Review: The DIY Music Manual by Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan

 

The thing with books written about 'making it in the music industry' is that they are usually extremely dull. As their authors force you to wade through their corporate jargon, throwing in terms like licensing (yawn) and marketing (BIGGER YAWN) it's pretty easy for the aspiring musician to give up reading, or worse, give up music altogether.

 

Have these authors totally forgotten what it's like to perform in front of an audience? Do they have any idea of the focus and dedication it takes to write a decent pop/rock/African dub ditty? Do they even know what groupies are? I mean, what has all this to do with someone's 'Long Tail' anyway?

Ah, well, as it turns out, quite a lot...

 

Even though the death of the CD has been announced for a number of years now, it's taken a while for musicians to figure out what this actually means. We've all read how the internet has revolutionised the music industry, giving us more channels to communicate with on faster broadband connections.

 

Yet, apart from updating a few online profile pages and streaming your band videos, things are pretty much the same as they were before, right? You've still got to write songs, rehearse, perform, get a fan base, get spotted by a label, get a contract, do bigger gigs, sell records to payback the label, get TV coverage, do more gigs, release bigger albums.

 

Well, maybe.

 

However, whilst some of us dream of becoming signed as the next Coldplay, others are wondering what it might be like to become the next Coldplay without the need for a record label.

 

This, ladies and gents, is where the DIY Music Manual comes in.

 

Although this book isn't completely removed from all those 'making it in the music industry' tomes, I promise you that with this particular one, you're more likely to throw it in your guitar case rather than the bin.

 

It starts by telling you to forget about being 'signed' because it's a term invariably used by labels who want to convince you that the only good music out there is their music. Everything else must be crap. We, say the DIY authors, need to wake up and realise that the internet has given us the power to take over our careers.

 

We are all independent or 'indie' artists who can go all the way, if we put the effort in.  Besides, as the authors point out, if you look at the fragmented state of the music industry at the moment, you've probably got more chance of getting Keith Richards to give up smoking than getting signed.

 

And, believe me, those chances get slimmer by the minute.

Neatly divided into thirteen chapters the DIY Music Manual takes you through the whole process of promoting yourself online and onstage. From getting the best out of your network of supporters to building a brand, launching a band website, using social networks to your advantage, knowing about licensing (without boring you too much), getting booked and publicised – it's all here in a meaty 320 pages.

 

Sure, a lot of it is common sense like mentioning your website during a gig and making sure your website is updated. But it's this kind of common sense that evades most bands when they start to think about anything outside the act of actually making music.

 

In fact, I firmly believe that this book will result in less bands breaking up this year simply because a lot of heated arguments will be quickly resolved by pulling the book out from the guitar case and huddling reverently around its hallowed pages.

 

For instance, how many times have you sat down with your band and plotted a one or two year plan? How many bands do you know that you could share gig nights with or even share merchandising costs with? How often do you interact with your fans online, or don't you have any because you think your music is better than your audience?  Do you have a press kit? Are you online actively promoting your next gig? Questions, questions, questions!

If this all sounds like a lot of work then it's probably because it is. As the authors point out, there's a hell of a lot of work involved in self-promotion, but if you want to do it all by yourself, you'd better get used to it fast.

 

The world of the indie musician is a fiercely competitive market place now that the internet has opened the floodgates to a brave new world of music aggregation. But, rest assured, it does work both ways. If you are actively promoting your music, then there will be listeners out there actively searching for you.