Everyone has opinions and everyone has experiences. So who do you listen to, and what should you listen to? These are good questions when you are approaching the music industry. This is a world where the avenues to success are so varied, and many of the people that have achieved success do not even know many of the elements that have contributed to it. There are many many famous musicians that have amazing careers that do not find out till later that they have signed away the rights to their own names, their music and even what, when and how much they are allowed and other times forced to record.

The dream of being seen in a club in LA, and then the next minute you are in a private jet, hanging with celebrities and living the high life, has happened to a select few. Unfortunately those select few have many people, companies, organizations behind them, all of whom have pockets that want to be filled. These artists, especially the ones that seem so in control, are often the ones that are controlled the most.

Every so often you will hear about that leak in the news. Some artist makes a hissy fit about a bad deal, and makes the label, manager or agent look like the devil. Yes, its true, more times than not, these deals are pretty harsh or ridiculous. However, the artist did sign this deal, and the pages were right in front of them.

So what do you do? How do you keep this from happening to you? How do you record? How do you market? Who do you sign with, or not sign with? When is the right time to solicit and whom should you solicit to? Who or where you are going to get your advice and direction from becomes very important.

I am writing this book not as the stone template and format to follow, but more to present ideas to think about, and hopefully ideas that will make you think a little more before making decisions.

I am a music producer, but I am no Dr. Dre, Jay-Z or Rick Rubin for that matter. I don't want to be, by a mix of choice and the fact that I am just not that cool or stylish. I am also a lot more independent, as well as a lot more private. I do not hang out at all the hip parties and take pictures on the red carpet every night, but I have been to those parties, brought home the fancy gift bags and ended up using them as holiday gifts. Oops, cat's out of the bag on that one.

I do not name drop often or brag about a lot of the larger or more established artists I have drummed for, pre-produced, produced, post produced or consulted with. I believe that the proof is in the approach, the execution and the personalized work I do with a specific client. I am more proud of the albums that I have produced in Seattle with Scott Ross at Elliott Bay Recording Company than the rest of my catalogue all put together. While some of these artists have decided to make choices I don't recommend, or they choose to change the plan once they get the product, I am still more excited about the process of being able to achieve the industry standard level of quality that would easily cost 70 to 80 percent more in New York, Boston or Los Angeles.

I also have a big problem with producers, artists and engineers that lay out a wild resume, but don't talk about what they actually did. A few years ago I saw a producer that listed in his production resume that he worked on a certain Sting album, while the rest of his resume was pretty much home-spun stuff. Yet he talked about working on Grammy Award winning productions. I knew someone on that album, and out of curiosity made a call and found out no one knew who this guy was. It turns out that at the time of that album he worked for the cleaning service that was contracted to take care of the studio in the early mornings.

Being a drummer also added a lot of information and ideas to the approach I take and follow. Every one needs a drummer and often times drummers work a great deal more and have a great deal more experience with a greater number of artists and bands. I am writing not from the experience of only being in a few bands or a given style like many other refer to in certain publications. I drummed for artists live, on tour and in the studio that ranged across a spectrum of different genres, instrumentation and personalities. I worked with the rich musicians, the poor ones and everyone in between. I travelled in style with many groups while not having enough leg room in smaller vans and cars with others. I have worked with groups that had a more democratic format and others that had outright leaders. The fights, arguments, lawsuits and problems were all very different with different groups just as the money, the fun, the crowds and the good times were also different depending on the artist. Some bands had amazing budgets and label support, some were self funded, some were working off of loans and others were selling the shirts off their backs to stay on the road.

A great deal of the information that I have learned resulted from watching, experiencing, and even stealing, to a point in the studio also. I was a ghost drummer on a number of sessions, and learned more about the industry from being the ghost in the machine. I watched, learned and listened, as A&R reps, VP's, EP's and every other acronym for somebody that has their hands in an artist or on an album would walk into the studio and give their two cents. Technically, I was the odd man out, the independently contracted guy who signed a non disclosure agreement to keep his mouth shut and let someone else take credit for work I had done.

It was far from the route I thought of when I first started. I mean, I started drumming for the girls and the idea of fame and the cars, the homes, the girls, the traveling, the touring, the music, the girls…well you get the point.

Still, as a ghost in the machine of the music industry, I got front row access to the inner workings, why the song was being trimmed down for airplay, or how a label wanted a really solid take without vocals, so they could send the backing tracks to another artist who would make more money with that song than the artist recording it.

The ghosting sessions seemed to have a lot of work, and work that was more consistent. Many drummers from bands going into the studio are just not ready and though labels and executive producers will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an album, they want things to move fast. So they bring in the session player. Or, if they wanted to have that vibe or appearance that it's all the band and no one else, they pay one, two or all these session guys to shut their mouths and ghost the session.

People have asked me if it has kept my reputation from going further or being more known. It's a simple response. No. The people that hire, the people that needed to have someone low key, fast working, and could save them money and time had my number. I love the work that I have done, both what I can talk about and cannot talk about. What I try to impress upon people that hire me for a producer is this: if you are not satisfied with the detail of the work I deliver, the information that I give, the references that you get and the approach I follow, talk about, write about and rant about, the production, arrangement and ideas I share, or if you need to know about the biggest name or the most famous people that I am under contract with not to talk about, then find another producer.

My experience, my knowledge and my approach is based on a wide array of experiences, including ones that were amazing, and ones that just sucked. All the while I kept an eye, an ear and a nose out there, watching, listening and even smelling for how things worked, and how things didn't work.

From the studio experiences as a drummer and producer to the ghost session work, to the substitution gigs to touring, the wide array of situations, personnel,  support and sounds, I am writing from a standpoint of many angles and specified and personalized approaches.

Why did band A that sounds and looks exactly the same as Band B blow up big while band B is dropped and then sued for the remaining balance on their recording contract? Why did this work and that not? Who actually had the control? Who signed the right deal, the wrong deal and those right in-between?

Why was one artist's tour successful, and another artist's tour a financial disaster?

This book and these ideas are not that of a master of the industry, a self proclaimed guru or some music business degree holding writer. This book is not the answer to succeeding in the music industry, nor is it a contradiction of many things written before. This book is the culmination of what I have learned, observed, heard, watched and overheard in the music industry, from when I was a wannabe musician to when I was able to call myself a professional musician. These are ideas and approaches I logically pulled together from being a drummer in small homegrown studios to ghosting in some of the largest, famous and most expensive studios in the world.   

This book draws not only from how certain things worked for some and not for others, but also from exploring the roots of every action and every execution with every detail.

I have read many books on the music industry. I am not saying they are all wrong and this is the right one by any means. Some I feel are very to the point and give great advice, unfortunately it is advice that applies for where the industry was 20 years ago. Other books, I feel write in a very linear sense, discussing these concrete actions, approaches and execution methods that do not take into account the diversity of music, artists and different avenues for success.

I am trying to bring the primary theme that a musician has to be a mix of an artist and businessperson. They have to blend the creativity and art with a hunger to work as a businessperson. They need to be someone hungry to learn about this ever-changing and developing industry.   

These artists need to realize the smallest steps can be some of the most effective, as they build up and create their music, their organizational skills and their marketing to take the larger steps.

I want musicians to understand that there is a spectrum of approaches and avenues to take into consideration for their music and their career.

This book, just like the music company I founded is all about explosive ideas, methods and applications for artist production, empowerment and sustainability in the music industry of today.