Everyone knows music is big business, but do you really understand how ideas and inspiration become songs, products, downloads, concerts and careers? This textbook guides students to a full understanding of the processes that drive the music industries. More than just an expose or ′how to′ guide, this book gives students the tools to make sense of technological change, socio-cultural processes, and the constantly shifting music business environment, putting them in the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship in the future. Packed with case studies, this book: • Takes the reader on a journey from Glastonbury and the X-Factor to house concerts and crowd-funded releases; • Demystifies management, publishing and recording contracts, and the world of copyright, intellectual property and music piracy; • Explains how digital technologies have changed almost all aspects of music making, performing, promotion and consumption; • Explores all levels of the music industries, from micro-independent businesses to corporate conglomerates; • Enables students to meet the challenge of the transforming music industries. This is the must-have primer for understanding and getting ahead in the music industries. It is essential reading for students of popular music in media studies, sociology and musicology.

Everyone knows music is big business, but do you really understand how ideas and inspiration become songs, products, downloads, concerts and careers? This textbook guides students to a full understanding of the processes that drive the music industries. More than just an expose or ′how to′ guide, this book gives students the tools to make sense of technological change, socio-cultural processes, and the constantly shifting music business environment, putting them in the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship in the future. Packed with case studies, this book: • Takes the reader on a journey from Glastonbury and the X-Factor to house concerts and crowd-funded releases; • Demystifies management, publishing and recording contracts, and the world of copyright, intellectual property and music piracy; • Explains how digital technologies have changed almost all aspects of music making, performing, promotion and consumption; • Explores all levels of the music industries, from micro-independent businesses to corporate conglomerates; • Enables students to meet the challenge of the transforming music industries. This is the must-have primer for understanding and getting ahead in the music industries. It is essential reading for students of popular music in media studies, sociology and musicology.

This textbook presents a full overview of the many elements of the music industries, and offers a sustained focus on 'understanding' the processes that have driven and continue to drive the development of those industries. More than just an expose or ‘how to’ guide, this book gives students the tools to make sense of technological change, socio-cultural processes, and the constantly shifting music business environment. The crucial focus on research and analysis means readers can understand and track the ongoing development of the music industries and place themselves in the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship in the future.

This research-based book outlines career models for artists, methods of creative engagement, artistic options including individuality and branding, production practices, the realities of being a musician in the new industries, and implications for popular music education. Due to the profound effects of the digitisation of music, the music industries have undergone rapid transformation. The former record label dominated industry has been supplanted by new industries, including digital aggregators, strategists and online platforms. These new music industries now facilitate ‘direct’ access to both artists and their music. While such accessibility and the potential for artist exposure have never been greater, the challenge to stand out or to even navigate a musical career pathway is formidable. A useful resource for musicians and educators, this text highlights the ways in which the new music industries facilitate increased opportunities for 21st Century popular musicians to collaborate, communicate and interact with others interested in their music.

Create, Produce, Consume explores the cycle of musical experience for musicians, professionals, and budding entrepreneurs looking to break into the music industry. Building on the concepts of his previous book, Making Money, Making Music, David Bruenger provides readers with a basic framework for understanding the relationships between the artist and audience and the producer consumer by examining the methods underlying creation-production-reception and creation-consumption-compensation. Each chapter offers a different perspective on the processes and structures that lead listeners to discover, experience, and interact with music and musical artists. Through case studies ranging from Taylor Swift’s refusal to allow her music to be streamed on Spotify to the rise of artists supported through sites like Patreon, Bruenger offers highly relevant real-world examples of industry practices that shape our encounters with music. Create, Produce, Consume is a critical tool for giving readers the agile knowledge necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing music industry. Graphs, tables, lists for additional reading, and questions for further discussion illustrate key concepts. Online resources for instructors and students will include sample syllabi, lists for expanded reading, and more.

Understanding Popular Music is a comprehensive introduction to the history and meaning of popular music. It begins with a critical assessment of the different ways in which popular music has been studied and the difficulties and debates which surround the analysis of popular culture and popular music. Drawing on the recent work of music scholars and the popular music press, Shuker explores key subjects which shape our experience of music, including music production, the music industry, music policy, fans, audiences and subcultures, the musician as 'star', music journalism, and the reception and consumption of popular music. This fully revised and updated second edition includes: *case studies and lyrics of artists such as Shania Twain, S Club 7, The Spice Girls and Fat Boy Slim * the impact of technologies including on-line delivery and the debates over MP3 and Napster * the rise of DJ culture and the changing idea of the 'musician' * a critique of gender and sexual politics and the discrimination which exists in the music industry * moral panics over popular music including the controversies surrounding artists such as Marilyn Manson and Ice-T * a comprehensive discography, guide to further reading and directory of websites.

