Author - Daylle Schwartz
ISBN - 0823079481
Publication Date - 2005
Plot - Furthering on my trend in music, Daylle Schwartz's book I Don't Need a Record Deal! gives an insiders view of the music industry, helping to allow artists to navigate the murky waters of being independent. She begins the book discussing the nature of the music industry as it sits today. She describes that the industry is not back in the 1950s where you had to pay to get play on the radio for any artist you were trying to promote. Big record companies no longer can control what gets put out on the airwaves. This is not to say that they do not have some major advantages. But there are also some distinct disadvantages, such as not controlling your own career. The rest of the book is used to discuss how one can control their own career.
Controlling your career in the music industry, according to Schwartz, is not as difficult as it may see, although requires a lot of time and effort put into it. Some of the major themes involved in the book, aside from convincing you that maybe going the "indie" route is the way to go, include finding a following. This means going out and playing as many shows as you can, even for free, so that you can get exposure. Finding a promoter or a publicist, if you have the money to do so, as they can help you navigate the waters of getting gigs and getting on the radio. You have to develop relationships in the industry. This does not just mean making relationships with the large organizations or club owners. Sometimes this can mean making relationships with some of the bands that one would play with on stage. Schwartz suggests that by doing that you might find yourself invited to more shows, which can never hurt when trying to make a name for yourself in this route. Every ounce of exposure leads to more opportunities
Finally, if there were one thing that Schwartz were trying to convey, is that you have to have fun with the whole process. Yes, it can be frustrating at times. And it certainly can be a lot of work. But the whole point of choosing to go the "indie" route is to have control of your own destiny. A person choosing this path does so because they want to have control over the music that they produce, and to reap the profits of the items that they create. And ultimately it means that they have ownership of the stuff that they produce, not having some record label taking it away from them for the whole of their life.
Critical Review - While I think this is a fairly easy read, covering over the same material time and time again, I am not sure that this isn't the best method of reaching the audience you are trying to. Many kids in high school are starting up bands for the first time, trying to find their niche in the music world. Much of the music world promotes the dream that one gets signed to a big record label deal and then all of their dreams magically come true. This book tries to dispel that notion, while at the same time trying to encourage the young artists to keep plugging away at their music, and enjoy the possibilities that are out there for them. I think the dangerous territory in the book happens when the Schwartz tries to make analogies between relationships and record labels. Simply stating that when one is not working out for you, its best not to be in it. As a result of feeling that this is an oversimplification of what is going on in relationships, it makes me less likely to be trustworthy that they fully understand what the workings are of the record industry. Despite this lapse into dangerous territory, I love the fact that the work cites so many different sources in the music industry for its knowledge about all things "indie." Its almost a ridiculous list of artists, but it lends credence to the notion that maybe getting involved with the independent music scene is the way to go.
Reader's Annotation- Why have your work sucked away from you by someone who doesn't care? Why go to the trouble of producing art when the moment it is produced, it is no longer your own? What is so dreamy about working for "the man?" Daylle Schwartz suggests another route in I Don't Need a Record Deal! Maybe some deals aren't worth the price you pay for them.
About the Author- Daylle Deanna Schwartz became a product of her environment. As a child she was always pushed upon to do the right thing, what everyone expected her to do. By the time she was 20 this lead her to marriage and into a teaching career, not really what she wanted in her life. She found that she was always being pushed around in relationships, and eventually she would begin to push back. Beginning with the dissolution of her marriage, she decided she was never going to be anyone's doormat again.
From encouraging students, she decided to venture out into the music scene, trying to show them that anyone could be capable of anything. She attempted to be the only female white rapper on the market. Amazingly some record label picked her up, but promptly stole all the work that she did. She decided to exact revenge in a kind of way, by creating her own label, contrary to what her students would have done, which is to get someone to hurt the people who hurt her. Ironically she would call the name of the label, Revenge Records, and she ran it successfully for five years.
This has lead her to further endeavors about speaking about relationships, as she believes the music industry and relationships are not incompatible topics. To be in the music industry one needs to build relationships. And so she has tried to use her skills in one to help people in both fields. Out of which she developed the book about the independent music scene and how one could be successful in it.
Genre - Non-Fiction, Music
Curriculum Ties - Try to draw up your resume of things that you are good at and have accomplished. - Careers Class; Discuss the analogy of the music industry to relationships - Literature
Booktalking Ideas - Create a list of people that you can network with. Play a game of six degrees of separation with people. See how many degrees you are from someone famous.
Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+
Challenge Issues - None
Why Included - I am making a bit of a music themed area of my non-fiction section. This is partly because I enjoy music, and partly because the library I work for has an extensive music selection, of which this found itself in the teen section of the library.
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