Entertainment Business

Hollywood produces its on-screen heroes to take crucial steps to achieve their goals, and often against all odds. These same principles can be applied to anything you are seeking to accomplish or improve in your own story or life. Recognizing and following these proven and tested, cinematic stages of the hero's transformation will help you exponentially upgrade your process, mindset, awareness, and ultimately fine-tune your purpose.

An invaluable reference for anyone who is a working actor, or wants to be. Learn how to make it in the day-to-day business of acting and stay sane and focused while attempting to merge art and commerce. This audiobook covers everything the author wishes someone had told him about how casting decisions are made, what rejection really means, how to behave on a set, the two factors the business is built on, and much more. Markus Flanagan offers encouraging, highly useful pointers on such vital matters as: How do you combat getting typed?

Doctor Dread has committed his life to producing reggae music and releasing it on his label, RAS Records. He has become one of the world's foremost reggae producers and has worked with almost all the genre's icons: Bunny Wailer, Black Uhuru, Ziggy and Damian Marley, Gregory Isaacs, and others. This audiobook, full of behind-the-scenes stories, has shocking chapters that reveal aspects of reggae never before explored.

With clients ranging from rappers, singers, music producers, authors, and athletes, Lynn Hobson has written a comical yet heart-wrenching account of her career as “the go-to publicist” in the hip-hop community. She keeps it real as she fights to keep her spiritual principlse intact while making it happen in the streets. It is a battle, but she makes it through to see another day, another show, another hit, and another client who has that sparkle in their eyes. This is Diary of a Hip-Hop Publicist.

"Hired Musician" is a co-authored work about how to make a living as a musician. Mat Maxwell and Seth Costner have distilled their years of experience into a comprehensive guide that's as informative as it is engaging. Raw, real, and written for aspiring and established musicians alike, "Hired Musician" is your roadmap to getting and keeping gigs.

In 1948 American polls rated Bing Crosby "the most admired man alive", and it's no surprise given how popular he was across every major form of entertainment during the decade. With a string of major hits, Crosby was the most popular singer in the country during that era. Of all the show business icons in American history, one of the most beloved was Bob Hope, whose career spanned over six decades across film, television, vaudeville, comedy, and touring and earned him uncountable accolades.

Marc Guss’s advice is impeccable; he says the things no one else in show business will, things that those who want into the business need to know. He has a heck of a story to tell. It is powerful, outspoken talk from a widely recognized agent on how to master the industry using an entrepreneur’s specific skill set. Guss shares deeply personal experiences from the trenches, experiences he has shared with such eminent names as Lauren Bacall, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Christopher Reeve, Quentin Tarantino, Whoopi Goldberg, Dr. Phil, and others.

Forget everything you think you know about the acting industry. No matter what "they" say, a successful career in the acting profession is actually possible for anyone. Life's too short not to follow your dreams. Acting Is My Day Job: Seven Strategies to Market and Make Money as an Actor provides actionable strategies to build momentum, capitalize on early success, and build the habits required to establish a lasting acting career. Matthew Dearing delivers the truth about what it takes to be a working actor, leaving no more room for regret and excuses.

In the early '80s, the music industry wrote off hip-hop as a passing fad. Few could or would have predicted that the improvised raps and raw beats busting out of New York City's urban underclass would one day become a multimillion-dollar business and one of music's most lucrative genres. Among those few were two visionaries: Russell Simmons, a young black man from Hollis, Queens, and Rick Rubin, a Jewish kid from Long Island.

The music world has changed, and there’s no coming back. The absolute majority of people now prefer to stream their favorite music, and 94 percent use playlists for this purpose. In fact, playlists replaced the radio, and now every artist has a chance to become a newborn music star just from a successful placement in a top Spotify or Apple Music playlist. But what do you need to become “playlist” worthy? What music do you need to record? And, most importantly, how do you get on such playlists?

This audiobook shows artists and musicians how to get more streams on Spotify plus featured in Spotify editorial playlists. Billboard charting rock and hip hop artists Manafest shows you the new way artists everywhere are getting more fans without a record label. This audiobook shows you a new way to get more fans streaming and buying your music, and teaches you step-by-step how to use it. In this audiobook, you’ll find the exact strategies we use to get 10x more fans and streams for independent artists without a label or having to tour.

Musicians may just hold the keys to innovation in business. They don’t think like we do, and in the creative process, they don’t act like we do. It’s no coincidence that some of the world’s most respected creators are also entrepreneurs. In Two Beats Ahead, Panos A. Panay, senior vice president for strategy at Berklee College of Music, and R. Michael Hendrix, global design director at IDEO, interview some of the nation’s top musicians and business leaders about how they approach innovation differently.

A captivating and fast-paced account of the rise of Ruffhouse Records’ founder Chris Schwartz, the coming of age of hip-hop, and the trials and tribulations of some of its greatest artists. As a homeless musician struggling to catch a break in 1980s Philadelphia, Schwartz navigates the criminally infested, morally bankrupt independent record business to build one of the most successful hip-hop record companies in the world, which dominated the charts and generated global revenues of over one billion dollars.

Neville Drew Shende, Star bus driver for Prince on the Musicology 2004ever tour, Ronnie James Dio, Alicia Keys, Disturbed, Papa Roach, lead bus driver on the Madonna Sticky and Sweet tour, and many other high-level artists over the years. With over 35+ years of entertainment and music industry experience.

From the sugar rush of Tokyo’s idol subculture to the discordant polyrhythms of its experimental punk and indie scenes, this audiobook by Japan Times music columnist Ian F. Martin offers a witty and tender look at the issues that shape Japanese music today. With insights into the evolution of J-pop as well as its history, infrastructure, and (sub)cultures, Martin deconstructs an industry that operates very differently from counterparts overseas.

Are you a student or current entertainment professional who wants to discover how others succeeded in the entertainment business? Creating a Career in Entertainment presents real-life examples of how to build a behind-the-scenes career.

A Kid from Brooklyn: Lessons Learned is the humorous and touching life account of entertainment executive and entrepreneur, Larry Gershman. The autobiography follows Mr. Gershman from his youth in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, to his unanticipated start in television. Following his life's journey with unpredictable stops, including station manager of WNBC-TV, to the executive suite of Chock Full O'Nuts, to president, Don King Productions, and the bizarre world of championship prize fighting.

Using humorous and insightful anecdotes, Lance Allred, the first deaf player in NBA history and TEDx star, takes any aspiring fan of TED Talks, "TEDsters", on his journey of hubris, awkwardness and catharsis that was his TEDx experience. Lance walks you through how you find the best odds of where you will be selected to give a TEDx talk, how to prepare and what worked and didn't work as far as: script writing, body language, drafts submitted, post-talk marketing, along with many other details and inside information that allowed him to become a TEDx Star with One Million views within two months.

Did you know that only one in five musicals recoup the initial costs of production? In Marketing Broadway: The Business Behind the Art, you'll learn precisely what makes a successful Broadway show. Marketing Broadway is for anyone who wants to know why good shows don’t always succeed. It’s for the theater aficionado, the business person, but most importantly, it’s for the artist in you!

Legendary entertainer Gary Owens draws upon his four decades in radio, TV, film, and animation to show you how to break into the voiceover business and carve out a million-dollar niche for yourself with your voice. Sprinkled with priceless anecdotes and tips throughout from well-known actors, producers, and agents, Owens gives you the inside track on becoming a successful DJ, newscaster, announcer, sportscaster, commercial or cartoon voice, or other type of voice artist.