Death Of A Culture

Artist becoming Activist!

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:45:00 +0000

It is unfortunate that in recent news a citizen of Sanford Florida killed a young man by the name of Trevon Martin. Greg Zimmerman, a 27-year-old local citizen of a Sanford, Florida community killed young 17-year-old Trevino Martin after a neighborhood watch gone wrong. The community has cried foul play as witnesses say that Greg Zimmerman was acting more as a vigilante instead of a neighborhood watch. Local authorities reported that Mr. Zimmerman reported a strange black male was in the neighborhood and looked to be suspicious. Authorities then directed Zimmerman to stand down and not pursue the suspect. Zimmerman disregarded instructions and went after Trevon Martin where he perused him and attacked him in the neighbor’s backyard. The scuffle then led up to the shooting of Trevon Martin, which was unarmed are the time. Witnesses say that Trevon screamed in fear for his life as he begged for help. Trevon was found dead by local authorities with nothing more than a bag of skittles and a Nestle iced tea.

The community is in an uproar as Greg Zimmerman has yet to be interrogated or arrested. Local police chief has recently resigned his position as the media has speculated foul play in the case. This case has caught more than just the local communities attention but has reached the whole nation as they ask for justice for Trevon Martin. Major hip-hop recording artist Plies released a song in retrospect of the whole case. This case has sparked many You Tube discussions as to if thee killing is justified or foul play. In Kennesaw, Georgia Black Panther leader has demanded justice for Trevon Martin by putting out a $10,000 bounty for the death of George Zimmerman. Also superstar athletes Lebron James and Dewayne Wade have also showed support for the cause of seeking justice for Trevon Martin as they were pictured wearing a hoody with team members stating it could have been one of ours!

How influential are artist lyrics?

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:52:00 +0000

Jay-Z is known as one of the largest hip-hop artist in the world currently. He has a long standing career in the industry that has reigned for almost 20 years. Not only is he a savvy business man but a lyrical genius with word manipulation. He is constantly in the media headlines do to affiliations with other artist or his ever so popular wife R&B singer Beyonce. So what has the medias attention now? In recent news his lyrics have been quoted in the halls of congress. A congressman in Florida inserted lyrics into a debate about illegal search and seizures that take place. The lyrics that were quoted stemmed from a hit song from Jay-z "Black Album" called "99" problems. In this song he depicts a situation between him and New York police officer that he encounters in a routine traffic stop. The officers state that he was speeding and because of that he has created suspicion, therefore it justifies his need of probable cause to search the car for drugs and guns. In Jay-Z's response he states that he know the law and you are going to need a warrant for that search.

Congressman Alan B Williams utilized these lyrics in a debate in Tallahassee, Florida over warrant less searches and seizures. He said the reason for this is because he connected with Jay-Z's lyrics in this song. But a congressman from Winter Park, Dean Cannon corrected Mr. Williams on his use of the lyrics. He recited the lyrics word for word and stated that the cop told Jay-Z in the conversation that he would need a lawyer to invoke his rights. The brought national attention to the media as entrepreneur Steve Stout tweeted about the situation and made light of it. Who would of ever had thought that hip hop would be so influential to our law makers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etl9kkIGaHo

Expert Views on The Value of Business Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:36:00 +0000

Mark Cuban is best known for his nontraditional management style of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mark does not come from a silver spoon like Donald Trump. He is a graduate of Indiana University where acquired his bachelors degree in Business Administration.¹ As an entrepreneur Mark has had his dealings in many start up businesses. Mark business venture views are accessed by the actual necessity in the market for a product/service. A very important aspect of the business model for Mark is the research for potential growth for the product/service in the market. Mark additional must have supportive information for the product/service like financial projections to support that the plan has been configured correctly. Mark also invests in business that he has familiarity with, something that may relate to previous investments.

Greg Alexander is current CEO of ISSOS and was a 10-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Additionally he also worked in the World Trade Center as an Engineer for Eastman Kodak. In 1992 he made his first initial investment into a skating rink, which helped him invest into his second facility. ² Greg is known as a venture capitalist that actually takes an active role in his all of his business ventures. Greg explains that before he can find a venture feasible he must be able to reduce his risk as minimal as possible. In addition he analyzes who will be managing the business and what is their proven track record. He looks for clear plan with a strong strategy and thorough research on the competition. ³Greg must know most importantly what is the amount being requested and on what terms. He feels that every start up company should analyze their market for potential advantages and pitfalls. Last but not least Greg feels that every company should have a plan B to account for unexpected occurrences.

