The best jobs in the music industry Straight talk from successful music pros

In this 2nd edition of a book first published in 2012, Redman reveals and describes the broad scope of jobs now available in the music industry, from audio engineer to touring musician. Redman conducted interviews with prominent individuals in the music industry--prolific composer David Newman, songwriter and producer Steve Porcaro (founder of the rock band Toto), the multi-talented Todd Rundgren, session bassist Lee Sklar, session singer and touring vocalist Arnold McCuller, and many others. In the preface Redman (who has had a long career as a musician, publisher, composer, and producer) states that his one goal with this book is "to open up the world of music and the music business" to readers and point out that performance comprises only ten percent of the business. The author focuses on jobs that he considers to be viable in today's changing economy, jobs such as booking agent, digital distributor, music editor, music educator, music librarian, orchestrator, software developer, road manager, et al. Each job description includes information on skill sets, hours, upsides, downsides, salaries, locations, and future prospects. Most enlightening are the interviews, which open up other paths to success and the challenges individuals faced. A useful reference resource. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; students in two year programs; professionals; general readers. --Les Kong, emeritus, California State University, San Bernardino