Recording - November 2014 - 48

Make Your Songwriting Work For You
By Mike Metlay

Music 4.0
By Bobby Owsinski. 296 pages, illustrated B/W, large trade paperback. Published by Hal
Leonard Books, 2014. ISBN 9781480355149.
$24.99; www.halleonardbooks.com

Elsewhere in this issue you can read an article with tips on social media in music from Bobby Owsinski;
if you buy this book, you'll see some familiar concepts. Music 4.0 is subtitled "A Survival Guide for Making
Music in the Internet Age," and that's not really an exaggeration. Things are changing constantly in the
online world, and it's always tricky to stay ahead of the curve; Owsinski makes it his business to do so,
and I am consistently surprised by just how much interesting and relevant information he brings to the table.
The book's name comes from Owsinski's model of the evolving music business, from Music 0.5
(sheet music and piano rolls) and Music 1.0 (record labels selling vinyl in retail stores and promoting with radio airplay) to the modern world; his book was originally called Music 3.0, which he defined as the dawn of direct artist/fanbase connection on all levels;
in that spirit, his blog at music3point0.blogspot.com retains its original name even as the industry thunders along.
The main thesis of Music 4.0 is possibly contentious. Owsinski argues that even as we have given up on our dependence upon
physical media to deliver our music, whether it's CDs, vinyl, or cassettes, now must we give up on the model of music being downloaded and kept on a hard drive. This is the era of monetized streaming content, of music access for money that holds great potential for artists in all genres, the era of Pandora, of Spotify, and especially of YouTube.
In the opening chapters of the book, Owsinski goes through the history of the industry and points out how technology drives change.
He examines changing roles in the industry-record labels going away isn't news, but did you realize how important your manager
is becoming? He strongly emphasizes the value of interpersonal communication as the backbone of a successful career (the idea of a
"tribe" rather than a brand name, fan base, or whatever), and touches on why giving material away for free can actually boost your
bottom line in the long run. There are profiles of successful artists and promotion programs that demonstrate the facets of the Music 4.0
world, and a frank discussion of what major labels can still bring to the table.
Then the book dives deep, with more than half its pages devoted to detailed strategies on marketing, building a tribe, using social
media (effectively a distillation of his book Social Media Promotion For Musicians, minus some of the the nitty-gritty details that make
that title essential reading), modern models of music distribution including aggregators like TuneCore, CD Baby, and ReverbNation, the
importance of touring and playing live, the role of merchandise, crowdfunding, and more. Recording musicians will be particularly
interested in Owsinski's perspective on making one's own recordings and the role of modern technology in the ability to bring all kinds
of musical output directly to the fans.
The book is rounded out with a series of interviews with social media experts, PR agents, publishers, music industry executives,
and bloggers, all of whom provide concise and interesting viewpoints on where the industry is going and where artists will go for
money and attention. Finally, there's an appendix of useful resources and a glossary of relevant terms (thirty years plus of doing
this and I didn't know what a rack jobber was!).
Each subsection of the book is followed by a boxed set of bullet points that summarize its conclusions (perhaps a little too succinctly; you miss a lot when you skim). There's lots of fun background to go with the practical hints, too; did you know that one of
the greatest blows to the musicmaking community in the 1980s came in the form of tougher drunk-driving laws?
Owsinski's whole point is that this world doesn't stand still and wait for us to master it; we have to jump on the horse at full gallop
and learn to ride, if not do rope tricks, without falling and breaking our necks. This book is a fun, readable, easily digestible guide
to helping us do just that.

Music Marketing for the DIY Musician
By Bobby Borg. 368 pages, illustrated B/W, large trade paperback. Hal Leonard musicPRO
Guides, 2014. ISBN 9781480369528.
$29.99; www.halleonardbooks.com

Educator and author Bobby Borg has been working as a consultant in the music industry for a long
time, and this book offers a huge helping of his expertise on making it as a recording artist. Subtitled
"Creating and Executing a Plan of Attack on a Low Budget," this is a hefty and detailed how-to on
one topic and one topic alone-marketing yourself.
While the language is relatively personable, and the ideas are presented clearly and are well
organized, this is one deep book. Borg doesn't mess around with diluted ideas and c'mere-buddylet-me-school-you approaches to this subject; as a professional marketer, he takes his work seriously and presents it as such. If you
pick up this book, you'll be introduced to the sort of terms and concepts that a student at a business school will get while working on
an MBA. Right out of the starting gate, Borg brings you everything from SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
Threats) to analyzing not only your potential customers but also your competitors-there's a whole chapter on Competitor Analysis.
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RECORDING November 2014

http://www.halleonardbooks.com http://music3point0.blogspot.com http://www.halleonardbooks.com

Recording - November 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - November 2014