[.ca] Breakin' into Nashville: How to Write and Sell Country Music (ISBN 156833110X)

Peekin into Nashville:
Pierce provides a nice overview of two distantly related subjects - writing a good country song and the business of country music. Neither topic is developed completely, though the songwriting portion of the book is definitely more insightful and informative than the business analysis. The author briefly describes the roles played by writers, managers, publishers, labels, etc. in the country music business, but doesn't really provide the detailed information a prospective writer or artist would want or need. Royalty splits and the like are barely mentioned while the radio side of the business gets a lot of airplay. An inordinate amount of space is devoted to definitions straight out of the dictionary - yawn. The songwriting analysis of Buffet and Croce tunes is very well done, if not fascinating. The insights from various industry professionals range from useless one-paragraph postcards to very interesting multi-page interviews. All in all, a good book if you know absolutely nothing about the business of Nashville. If you want to improve your songwriting or obtain some insight on getting into the business, try some of the other titles listed above.