If you’re more mainstream, such as hip-hop, pop, or country, this is a much tougher question. You can set up a killer Web presence,

Finally, we come to Distribution. The major record companies’ records are all distributed by major distributors, which are gigantic distribution networks that are owned by the major labels’ parent companies. These distributors coordinate digital distribution and move physical records from manufacturing plants into the stores. They also report

As always, make sure you get a good vibe from whoever you’re hiring.

For example, if you’re a major songwriter who’s hiring a manager to help you become a recording artist, the manager might get 15% of your earnings as an artist, but only 10% (or even 7.5%, 5%, or 0%) of your songwriting monies.

However, some agencies try to commission your soundtrack album royalties if the album is derived from a film in which they got you work as an actor or actress.

You can make more money by cutting costs than you can by earning more income (See page 394 for proof of this), so the time to operate efficiently is NOW, not later.

And even after you’ve done that, and even though most labels have scouts monitoring the Internet for hot new artists, unless a lot of people are going nuts over you, it’s not likely anyone will call out of the blue. As with most things in life, you gotta make it happen yourself.

Nobody talks about their screwups, because self-aggrandizement is part of the Hollywood dance of the sand crabs.

For one thing, if the lawyer is being paid by a record company or publisher for work on other clients, it’s human nature to think twice about how hard they want to beat them up and jeopardize a profitable relationship—especially for an artist who will pay them much less.