Joel Cummins Discusses New Book On The Drop Podcast

The latest episode of Osiris’ The Drop podcast features an interview with Umphrey’s McGee keyboardist Joel Cummins. Joel spoke with host RJ Bee about The Realist’s Guide To A Successful Music Career, a new book penned by Cummins and Matt DeCoursey that was released on Tuesday.

The 361-page book helps those embarking on a career in the music industry navigate the ins and outs of the business. Additionally, The Realist’s Guide To A Successful Music Career pulls the curtain back on the industry for live music fans. Cummins not only shares insight from his 20+ years in the industry but the book also features interviews with musicians such as Huey Lewis, Susan Tedeschi, Chuck Leavell and Nikki Glaspie as well as impresario Peter Shapiro, UM managers Kevin Browning and Vince Iwinski, Sony Legacy VP of Digital Marketing Syd Schwartz and others.

RJ started the interview by asking Joel how long it took to put the book together. Cummins recalls the beginning of the two-year process and how he met DeCoursey. The keyboardist explains some of the goals for the book and how he and DeCoursey decided to focus on providing a comprehensive guide for beginners while incorporating the thoughts of lots of artists, promoters and other industry vets. Bee and Cummins go into detail about some of the interviews featured in the book such as Joel’s chats with Leavell and Taylor Hicks. The latter told the story of how he came to appear on American Idol.

Joel also discusses some of the mistakes he and Umphrey’s made early on. One such mistake was booking a show while a major event was taking place in town. The keyboardist uses the example of UM playing the Georgia Theatre in Athens on a home football game Saturday. While the band sold out the concert, there were 200 no-shows. Bee and Cummins go on to talk about whether it’s easier or harder to be successful in the music industry presently versus in the past, the shelf-life of the book, how Joel and Matt split the work and additional topics.

Listen to Cummins’ appearance on The Drop below:

https://thedrop.simplecast.com/episodes/joel-cummins-of-umphreys-mcgee

On a personal note, I enjoyed The Realist’s Guide To A Successful Music Career immensely, yet I was more excited to share the book with my 16-year-old nephew. My nephew has recorded, mixed and mastered music and has performed dozens of gigs. I had spent time in a book store looking for a tome that would assist my nephew as he started to move up the ladder of the music industry with little luck. Thankfully, The Realist’s Guide To A Successful Music Career should be the perfect book to help educate my nephew and here’s hoping it also turns him into an Umphreak.

JamBase is the media partner of the Osiris network of podcasts.