| |
| The
Bluffer's Guide to the Rock Business |
| By
David Knopfler |
| |
| Extracts
from the book |
|
| |
| Be
bad |
| The
aspiring rock star should either go with the flow or run against
it, but never try to do both. If you start out on the rock circuit
with a bad attitude, then comprehensively cultivate it. |
| |
| Autographs |
| Sign
anything, anywhere anytime, including body parts. Get that profile
moving. Soon you will have progressed to carrying autographed photographs
for just such occasions. By the time you are successful enough to
be mobbed, there will be a fleet of people whose job it is to ensure
that you are mobbed, and a second fleet of people employed to protect
you if you are. Enjoy it for the three months it lasts. |
| |
| Street
cred |
| In
order to communicate your street cred desires to the record company,
you will need to share a percentage (normally around 15 to 20%)
of all monies you can make with a shadowy figure known as the manager.
This is the person with whom the successful rock star will spend
more time than the person they eventually marry and expensively
divorce. |
| |
| Hotels |
| For
the promoter, a good hotel is a cheap hotel, provided the artist
or the band will put up with it without becoming 'difficult'. However
the band will, in all probability, want to see real swans swimming
in the foyer and champagne cocktails at check in, not because of
the swans, but because it will indicate positive proof that the
towels will be large, white, plentiful and fluffy-clean... |
| |
| Reviews |
|
| |
| The
Bluffer's Guide to The Rock Business will enable you to bandy
terms like 'per diems' and 'cross collateralisation'. It will help
you sound knowledgeable about touring, media campaigns and advance/royalty
rates. It will help you sign a record deal like you were Mark Knopfler's
brother. Actually this is no big surprise as the Bluffer's Guide...
was, indeed, written by Mark Knopfler's brother. As a founder member
of Dire Straits, Dave K has been around the track enough to gain
first-hand experience of the industry and charlatans out to fleece
you at every turn, and everyone - accountants, A& R men, musicians
- gets it between the eyes with equal parts wit and cynicism....It's
all too accurate. |
|
Guitar
Magazine
|
| |
| Some
people have the knack of successfully bluffing their way through
life. They generally know very little, but still manage to sound
convincing. How do they do it? [Easy.] They follow The Bluffer's
Guides [- a series of snappy little books which offer tips and
basic facts on just about any subject you care to mention]. |
|
Hull
Daily Mail
|
| |
| Table
of Contents |
|
| |
|
Getting
Started, Getting In
The Recording Artist
The Manager
Avoiding the Usual Lies and Traps
The
Record Company
The Majors
The Indies
A&R
Marketing
Promotions
Interviews
The
Deal and How to Survive It
Contracts
Lawyers
Financial Advisers
Accountants
Pensions
Making
a Recording
Studios
Equipment
Producers
Session Musicians
Sound Engineers
Promo Videos
Touring
Agents and Concert Promoters
Crews
The Hotel
The Tour Manager
How to Write:
a) Dance Music
b) Mainstream American Rock
c) Country Music
d) Your Own Songs
Music
Publishers
Glossary
|
|
|
|
|
Fortune
Telling
