Music Business 101
I don't know a lot about the music business, but this seemed like a pretty succinct article on how best to support your favorite "indie" artist when buying their music, from Claudia Schmidt's website:
[url]http://claudiaschmidt.homestead.com/MusicBus.html[/url]
It's interesting, because something similar should apply for books. The best return for authors is when they sell their own books at an author event, because they buy the books at a discounted rate from the publisher, and any markup goes directly to them. It's also a good deal for you, because you can get the book signed, which makes it more valuable. Major book stores and retailers get a ridiculous discount when they buy books in bulk, then a small chunk of that discounted price actually goes to the author.
This is a really good idea.
Another cat you might want to take a good look at is Vigorous Puppy's buddy, the amazing machine that is author Michael W. Dean. He's been on both sides of the fence in pretty much every type of media / art there is, and he's devised methods and methodologies, styles and idealogies, for how anyone can make their dreams happen, provided their willing to work for them.
Two of his books, $30 Music School, and especially $30 Writing School (he talks a lot about Chuck in that one - Dean's a big Palahniuk fan), I cannot say enough good about. Worth every penny:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/30-Writing-School-Michael-Dean/dp/1592004865/sr=1-1/qid=1167637281/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9020081-6404969?ie=UTF8&s=books[/url]
(note: w/ Amazon amazing discount, this book is only $20.40. It comes with a CD full of writing programs, contract examples, all sorts of cool stuff for your computer. And it's 496 pages - so much good stuff in it!).
Here's Music School, which also has all sorts of stuff that easily apply to "regular" writing:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/30-Music-School-Michael-Dean/dp/1592001718/ref=sid_dp_dp/102-9020081-6404969[/url]
Love Michael Dean. Love him, love him, love him.
I was thinking about DIY book publishing actually. I had the idea in my head of sometime submitting a book for publishing somewhere, and if it was accepted, I'd assume it was good enough for public use and withdraw my offer to the publishers.
Of course I need to write one first, but it was an idea I had a while ago. And this is a good thread.
Great link. Really interesting stuff.
Guess what? Someone kind of [I]has[/I] done something along the same lines, dealing with books and publishing. Take a look at No Media Kings, information hub run by killer Canadian author, Jim Munroe:
[url]www.nomediakings.org[/url]
Munroe was offered a deal with one of Rupert Murdoch's companies and basically told the company to go blow it out their earhole. He'd do it all himself.
And here's some stats to back up his ventures:
[url]http://nomediakings.org/Economic.htm[/url]
He's a small genius, Munroe is. Cannot say enough good about the guy.