Book review: Do the Devil's Work For Him: How to Make It In the Music Industry (And Stay In It!)

They hit the nail on the head when they try to instill into hopefuls the necessity of becoming a one-man content machine and to make (and keep) as many friends as they can. The music business is all about who you know, and Amy and Rick drive this point home. The most important takeaway is to never burn bridges and always aspire to be your own boss. There are lots of nuggets of wisdom imparted to the writers by musicians from Slipknot, Korn, Deftons, Guns and Roses, Mastodon and System of a Down (many of the paragraphs of the latter chapters start with “When I interviewed so and so…”), but the recurring theme is basically “be nice to all because you don’t know who you will need in the future.”

The bottom line is that it takes a lot of hard work and lots of luck to make it in the music industry, no matter which job you choose to do (writer, band manager, publicist…). These writers have succeeded through their gift of gab and persistence, and they insist that you can, too. And to an extent, they are right. If you bust your ass you can succeed at anything at some level. If you have the writing chops and can afford to be someone’s bitch for a year or two, then buy this book, move to LA and get cracking. I would recommend a change in title for the next edition, though.

I would like to know if anyone has met either writer and if they have any stories to share...