All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Eleventh Edition

by Donald S. Passman

Dubbed “the industry bible” by the Los Angeles Times , All You Need to Know About the Music Business by veteran music lawyer Donald Passman is the go-to guide for everyone in the music business through ten editions, over thirty years, and over a half a million copies sold. Now with updates explaining why musicians have more power today than ever in history; discussion of the mega-million-dollar sales of artists’ songs and record catalogs; how artist access to streaming media, and particularly TikTok, has completely reshaped the music business; the latest on music created by AI; and a full update of the latest numbers and trends.

For more than thirty years, All You Need to Know About the Music Business has been universally regarded as the definitive guide to the music industry. Now in its eleventh edition, Passman leads novices and experts alike through what has been the most profound change in the music business since the days of wax cylinders and piano streaming. For the first time in history, music is no longer monetized by selling something—it’s monetized by how many times a listener streams a song. And also, for the first time, artists can get their music to listeners without a record company gatekeeper, creating a new democracy for music.

The “industry bible” ( Los Angeles Times ), now updated, is essential for anyone in the music business—musicians, songwriters, lawyers, agents, promoters, publishers, executives, and managers—and the definitive guide for anyone who wants to be in the business.

So, whether you are—or aspire to be—in the music industry, veteran music lawyer Passman’s comprehensive guide is an indispensable tool. He offers timely information about the latest trends, including the reasons why artists have more clout than ever in history, the massive influence of TikTok, the mega million dollar sales of artists’ songs and record catalogs, music in Web3 and the Metaverse, music created by AI, and a full update of the latest numbers and practices.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Business, Art, Reference

560 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

Donald S. Passman is the author of All You Need To Know About the Music Business and a graduate of the University of Texas and Harvard Law School. He practices law with the Los Angeles firm of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman and has specialized in the music business for more than forty years.

Reviews

[Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by one of my college professors. Having now read it, I completely get why. Even if you are not going into the music industry as an artist, this book is loaded with information. It has everything you could possibly need to know to get a broad understanding and for someone like me who is still trying to figure out what I want to do for my career, it couldn't be more perfect.

[Andrew Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this 3 stars because I found myself extremely bored through most of the book (audiobook I will say). However, that’s kind of on me, not the book. It’s clearly very well researched and has a lot of experience backing it up. My interest in it was from sort of an artist development perspective rather than a business and finance perspective, in the business aspect it works quite well to answer a lot of questions regarding copyright, publishing, and more.

It isn’t exactly what I wanted, but Mr. Passman did his best to explain his knowledge and experience in making the best of your music business livelihood which I respect.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

required reading for my new job yippee

[Ansley Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my Music Law textbook, but I ended up finishing the unassigned chapters so I’m counting it as a book read 🙂‍↕️

[Charles James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening book on the financial dynamics of the music business . This sets out the importance of both streaming and live music and the increasing irrelevance of physical product . There appear to be layers upon layers people taking a per centage from performing artists / songwriters . Essential reading for anyone starting off or in the music business .

A few drawbacks , this is all based on US law (as you might expect ) .Also does not address issue such as whether or not interest is charged record advances .

Well worth a read .

It is readable despite primarily being about legal and contractual requirements , although feel a bit like a long list towards the end . The author does set out a shorter route than the whole 5000 pages if you just want an overview

[Vovka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one to bring myself up to speed on how the music industry works so that I can better understand one of my hobbies and also be a better decision maker when it comes to licensing music for the commercials, advertisements, and games that I commission or help make. The book really delivers on what it promises to deliver, and it's no fault of the author that some of this material is very dry, quite confusing, and a mess in the way that one would expect an industry more than a century old to be a mess. I learned a ton from this, and if I were doing regular business in this realm, would keep a copy handy as reference.

[Verreisen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a must read for a reason. If it's your first dive into this book, I recommend buying a physical copy. You will find yourself marking things and re-reading several times. I'll be revisiting this book a lot as a reference. I see this being a yearly read to keep everything fresh. Amazing effort putting all this knowledge into one book. I now feel way more comfortable with my decisions and direction in the music industry

[Hernan Villarreal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si pudiera le daría 4.5 estrellas.
Creo que sin duda es el libro más completo en cuanto información que he leído y son cosas sumamente interesantes, sin embargo por lo mismo no le doy 5 estrellas, no es un libro que se puede leer de corrido porque es demasiada información que puede llegar a cansar (aunque la información es excelente).
Creo que es un libro que es más para revisar sus capítulos en situaciones específicas.

[Sharon Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great informational book to understand the basics of the music industry. I picked it up as I changed jobs to the industry and wanted a first glance; in my search it might have had too much information for artists but other than that was a great starting point to develop knowledge and very nicely written

[Eddie Micklovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

He wasn’t kidding. The author does an incredible job thoroughly explaining every aspect of the industry in an accessible manner. Dense af, which is expected considering how convoluted the music industry is. A must read for anyone interested in music biz.

[Kenna Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how simply the author breaks everything down. It makes it really easy for someone without a background in the industry to understand, though my background definately helped. They cover a wide range of topics and I found myself using it as a source for multiple papers last semester.

[Egle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Music business bible for a reason. I listened to the 10th edition on audio right before this came out, but will purchase the digital version of the 11th edition to reference for later.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information overload, but if you are in the music industry it will be a great resource.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know it all!

[Altary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Music Industry bible

[jeremy]

reading for class but were skipping chapters so I'll read in full later

[Odowalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024: Damn useful and readable! Still, sometimes pretty confusing, but hey, what do you expect? This will prove to be even more useful if you get into specific situations covered by the book.

[Abby Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. Would recommend for anyone interested in getting into the industry.

[Holly Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, in-depth primer to the ins and outs of the business side of music.

[Dakota Rogers]

Not gonna rate it because I read this for class instead of enjoyment, but it was incredibly boring— a necessary evil.

[Emery Cilluffo · Rating 5 out of 5]

the fact that my music business masters program uses this as the textbook should tell you everything you need to know

[Alexander Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Musicians with any aspirations of entering the industry must read this book

[Kimi Bernhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah I mean like real af

[Sam Bazalo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good as far as work books go. Extremely interesting at times, intentionally dense at others but it was always going to be.

[Eric Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book. The title says it all: All You Need to Know About the Music Business. A total mind melter—but hey, if you really want to know, here ya go!

[Joaquin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly what i was looking for, but really informative!

[Paigebrown · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 only because it took me a long time to read but was extremely informative

[Aidan Mailley · Rating 5 out of 5]

the Bible of the business, not sure why I put off reading it, like 80% of my 3 years of college are contained in these 500 pages.

[Miles Hazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

literally more informative than any college class I've ever taken (also, funniest textbook ever)

[Caitlin Chua · Rating 4 out of 5]

work read