$30 Music School [With CD]

The title of this book caught my eye and I bought it after reading 1 page. It is well written and informative without being dry. Along with the practical advice given on purchasing gear, dealing with bandmembers, club owners, recording and other facets of getting your music heard, integrity and win/win situations are stressed throughout it. I have already applied some of the info presented and have undergone some major attitude adjustments (positive ones) toward my music and my musical goals. Although there is a lot of humor and an easygoing style about this book, it is very serious in its focus on how to get your music out there. Anybody who wants to pursue music further than garage band status should read this book. People who want to be big rock stars would benefit from $30 Music School, too, as it may prove to be a reality check for them.

Michael W. Dean's $30 Music School is the best book on this subject I've encountered. Mr. Dean (Dr. Dean?) covers every aspect of music-making: the politics of bands, writing songs, getting gear, practice spaces, booking shows, recording, making cds, the music business and the internet, and touring are all addressed at length in a personal, avuncular style that is always inspiring to read. Mr. Dean's enthusiasm is infectious. His DIY aesthetic is uncompromising but his attitude couldn't be more positive. This is a book for people who want to get out there and start living their art life instead of merely thinking about it. I've been a musician for over 20 years and every chapter in this book fired my imagination. If you read this book and don't feel inspired to begin or reinvigorate a DIY music career, you probably have a different calling altogether. I'm hoping he writes a sequel (graduate school?) that addresses many of these subjects at greater length. In the meantime, I'm on my own! Ha! If you liked this book, check out the others in the $30 music school series as well as Mr. Dean's fiction works and his film D.I.Y. or Die. Hooray for Michael Dean for doing so much of the hard work for the rest of us!

$30 Dollar Music School by Michael W. Dean is not a typical "how to succeed in music" book, although it has much of the kind of info found in those books. $30 Music School is a product of the author's experiences as a musician, (as well as his background as a filmmaker and writer which are the basis for $30 Film School and $30 Writing School.) Dean will not teach you how to become the next Avril Lavaigne or the next Garth Brooks. He has no formulas for "writing hits". And he does not cover how to make it in music by kissing butt or messing over people foolish enough to trust you. Dean writes for the serious independent-minded musician who has music in his or her soul trying to come out. His focus is on developing musicianship, business smarts, people skills and building an audience for your work - without compromising artistic integrity or personal decency. He gives tips to avoid being eaten by predators without yourself becoming a predator. Dean is an advocate of "D.I.Y." (Do It Yourself) in which artists use innovative ways to produce and distribute their work without the support of mega-corporations. He produced and distributes the well known documentary of the D.I.Y. music scene "D.I.Y. or Die". When I discovered this book, I was a non-musician who was trying to get a good introduction to the world of aspiring musicians and the music business. I would haunt the shelves at the local Borders and spend hours reading the growing number of musical self-help books by current or former players in the industry. Some were quite good, and a lot were pretty awful. When I opened up $30 Music School, I realized I had found something special. Dean gives tips on everything from negotiating used equipment purchases, to audio porduction (analog and digital) to boooking gigs, to learning chords and writing lyrics, to promoting on the Internet and more, more, more. And the man is not dumb! This is a guy with a lot of smarts who could be making megabucks in some giant corporation, except that he doesn't like lying to people (a fatal character flaw in today's business world). And the thing that shines through every page is Dean's ethic of "give something back". It's actually larger than that. Michael Dean understands how Music works, which is how Art works which is how Life works. We're all here together. We need to be good to each other and support each other's best dreams. Anything else is stupid.

I highly recommend Michael Dean's, $30 Music School. It is the most comprehensive book I have ever read about the music industry and making your own music. Dean covers every aspect of the creative process from writing and recording songs to promoting, marketing, and eventually making a living from the art that we as musicians thrive to produce. What I found particularly unique about $30 Music School was the fact that Dean makes no assumptions in his presentation of the material. Further there are underlying lessons to be learned from the many examples Dean presents from his own experiences as an independent artist. It is both inspiring and encouraging as Dean's writing style made me feel as if he were giving me advice as a friend and fellow musician. One of the most important lessons I've learned during my 15+ year career as an independent musician and songwriter is that there are many aspects of music and the industry that can be learned. When put into practice, they can only help to improve the overall quality of an artists' work and help them achieve goals that once seemed far-fetched. This book puts it all out there for you. $30 Music School has helped me not only identify areas of my art and approach to marketing music that need improvement, but it also helped me confirm many of things that I'm doing to help facilitate success. The book comes with a free CD-ROM which has some great sample files, software demos, electronic press kits, and a songwriting tutorial-all of which help strengthen the content of book. My experience reading this book also prompted me to check out some of Dean's other work including the DVD D.I.Y. or Die: How To Survive as an Independent Artist and $30 Film School, both of which I thought were excellent. Regardless of your musical ability or experience in the music industry there are lessons to be learned from this book for every musician both young and old. The price and title of the book only represent a tiny fraction of what this book is worth to me. Buy it, read it, learn it, use it, read it again, and LIVE it.

This book is a great read. I'm a musician with the attention span of a bird, and I read $30 Music School in a day. Believe me. That's saying a lot. I've read a load of music business-related books, and none of them quite measure up to the experience of reading this one. It's written with a style I can relate to with loads of humor and no-bull lessons. It's like chewing the fat about every aspect of what it means to be a musician with a friend of yours. Hell...I even had a great time reading about how to shop for and tune a drumset - and I'm a guitarist. (The chapters about internet promotion and songwriting basics are especially enlightening!) If you're on a "mission from God" to take your music to a new level, you probably just landed here for a reason. This book is exactly what the title says.