Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #633359 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Book Cover
With every passing year, the music business becomes more about business than music and for new bands, getting that break can depend as much on boardroom skills as musical ability . The crucial thing for any act is to get the right management, but so often the best managers are not available and those who are available are as inexperienced as the bands they represent.

But help is at hand in the shape of The IMF Handbook, the official guide from the International Managers Forum. Set up to represent and advise managers in the music business, the IMF offers legal, financial and technical advice to aspiring and fully fledged managers, dealing in such areas as copyright, recording and publishing contracts, training and education, government lobbying as well as tackling e-commerce and related issues affecting the modern music industry. In short, everything you need to know about managing an artist.

Written by key figures in the music industry, including the managers of some of the most successful acts in the world, plus top legal and financial experts, The IMF Handbook offers the definitive guide to band management. Whether it's tips on maximising your merchandising, negotiating record company contracts, understanding publishing deals or handling PR, The IMF Handbook has the information you need, including a full international directory of managers and music societies. If you're in the music business--or you want to be--can you afford to be without this book?

Customer Reviews

Indispensable if your working in the UK music industry
Every representative in the Music industry has a body they can turn to for advice such as the MU or PRS etc. The body set up for managers is called the Music Manager's Forum (MMF formerly the IMF). This is the handbook they have put together for managers in professional artist management. The book is not for those who want a general overview of the workings of the business. It is very specific and goes through contracts in detail. This might seam rather boring but the book points out all the traps that get worked into contracts, whether recording, publishing, distribution, producer, touring etc. If you want a detailed insight into contract negotiation this is for you.

The book also outlines things to prepare and plan for a touring band, a recording session, a video shoot and so on and so forth. If you are a manager or a member of the industry and you want detailed advice this is the place to come.

Not that much use for newcomers
You know how when computer geniuses try to teach novices the basics of computers, they can't help but come out with stuff that's irrelevant and barely intelligible from your own know-nothing point of view - but is undoubtedly fine from theirs. To a fair extent that's true with this book - if you really are on the absolute bottom rung of the ladder, it's largely over your head. (The authors clearly know their subject, though.)

An excellent resource - If you are a musician/manager BUY IT
I have thought about being a manager for ages and this book is clear,concise and perfect for anyone who wants an understanding of this most volatile of businesses(!) It really is worth it for fledging managers as well as those artists who want to know more about what the manager should know (plus there is a list of UK and international managers AND contact details at the back). One of the major plus points is that it is written by specialists in their chosen field which means you are getting solid practical advice from those that actually know.