Resources:

¹⁽Lojewski,B) March 31, 2011. Expert Views on Business Plans. Retrieved: February 05, 2012. From: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

² International SOS Society. Retrieved: February 05, 2012 http://isoss.com/isoss_ceo_greg_alexander.htm

³(Uknown) March 31, 2011. Expert Views on Business Plans. Retrieved: February 05, 2012. From: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

The expert view blog gave me much insight on how I can revise my business plan. The knowledge obtained will give me the ability to restructure the business plan to make it more effective. Upon reading the blog of Mark Cuban I learned that he researches the market for potential growth. In addition he researches for product/service financial projections to support the business plan. I would like to incorporate these techniques into business plan to make it stronger. I first plan to research my market again and measure for potential growth. I also want to analyze if the business is feasible by measuring it against he financial projections for the first 3 years compared to an existing business model.

I also read a blog on CEO of ISSOS Greg Alexander who is known as a venture capitalist. Greg takes an active role in all of his business ventures, which I believe is an important aspect when initiating a business. In researching some of the key strategies that Greg utilizes I have learned that he analyzes the financial projections first to see if the business is feasible. If the financial projections state that the plan is not feasible then he will not take the risk. Upon analyzing my projections if I do not break even within the first two years then I do not see it worth taking the risk. Greg also researches his competition and looks for a clear plan and a strong strategy to capitalize on the market. I want to go back and redevelop my competitive strategy and make sure that I develop a plan B. One of the most important out of all of the strategies that I plan to implement in my business plan is the Plan B incase of a non feasible plan. By utilizing some of Greg’s strategies combined with Mark’s I will be able to redevelop a strong business plan that will be feasible.

The end of piracy?

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Could this be an end to the current media piracy that is plaguing the entertainment industry? Well not anytime soon! Legislation recently attempted to pass a law to stop online piracy and to protect intellectual property from being stolen and shared online. In light of attempting to help the entertainment industry these acts would hurt and violate a lot of Americans rights. The Internet is a platform that gives people the ability to research, communicate, and share information. The legislation's act prompted a nationwide protest to stop the bill before it could even be passed. Close to a 100 million web users protested the web by not accessing their favorite sites. The results of this caused the senate to postpone the vote on the PIPA bill. So in light of this situation in may look like a win for the users, but the senate will return with this bill in the future just in a revised form.

The current attacks on the piracy has also led to a major figure in the music industry finding him self in a lawsuit. Universal Music Group is suing super producer and artist Swizz Beatz for violating the intellectual property laws. It is storied that a couple of years ago Swizz invested in the website Megaupload,a file sharing site that allows users to upload large files on to the platform for other to access. As the acting CEO of the Megaupload he is being sued by Universal Music Group because he had artist appear in a commercial for the site and used music that was not cleared by the label. Megaupload was recently shut down along with other sites such as the notorious PirateBay.org. Swizz Beats has countered the lawsuit with a defamation of character lawsuit. With the two sides at war the initial goal is not being focused on, there is a need for a stop to the piracy but the constant pull and tugging is not helping.

The affect of the Digital Landscape on the Music Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:15:00 +0000

How has the digital era affected the Music Industry? The answer to that question is that it has completely restructured how music is consumed. The first introduction to the digital era was when Steve Jobs introduced iTunes to the world. iTunes is the first legal digital platform that consumers could purchase music by digital download, either by a full album or a by song single. This definitely made a major impact on the music industry because of the ability for consumers to share music without having to pay for it. Peer to peer file sharing evolved from digital downloading; this is what some may call pirating. As pirating increased record sales decreased therefore putting a lot of major record stores out of business.

