In The News
Don Passman Talks AI and Music Monetization at THR’s Power Lawyers Breakfast
SOURCE Hollywood's top attorneys gathered for a breakfast at Spago celebrating this year's Power Lawyers honorees, which featured a keynote conversation with legendary music lawyer Don Passman. BY ASHLEY CULLINS APRIL 13, 2023 8:17AM Music lawyer Don Passman and THR...
All You Need to Know About the Music Business In 2023 with Don Passman
The debut episode of the podcast features the world-renowned music attorney and author who literally wrote the bible for the music industry, “All You Need To Know About The Music Business,” Don Passman. The premiere of the MUBUTV: Insider Podcast aired on Tuesday,...
StereoMonoSunday
Top 5 music business books
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash January 8, 2023 HCamrone 95 ViewsAll You Need to Know About the Music Business, books on music business, how to music business, music business Top 5 music business books Introduction The music business is a fast-moving industry...
Bailey Zimmerman Breaks Streaming Records With New Album
News | October 25, 2022 Bailey Zimmerman’s blossoming career is already breaking records, with his just-released first full-length album, Leave The Light On. The eight-track project not only became the most-streamed all-genre debut of the year, but it also became the...
Top 5 books to learn about the Live Music Business
Want to know more about the live music industry? Here are five books that will tell you all you need to know. by JORDAN GATES from Indie Gigging As the saying goes, knowledge is power! And that could not be more true in the music business. Understanding how the...
Singer-Songwriter Sequestering Suggestions
Music Connection Vol. 44 June 2020 By Larry Butler
Can you guys please recommend a book that made you cry?
by: @assistantsvsagents
Chris Bosh’s Favorite Basketball Writers? Kobe Bryant Makes the List.
BY THE BOOK What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves? “All You Need to Know About the Music Business,” by Donald S. Passman. Music has become an important outlet for me after my basketball playing days. I eventually made up my mind that I wanted to...
Who Really Wrote Your Favorite Song? It’s Complicated
From Bob Dylan to Shakira, music catalogs are selling for big bucks, but songwriters increasingly struggle to get paid. Here’s why. By Neil Shah How does the music business decide who helped write a song? With everyone from Bob Dylan to Shakira selling their songbooks...
Revised Book Explains the Business of the Music Business
All You Need to Know About the Music Business—Tenth Edition By Donald S. Passman 528 pp. $35 Simon & Schuster So kid, ya think ya got some talent and ya wanna break into the music biz? Yer momma and all your Facebook Friends tell you your signing is tops and...
Kanye West’s Record Deal Is Standard. That Doesn’t Mean the Record Industry Is Fair
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 12:53PM ET By ETHAN MILLMAN Kanye’s call for transparency in the music business has made other artists and industry insiders speak up. “We get used to these things and then sometimes, there’s a wakeup call,” says one artist Kanye West gave the world...
Don Passman on the The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
July 30, 2020 – Attorney Don Passman literally wrote the book on the music business: “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.” Here we delve deeply into today’s deal landscape, as well as Don’s story, how he got to be one of the foremost lawyers in the music business. If you want to know about record deals, and publishing deals, and 360 deals and touring deals…this is the place!
Power of Law: Top Music Attorneys of 2020
Jul 14, 2020 3:31pm PT Power of Law: Top Music Attorneys of 2020 Rob Latour/Shutterstock As any music-business attorney will tell you, it’s not a job for the faint of heart — especially in 2020. These legal eagles made massive deals, litigated thorny disputes and...
How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Reshaped Entertainment Law
Jul 14, 2020 8:00am PT How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Reshaped Entertainment Law Courtesy of Jeff Cohen/Neema Sahni/Tom Ara The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy, dramatically changing the way entertainment lawyers have conducted their...
