Product Description

Amateurs, semi-pros, part-timers, and even seasoned professionals will learn to make a decent living playing music with the help of this insider guide! In Gigging, a 35-year veteran of the music business reveals the tried-and-true steps to success, with no-holds-barred advice for landing paid gigs. Covering the gamut of musical genres, this realistic resource provides dozens of surefire strategies for establishing contacts; charging appropriate fees; finding bandmates; booking gigs through managers vs. doing it yourself; working with attorneys, road crews, and publicists; marketing and promoting yourself; and much, much more. The definitive resource for anyone with aspirations to play music professionally!




• Offers practical, realistic advice for helping musicians make the jump from playing music as a hobby to playing professionally

• Also offers advice on legal and financial matters such as setting payment rates, working with unions, handling contracts, and more

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #860620 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Released on: 2003-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Patricia Shih has been a professional songwriter and musician for 35 years. She has recorded four albums and has appeared on television in the PBS special “Patty Shih—Music from the Gallery” and as star of Cablevision’s Tell Me a Story. She lives in Huntington, NY.

Customer Reviews

A must have for serious musicians!
The books subtitle "A Practical Guide for Musicians" sums up the work perfectly. This is a well-written and well thought out book by someone who has obviously been a working musician for many years.

I particularly enjoyed the step-by-step approach sprinkled liberally with excellent stories and anecdotes. This book is an excellent choice for anyone aspiring to make his or her living in the highly competitive field of music.

A wonderful book on this topic
This book is so engaging and thoughtful, you will feel as if the author is a close friend, talking directly to you. Her voice is unpretetious, clear, interesting and experienced. The advice given is kind, intimate, yet very informative. A super resource for performers or curious individuals interested in the behind the scenes world of the performing musician.

Delivers exactly what it promises
I picked up this book after flipping through a few pages because it fit exactly where I was in my career (starting to get gigs) and because I liked the author's tone. She is friendly, funny and positive. Somehow, even when she tells stories about the pitfalls of the industry, it comes across in an optimistic, positive way.

It's also a practical, well written, easy-to-read book that covers most of the things you'll run into in your musical life. It doesn't try and cover everything in depth, because it can't. It's a good, practical guide with some step-by-step instructions as well as overviews of situations you're likely to encounter and how to best deal with them. I recommend it.