The Indie Band Survival Guide
February 25, 2007 6:34 PM Subscribe
The Indie Band Survival Guide: A fantastic, free, 101 pages collection of useful information for musicians - covers topics such as recording, copyright, major label contracts, commercial radio, promoting your music, band websites, distribution, filesharing and live shows.
Great link, thanks!
posted by wheelieman at 7:35 PM on February 25, 2007
posted by wheelieman at 7:35 PM on February 25, 2007
Cool link. I'm in school for audio engineering, and the types of issues covered there are only taught for about a week near the end of the term, with the emphasis being on the technical aspects of making it in the biz. However, there is one textbook that I find absolutely amazing: All You Need to Know about the Music Business by Donald Passman. It's really phenomenal.
posted by lazaruslong at 8:04 PM on February 25, 2007
posted by lazaruslong at 8:04 PM on February 25, 2007
I've seen this site before. It's a pretty excellent resource. I'd also second the recommendation for the book lazaruslong links to.
posted by sparkletone at 1:17 AM on February 26, 2007
posted by sparkletone at 1:17 AM on February 26, 2007
lazaruslong and sparkletone, your recommendations sound very sincere, and my interest is piqued. Could you elaborate a bit on what makes this a great book in your opinion? Is it also pertinent to a) the indie scene and b) non-US situations?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:37 AM on February 26, 2007
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:37 AM on February 26, 2007
It covers practically every issue that comes up on The Money Side Of Things. Up front: I've not read the whole thing cover to cover (yet).
The thing I most appreciate: Everything's explained in a clear, friendly writing style. It's not dry reading at all.
From my flipping around, he does seem to do a good job taking into consideration the different levels one can be operating at in terms of size (ie: he gives just as much attention to the concerns of bands just starting out as he does to bands who are going to be playing big venues on a big tour).
I'd say, yes, it's pertinent to indie bands as well. The information covered is general enough that I've never felt like it's super-specific to the major label way of doing things.
I'm not sure how much in it is applicable to non-US situations. In particular, I've not had a chance to more than skim the copyright sections of the book and I'm not sure how well that sort of thing covers non-US copyrights.
It's basically an extremely well-put-together book of advice from a guy with many years spent on the business side of things, and with many years of experience at explaining this stuff to us dumb artists. I can't really say how much of the advice'd be applicable to your situation (certainly the section on motion picture-related stuff isn't something I'll be caring about at all for a while). I'd definitely give it a look though, even if you're not a USian.
Helpful, I hope?
posted by sparkletone at 12:59 PM on February 26, 2007 [1 favorite]
The thing I most appreciate: Everything's explained in a clear, friendly writing style. It's not dry reading at all.
From my flipping around, he does seem to do a good job taking into consideration the different levels one can be operating at in terms of size (ie: he gives just as much attention to the concerns of bands just starting out as he does to bands who are going to be playing big venues on a big tour).
I'd say, yes, it's pertinent to indie bands as well. The information covered is general enough that I've never felt like it's super-specific to the major label way of doing things.
I'm not sure how much in it is applicable to non-US situations. In particular, I've not had a chance to more than skim the copyright sections of the book and I'm not sure how well that sort of thing covers non-US copyrights.
It's basically an extremely well-put-together book of advice from a guy with many years spent on the business side of things, and with many years of experience at explaining this stuff to us dumb artists. I can't really say how much of the advice'd be applicable to your situation (certainly the section on motion picture-related stuff isn't something I'll be caring about at all for a while). I'd definitely give it a look though, even if you're not a USian.
Helpful, I hope?
posted by sparkletone at 12:59 PM on February 26, 2007 [1 favorite]
Helpful indeed. Thanks a bunch.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:40 PM on February 26, 2007
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:40 PM on February 26, 2007
The link seemed like it might be cool, but going through it I didn't find it too interesting. Some of the recording stuff especially is pretty goofy.
posted by ludwig_van at 4:57 PM on February 26, 2007
posted by ludwig_van at 4:57 PM on February 26, 2007
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We found, when we started out years ago, that there weren’t enough bands that shared what they'd learned. The information that we found useful was scattered in different magazines, books, and all over the Internet. After doing all of that research, and going through the inevitable issues that a band faces, we decided to write about what goes on behind the scenes, and collect it in one place."
posted by Ira.metafilter at 6:39 PM on February 25, 2007