books about music industry/business - which one is BEST?

[tada]

HEY! I was searching for interesting reading related to music business and industry.
Here's the top list I compiled from amazon reviews and sales rank.

1. All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Seventh Edition


2. What They'll Never Tell You About the Music Business: The Myths, the Secrets, the Lies (& a Few Truths)


3. Artist Management for the Music Business, Second Edition By Paul Allen


4. Music Marketing: Press, Promotion, Distribution, and Retail By Mike King


5. This Business of Music, 10th Edition (This Business of Music: Definitive Guide to the Music Industry)


6. The Music Industry Handbook

[tada]

I read the reviews, but I was just wondering if anyone has some of these books, any recommendations. any tips!
It's a powerful way to educate ourselves, yet we need a good and credible source

[Robbie]

One book worth a read, if only for the sheer cynicism about how the music industry works, is "The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way)" by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty otherwise known as The KLF. In this book they describe their attempt to have a number one (which they achieve!) under the name The Timelords.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Manual-Have ... 1899858652

Written back in 1988 it's a rather entertaining but cynical explanation and examination of how the UK music industry worked back then. The book is available to buy for £46.97 (€59.96) at that link but is available to read at

http://freshonthenet.co.uk/the-manual-by-the-klf/

It's not in the best format for reading for what is a long read and the book is easily available in a PDF format if you seek it out. It's worth a read.

[tada]

thank you robbie!

[jimmypages59]

I studied for and gained a BA Hons in Music Industry Management & Popular Music (Sociology of Music), which concentrated on all aspects of the Music Industry, such as Recording Contracts, Publishing/Intellectual Property Law, Touring, Management, Merchandising etc and worked in Music Copyright/Publishing for 7 years.

The Donald Passman book was seen as the "Bible" for our course and certainly proved to be a wealth of knowledge, exploring just about every conceivable aspect of the music industry. I am sure it has been updated a few times since the copy I used, which was bought in about 1998, so it obviously had no Digital Music section, but considering how large a part this now plays in the Music Industry, I am sure it will be updated to include all of what is relevant to this area.

The book is/was written from a majority US perspective (don't know if the updated versions still are), so I felt in some instances certainly Copyright/Intellectually Property Law, Publishing sections referred more to ASCAP, Harry Fox, BMI, SESAC than their UK equivalents, which wasn't always helpful for my studies.

Read this a few years ago http://www.amazon.com/The-Mansion-Hill- ... 0679743774 and it was a very good behind the scenes read of the US Record Industry mainly from the 60's to the 80's, taken from the point of view of record labels, band managers, record company exec's, artists etc.

[tada]

thank you! I already purchased kindle version of "All You Need To Know About Music Industry"