Can you give me a run down of your experience in the music business?

I am the owner of FourFront Media and Music, a Seattle based music business consultation service dedicated to helping musicians promote, market, and distribute their independent releases. I help people new to the business put together plans to sell their music, and develop their music careers. Educating my clients about the realities of the business of music is a big part of what my services are about.

I am the former President of the Northwest Area Music Association (1989-1992), where I organized four annual music business conferences, and acted as the workshop coordinator for the event. I also served as the Station Manager of the alternative music, public radio station KCMU from 1985-1994. Prior to that I was the co-founder and Vice-president of 415/Columbia Records from 1978-1984. In the1960’s and 70’s I was involved with music retailing, and was the owner of Aquarius Records in San Francisco. Also, I am currently on the faculty of the Music Business Program at the Art Institute of Seattle where I teach courses related to the promotion and marketing of recorded music.

In addition. I am also the co-author, along with Portland based entertainment law attorney Bartley F. Day, of an extensive chapter on ‘Independent Label Deals with Major Label’s’ in the revised second edition of “ The Musician’s Legal and Business Guide” published by Prentice-Hall and the Beverly Hills Bar Association in 1996. At the moment I am also writing my first book on the business of music, “The FourFront Music Marketing Handbook" and I maintain a website that provides information and articles about marketing independent music.(http://www.knab.com)

Tell me about your business and how you can help the unsigned musician.

When I take on a client, I first talk to them about their expectations. By doing that I hope to pop many of their balloons about the nature of the music business, correct any misconceptions and misleading myths they may be attached to, so that we can then sit down realistically and plan a course of action to help them fight the good fight of promoting and selling their music. I give them 35 questions to answer about their music and their ambitions. After going over that questionnaire, we begin to work on developing strategies and tactics that will hopefully help them as they begin to establish a name for themselves.

What are your thoughts of the paradigm shift in the music biz for the unsigned musician looking for a record deal?

Funny you use that term 'paradigm'. I use it all the time myself. In the old way of thinking of things, a talented musician/singer might do a demo tape of some kind, and 'shop' the demo in hopes of being 'discovered' by a label. That is an undertaking fraught with danger. The old paradigm of "Hey, mister I’m really good...make me a star" is really a reflection of a time when exploitation of musicians was rampant.

Things began to change in the mid 70's as more and more bands and artists began to put out their own music. Small labels appeared, and the "alternative' scene was born. Along with that came the development of college radio, Indie stores and distributors, clubs and other live venues, that began to expose and support a lot of the underground 'new sounds' of that era. As the 80's rolled around a real network of DIY'ers got more and more popular and influential. So, that now for several years, the 'new paradigm' of making, promoting, and selling your CD or record has taken hold as the dominate way for new talent, new music sounds, to find their way to an audience.

It is common place in the late 90's that we hear A&R reps say they want to see some success that an artist has achieved on their own. The DIY movement has given bands and new artists the chance to learn the business of music themselves, and develop their musicon their own. There is a very rich reservoir of talent now in the pool of musicians who have taken the time to record, release and market their own music. Why should any label bother taking some unproved talent and take the time to develop that raw talent, when there is so much proven (i.e. music in demand) talent already...out there?

Do you think it is wise for an unsigned band to try to get a publishing deal with a publisher before they sign with a label in hopes that the publisher will develop them and help them shop to labels?

Being a guy who grew up through the indie ranks, and has supported original new music, my opinion on the publishing approach is this. If you are truly an 'alternative' artist of whatever flavor, than your songs are worth nothing financially until you have developed a following of some kind, sold a bunch of CDs, and developed yourself to the point where there is some potential income to be derived from those original songs. If you are a songwriter for the type of music I call 'MariahCareyland' pop, or mainstream Country, then you have your work cut out for you as a developing songwriter. Those pop music’s do have limited opportunities for up and coming songwriters, but they are few and far between. There are songwriting organizations, songwriting contests, and showcases galore for those who wish to plug into that career. For everyone else, to me publishing is an afterthought that can wait until your songs have a marketplace ready to take advantage of those great new songs.

