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About the Author
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Dan McAvinchey is a composer/guitarist living in Raleigh, NC.
He believes every musician or composer has the power to release their own record.
His latest CD release on Guitar Nine Records is entitled "Guitar Haus".
Please direct all comments and suggestions for future columns to Dan McAvinchey.
© Dan McAvinchey
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Help For Your Independent Label or Release
Many of you, at some time or another, will be exploring the possibility of releasing your own independently produced record, tape, or CD. You may even want to start your own record label. The benefits of doing so are numerous:
- Earnings from sales of a smaller number of independently released recordings can be more profitable than large sales on a major label
- You can start your label and release a record today; you do not have to wait for a label to contact you
- Your future is in your own hands, not in the hands of hardened bureaucrats
- You retain complete creative control over your music
- Releasing your own record is a relatively inexpensive option, and it's a way to get heard
With that in mind, you may need some help in completing a recording project for the first time. Following are reviews of several excellent books on everything from making your record and setting up a label to publishing and legal concerns. Good luck!
Note: All books reviewed may be purchased through our association with Amazon.com Books -- simply click on the book cover to order.
How to Start a Record or Independent Production Company
By: Walter E. Hurst & William Storm Hale
A very brief book containing legal advice on starting your own production company or record company, sources of money, business forms, contracts, taxes, etc. It's a no-frills, very direct approach towards organizing legal information in fourty-six areas concerning musicians, songwriters, label owners, agents, managers, etc. In fact, some of the information is presented in such a direct manner, it's almost humorous. If that's what it takes to make it stick to the back of your brain, great! You may be able to extract a couple of new ideas from this book. Seven Arts Press, ©1980, 96 pp.
This Business of Music
By: Sidney Shemel & M. William Krasilovsky
This enlarged 7th edition is more of a reference book than a front-to-back read on the music business (over half the book is devoted to appendixes and industry forms). Written by two music industry attorneys, musicians and future record label owners can turn to this book for answers to questions concerning the fine points of artist contracts, foreign record deals, copyright law, music publishing, public domain music, protection of ideas and titles, taxation in the music business and much, much more. Throw a copy of This Business of Music on the shelf, and when a legal question arises concerning your record label or your recording contract, you can use the comprehensive index to find the answer. A serious book covering the serious side of the business. Watson-Guptill Publications, ©1995, 736 pp.
More About This Business of Music
By: Sidney Shemel & M. William Krasilovsky
The fifth edition of this companion to This Business of Music is a key addition to every music professional's book collection. Three chapters of new material have been added. covering topics such as obscenity and censorship, the buying and selling of record companies, and more. Also, updates have been made to the core material which includes religious music, jazz, printed music, record industry publishers, live performances, background music, new music formats, etc. Watson-Guptill Publications, ©1995, 224 pp.
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