Longing for the day ...

What I would have written

The other day I bought Ty Cohen's book "The New Music Industry: How to Use the Power of the Internet to Multiply Your Industry Exposure, Fan Base and Income Potential Online!"

Despite its technical flaws and marketing-at-all-cost philosophy, I have to say, it's absolutely spot on as far as its advice goes. It's a cheaply produced and very short book - really just a collection of points to consider. It needs a good sub-edit and a desktop publishing cleanup, but that's not part of Cohen's approach. He seems to want to get these things out a cheaply as possible, maximise his profit on them and revise/update/re-release them as often as possible. It seems to be a winning approach for him. (It's despicable to me)

Nonetheless, his advice in this book as absolutely great. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's the book I would have written if I felt like writing this book. Inevitably, however, it falls down on the details. In keeping with the quick-n-dirty approach, lots of what-to-dos and not many how-to-dos. But that's inevitable, given the subject matter. For the price, it's a good introduction to the subject - but don;t believe the reviews you read n Amazon.com - part of this marketing approach is to talk yourself up at all cost ... which is a pity ...

Another word of caution on Cohen - if you buy his stuff you WILL be bombarded with promotions for all his other stuff - and they're hyped beyond all semblance of credibility. They may well be as good as this one - I'm resisting the urge to buy them all - but I find this market-beyond reason approach very alienating. Still, it obviously works for Ty, David Hooper, Bob Baker, Dec Cluskey and their ilk. (See if you can spot the pattern ...)