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.

Remember, you’re hiring people to guide your professional life, not to hang out on the tour bus. It’s nice if you strike up a friendship with your professionals, but it’s not essential. (However, with your personal manager, I think you need at least a solid rapport, if not a true friendship.) I’m not suggesting you hire someone you really dislike,

Listen again! Let me say this one more time: BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL in picking your business manager. More careful than you are with anyone else on your team. This is the person who can make sure you have a cozy old age, or leave you playing supermarket openings in your fifties.

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.

You should also know what clout doesn’t do. There is only so much you can get from any particular deal, regardless of who is asking.

When your music is available, it doesn’t help much if no one knows about it.

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,

The only frustrating part is that the people you really want don’t have time for you in the beginning. (Be assured, as soon as you’re successful, they’ll fall all over you and say they “knew it all along.”)

As of this writing, most mainstream artists still want to sign to a record company. Apart from guaranteeing you money (so you can avoid sleeping on park benches while creating your music), the record companies have the resources to get your music heard above the noise of all the other artists out there.