The Best Music Books of 2019 (a Lot of Them, Anyway)
DECEMBER 22, 2019 8:22AM PT
By JEM ASWAD
Reviewing music is a walk in the park compared with reviewing books, which must be the most time-consuming occupation in entertainment apart from being parents of budding baseball players. For a similar reason, this best-music-books-of-the-year list is hardly a definitive one — there was a veritable avalanche of them released this year, utterly hopeless to keep up with. So with apologies to some of these authors for tardiness (there are a couple of late 2018 titles in here) — and to Liz Phair, Hanif Abdurraqib and others whose books I’ve heard are great but have not read yet — here are The Best Music Books of 2019 That I Managed to Procure and Actually Finish Reading…
“All You Need to Know About the Music Business: 10th Edition” (by Donald Passman) — Ten editions in, this book, written by one of the industry’s most prominent and experienced attorneys, remains the single best one-stop for learning about the music business. Its very nature dictates that it’s hardly a page-turner, but Passman’s style is engaging and his expertise near-unimpeachable.
Revised Book Explains the Business of the Music Business
Revised Book Explains the Business of the Music Business
BOB RUGGIERO | NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | 4:00AM
All You Need to Know About the Music Business—Tenth Edition
By Donald S. Passman
528 pp.
$35
Simon & Schuster
So kid, ya think ya got some talent and ya wanna break into the music biz? Yer momma and all your Facebook Friends tell you your signing is tops and nobody plunks a piano key or pens musical poetry like you? Sure! Sign right here!
Oh, and by the way, I’m sure you’ve already picked out a personal manager, business manager, lawyer, agent, and PR team, right? And you know the difference between U.S. and foreign royalty configurations? Along with the meanings of phrases and business concepts like a controlled composition clause, deal points, double commissions, net tour take after deductions, advances against royalties, merchandising cuts, song copyright, and group provisions – just in case your bassist quits in a huff. You know all that, right?
NEW DON PASSMAN EDITION
Deadline
By Bruce Haring
November 2, 2019 2:36pm
Veteran music business attorney Don Passman, who represents Taylor Swift, Paul Simon, Adele and Stevie Wonder, has released an updated edition of his seminal All You Need To Know About the Music Business. Its 10th edition is now out. The first edition debuted in 1991. Passman is a partner at Gang Tyre Ramer Brown & Passman, and has also written three novels.
Don Passman Updates The ‘Music Biz’
Billboard
11/1/2019 by Glenn Peoples
When it comes to the music business, Don Passman has seen it all — and written the book on it. Due to 40 years of accomplishments, clout and clients — which currently include Taylor Swift, Paul Simon, Adele and Stevie Wonder — Passman has landed on Billboard’s Power 100 list the past two years. But in most circles the attorney is best known for his seminal tome All You Need to Know About the Music Business, a detailed handbook made palatable and engaging through anecdotes and humor, which will be rereleased for its 10th edition on Nov. 2. (The first edition was published in 1991.)
Donald Passman Talks New Edition of ‘All You Need to Know About the Music Business,’ and What’s Next
Variety
OCTOBER 30, 2019 5:26PM PT
By ROY TRAKIN
@roytrakinFOLLOW
On November 14, veteran music attorney Donald Passman will receive the Cedars Sinai Board of Governors 2019 Visionary Award. The award is a fitting one, not just for the work the lawyer/author has done on behalf of the hospital, but for his groundbreaking 1991 book “All You Need to Know About the Music Business,” the 10th edition of which is out this week on Simon & Schuster. Passman estimates the book has sold a half-million copies in its various iterations over that time.
The Music Industry is Evolving Faster Than Ever, and So Are The Scammers
Complex
BY SAM WEINBERG, MATT AIELLO
OCT 15, 2019
In early 2018, Jay James was gearing up for the rollout of his new album, when all is said and done. Although it wasn’t the San Diego-based composer and producer’s first project, James believed that the album could be his big break. For the first time in his music career, the young artist decided to invest some money into marketing and PR.
Music Lawyer Donald Passman Talks Streaming Business Challenges
The Hollywood Reporter
4:54 PM PDT 9/27/2017 by Ashley Cullins
The lawyer, whose clients include Taylor Swift and Adele, spoke with THR editorial director Matthew Belloni at the seventh annual Power Business Managers breakfast.
“I’m starting with numbers,” said prolific music lawyer Donald Passman to a crowd of Hollywood’s top business managers on Wednesday. “I want you to feel at home.”