Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 464 pages
- Published by: Free Press
- Edition: 6th Edition November 14, 2006
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0743293185
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743293181
-
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
- Weighs: 1.4 pounds
From Library Journal
An entertainment lawyer whose clients include many from the top of the music charts, Passman has written a book that sets out to give musicians, performers, and songwriters the tools to hire advisers, market their careers, protect their creative works, and generally cope with a complex industry in a state of flux. Passman explains boilerplate language, the complexities of royalties and advances, and label and distribution deals; a section on record deals begins with an overview of the business and works through all the steps. The "Adventures in Cyberspace" chapter is a helpful summary of the way CD-ROMs and the Internet are affecting the business. Included here is information on recent legislation and a look at how digitizing music delivery will continue to change things. Packed with illustrations, sample calculations, and definitions, All You Need To Know is humorous and accessible enough for those who just want to understand the business while being detailed and documented enough for those who make a living from it.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Review
"Should be required reading for anyone planning or enduring a career in the biz."--
Rolling Stone"Any creative human being who's considering working in the music business should read this book."-- Jimmy Lovine, chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M Records
"I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the music business."-- David Geffen
"I've spent ten years trying to get Don to open up like this to me. Never has he been so eloquent, so patient, or so thorough. It cost me a fortune to get these diamonds from Don: Now you can have them. For your own. At a fraction of the cost."-- Tom Waits
"This man is so knowledgeable that it's difficult negotiating with him. The book is terrific and a must-read if you want to know how the music business works."-- Joe Smith, former president and CEO, Capitol Records/EMI Music, Inc.
"I almost hesitate to recommend Don's book -- it gives away more inside information than it should."-- Mo Ostin, chairman of the board, DreamWorks Records
"An entertaining and professionally written primer on the music business."-- Michael Eisner, former CEO, the Walt Disney Company
"I highly recommend Don's book to anyone who has ever been interested in the music business. His experience and insight into the inner workings of the music world make this an indispensable work."-- Quincy Jones
"If I'd had this book when I started, I'd be ten times richer and would have saved a fortune in legal fees."-- Ed Bicknell, manager, Dire Straits
Reader Reviews
This review is from: All You Need to Know About the Music Business (Hardcover)
Author Passman has created something of a journalistic feat: his book is an attorney's look at the mechanisms of the music industry-usually not a particularly fascinating subject-yet he's made it great fun to read. An LA-based music attorney since the seventies, Passman is boyishly enthusiastic about his subject, and says the book is an outgrowth of his professional need to explain the basic workings of the industry to his artist clients. Though he says he is not writing technically (as if for fellow attorneys), he has nevertheless included virtually all of the checkpoints, or "deal points," that come up in contract negotiations today. The point of view being marketed here is that it pays to be an informed artist or songwriter, even if you think you don't care that much about the business side. Passman's "blurbs," or endorsements, are almost overkill: the likes of artist Don Henley, producer Quincy Jones, and longtime Warner Communications Chairman Mo Ostin. In the light of all this prestige (even the publisher, Prentice Hall, is an old-guard New York house), I couldn't believe that beneath Joe Smith's back- cover endorsement, Capitol-EMI, of which Smith was chair, was misspelled as "Capital." Minor flaw, all things considered, and happily not a predictor of sloppy work inside. Passman is an excellent choice for either personal learning or university-level classroom study. On first hearing, the title seems a bit arrogant, but Passman just about does cover it all. The 1994 second edition is virtually identical to the first, except for a welcome expansion of the opening "First Steps" section, and a detailed explanation of legislation the entire music industry lobbied long and hard to achieve: the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (the "home taping" legislation). Passman explains the projected flow of revenues from this act back into the music industry: one third to songwriters and publishers, and two thirds to record companies. Among the nineties books on the business of the music industry, this is one of the very best. Ron Simpson, School of Music, Brigham Young University. Author of MASTERING THE MUSIC BUSINESS.
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