In today’s fast-moving music industry, what does it take to build a life-long career? Now more than ever, all those working in music need to be aware of many aspects of the business, and take control of their own careers. Understanding the Music Business offers students a concise yet comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving music industry, rooted in real-world experiences. Anchored by a wealth of career profiles and case studies, this second edition has been updated throughout to include the most important contemporary developments, including the advent of streaming and the shift to a DIY paradigm. A new "Both Sides Now" feature helps readers understand differing opinions on key issues. Highly readable, Understanding the Music Business is the perfect introduction for anyone seeking to understand how musical talents connect to making a living.

The bible of the music biz—now fully revised with new contacts, fee info, trends, tips Want to know how to set prices for a gig? Want to be ahead of the curve on new trends in music? Want to have all the latest contact information on hundreds of industry pros? Have we got the book for you!The Musician’s Handbook, already the industry bible for working musicians, has been thoroughly revised and updated with the answers to all these questions and more. New interviews with music-business leaders, new pricing and legal structures for the digital age, new how-to tips for independent and do-it-yourself musicians—it’s all in here. Fees, royalties and advances, live performance, touring, merchandising, working with managers, lawyers, and agents, spotting new opportunities—all these topics and many, many more are covered in depth in this indispensable guide to becoming successful in music and in business. Praise for the Previous Edition • "An exceptionally well-written, thorough, and competent legal and business book for an author who is a non-attorney. Bobby's book is extremely valuable for anyone trying to understand the music business."—Peter Paterno, The Law Offices of King, Holmes, Paterno, & Berliner, representing Metallica, Dr. Dre, and Pearl Jam • "The music business is full of minefields.The Musician's Handbookhelps steer you through them in a way that lets you enjoy the journey. It's packed with valuable information you'll use time and again."—Don Gorder, Chairman of The Music Business/Management Department, Berklee College of Music • "Although there are many books dealing with the music business,The Musician's Handbookhas a special and important perspective—that of a working musician."—Mark Goldstein, Senior VP of Business Affairs, Warner Bros. Records • Straight talk and insight for musicians at every level • Concise, clear, authoritative information from a music-industry insider • Up-to-the-minute guidance on money, business, management, career planning, much more

“Musicians often pay a high price for sharing their art with us. Underneath the glow of success can often lie loneliness and exhaustion, not to mention the basic struggles of paying the rent or buying food. Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave raise important questions – and we need to listen to what the musicians have to tell us about their working conditions and their mental health.” Emma Warren (Music Journalist and Author). “Singing is crying for grown-ups. To create great songs or play them with meaning music's creators reach far into emotion and fragility seeking the communion we demand of it. However, music’s toll on musicians can leave deep scars. In this important book, Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave investigate the relationship between the wellbeing music brings to society and the wellbeing of those who create. It’s a much needed reality check, deglamorising the romantic image of the tortured artist.” Crispin Hunt (Multi-Platinum Songwriter/Record Producer, Chair of the Ivors Academy). It is often assumed that creative people are prone to psychological instability, and that this explains apparent associations between cultural production and mental health problems. In their detailed study of recording and performing artists in the British music industry, Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave turn this view on its head. By listening to how musicians understand and experience their working lives, this book proposes that whilst making music is therapeutic, making a career from music can be traumatic. The authors show how careers based on an all-consuming passion have become more insecure and devalued. Artistic merit and intimate, often painful, self-disclosures are the subject of unremitting scrutiny and data metrics. Personal relationships and social support networks are increasingly bound up with calculative transactions. Drawing on original empirical research and a wide-ranging survey of scholarship from across the social sciences, their findings will be provocative for future research on mental health, wellbeing and working conditions in the music industries and across the creative economy. Going beyond self-help strategies, they challenge the industry to make transformative structural change. Until then, the book provides an invaluable guide for anyone currently making their career in music, as well as those tasked with training and educating the next generation.