This Business of Urban Music (Billboard Books), by James L. Walker Jr.

R&B, soul, gospel and hip-hop artists in Milwaukee (or anywhere) would do well to study entertainment lawyer James L. Walker Jr.'s extensive guide to getting one's business together in making a career out of urban music. Walker combines personal anecdotes from working with his firm's high-profile clientele with rigorous, technical expositions of most every aspect of business and professional life in the urban music industry. He deals fairly with the cold, hard realities of what most labels expect from the talent they sign. Apart from the last several chapters about marketing and networking, much of Walker's advice could be applicable to anyone seeking to make a living pursuing their musical passions as a national or regional recording and touring act. Walker understands the suits, but he treats the artists' interests as the higher priority.