But if they dazzle you, be even more cautious—charming crooks are the most dangerous!

Strange as it sounds, most of the big independent distributors are owned by the same companies that own the major labels. Specifically, RED and the Orchard are owned by Sony; Caroline is owned by Universal; and ADA is owned by Warner.

Making a living from a business you don’t understand is risky. Yet a large number of artists, including major ones, have never learned such basics as how record royalties are computed, what a copyright is, how music publishing works, and a number of other things that directly affect their lives.

Few things last forever, and an assured stream of earnings at your highest level is not one of them. So even the best business managers can’t help you if you overspend on jets, yachts, houses, cars, and controlled substances.

As we discussed on page 15, a direct relationship with fans is the next generation of marketing, and young artists are proving savvier in this area than a lot of established companies.

Most decisions can be condensed down to a fairly simple summary, and you should make all the significant decisions yourself. Be wary of someone who just wants to tell you what to do and seems offended if you question it.

So it’s best to plan as if your career isn’t going to last, then be pleasantly surprised if it does. Setting yourself up so that you never have to work doesn’t stop you from working all you like—it just becomes an option, not an obligation.

As of this writing, most mainstream artists still want to sign to a record company. Apart from guaranteeing you money (so you can avoid sleeping on park benches while creating your music), the record companies have the resources to get your music heard above the noise of all the other artists out there.

And even after you’ve done that, and even though most labels have scouts monitoring the Internet for hot new artists, unless a lot of people are going nuts over you, it’s not likely anyone will call out of the blue. As with most things in life, you gotta make it happen yourself.