cool book: good to great

I am reading Good to Great for a class I am taking. Excellent book. Very applicable for the music business.

cool book: the new rules of marketing & pr

I have been doing some research on using social networking sites for marketing and pr for our band, and I just came upon an excellent book: The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

What I like most about this book is that is actually goes into some depth and detail of marketing research and strategies, and does more than just explain how to transform a personal MySpace site into a music one (which I have found a lot of publications do).

cool site: new music strategies

I love this site. I have highlighted part of it before, but this is probably one of the most significant part of the site - so much so that I want to focus on it some more. Andrew Dubber is the Degree Leader for Music Industries at Birmingham City University, UK. He is a senior lecturer and researcher with a particular interest in online music, radio and new media technology. He has written an excellent ebook on The twenty things you must know about music online, which you can download for free, and the entire site is wonderful.

cool site: artistshousemusic.org

Artists House Music: an online, non-profit musicians’ Website where all musicians can receive informational support, guidance, and expert resources to help them navigate the challenges and maximize the opportunities available to them within the music industry.

This is a great site - probably one of the most thorough and informative ones out there. Check it out, bookmark it, use it - you won't regret it!

cool book: the great good place

Another great book - not directly music-related, but very relevant IMHO: The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. In a nutshell, the book talks about the history and function of "the third place" - public gathering places that encourage and foster community. Cafes and coffee shops are prime examples (the bar in Cheers, the coffee shop in Friends), and music can play a very active role in the community life of both.

Worth reading: The Great Good Place.

cool site: the future of music coalition

I got to know these guys last year. The Future of Music Coalition is a not-for-profit collaboration between members of the music, technology, public policy and intellectual property law communities. They host regular summits and policy days and I am lucky enough to live close to DC where many of those take place - I'm actually attending one this coming Monday and Tuesday. But the site has great information in general as well and the Coalition does excellent work on behalf of musicians. Worth checking out!

cool book: getting things done

This is a great book. You can buy it on Amazon for $8.99 (new!) and it really is an eye-opening way of looking at time management. There are lots of good tools online to incorporate this system as well, but I'll leave that for another day.

The book: Getting Things Done, by David Allen.