The digital evolution also affected how music was produced. For the past few decades’ music has been recorded in an analog format to record, tape, and compact disk. With the evolution of digital recording the technology would be innovated into computer software and then printed into a digital format. With the emergence of the Digital Audio Workstation the production process could be completed in a faster and cheaper fashion. With these two major changes in how music is sold and produced it may have cause a backlash on the record companies. Companies began to suffer from album sales because of two factors pirating and the economy. This left little money in the budget to support artist projects and forced the labels to make cuts in the budgets and infrastructure. Major labels began to shut down and some even merged with other labels to stay afloat. The digital era also has had a major affect on the artist also. The artist is now in an era similar to the 70’s where consumers are not interested in buy albums but purchasing singles. Artists have had to become more creative to reach their potential fan base by utilizing social networks for exposure. So it seems that the digital era has hurt the Music Industry more than it has actually helped it.

http://www.thecampuscompanion.com/off-the-record/2011/09/08/evolution-of-music-the-impact-of-digital-on-the-music-industry/

Revenue and Distribution

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Rap artist are now expanding their opportunities by endorsing various brands to increase revenue. These business ventures have opened up opportunities for artist to expand their brand while endorsing others. Recently music moguls have partnered with liquor brands such as Ciroc Vodka and Ace of Spades. Sean “Diddy” Combs for example endorses and develops the Ciroc brand Vodka, which he utilizes product placement in his records and videos to endorse the brand. Other artist have followed suit such as music mogul Jay Z who recently began endorsing “Ace of Spade” in 2007. Jay Z does not officially have and endorsement deals with the owner of the brand Armand de Brignac but is said to receive 4 million a year for product placement. Other Product endorsement includes Dr. Dre’s (Andre Young) partnership with Monster Cable who produces high quality cables used to transmit audio. He and partner Jimmy Iovine created the “Beats by Dre” professional headphone line. Dr. Dre utilizes his connections with artist and athletes to endorse the brand by product placement in videos and appearances. These partnerships have created another revenue stream for artist other than the declining music industry.

With the decline in the music industry artist have been forced to become more creative to gain potential album sales. What was once effective is now obsolete in the music industry. In the last couple of years artist have taken a more aggressive approach at marketing and creating their materials. Social networks give the artist an advantage to staying in touch with their fan base and an opportunity to market for free. In a more independent approach artist have also utilized inexpensive ways to record more music and distribute it themselves. The” mix tape” has become a staple in the music industry as a marketing tool. With the growth of the cellphone industry, the mixtape websites have now created apps that allow its users to download music directly to their wireless devices. This now gives consumers the ability to always have access to their favorite artist.

Industry Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:53:00 +0000

In episode 19 of Gordon Firemark's Entertainment Law podcast Eminem filed a lawsuit against his record label for breach of contract. In his lawsuit he states that he was not paid his full royalties for digital downloads. In his contract he has an agreement to receive 18% royalties for album sales and 50% royalties for digital download licensing. He suit claims that digital downloads are considered licensed material, whether it’s a song or a ring tone. The supreme court ruled in the favor of Universal Music Group that they were abiding by the stipulations of the contract and that digital downloads are not considered licensing but are considered as album sales. Rick James estate also followed suit and filed against Universal for the same breach of contract. The major difference between Rick James contract and Eminem is that his was created before 2000. Before then most contracts had a clause stipulating that you cannot contest royalty practices after 2 years. If any ruling is successful the artist could be owed 10’s of millions of dollars. Gordon states that you have to understand the wording in the contracts clearly or have it clarified, because of the way the words were manipulated in the contract Eminem did not have a successful case. Understanding each word or phrase is key to the success of your contract and plan to have a lawyer review every extent of my contract and have the other party clarify there terminology.

In Episode 21 the famous Mike Tyson face tattoo designer filed a lawsuit and a cease and desists against Warner Brothers for replicating his design of the tattoo in the “Hangover Part 2”. Firemark states that the liability is fairly clear but the author had not filed for copyright 90 days prior to the movie being released, which Warner Brothers may counter claim fair use because its being utilized in a parody. The issue at hand is that the tattoo is identical and not altered in anyway to be used as a joke. So in likelihood the case may never see light it may just end in a settlement. What one could learn in this case is that anything that has the ability to copyrighted should be for the success of your business.

In Episode 23 The Wizard of Oz film characters are still protected under copyright law after 100 years. Technically after the copyright ends they would fall into public domain but Warner Brothers says that can copyright certain characteristics about the characters that can not be used. Which is true that you can copyright the way something is designed and process is created. I think that this is very useful to implement into my business model to protect the process.

Watching The Throne

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:31:00 +0000

It seems that Kanye West may be in some hot water! A recent lawsuit was filed against the artist/producer for copyright infringement of works of associated artist. A famous blues musician named Syl Johnson from Chicago, claims that Mr. West utilized portions of his song "Different Strokes" and never gave him credit or paid for it. He feels that Kanye West had more than enough resources to get it cleared.

