Making a Living in Your Local Music Market Book Review

Title: Making a Living in Your Local Music Market: Realizing Your Marketing Potential (Fourth Edition)
Author: Dick Weissman
Genre: Music Business Advice
Pages: 272 pages

THE CONTENT

Making a Living in Your Local Music Market: Realizing Your Marketing Potential (Fourth Edition) is a music business and career advice book written by Dick Weissman. It is geared towards up and coming musicians looking to make a career in their local music market in lieu of (or in preparation for) the mainstream music market.

Weissman details several major regional music scenes for music in his book, sharing how musicians can make a living in their own backyards.

Some of the topics in Making a Living in Your Local Music Market: Realizing Your Marketing Potential (Fourth Edition) include: why you need a contract, whether or not you should hire a personal manager, why copyright your music, dealing with contractors and unions, producing your own music, how to secure grants, and creative ways to find local gig opportunities.

OUR THOUGHTS

I bought this book several years ago while I was still in school. As a poor college student, I was only able to afford a used copy that I bought online and so the version that I purchased was a little outdated. There have, of course, been updated versions released since the edition of the book that I read but in all honesty, the advice offered in this book is almost identical to that which you’ll read in any music advice article published ten minutes ago (minus information detailing online sources of income). It’s amazing how little the core advice offered to musicians has changed over the past few decades.

The book is a little different than several other books that I read in that it suggests ways to make a living as a local musician (rather than as a musician who tours or gets signed by a label). Either way, as someone who has a few years as a professional musician under their belt, there wasn’t a whole lot that I haven’t already learned from other authors or from personal experience. At the same time, however, Weissman did present a few ideas that I had not thought of and tips for creative ways to approach things that I’m already doing. For that alone, the book was worth reading.

Even if your goal is to do more than work as a local musician, this book still offers a lot of great advice for when you’re just starting out and need to make ends meet until your career really takes off. Whatever your long-term goal may be, this is an interesting read that can help you come up with ways to make a living as a musician.

4 Stars. Recommended for those starting out.

Get Making a Living in Your Local Music Market: Realizing Your Marketing Potential (Fourth Edition) on Amazon

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