Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Black Enterprise Interviews Matthew Knowles

Black Enterprise Magazine recently did a great one-on-one interview with Matthew Knowles - the CEO and President of Music World Entertainment. Knowles is best known for spearheading the successful careers of Destiny's Child and Beyonce (his daughter) - the best selling R&B group of all time and the world's most recognized female pop superstar.

Although often exalted for his accomplishments with his daughter’s superstar career, Knowles has a proven track record of more than 200 million worldwide records sales.

Here's part of the interview below:

BE: You’re a film producer, songwriter, philanthropist, professor, label owner, artist manager and so much more. Is there anything left for Mathew Knowles to do?

MK: (Laughs) Thank you for that acknowledgement. Most people don’t realize the depth of what I’ve been fortunate to accomplish. I’ve had a wonderful journey coming from Gadsen, Alabama, living on a dirt road, in a small house with an outdoor bathroom, and I plan to continue to grow.

BE: You’ve set the blueprint for R&B girl groups with Destiny’s Child and R&B/pop phenoms with Beyonce, yet you’ve expressed interest in solely focusing on gospel/inspirational music. Why have you chosen to ditch secular music?

MK: First of all, I never use the word “secular” because I believe there are just different genres of music. The reason I chose to focus on faith-based and inspirational music is because of the message and hope and it gives people. Folks, especially young people today, want hope. [Music World’s] goal is to get that message across to the masses. There’s tremendous growth potential for the faith-based inspirational community in digital, production, branding, endorsements and merchandising. I believe we can share 20 years of knowledge and successes to make that growth happen.

BE: After 20 years working as a successful team, you and your No. 1 artist—daughter Beyonce—decided to part ways. As her father and manager, will not having her under your wing be a difficult transition for you?

MK: Interesting enough, the transition started way before the official announcement. If you’re strategic, which we are, you don’t make a decision like that before you start dialogue. That dialogue started nine months ago. At the end of the day, I’m Beyonce’s father first and her manager second. Remember, this is 20 years I’ve been doing this. She’s almost 30 years old, and if she says, "I want to run my business," I think she’s smart enough that she will get the right team. Beyonce is smart enough to know what she knows and what she doesn’t know, and that takes an even smarter person to admit that. And she knows she can call me anytime. It takes a lot of hours and a lot of staff to run the business of Beyonce. (Laughs)

For the full interview, visit:
www.blackenterprise.com/2011/04/11/one-on-one-with-mathew-knowles/

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1 comment:

  1. I don’t know Mr. Knowles personally but I do know his character and his eye for talent. He gave my niece a shot at her dream when he decided to take a chance on the Gospel girl group, Ramiyah. He also gave them a plug in the movie “The Fighting Temptations.”
    He could have gone with a popular artist or group but he decided to take a chance on a group of girls that had a passion for the art. I respect anyone who is not concerned about the status quo, Kudos to Mr., Knowles.

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