After doing some research I found that Syl Johnson's lawsuit is against Kanye West, but the fact of the matter is that Kanye actually did not produce the beat. Industry veteran Pete Rock produced the beat and knows he should of gotten clearance. It is the responsibility of the producer and label to make sure all clearance go through before using copy written works. Even though Kanye has ties to Syl and he is also a producer, it does not make him totally responsible. In this case he is just the artist and the label is more responsible than anyone.

Facebook Sued Again

This week Social network giant Facebook was sued by a company named Walker Digital for having privacy controls. Walker Digital, an innovation company claims that Facebook used its patent for privacy controls on its website. The controls allow its users to control what information pertaining to there identities is released the public. After researching this patent it seems that it is very broad and that if they sued Facebook successfully, then a lot of other companies would be susceptible to these frivolous lawsuits. I believe the patent protects the way the Walker Digital has their setting structured not completely covering the privacy settings for anything.

Facebook file suit agianst Google's new Social Network

Facebook recently filed a lawsuit against Google for violating several patents and copyrights. Google just recently released its Google Plus social network, that operates very similar to Facebook. Facebook claims that Google Plus copied many of their patents to structure its platform. After researching the Google Plus website, I noticed that there are no similarities what so ever. I believe that Facebook is just trying to stop the media giant from expanding into its territory.

Death of Steve Jobs or the demise of Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:41:00 +0000

Recently the news of Steve Jobs death was announced and Apple stocked declined by 13% in the first day. The next day the iPhone 4s was announced and the company regained its stock. Did the death of Steve Jobs cause the plummet in Apple stock? Is the loss of the great leader causing supporters to jump ship to competitors? Lets investigate what makes the great Steve Jobs such an important factor in Apples success.

Steve Jobs was known as an innovator for what he and partner Steve Wozniak did for consumers, with the creation of the Apple personal computer. In 1980 Apple became a publicly traded company and had a market value of 1.2 billion dollars. In 1985 Jobs resigned as Apples Coe and began to run a software company called Next. He also acquired Pixar animation form George Lucas the following year. In 1997 Jobs returned to Apple after they acquired the Next software company and retained his title as Coe of Apple Inc. With the return of Jobs the company began a successful run as it began to introduce its new products to the world, such as the iMac computer that had the monitor integrated into the computer. Steve would later go on to introduce more successful products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad the all innovated how utilize technology. With his perfect marketing schemes and great partnerships he was able to secure Apple a future as the top brand in electronics.

Steve Jobs was a perfectionist and paid close attention to every little detail. He insisted on his products performing superior to other and working flawlessly. With the death of Steve many consumers are concerned that the company could plummet as it did before in the 90's because of the production of inferior products. Steve Jobs was more than a CEO he was the Apple brand. People did not trust the products; they trusted the man behind the products he had a great track record. The new CEO was hand picked by Jobs but many say they honestly believe that Apple has lost its legs once again.

Payola still alive

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:17:00 +0000

Since the beginning of music being played on the radio there has been what we call payola (paying the DJ's to play records) involved in the system. Why is this an important factor? Reason that this is an important factor is because this gives it an unfair advantage to an artist. This happens by the record being played over and over until it becomes so familiar that you can't help but like it. This may give some artist more exposure than others, which creates the unfair advantage. The airplay is not based on talent and creative music but more on pay to play. This basically dictates what music that the consumer is exposed to.

In the late 50's iconic Disc Jockey Dick Clark was accused of payola schemes, which involved him receiving songwriter royalties for over 150 pop songs. Most currently major label Sony was under investigation in 2005 for payola (pay for play) rewarding DJ's for playing Jessica Simpson and J-Lo songs. Sony was forced to pay a 10 million fine for its activities in the payola schemes. After these major cases payola is still alive but in a different form. Instead of paying a Disc Jockey to play a song, how about we own the radio station! That's what Clear channel a corporation that owns many radio stations has been doing over the past couple of years. Now major labels pay a set fee to have certain artist played at a particular time and certain number of times. In 2006 the FCC launched an investigation on payola practices of hundreds of radio stations.

So the question is it still alive? Of course just think about it, how many times do you hear Lil Wayne all over your radio station or Drake? Too many right, and there is so many other songs out there but due to Clear Channel owning the stations you wont hear those other songs too often.

