FourFront Media and Music A FOURFRONT MUSIC MARKETING HANDBOOK Sample Pages from Music Is Your Business 2nd Edition by Christopher Knab With Legal Tips From Entertainment Law Attorney Bartley F. Day New Revised, Updated, and Expanded Edition sample page Music Is Your Business A FourFront Music Marketing Handbook Welcome to the sample pages for the revised, expanded, and updated 2nd edition of Music IsYour Business! We’ve included “What This Book Is (and Is Not),” “What Are the Four Fronts of the Music Business—and What Do They Have to Do With You?” and “An Overview” that explains how it all works together. These pages are from the beginning of the book, and will show you how you can get your career on the right track and keep it there by un- derstanding who does what in the music business. We’ve also included the Table of Contents to give you an idea of how much is in the book—196 pages of real world information to help musicians help themselves with the business of music. Share this file with a friend! The complete version of the book is available in both a printed version and a down- loadable PDF version. The PDF version has clickable “Links” to every web address, and is completely “Bookmarked” for fast access to the information you need. (To see how Bookmarks work in the Sample Pages—if the Bookmarks window isn’t visible on the left of the screen, choose “Window” then “Show Bookmarks.” Then click on any title in the bookmark list!) • Click here to buy the print version of Music Is Your Business • Click here to buy the e-book version of Music Is Your Business FourFront Media and Music Copyright ©2001, 2003 by Christopher Knab. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share this file. No part of this file may be reproduced or altered in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or sold at any price. Printed in the United States of America. sample page What This Book Is (and Is Not) There are many advisors, consultants, and recording industry veterans who have different approaches to marketing a record. In fact, my book joins dozens of others on the bookshelves devoted to the topic of how to sell independent music. Many of these books are quite good, but many of them lay down a firm plan of action—a step-by-step guide to success. I don’t see it that way. Yes, this book is about the business of marketing and selling music for inde- pendent artists or bands. But, in my experience there are many valid approaches that can be used. Some people learn to play music by practicing exercises out of a book. Some people listen to record- ings and try to copy what they hear. Even though I’m not a musician, I can tell you that learning about the music business also has different schools of thought. If you prefer a step-by-step approach, you’ll find some direction along those lines in this book, but I prefer to describe how things work, how the industry is set up. I’ll suggest that some marketing ideas work better than others and I may recommend certain tactics and strategies along the way. But, I will not, as many book do, tell you to do A, then when A is done, proceed to B, and when you’ve com- pleted B move on to C, and if you do so, by the time you get to Z you’ll be a star. I can’t say that and neither should the books that provide you with step-by-step instructions. Please note, throughout this book I use the word record, when I refer to record labels, record stores, and your record. Even though the CD is the current standard format for music releases, the music business doesn’t call labels “CD labels,” or stores “CD stores,” nor have they changed “recording studios” to “digital capturing studios” or some other ludicrous term. The recording industry is (only) one hundred twenty-five years old and out of respect for that past, I will continue to use words that remind us of where we came from. Records, and the business of sell- ing them, is what the record industry has always been about—is still about today—and (no matter what future devices may be invented) will always be about. Long live records! 3 sample page Contents iii What This Book Is (and Is Not) vii Acknowledgements x What Are the Four Fronts of the Music Business— and What Do They Have to Do with You? xi An Overview PART 1: The First Front—Artist and Product Development 2 Why Artist and Product Development Are Both in the First Front 3 What Is Artist Development? Preparing Your Career 5 Ten Reasons Why Musicians Fail (and How Not To) 23 Paths to Success 24 Artist/Band Inventory List 26 Songwriter Relationship and Artist Relationship Charts 27 Filing Copyright Applications 30 Royalties and How They Work 33 Music Publishing: A Bare-Bones Primer 35 Setting Up Your Own Music Publishing Company 39 What A&R Reps Do 40 Recording Contracts: The Basic Concepts 45 Con Jobs: Watch Out for the Flim-Flam Man 48 Artist Development: Questions to Ask Yourself 49 What is Product Development? Making and Selling Your Music 51 Who Buys Music? 56 What You Should Know about Your Fans 58 35 Things to Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label 60 Releasing Your Own Record—A 15-Point Legal Checklist 64 Preparing Your Release: Manufacturing and Design Tips 66 Do You Really Need Your Own Bar Code? 67 Inside Major and Independent Record Labels 69 Typical Major Label Structure Chart 70 Making Your Label a Priority, or Art vs. Commerce: A Music Marketplace Dilemma 73 Distribution Setups for Record Labels 75 Distributors: How to Attract Them and How to Work With Them 80 Getting Your Music to the Customer Chart 82 The Distributor One-Sheet 83 Sample Distributor One-Sheet 84 Sample of a Distributor’s Letter of Instructions to an Independent Label 4 sample page 86 What a Record Label Should Know about Music Retailers 91 Online E-Music Retailing 94 A FourFront Marketing Plan for Independent Record Releases 96 Sample Marketing Plan for a Band 100 Product Development Questions for Music Retailers PART 2: The Second Front—Promotion 102 Promotion: Getting Airplay for Your Music 103 Radio Station Music Formats 105 Promotion: How Record Labels and Radio Stations Work Together 119 The Promotion Game: A Day by Day Summary 122 Promotion Front Questions for Radio Stations PART 3: The Third Front—Publicity 124 Publicity: Creating a Buzz in the Media 125 Kits, Kits, and More Kits 126 Ingredients of a Demo/Promo/Press Kit 127 How To Write a Bio and a Fact Sheet 130 Sample Band Bio 131 Sample Fact Sheet 132 Sample Cover Letter 133 The Quote Sheet/Press Clippings 134 Folders and Envelopes 135 Press Kit Photos 138 How to Write a Music Related Press Release 139 Getting the Most Out of Your Music Website 142 Tips for Working with the Press 144 Publicity Front Questions for Magazines, Newspapers and E-zines PART 4: The Fourth Front—Performance 146 Performance: Finding Your Audience 147 The Business of Live Performance 154 Have You Ever Played a House Concert? 156 Sample Band Tour and Work Schedule 161 Performance Front Questions for Working Your Live Shows PART 5: The Future Is Now 164 Changes In the Way Music Is Sold Over the Last 30 Years 167 New Challenges to Music Marketing 174 The Four Fronts of Music Marketing Chart 176 Author Bios 177 Index 5 sample page What Are the Four Fronts of the Music Business—and What Do They Have to Do With You? If you’re a musician and you want to make money from your music, you’re in a difficult position. If you’re like a lot of musicians, you spend huge amounts of time and money to improve your music and performing skills, but you may not have thought much about the business of music, or how you’re ac- tually a part of it. When you combine making music with making money, you become a part of the music business—whether you like it or not. Since most musicians don’t know much about the music business, they don’t realize how much that ignorance can cost them. The old saying isn’t “Ignorance is power,” but “Knowledge is power.” This is especially true when you’re making decisions about your time, your money, and your future. In today’s world a musician really has no choice but to find a way to balance the time and attention it takes to be a musician with the time and attention it takes to be music business savvy. I’m not a musician, but I’ve spent the better part of twenty-five years working closely with musicians. I’ve supported them as a DJ, playing what I thought was the coolest music they made. I’ve also sup- ported them by selling their music at record stores and marketing some of the best music I could find with my record label. Today I continue to support musicians by educating them about the realities of a rapidly changing and complicated business. To accomplish this, I’ve found a way to describe the structure of the music industry. I call it the Four Fronts of music marketing. These fronts are called Artist and Product Development, Promotion, Publicity, and Performance.