All You Need To Know About The Music Business

The definitive, essential guide to the music industry, now in its eighth edition—revised and updated with crucial information on the industry’s major changes in response to rapid technological advances and economic uncertainty.

The past two decades have seen file-sharing technology and digital streaming services transform the music business from top to bottom, and the changes keep coming at breakneck speed. How are record labels adapting to the demand for instantly accessible, low-cost music while coping with piracy? And what does it all mean for aspiring and established artists today?

Donald Passman, one of the most trusted music lawyers in the country, offers his sage advice for creating, selling, sharing, and protecting your music in the Information Age in this updated eighth edition of All You Need to Know About the Music Business. Called “the industry bible” by the Los Angeles Times, Passman’s comprehensive guide—which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies over the past twenty years—draws on his unparalleled experience and up-to-the-minute knowledge of industry trends.

Executives and artists, experts and novices alike, will benefit from Passman’s detailed yet easy-to-understand explanations of the latest technology, legalities, and practices shaping the music business, such as:

• Royalties for music transmitted via digital down- loads, streaming services, cloud lockers, and apps

• Updated licensing regulations and industry agreements

• The most recent recording and music publishing deals

• The new challenges for performing rights societies

He also gives guidance on the basics, such as how to:

• Select and hire a winning team of advisors—personal and business managers, agents, and attorneys—and structure their commissions, percentages, and fees in a way that will protect you and maximize these relationships

• Master the major and finer points of contract negotiations

• Navigate the ins and outs of songwriting and music publishing

• Maximize concert, touring, and merchandising agreements

Anyone interested in making and marketing music—musicians, songwriters, agents, promoters, publishers, managers, and record company executives—needs this crucial text to keep up with the frenetic pace of technological and legal change. No one understands the music business better than Passman. Let him show you how to “make it” in one of the world’s most dynamic and challenging industries.