Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential reading for the performing songwriter., 10 May 1999
By A Customer
I've bought other books on this topic, and been distressed to read exhaustive details on "how to get discovered" - "how to negotiate your 5 album deal" etc. This is the real world, and basically, most of us *ain't* going to get discovered and whisked off to superstardom. This book is a nuts and bolts handbook on how to do it for real - it affirms the fact that you don't have to be as big as Michael Jackson or Madonna to be successful - as she says, you can be a star in your own town, and never have to worry about being accosted for autographs in Wal-Mart. There are some brilliant ideas (I particularly loved the idea about cross-merchandising!), and practical strategies. Jana Stansfield is a lady who has taken the falls in her stride and is now pointing them out for the rest of us. I, for one, intend to take notice. Hell - if this book was good enough for Christine Lavin to contribute towards, it's certainly good enough for me to follow!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jana's book hits the mark for this singer-songwriter wannabe, 20 Nov 1998
By A Customer
When I purchased Jana Stanfield's book, The Musician's Guide to Making & Selling your own CDs & Cassettes, I had no idea just how appropriate it would be for me. While I have not yet heard Jana's music, I confess immediately that I'm in the choir she is preaching to. I am a singer-songwriter "wannabe", but I also have fifteen years of continuous self-employment as an attorney behind me. The result is that I recognize the business wisdom Jana brings to her topic. And that wisdom is substantial and obviously acquired in the school of hard knocks. Yet she has managed to maintain a very positive and inventive perspective on life as a working musician. A handful of topics addressed in the book could certainly have been dealt with in more detail, such as royalty computations and the companies that collect them, and business tax and accounting matters, to name a few. But given her motivation and qualification, I think Jana has done a very good job of raising flags above these issues so that readers are warned that they require additional attention. Elsewhere, the insights into the daily life of a performing songwriter are wonderfully revealing. Jana dispels numerous myths attached to this world. She makes a powerful case for retiring the dream of major-label stardom in favor of a well-lived life. And she's done it in spite of the fact that there really is no "circuit" that these musicians travel. She offers living proof that anyone can create their own, customized circuit. Her approach to taking the grind out of traveling is refreshing. Above all, I came away genuinely reassured that with inventiveness, persistence, flexibility, a degree of talent, and zero reliance on luck, I could do it too. And without having to ditch my current life and moving to a major music center. Thanks, Jana!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reality-based book for musicians, NOT 'rock stars', 7 Jul 1998
By A Customer
I haven't actually put all of Jana's techniques into practice (yet) but only because I just laid eyes on the book yesterday and have already almost read it cover-to-cover! Because i am not starting out cold (I'm in a working original band), I saw some things that we were already doing outlined, and so i already knew those ideas worked. But we figured that stuff out by trial and error- lots of error!- so it's great to have these things laid out in a (visually well-designed) book...I saw other ideas that we'd never thought of that I immediately recognized would work great for us...and I saw so many nuggets of truth from Jana and the artists & industry insiders she references that immediately spoke to me - actually YELLED at me - "OUR BAND SHOULD BE HANDLING THINGS THIS WAY!" Best of all I can tell that the author really cares about MUSIC more than making money, yet has successfully sought and now is generous enough to share (thank you Jana!) ways to make music a full time living and a successful career without depending on "getting a break." I read this book and it reaffirms that if you want to succeed in music you can't WAIT for it to happen TO you...you can make it happen FOR you because you can have control over your future. This book is nuts-and-bolts, and includes layouts you can use for promotion and legal matters you have to tackle, but in the most palatable format I have seen to date. Write-on, Jana Stanfield!
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