sure to get the newest edition. I also suggest everyone who has any kind of need to know regarding sales of copyrighted material to get this book. Thank you, Donald Passman, for sharing with the public literally everything imaginable that affects an artist and the decisions that an artist never realized would be faced sooner or later, even before ones career takes off whether the artist is a musician, songwriter or a writer.

As owner of my own management / consulting business (KBH Entertainment) and Executive Producer and Co-founder of the Hollywood Music In Media Awards, I am a long time reader of Donald Passman's Music Business book series. Of course, the business changes and morphs almost daily, but many of the basic principals remain the same. I started reading Passman's book in 1994 and have kept up with the new editions. Over my 30 year span in the business working with the independent artist community, a good portion of my knowledge came from this book. I recommend anyone wanting to delve into this business...read this book!

Brent Harvey
Executive Producer / Co-Founder
Hollywood Music In Media Awards & Conference

This book is required reading for anyone who wants to work in the music industry. It's not quite as current as one would like, but that's a hopeless battle since everything is changing so quickly. Passman explains very complex contract language in simple to understand and easy to read format. Do yourself a favor, especially if you want to work as a musician, read this book.