The Self-Promoting Musician

Many of us have heard the expression "the poor struggling musician" and perhaps we wonder why many of these artists never seem to succeed. According to Peter Spellman, author of the music guide The Self-Promoting Musician, "it could be many things: a lack of talent, drug abuse, laziness, etc. But, more often than not, musicians tend to get nowhere because of the absence of a map."You may be a great musician and songwriter, however, if you don't understand that self promotion as a musician requires a knowledge of effective business practises you will end spinning your wheels and end up nowhere.Spellman, who is the Director of the Career Development Center at Berklee College of Music, in his easy to navigate handbook spells out what it takes to survive in the music world. Addressed primarily to the self- managed musician, the author expounds upon the various effective business principles that are common to most enterprises, but very often seem to be neglected by the musician.The guide is divided into four major topics: A general understanding of the music industry and preparation: Finding work: Promotion: Sources of Information. Within these sections there is a wealth of detailed information written in a way that a reader, who may lack any business knowledge, will readily comprehend.Commencing with the need to use one's imagination, the author states, "ask not where music is sold, but where is music used. When most of us consider the best places to grow a music career, we often think of the stage and the store: the stage is where you perform your music, the store is where you sell your music."As in all enterprises, be they large or small, a well- prepared business plan is fundamental if you hope to avoid spending years in going around in circles with nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Consequently, the author devotes considerable space in showing the importance of the business plan and how it should be constructed. As Spellman asserts, "a good music plan is the map to the fulfillment of your goals." Once you have a good business plan you can go forward and sell your talents and perhaps move up a notch beyond the "gig only" engagements. Techniques are explored related to a variety of disciplines, such as publicity and marketing, securing gigs, networking, where and how to look for work, tapping sources of lesser-known music works, contracts, multimedia possibilities, and internet.The final section of the book provides the reader with an extensive and invaluable listing of various resources for the musician such as books, magazines and journals, on-line resources, organizations and associations, television and advertising industry guides.This guide is highly recommended for anyone who needs direction in advancing his self-promoting music career.This review first appeared on reviewer's own site

Back in my Berklee days I attended a course with Peter entitled "Entrepreneurship" which opened my eyes to issues regarding both making music and doing business. It taught me that neither of these areas can exist without the other. I am still using the material and resources Peter handed out on this course and I am very excited that all this information and a lot more is now available in this excellent book. A quick look through the pages gives you an impression of its well-organised structure and the incredible amount of resources that it contains. The book gives you an in-depth yet easily accessible look at the music industry, business planning, copyright, PR, demo production, gigs, media, radio stations, etc..... really, all you need! As the Internet is about to change the entire music industry I am pleased that Peter devotes an entire section to this medium and how musicians use it for promotion. This is underlined by the most helpful list of books, magazines, associations and web sites I have come across. Go, get it!

Finally a book about the music business for everyone.If you know nothing about the business or if you are a music biz professional you will benefit from reading this book. Mr.Spellman has gift for telling it how it is, and that's actually what you get from this book. If you want to progress in your career as a musician, read it....

After reading this book, I realize what every other book on the subject was trying to say, but never really got there. Definately a MUST for anyone interested in quitting their day-job and playing full time.

As a freelance Drummer/Percussionist, 'The Self-Promoting Musician' has been a great motivator to further explore my networking skills. In addition to covering just about every aspect of promoting a band or artist in the music business, Mr. Spellman lists a vast amount of reference materials, both in-print and on-line.