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A review by fipah
Hacking Music: The Music Business Model Canvas by Jeff McMahon, Wade Sutton, John Pisciotta
5.0
I do not wish to sound trite, but this is THE book if you are a songwriter/musician
I have spent a lot of time (and money) sifting through the rather unsaturated market of songwriting and music biz books, and most of the offer is very trite and shallow – the books are often shadily advertised and read like very home-made PDFs composed of hackneyed truths e.g. [b:The Art of Songwriting: How to Create, Think and Live Like a Songwriter|36022929|The Art of Songwriting How to Create, Think and Live Like a Songwriter|Ed Bell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502669805l/36022929._SY75_.jpg|56964557] or the [b:The 4D Songwriter: How to Dominate the New Music Industry|50781974|The 4D Songwriter How to Dominate the New Music Industry|Jayson John Evans|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568745742l/50781974._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73433697]. Almost none of these books answer the clichéd question 'How to make it?' + they don't really provide the artists with valuable information.
Hacking Music needs and deserves a higher exposure because it offers valuable content and truly serves artists in mapping and strategising their artistic and music career choices and paths. The authors have themselves shaped the careers of many musicians in the past and their expertise shows. This is not about motivational vapidness, nor about songwriting itself, but I'd suggest it is equally if not even more important.
If you already are very familiar with lean methodology, project management and approaching your music as a business, you may benefit from the information presented here less. The book helps you prioritise very well and shows you a canvas through which you will plan/evaluate your music daily/quarterly/yearly. It's a book you can work with, not just read. It allowed me to view my music career from a birdseye view and helped me navigate my place and path, it all feels much clearer now. Sure, the ideas here are not revolutionary, yet they are tailored to the music business, and as such, they were an eye-opener for me. The authors provided an insider view on how musicians' careers can grow and how they often, unfortunately, fail to grow. These pitfalls and re-examination of your own approaches can really lift the veil and help you identify how to approach your work in the music biz of 2020.
Cons: the book would have benefitted from better formatting i.e. not using enormous tables and photos on whole pages, but that's a minor thing compared to the value presented.
Do note there is a free preview of the book available on the authors' website, so you can easily decide if it's for you. I was very sceptical at first, but for me, the preview turned out to be a game-changer and made me buy the book without second thoughts.
I have spent a lot of time (and money) sifting through the rather unsaturated market of songwriting and music biz books, and most of the offer is very trite and shallow – the books are often shadily advertised and read like very home-made PDFs composed of hackneyed truths e.g. [b:The Art of Songwriting: How to Create, Think and Live Like a Songwriter|36022929|The Art of Songwriting How to Create, Think and Live Like a Songwriter|Ed Bell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502669805l/36022929._SY75_.jpg|56964557] or the [b:The 4D Songwriter: How to Dominate the New Music Industry|50781974|The 4D Songwriter How to Dominate the New Music Industry|Jayson John Evans|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568745742l/50781974._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73433697]. Almost none of these books answer the clichéd question 'How to make it?' + they don't really provide the artists with valuable information.
Hacking Music needs and deserves a higher exposure because it offers valuable content and truly serves artists in mapping and strategising their artistic and music career choices and paths. The authors have themselves shaped the careers of many musicians in the past and their expertise shows. This is not about motivational vapidness, nor about songwriting itself, but I'd suggest it is equally if not even more important.
If you already are very familiar with lean methodology, project management and approaching your music as a business, you may benefit from the information presented here less. The book helps you prioritise very well and shows you a canvas through which you will plan/evaluate your music daily/quarterly/yearly. It's a book you can work with, not just read. It allowed me to view my music career from a birdseye view and helped me navigate my place and path, it all feels much clearer now. Sure, the ideas here are not revolutionary, yet they are tailored to the music business, and as such, they were an eye-opener for me. The authors provided an insider view on how musicians' careers can grow and how they often, unfortunately, fail to grow. These pitfalls and re-examination of your own approaches can really lift the veil and help you identify how to approach your work in the music biz of 2020.
Cons: the book would have benefitted from better formatting i.e. not using enormous tables and photos on whole pages, but that's a minor thing compared to the value presented.
Do note there is a free preview of the book available on the authors' website, so you can easily decide if it's for you. I was very sceptical at first, but for me, the preview turned out to be a game-changer and made me buy the book without second thoughts.