Product Description

This book takes the mystery out of the music business! "Music Is Your Business" tells you who does what in the music industry. Music industry veteran Christopher Knab's honest, no-nonsense information will empower you to market and promote your music, whether you're an experienced performer or just starting out. Learn how to attract distributors, get radio airplay, negotiate offers, and create a demand for your music with topics like Con Jobs: Watch Out for the Flim Flam Man, 10 Reasons Why Musicians Fail (and How Not To), What A&R Reps Do, and Online Music Retailing.

Straight to the point legal chapters by entertainment law attorney Bartley F. Day include Filing Copyright Applications, Trademarking Band Names, and Making Sense of Recording Industry Contracts. A sample distributor one-sheet, band tour and work schedule, band bio, and more! Newly revised, illustrated, indexed, and 100 pages longer. "Music Is Your Business" is essential for independent musicians and record labels.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290262 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-15
• Released on: 2007-06-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• 280 pages

About the Author
Christopher Knab is a music business consultant with over three decades of experience; in music retail (owner, Aquarius Records-San Francisco), radio (station manager, 90.3 FM Seattle), and record label ownership (415/Columbia Records). A member of the faculty of the Art Institute of Seattle for 18 years, he taught music business courses in the Audio Production program. His pioneering and popular website fourfrontmusic.com, has been a respected resource for music business articles and podcasts since 1995.Bartley F. Day is an entertainment attorney with over 20 years of music business experience. He divides his time between Los Angeles, where he is the Vice-President of Legal and Business Affairs for the music publishing company Media Creature Music, and Portland, Oregon where he has an entertainment law practice focused on music law. In addition he is the outside music counsel for Vivendi Universal Games. He also represents film and TV production companies, authors and visual artists.

Customer Reviews

This book has a ton of great information!
Chris Knab has made his career in all areas of the music business, from record store owner to radio DJ, starting a record label to managing an independent radio station, and music business educator and consultant.

Using what he calls the Four Front strategy to cover Artist and Product Development, Promotion, Publicity and Performance issues, Chris Knab shows independent musicians how to navigate the paths to sucess in the music business.

Let me break these down for you a little bit. In the Artist Development section, he lays out the knowledge and skills that musicians and bands need to reach their goals of getting their music out to an audience, and guides you through the many potential minefields that can hinder you from achieving success. In the Product Development section, he and entertainment lawyer Bartley Day detail the specifics of getting a record released, including CD production and both retail and internet distribution, as well as the many legal issues to be considered. In the Promotion section, he gives detailed information needed to get radio airplay for your songs. In the Publicity section, he shows the ways to get the word about your music out to the print, broadcast and internet media. Finally in the Performance section, he focuses on ways to find and build an audience of customers for your music.

The book is packed with useful information, but is also easy to read, and is a very good reference for any musician or band seeking a successful music career. The book won't do the work for you, but it will give you a detailed insider's view on what you need to do to make it in the music business.

Information PACKED
I have not completed the book yet but I have read about half. It is an excellent book for someone who aspires to be part of the music industry. It will give you the WHOLE picture, and a lot of legal information that many people probably don't know about. It also helped me realize some of my options as a musician. I highly recommend this book.

Just Three Words - Read This book!
Whether you're thinking about a career in the music industry, curious about the mechanisms behind starting up a record label, or an artist that wants to cover the business side of being a successful performer, this is the book for you.

Christopher Knab's book, "Music Is Your Business: The Musician's ForeFront Strategy for Success", skillfully navigates the reader through the sometimes tumultuous terrain that independent musicians and record labels travel every day. Methodically comprised of what he calls the Four Fronts, namely Artist & Product Development, Promotion, Publicity and Performance, Chris pulls from a body of knowledge that spans from his thirty years in the music industry.

Terms are spelled out in an easy to read format, but with a technical tone for those that want to sharpen skills they already have. Whether you're a beginner or long time veteran, his book is loaded with useful and insightful information that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. As someone whose starting his own label, this resource has been an invaluable source of inspiration and information. Simply put, this book rocks!