Should I invest in a music attorney??

[mojobone]

Best advice in the current climate is hone your performing chops and develop a great live act. Don't bother knocking on doors, 'til they're knocking on yours; you'll be DIY for a considerable amount of time, so use Taxi to measure your progress and pick your battles carefully, while you get to know the players and the game. Learn to book, promote and most importantly DRAW. There's lots to know and lots to do; it can be overwhelming for one person, so get in a band any way you can. (short of sleeping with the drummer) That way you can leverage the players' (and your own) non-music skills and delegate some of the work load, so that you don't have to be an expert on everything from social networking to designing posters and websites. For a young woman in this business, and there's no way to sugarcoat this, there are three ways to make it; you can be outrageous and shocking, you can sleep with all the right producers, or you can use your looks, brains and undeniable talent to leverage other people's money to push your career forward. Madonna and Gaga did all three; if you're really smart, talented and hardworking, you can choose any two. (Of course, a lot of that sleeping around stuff is just because of proximity-you work so many hours, you don't have time to date outside the biz, heh. The reason guitar players date strippers and waitresses is because that's who's still awake when we get off work.)