Product Description

Reveals Exactly How the Music Industry Works

*1,400 completely updated markets for songwriters, including music publishers, record companies, producers, managers and more!
*Countless resources for songwriters, ranging from support organizations and conferences to retreats, grants and websites

Songwriter’s Market lifts the veil around the music industry to teach aspiring songwriters about the inner workings of the business. In addition to the market listings, there’s nearly 100 pages filled with articles and interviews that shed light on every corner of the music world. Readers will learn from working songwriters, film composers, producers and even record executives! It’s a must-have for every songwriter’s library.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #642518 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Ian Bessler has been the editor for Songwriter's Market for seven years. He is also a musician, songwriter and sound engineer.

Customer Reviews

Nice Resource but...
I have mixed opinions about this book. There's a lot of useful information, and the lay out is nice, but I think it would be a mistake to use it as a first and last resource as many people do and rate your sucess and failure upon those answered and unanswered query letters. A good example is the fact that most major labels only except submissions from management companies, and most management companies often want to see that you local recognition before they take you on. Some of the better ones may only represent one or two artists because a lot of time and money is required, and those that don't often do little more than keep you in their rolodex and throw a gig here and there and take commish when their main act is unavailable - - And Indie labels too want local name recognition, especially if it requires an investment as any production does. Art aside, music IS a business... if a louzy sounding group has a following of a few hundred and plays out regularly, the odds of selling enough CDs to recap the production cost are obvoiusly much higher than say a talented songwriter/performer with a great home studio, but no band or name recognition. The answer then is to make sure you're playing out. You also need to study the grapevine and the "scene" of the music you play. Many of the management companies and indie labels that your favorite bands were on before they made it big may not necessarily be in The Song Writer's Market, yet those were the people who positioned those artists for recognition to get "discovered" - - doing a bit of research and using the internet might yield surprizing results. Many record companies even have up to date A & R pages explaining criterea for submission with surprizing detail and others will answer e-mail. Also note : the info in this book is based on what was submitted to them. They don't actually look up each of the 1,000s of listings. By the time each edition hits print, many are already out of business, some are bombarded with more tapes than they can handle, and others weren't legit to start ("Sorry, we're not excepting material except for our songwriting context. Please send a check for...")

So my suggestion would be, get this book as a supplemnetary resource, but scope out resources in your own scene first, including local ones as well as examining the trail groups or artists with similar vibes took. Be aware of labels and management for new and older resources and the links on their web sites (which also include links to groups with similar vibes lower down the label on more accessible but good labels.) Do what you have to move up the ladder... and that involves being seen and going from one class of venue and management to the next... then use this book for "extra credit" and who knows... you might get lucky ! ! !

One of the first best steps for songwriters!
Songwriter's Market 2001 is an updated edition of only the best publishers for your potentially written songs. The book also contains very helpful hints on almost every aspect of writing and publishing a song. It even contains a key to show which publishers are accepting beginning writers, intermediate writers, professional writers, and tolerable publishers that do not accept unsolicited material at all. I'm glad I waited for the 2001 - every issue is always better than the last.

A big diretory
This book is more than 70% a list of publishers, managers, agents etc. The list is good if that is what you are looking for. It tells if they accept unsolicted material, formats, etc.

The "how to" aspect of the book is weak. Not a lot of material or personal stories from songwriters or publishers.

If you are looking for a adresses of where to send songs, then this is the book for you.