Photos courtesy of Roger Evans.

Impro-visor
A nice freeware alternative to Band in a Box

Not Playing Guitar
A great blog with lots of stuff to read when you’re not playing guitar.

James Taylor’s 2010 Carnegie Hall Series
I’m sure this will be a great series, I hope it will be broadcast.

Bear’s Battlestar Blog
Composer Bear McCreary blogs about the process of making music for film and television.

John Coltrane Interviews
I was just made aware of these gems. Very interesting to hear.

The Guitar Student Journal
A motivated adult student blogs about his progress studying the guitar.

The first thing to understand is what this book is not. Niedt does not promise to make you a better guitarist, a famous musician, or even a millionaire (one who has a net worth of one million dollars or more) in his book. What he will do is make you think long and hard about whether you wish make the commitment to become an entrepreneurial musician, and offer lots of good advice on how to begin and grow your business so that you can make a million dollars or more over the course of your career.

Niedt covers a lot of ground, but most of the book can be divided two distinct concepts: entrepreneurial thinking and understanding common business practices. These two concepts are seamlessly woven together throughout with the earlier chapters generally discussing entrepreneurial thinking and later chapters relating more specific information about business practices that apply to musicians.

Throughout the book, the author reflects on his own life as a student, performer, teacher, and businessperson. He also incorporates many anecdotes that illustrate typical challenges that have been overcome successfully by famous musicians and businesspeople throughout history.

“Do you really want to do this? Do you have what it takes?” asks an early chapter. A short survey will help young people who may have big dreams but no realistic idea of what it means to be a musician to put things into perspective. After each survey question, there are reality checks that will encourage the reader to reflect on their attitudes and expectations about a career in music and whether or not they possess the drive and self-discipline to succeed. I find that Niedt strikes just the right balance here. He is careful not to discourage the reader but is very realistic about the sacrifices that must be made in order to make a living playing music.

The first two sections of the book include several essays on topics such as: keeping a positive attitude, setting goals, evaluating oneself, choosing an educational path, how to get along with other people, and more. These chapters are definitely motivational, but also make good business sense for anyone who wants to be self-employed and stay optimistic in the face of adversity. This section also includes two of my favorite chapters: “Talent is Not the Answer” and “You’re a Failure – Congratulations!”

As the book proceeds, more in-depth information about what it takes to be a self-employed musician is explored. Advice is given on virtually all aspects of setting up a business as a sole proprietorship or LLC, recording your own CDs, building a website that will help you sell your music, knowing what to charge for shipping, maintaining a database, understanding tax laws and much more. The chapter on maintaining a database was particularly a good one for me as I am always trying to find a better way to organize my records of students and business contacts electronically.

Most of the business information passed on in the book I already know. I’ve learned it along the way from colleagues, teachers, tax and financial advisers, and friends. Some things I found out through my own research. Almost all of it was learned after college as I struggled to establish myself as a teacher and musician. I can only imagine how much easier my path may have been with a book like this one to guide me.

Douglas Niedt has written a book that every young person aspiring to a career in music should read. I will definitely be recommending it to many of my students and their parents. It paints a very clear and realistic picture of what the career of a professional musician looks like. If you are starting a career in music or know someone who is, this is required reading.

Finally, if you are not a guitarist, you’ll still want to buy the book. Doug may be targeting guitarists with his title, but the book is not about playing the guitar, it’s about being an entrepreneurial musician. All of the information inside is equally applicable to pianists, saxophonists, trombonists, etc. I’m guessing it will take a trombonist a little longer to reach the million-dollar mark, but that’s another story.

Doug has several videos related to his book on YouTube. Here’s a sample:

Smalls Jazz Club Live Stream
Watch live music as it happens. Thanks to Lyle of JGL for this one.

The Edge on the future of the guitar
Interesting article. I have to wonder about that Spider-Man musical…

iNudge
I dig this fun little toy.

So Much Sound
One of the best music blogs I’ve found. Check out the pentatonic lessons!

Write Rhymes
Stuck for a rhyme? Try this page.

Top 100 Jazz Guitar Albums
The results of a vote by readers, this is a good list for jazz guitar neophytes.

Record regularly.
I absolutely hate recording. I feel that there’s always something that could be better. Whether it’s my performance, the environment, or the limitations of the recording equipment, I can nit-pick a recording to death and I just need to do it and evaluate the results later.

Develop more solo repertoire.
Over the past few months I haven’t added as many new pieces to my solo repertoire as I’d like. I’d especially like to step outside of the jazz idiom and add some more pop and original pieces.

Look for new performance opportunities.
I do perform locally often, but a few things I’d like to do include: set up a regular weekly or monthly gig that I can depend on and advertise, look for opportunities to showcase myself alongside other local musicians and students, and maybe even seek out some more out-of-town gigs.

Maintain a better relationship with my current and past students.
Often, I only connect with students at their weekly lesson. Although I never harbor ill feelings toward students who decide to stop taking lessons, keeping up with my all of my students through an occasional encouraging email might mean a lot. There’s no reason for people to stop working on their own or to be disconnected from studio announcements.

Exercise regularly.
The main benefit of working out for me is that when I work out regularly, I feel better and more alert, and I have more energy to devote to the rest of my day. If I follow through, I’ll surely shed a few pounds too, but the endorphins and extra energy are what I’m really after.

Volunteer at Dogtown.
Just dreaming, but my wife and I really admire the work of Best Friends Animal Society and have never visited the anywhere near Utah. It would make for a great vacation, but the question is is it fair to kennel our dogs for a week so we can go halfway across the country to help other dogs?

Got any good suggestions or resolutions for 2010? Let me hear about ‘em.