Entertainment Business

At 30, Duncan Bannatyne had no money and was enjoying life on the beaches of Jersey. He saw a story about someone who had made himself a millionaire, and decided to do the same. Five years later, he had done it, and now he is worth £168 million. In this remarkable book, he explains how anyone could take the same route as he did, if they really want to.

In a career that has spanned four decades, choreographer Twyla Tharp has collaborated with great musicians, designers, thousands of dancers, and almost a hundred companies. She's experienced the thrill of shared achievement and has seen what happens when group efforts fizzle. Her professional life has been - and continues to be - one collaboration after another. In this practical sequel to her national best seller The Creative Habit, Tharp explains why collaboration is important to her - and can be for you.

From YouTube star vlogger Connor Franta comes an audiobook that grows out of his massive social media outreach - filled with annotated postcards, notes, texts, tweets, journal entries, emails, and letters that chart his coming of age.

If you have an undeniable passion for photography, perhaps it's time to think about taking it to the next step. Chances are, if you're listening to this, you know that that next step is to make a business out of it!

Most of us have watched and loved a Disney movie or a Disney cartoon, and it doesn't matter whether we are children or adults. Born in the year 1901, Walt Disney introduced us to the world of cartoons, animation, and fairy tales. Besides winning 22 Academy Awards during his lifetime and giving us lovable characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, he was also the founder of Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks.

Sumner Murray Redstone, once feared as the “mad genius” of media who would dump his CEOs for mere wobbles in his companies’ stock price, had built one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers constructed to ensure that he always maintained control. Today he controls 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, meaning that on a whim he could replace the entire boards of two public companies with a combined value of $40 billion.

When Gretchen Carlson made the decision to "walk off the set" and speak up about sexual harassment in the workplace, she jumped off a cliff by herself, but it led to a new calling: empowering women to reclaim their power against any injustice. After the former Miss America, mother of two, and star news anchor stood up and spoke out, women all over the world joined the movement and began to take back their lives, careers, and dignity. Gretchen became the voice for the voiceless.

A. E. Hotchner first met Paul Newman in 1955 when the virtually unknown actor assumed the lead role in Hotchner’s first television play, based on an Ernest Hemingway story. The project elevated both men from relative obscurity to recognition and began a close and trusted friendship that lasted until Newman’s death in 2008.

Agatha Carubia lovingly directs you to the core of your singing technique with the simplicity and passion inspired by 30 years of teaching success. Using a hybrid of the Eastern chakra energy system and the classical Bel Canto vocal technique, Heart-Based Singing serves as a trouble-shooting template for your voice, with practical exercises, tools and solutions for immediate improvement.

Here is the rags-to-riches story of the man who sliced, diced, and julienned his way into our hearts and wallets—Ron Popeil—packed with hands-on, nuts-and-bolts guidance on how anyone with a product idea can make big money.

Veteran character actor David Dean Bottrell draws on his 35-plus tumultuous years of work in the entertainment industry to offer a guide to breaking in, making a living, and making a life in the fabulous trenches of show business. Mixing prescriptive advice with wisdom drawn from Bottrell's own professional highs and lows and those of his acting compatriots, this book's humorous, tell-it-like-it-is tone is a must-have guide for anyone hoping to successfully navigate show business.

In addition to founding Twisted Sister, a world-famous heavy metal band that has sold more than 20 million records worldwide, Jay Jay French is one of the top entrepreneurs in entertainment. After taking over as manager in the 70s, French developed Twisted Sister into the most heavily licensed heavy metal band in history.

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.

Nick Duerden has spent many years interviewing the most famous musicians on the planet. Without exception, they are at their most interesting when they've peaked, and when they are on their way down. In many ways, this is when these former idols are at their most heroic, too, because they reveal themselves not only to be humane and sensitive, but also still driven to create, to fulfil their lingering dreams, to refuse to live quietly.

Would you have the patience and drive to change your mind state, music production techniques, and health habits to sustain this highly demanding way of life? This step-by-step guide to music composer lifestyle design teaches how J.T. went from a six-figure job in a Fortune 500 company to composing music full-time, almost doubling his revenues within the first two years; how to compose, sound, and live like the pros; how to monetize every second spent in front of your equipment, making sounds and songs; and more.

How to Keep Your Dukes Up in the Music Business is the guide every musician needs to navigate the music bizz. This book includes eight essential contracts that all musicians need, and with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment business and a music attorney today, Miss Krystle Shares some of the best kept industry secrets you need to know. Having the advantage means managing all the business aspects of your career, and it is an investment of time that will pay off in a big way.

Today you need to view yourself through the new rules of the music industry. Those who play by them will succeed. Gone are the old days where you would hope to get signed and then become a star (i.e., everything would be done for you). Do you wonder why other artists are getting breaks and you are not? Making it in the music industry isn't about catching that big break anymore. Getting your career off the ground can be a long and scary task. In this cutting-edge book Tommy Swindali maps out everything you need to know.

In his first book Tracks That Sync, award-winning composer Graham Barton shows you how to unlock an unfair advantage in music licensing with 10 simple principles. Combining creativity, advertising, psychology, and business, he gives you the real-world tools you need to level up your tracks and supercharge your income. From creative choices to productivity hacks, Barton shares his lessons learned over the last decade in the business. He collects them into a powerful manifesto that inspires the modern composer on the path to break through their income ceiling.

With student loan debt piling up and no lucrative gigs around the corner, Scott Bradlee found himself in a situation all too familiar to struggling musicians and creative professionals, unsure whether he should use the little income he had to pay the rent on his basement apartment on the fringes of New York City or to avoid defaulting on his loans. It was under these desperate circumstances that Bradlee began experimenting, applying his passion for jazz, ragtime, and doo-wop styles to contemporary hits by singers like Macklemore and Miley Cyrus - and suddenly an idea was born.

For 20 years, Merge Records has remained true to their belief that you can sign bands because you love their music and respect what they're trying to do. As giant corporate labels struggle for survival, Merge has garnered a secure and growing fan base while releasing some of the best music of our time. Our Noise is the history of the much loved label as seen by those who were there. It features interviews with and profiles of now releases some of indie rock's biggest names.