John Snyder: Finding Your Place in the Industry

John Snyder came to McNally Smith last week and spoke to my Creating a Life in Music class. what he had to say was so inspiring. He told stories of working with huge names in the industry as well as giving great advice on building your own business. (as a musician you yourself are a business and you should run it as such). He gave some great suggestions for books that we should read. They are:

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

The Cluetrain Manifesto

The Business of Art

All of these books talk about how to run your own business, including business plans, and where the industry is heading. I plan on picking up all of these books in the near future.

Johns background is also very interesting. He was a trumpet player who went to music school and then to law school. He got into the industry not for his performance degree but for his law degree. From there he went on to be a producer and worked with some of the best in the business (i.e. Stevie Wonder, Etta James).

His talk was very motivating and informational.

Here is a link to a youtube video of Guy Kawasaki talking about business