"Some Straight Talk about the Music Business"

Dean Tudor is a journalism professor at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute and founding editor of the CBRA.

Coxson is a columnist for Canadian Musician (“Taking Care of Business”). Much of this material appeared in that column, and the quotes from established Canadian musicians and technicians commenting on different aspects of the music business first appeared in Canadian Musician. The book is, of course, extremely useful for career guidance: it covers all the angles in the pop music business. There are no specifics about particular instruments nor about “classical” performers, but there are lots of details about freelancers. Sixteen chapters, with ten on so sub-sections each, cover a wide range, from career options through getting started (leaders, one-nighters, agents, managers), to getting work, “the union,” promotion, and so forth. Coxson concludes with lists of recommended readings and periodicals to subscribe to and data on the performing rights societies and the mechanical rights associations. Her writing style is breezy, which should attract a lot of readers who seek this kind of information. And she quite wisely puts in a lot of discouraging material up front: a freelance career is not for everybody, and it is better to have high hopes crash early on than later.