Independent artists and musicians have their original music. They have their live act together. But they need to know how to manage their business and create revenue in the new marketplace. The traditional record business and the music industry's structure is crumbling in the wake of music and file sharing on the Internet. Entirely new systems and structures for marketing and revenue generation are emerging from the rubble. Enterprising artists can now achieve success on their own terms without contractual arrangements with traditional record labels. aRocking Your Music Business: Run Your Music Business at Home and on the Roada shows musicians how to do it, and provides tools to manage each aspect of their careers. It explains how the web can help musicians get noticed by helping them promote their music and shows, and explains how music can get them paid through selling songs and merchandise. Now that they are making money, there are plenty of things musicians need to be aware of, such as taxes, data protection, copyrights, and accounting. Touring and recording are also covered, and the book explains how to have fruitful business relationships with all of the people they will encounter in the biz, such as roadies, studio owners/managers, gig bookers, producers, and other musicians and members of the band. Every musician wants to live the dream -- aRocking Your Music Businessa shows you how itas actually financially possible!

You've got the musicians together, you've written the songs, you've rehearsed, you've spent weeks in the studio, you can gig, and you have produced an album. So what's next? The business. If you don't deal with the business, you won't generate any income and you won't have a career. "Rocking Your Music Business" introduces the business of music and tells you what you need to do to set up and run your business. As part of this, the book also looks at how you can use your existing tools, such as a desktop computer, a laptop, or a Smartphone/iPhone, to carry your office in your pocket. Musicians make their money from many sources--CD/DVD and digital music sales, live performances and personal appearances, licensing for film and television, and merchandise. You need to get a grip on all of these sources of income to ensure that you receive the money you have earned. Beyond that, you need to keep the rights that are yours (so you can keep generating income). But the music business is more than just money; it's about people too, including fellow musicians, booking agents, managers, and studio owners. When dealing with any other person, you need to have a clear understanding of the expectations of each party. For instance, does a session musician have any songwriting rights? Without getting issues like this agreed to up-front and in writing, you may be leaving yourself open to years of litigation and needlessly giving away money. You don't need a major record label to have a career, especially with all the changes that the industry has been undergoing in the last few years, but you do need a successful business to make sure you earn a living making music. That successful career begins with "Rocking Your Music Business," the book that needs to be on every musician's bookshelf.