Confessions of a Record Producer: 10th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Updated Review

When a person typically thinks about the music industry, they see the fame, fortune, groupie accolades that are usually associated with it. Unfortunately, that is further from the truth, just because you make music doesn't mean you’re going to be successful, or sell 1 million records, or have women throwing their panties at you up on the stage. Oh but the dreamers, the ones that think “I’m going to make a MySpace page, record my music and send off my demos, then I’ll be PAID!” That can happen and does happen to about .525% of the industry, but those are Lotto odds, and have you won the lotto lately? I thought not!

I bought Confessions of a Record producer a few years ago and it changed the way I looked at the business and showed me the actual business end of music. Take the dreaded “Dip”; if you don’t read your contract carefully your label can take some of your royalties 2 or more times for the same reason. For instance let’s say if they charge you for recording time, and then 3 pages later into the contract they charge you for audio syncing, that’s the same thing. They are in effect “Double Dipping” you. I never realized how bad the business was till I read the book and saw the reason many artists end up broke after selling millions of records. My suggestion is to also learn a bit of law so that you can read the contract for yourself, or you can start by reading the terms of service for major websites like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc, to start to understand leagalese. Read your whole contract, don’t just skim it, take it home and spend as much time as you can with it. Yes, you still need to hand it off to your Lawyer, but it’s your job to find the things in the contract you don’t understand, and ask your Lawyer for guidance and translation. That’s his job, not to find your issues but to guide you through them. No, do not use any type of lawyer, yours must be entertainment based, since he would be following the current laws closely and be able to represent you better.

The book also explains Copyrights which is a must especially in this information age, as well as primes you for understanding the distribution hierarchy (which labels are connected).

Now this book has again been updated and I’m buying it again for my library gotta love preorders, every new edition I learn something new, since Moses Avalon seems to update you on any new trends in the business. So my suggestion is to buy this book ASAP since last time it was out of stock for weeks.

There is a reason that this book is mentioned at music conferences all over the country. The fact is, this book is your foundation and entrance into an ever changing business and if you want to be ready for success, you need a guide that can light your path. This book is that guide, so walk your path.