Do you think that an unsigned band releasing their own CD should use a producer to help them with their project?

Depends what their expectations are for their recorded project. If they have sufficient funds to warrant investing in getting an independent radio promoter to try to get them some airplay on commercial and college alternative stations AFTER they have secured distribution and sales connections, then I would say it is almost mandatory to have a producer who is well regarded in a particular genre to have them produce the indie record.

If the band or artist is a 'garage' project, or a vanity project that will be used only to sell at their own gigs, and is not going to try to get significant commercial or college radio airplay on a national level, then I think a well recorded and engineered CD will do the job.

If an unsigned band has a web site what type of information and things should be there?

Good question. A&R Reps are cruising the internet regularly now as a way to find interesting new music. So, this is a list of things a good band/artist website should have on it:
* Biography and Fact Sheet that tell the story and essential interesting facts about the bands Past, Present, and Future activities, as well as a brief description of the genre of music, and where the band is located.
* Some press clippings, and/or quotes from industry gatekeepers that speak well of the music
* Sound samples of the best quality Real Audio, Liquid Audio, or other streaming
audio available. ( Be careful of the popular MP3 files, realizing that the latest
campus fad is downloading copyrighted songs and sending them out to friends.
If you are using your songs as promotion, and don't care if people download and
you get no money for the whole song, go ahead and post them. Something like
20,000 MP3 websites are out there now, by the way.)
* Email link positioned visibly on each page.
* Live performance calendar or schedule. AND keep it updated!
* If a CD is available, information on how to buy it.

What role do you think the internet will play in the future of the music business?

The revolution is well underway. In a few short years, we will all look back at the late 90's nostalgically as the time when the music business as we had known it for decades was radically undergoing change. I hope every enterprising musician who embraces the notion of taking control of their musical career...does so, and kicks the mainstream music business in the ass. There will always be commercial, late adopter consumer pop music of one kind or another. What I am talking about is that more and more musicians who so choose, will be able to control their own destiny by embracing the marketing, promotion, publicity, and performance opportunities that the internet is giving them.

We are well into the information age, and are moving into the 'implementation age' when entrepreneurial musicians will be a big part of the future. So, musicians get hip! There are dozens of internet websites, and discussion groups out there for you to learn how to bring together art and commerce in new ways. Those new ways will secure income and provide a livelihood for more and more bands and artists everyday. The future is now INDEED.

What can an unsigned band do to try to influence radio to play their CD?

Very little. This interview is not the place to discuss the irrational and upsetting state of radio broadcasting in America. It is however a subject I write about extensively, because the issues are complex and abundant. Suffice it to say that when the Communications Act of 1996 was signed, the floodgates of deregulation on ownership of radio properties was unleashed. Most major markets, and most midsize market stations are now owned by fewer and fewer people, and the power structure of a few owners controlling many many stations is the name of the game in commercial radio. Once and awhile you get a Harvey Danger story of a band who gets a break and gets airplay on a local station with their indie release, and other ‘copycat’ stations who don’t know what to play pick up on asong without major label support, and...because of the break that act gets a major label involved with them and sells a lot of records. This is NOT the norm. Cracking the playlists of commercial stations is as hard and expensive a proposition as you can
imagine.

Any closing comments?

Don't believe the hype or promise of stardom. Get down to earth. Get real. Learn as much as you can about how record companies market their music.

Why is it that as a developing musician you will spend countless hours and dollars on buying the right equipment, paying for lessons, spending money on recording projects and making your CDs, but you may he hesitant about spending money on educating yourself about the business of music, and spending some time studying and learning the very business you want to be a part of? That 'old paradigm' had a lot of stories of labels exploiting musicians. That was then, this is now. If you get exploited today...it is your own fault. So, please take my advice and seek out books, websites, consultants, schools,conferences, workshops, and seminars. Make learning about the music business as important to you as learning to play your music. Then, art and commerce can travel down the same road together.

FourFront Media & Music
http://www.knab.com