Taking a Cue from the Experts

Matthew Knowles, father of Beyonce and manager of Destiny's Child, on breaking into the music business: "You've got to have passion, think out of the box and have basic fundamental business knowledge. You must have the ability to go to talk to people intelligently. You have to come with your own plan. Be prepared to spend time on artist development and not depend on the record label to do it."


Knowles, who is now president and CEO of Music World/Sanctuary Urban Holding Group, Inc. continues, "Breaking into the music industry won't guarantee riches overnight either. On average it takes five years from the day you get a record deal to the day there is a financial reward. So you've got to be prepared for that."


Randy Jackson, American Idol judge and award winning producer puts it this way, "Everyone fancies himself a shower singer. People sing in their ears. Some sing in choirs, and it's 'Man, you can sing. Why don't you get a deal?' But how good are you compared to the competition? You have to be able to gauge that... work on that... practice."

He also stresses the importance of perseverance, "Look, the journey to get to anywhere near the top is really hard. In order to keep on that road, you have to have a pretty strong interior and exterior because some things are going to fall when you do that. If you focus on your career, other things in your life may fall apart."