Christopher Knab, the co-author of the “Music Is Your Business” book (now released in its fourth edition), has been in the music industry for over 30 years – and knows what it takes to succeed in music. Over the years he’s been sharing all his knowledge with artists, and developed an easy to understand and follow system called the FourFront Marketing Plan. In this We Spin Recipes podcast episode Chris explains it in details.

Listen to the show to learn what skills you need to develop for turning your music career into a profitable business (and not losing everything), how one of the Warner Bros Records’ Presidents started out, and much much more.

Few highlights of the conversation with Chris:

• Entering the music business world “on accident.”
• Importance of radio airplay throughout years.
• The origin of the FourFronts term and frequent use of war language in the music industry.
• Each of the four fronts described: Artist & Product Development, Promotion, Publicity, Performance.
• Why most of the music sucks.
• Perception of the word “business” in music.
• “The more successful you get in music, the more time you spend on the business, and not the music.”
• “If you are not going to give 110% of everything you have and to give up a lot to be a growing musician, you are going to lose everything.”
• People in the industry want to help you, but they first want to see that you are serious about your career.
• “The very beginning of social networking starts with artist development.”
• How to convince the buyer why they want your music.
• What clubs and promoters want in reality.
• Connecting the Four Fronts together.
• Work for little victories
• On having patience. Don’t focus only on the destination, enjoy the process.

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Track playing in the background: “Spacetime” by Fanu.

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Show Notes:
  • The Musician’s FourFront Marketing and Legal Guide
  • Chris Knab on Twitter