Music Industry

During the 1970s and '80s the music business was dominated by a few major labels and artists such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand and James Taylor. They were all under contract to CBS Records, making it the most successful label of the era. And, as the company's president, Walter Yetnikoff was the ruling monarch. He was also the most flamboyant, volatile, and controversial personality to emerge from an industry and era defined by sex, drugs, and debauchery.

Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley was never truly understood...until now. Before her death in 2023, she'd been working on a raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir for years, recording countless hours of breathtakingly vulnerable tape, which has finally been revealed by her daughter, Riley Keough.

Born in 1993 in Peoria, Arizona, Luke Holland taught himself to drum on tabletops long before he touched his first kit. By eighth grade he’d developed an uncanny sense of “feel,” playing with metronomic accuracy and a human pulse that set him apart from the start. In high school Holland launched a YouTube channel showcasing his crystalline drumming style. His hands and feet moved with purposeful clarity, and his well-framed playthroughs blurred the line between tutorial and performance . Viewers found more than flashy fills—they found an unfiltered look at technique in action. After...

Stacy will do anything to help her husband get a promotion. Young couple Chad and Stacy are in a bind. While dining with Chad's boss, Terrence - the luscious, ebony-skinned owner of a hot, new record label - Stacy drinks a little too much wine and confesses that they are struggling to make ends meet. Terrence has an unconventional solution: he promises a sweet promotion and much-needed raise to Chad…if he can have his wicked way with Stacy. Chad is turned on by thought of sharing his hot wife with Terrence, but he’s scared about what she'll say. What he doesn’t know is that Stacy has ...

Benjamin "BeBe" Winans always knew he was born to be a Gospel singer. Growing up watching his four older brothers perform fueled his dream to be on stage, and as teenagers, he and his younger sister CeCe were offered the opportunity to move from Detroit to North Carolina and join the Praise the Lord Singers for The PTL Club, hosted by the eccentric Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

For 5 years after they'd swapped sought-after apprenticeships for life on the dole, brothers William and Jim Reid sat up till the early hours in the front room of their parents' East Kilbride council house, plotting their path to world domination. They knew they couldn't play in the same band because they'd argue too much, so they'd describe their dream ensembles to each other until finally they realised that these two perfect bands were actually the same band, and the name of that band was The Jesus and Mary Chain.

In 1987, 20-year-old Nicki Chapman wasn't meant to be walking through the seedy but sublime Soho streets towards MCA records; she was supposed to be living it up in the much sunnier climes of Australia. But fate, as it turned out, had much louder plans for her...Everyone knows that in the 90s and 00s there were king-makers in pop music, namely Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell. But this is the story of the queen - who wasn't so much a marionette pulling strings as a down-to-earth, no-nonsense team player who made it in the music industry when it was very much a man's world.

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national conscience as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born. 2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism. The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid.

Tracing his roots from recording beats in his mom's attic in Edmonton to performing with some of the most recognizable names in rap and electronic music—De La Soul, Public Enemy, Mos Def, Questlove, Diplo, and more—Polaris Prize winner Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a Cadence Weapon, captures the joy in finding yourself, and how a sense of place and purpose entwines inextricably with a music scene.

Many guidebooks show you how to distribute your music online, but nothing will happen if it just sits in cyberspace without an effective promotional strategy. Strike the Right Chord is different than other guides: It enables you to achieve global success from your home computer. It allows you to take a do-it-yourself approach to establish yourself in the music world and get you started on the right path to reach your goals.

This is a guide for the music business and solid musicianship in general. This is for the working musician who may play on the weekends for a hobby but aspires to do more.

The Victorians invented mass entertainment. As the 19th century's growing industrialized class acquired the funds and the free time to pursue leisure activities, their every whim was satisfied by entrepreneurs building new venues for popular amusement. Contrary to their reputation as dour, buttoned-up prudes, the Victorians reveled in these newly created "palaces of pleasure".

John Denver said, “I have a producer who looks like an accountant, and an accountant who looks like a producer”. Soberly dressed, unflashy, and a trained classical musician, in the golden age of the music business, Milt Okun stood out by not standing out. His legacy does that for him. He discovered and launched John Denver, and mentored him throughout his career. He created arrangements for Peter, Paul and Mary that the trio performed for half a century. He brought Placido Domingo a crossover career that made him an international star beyond the world of opera.

Someone is about to make a killing in the music industry. Why would songwriting legend Gideon Pike disappear just as his 30-year career turns a multimillion-dollar profit Music columnist Mick Sever goes looking for his missing friend Gideon in the gritty backrooms of Miami's nightclubs, dodging suicide speedboats and running from sniper fire. What surfaces is how the major players in the music industry are not making the headlines, but just pulling the strings that create them.

Saving Your Soul is a labor of love from coach Rho. It offers sound guidance and practical tools from her years of experience in the entertainment industry and beyond. Every creative person can benefit from these insights, as well as anyone looking for solid support in their life’s journey. This book tackles important subjects that are vital to creatives’ ability to thrive. It covers exploring how to diversify, how to protect your work, overseeing the business of art, learning the key players in the industry, getting to grips with contracts, and more.

A rock star's world shatters when his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend, Terri Richardson, vanishes without a trace. Desperate, he turns to Johnny Walker, a hard-living P.I. with a knack for uncovering secrets—and a thirst for justice. With the help of his girlfriend, homicide detective Sandy Jenkins, Johnny dives into Portland's gritty, neon-lit music scene, a world of backstage betrayals, bitter rivalries, and dangerous obsessions. But the closer Johnny gets to the truth, the more tangled the web of deceit becomes, and the more he realizes that anyone in the band could be guilty.

Rock & Roll Detective: A Case Gone Platinum (Johnny Walker Novel 2) Ex-homicide inspector Johnny Walker thought he’d left the brutality behind when he retired from the Portland Police. Now a private investigator, Johnny gets pulled back into the dark underbelly of the city when a famous hip-hop artist hires him to find his missing stepbrother. The case takes a sinister turn when the stepbrother is found dead, and all fingers point to the rapper. The stepbrother, it turns out, wasn't just lost--he was holding onto a fortune in stolen cocaine. Framed for murder, Johnny is thrust back into ...

From our Five Dollar Reader Series - Welcome to "How-To Turn Music into Money: Building a Future-Proof Music Business," the first book in The Five Dollar Reader Series. In this guide, The Dollar Writers provide practical advice and strategies for musicians and music business professionals to build a successful and sustainable music business in today's dynamic landscape. From understanding the music business landscape to identifying opportunities, developing effective marketing and promotion strategies, managing finances and cash flow, building strong relationships with fans and supporters, ...

A rock star’s daughter searches for her place in the spotlight. A mother seeks to break free from a past that haunts her. As the daughter of legendary rock stars Max Taylor and Veronica Chiara-Taylor, Claire has always led a privileged life. Following her father’s passing, Claire strives to establish her own identity beyond her parents’ impressive shadows. But how? The offer to compete in a televised dance competition might be her moment to shine. Yet, can she maintain her focus while dealing with her complicated romantic desires and her worrisome, larger-than-life mother? Veronica is...

She won't take him back--no matter what. Or will she? Hayden Jenkins has lived in her hometown of Missoula, Montana, ever since she was born. She lives a simple life surrounded by her loving family, and that seems to be everything she needs. Or so she thinks. When her oldest brother’s wedding approaches, she fears facing a ghost from her past, the one who left her heartbroken seven years ago—Spencer Bailey, Hayden’s former high school sweetheart and the man who made her pretty much give up on real love. After graduation, Spencer left Montana to pursue a career in music in Los Angeles,...