In this episode Durell is joined by musician, music business educator and entrepreneur Fabiana Claure. Durell and Fabiana begin the episode talking about her accent and she shares that her accent is undefined because she was born in Chicago IL but her parents are from Bolivia. She also shares that she is married to a Cuban pianist so Spanish is what is spoken in her home. Durell shares that he has a special connection to Chicago because he is a die-hard Chicago Cubs baseball fan and the artist in which he manages also is from Chicago. Durell asks Fabiana about her earliest memories of being introduced to music. Fabiana shares that she was living in Mozambique, Africa and her mother would sing to her and get her started playing the piano. She shares that after that she moved to Bolivia where her mother would get her started in more formal music training at a special gifted school when she was around the age of 8 or 9. Fabiana says that she was absolutely drawn to music. Durell shares that he believes that as human beings we can’t live without music. Fabiana shares she often feels that being creative can be a gift and a curse because for those who want to pursue their creative endeavors because those who are working in fields that make them a lot of money they aren’t able to use their creativity as an outlet which unfortunately begins to erode at their soul.


Durell asks Fabiana when she knew that she wanted to go into the education space to teach music. She shares that she has always been fascinated with music business and entrepreneurship especially after she finished her Doctorate in music. She shares that she started a music school in 2011, and after 5 years of building and going through the trials of learning how to build and sustain the business she realized that there were so many other musicians that could benefit from her experiences and what she had learned about entrepreneurship. She shares that The University Of North Texas was beginning a new program and initiative to help their students who graduated to become really gifted musicians but even more so be able to make a living. She shared that the University appointed her as the director of the program and she moved to Texas from Miami to serve the program for 5 years. She shared that she had to learn how to reverse engineer the processes that she learned in order to be able to teach them to the students. Many of her students have gone on to build their own businesses, as well as find great jobs at other companies and organizations. Fabiana decided that in 2020 she decided to open up herself online and began to serve musicians online with her mentorship program entitled “The Musicians Profit Umbrella” while still working her job at the University, and she then in 2021 decided to leave her full-time position to go into entrepreneurship.

Durell and Fabiana talk about the framework he created called the “Genesis Of Superfan Building” and the importance of creating a solid brand positioning statement. The ability to be able to understand the 3 Pillars Of Fan Engagement: Authenticity, Consistency, & Sustainability so that musicians and creatives can build community. Durell shares that when creatives understand that they are problem solvers with their music and use that to create consistent content for social media, that's when a major breakthrough of being able to embrace the hurdles they face begins to disappear.

Durell and Fabiana discuss the difference between the old world vs. the new world when it comes to building a music career. Durell shares that one major difference is that the term recording artist doesn’t really mean what it used to mean in the old world. Durell shares that the better term to use is that artists are now content creators with a focus on music because of the major need to develop a strong content strategy before releasing music. Fabiana shares that what she sees today as a major difference is the ability to build a movement and getting others to buy into what you stand for as a creative and what you can do for others. The ability to be able to then use the content that you create to sell products. Fabiana also shares that another major difference between the old world vs. the new world is that creatives and musicians had to depend on gatekeepers. The industry didn’t allow creatives to be able to stand in their authority because of someone else holding the key and being in control of the ability to be successful in reaching an audience. Fabiana shares that now there is no barrier to entry for musicians and creatives which is a blessing and a curse because on one hand being able to go direct to your audience is great but without a strategy of how to talk to and really connect with them they will not be able to break through the noise and standout.

Durell and Fabiana discuss the importance of creatives being able to think like start-up companies and become comfortable with selling. Fabiana shares that she remembers being encouraged by one of her coaches to reach out to people within her musician community and look for ways in which she could serve in a greater capacity. She talks about not feeling comfortable doing that with so much limiting belief. She shares that once she understood the fact that she was offering potential clients something they needed to help them experience the transformation they needed it became so much easier.

Durell and Fabiana end the episode talking about creatives and musicians feeling the need to have all of the knowledge they need before investing into themselves to help propel themselves to the next level of success and how that is really a backwards way to approach getting the help they desire and ultimately need. Fabiana shares that in order for someone to learn new skills they must not only invest financially but even more with committing their time. Fabiana shares her reasons why creatives should set themselves apart in knowing what made them want to be a musician and creative first and the reason why creatives need systems in place to build their businesses.

For more information on Fabiana Claure, please visit her website:

https://fabianaclaure.com/