Some of the best info you can have in your first year out here can be found in great hardcopy and online subscriptions. You’re also gonna need a solid support system. Get some folks who can help you out! Lastly, the person who is going to represent you to the casting world on a day-to-day basis is your Agent. Now is the time to get together with your agent and make sure that you are both on the same track concerning your representation. If you don’t have one, it’s also time to start looking.

With the upheavals in the music industry of the last ten years, and the more recent economic downturn, it can be difficult for many artists to see where their next paycheck is coming from. An increasingly open and volatile environment means that artists today must be creative, opportunistic and willing to deal with uncertainty to survive.

It’s not all bad news though – the “democratization” of the music industry has meant that there is more opportunity than ever to connect directly with fans, cutting out the traditional middle men of old – record labels.