Peppa Boy Negotiating and Deal making

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:29:00 +0000

I interviewed an up and coming independent Rap artist named Peppa Boy Trill McCoy. Peppa Boy is an artist out of the south who currently is touring and expecting to release and album soon. As independent artist Peppa boy cannot afford a manager to negotiate deals for him, so he said that he has been educated through trial and error and from reading business books. During the interview I focused on asking key questions on how he utilize certain negotiating technique to get the best deal.

Me: What is the first deal you negotiated and what was the out come?

Peppa Boy: The first deal I negotiated was with a night club owner in my hometown of Pensacola, Fl. The deal was for me to perform as the secondary act and rapper Juvenile to be the main act. The cost for Juvenile was $5000 and I was supposed to receive half of the proceeds from the door and bar. Because I was in charge of all the advertising and I was also performing I was taking more of loss. So I had to negotiate a deal where as both parties would have a mutual benefit. So I presented to the club owner that he could have the proceeds from the door and would take all the proceeds from the bar. He denied that deal, so I presented to him that the only way we could get this deal done is if he got half of the door and bar but any tickets that I pre-sale would belong to me. He agreed to the deal and it worked out for me because in the end I sold more tickets presale than he sold at the door.

Me: Seeing as you don’t have a manager how do you separate the people from the problem when the other party tries to take advantage of you.

Peppa Boy: I just keep the emotion out of it and focus on the fact that its strictly business and that I need to negotiate the best deal for me.

Me: Do you utilize any negotiating tactics?

Peppa Boy: Yes, what I do is study previous deals in the industry and research what is most common. Also I study the person or companies background and pay attention to the industry trends. Then when I go into a negotiation I make sure that I give out the present how this will be most beneficial for the other party.

Me: So what role do you feel you play during the negotiations?

Peppa Boy: Well I wear many different hats! I’m the manager, accountant, CEO of the label, and the artist so I have to negotiate a great deal.

Me: So wouldn’t it be more beneficial for you to just sign with a major?

Peppa Boy: Yea, it would be less stressful and fewer hats to wear seeing as that I only have one head! LOL! But I don’t think anyone is going to look out for my best interest right now better than me. But to be associated with a well-known label will definitely open up more doors.

Me: Well thanks again and I wish you good luck

Peppa Boy: You got it!

Google more than just a search engine

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Google in the past two years has transitioned into more than just an Internet search engine. Google has quickly expanded into other ventures by acquiring other companies. For example, Google now owns YouTube and the Android operating system for mobile devices. Google also has expanded its technology into televisions by incorporating its browser services and applications. Recently Google announced its beta version of Google Music, which will allow users to utilize their pre-existing music library to upload to a cloud base service. This will allow the user to access their music library via the Internet to any of their mobile devices. These new acquisitions will help Google expand into the entertainment industry and becoming a one-stop shop.

Google’s most recent acquisition is the Motorola Mobility Company for 12.5 billion dollars. Google’s initial goal in this acquisition is gain the 17,000 patents that Motorola owns. If federal regulators approve this acquisition then this could potentially open up the doors for more acquisitions by Google. Companies such as Nokia Corporation and Research In Motion (Blackberry) would help expand the company’s technology in the mobile market and defend itself against the giant Apple. “The deal is by far the largest Google has pursued in its 13-year history. Motorola Mobility's price tag exceeds the combined $9.1 billion that the company has paid for 136 previous acquisitions since going public in 2004, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Buying Motorola also would push Google into phone and computer tablet manufacturing, competing with other device makers who rely on Android. The largest makers of Android devices are all supporting a deal that Google CEO Larry Page said was too tempting to resist.” With these acquisitions Google will be able to enter the telecommunications market by being able to provide television and phone services through it’ Google voice services. Who would of ever thought that all this would transpire from a single search engine company. (Billboard,2011)

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/is-google-s-purchase-of-motorola-all-about-1005317152.story

360 Deals

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:49:00 +0000

It seems lately that the music industry is suffering badly. Record sales have decreased over the last couple of years due to many factors. The RIAA claims that this is due to the increase in piracy from peer to peer file-sharing websites. Some believe it’s due to the lack of creative content and the ability to download only singles versus the entire album. Record companies have had to make cuts because they are no longer generating the revenue to support their artist. So what will it take to revive the music industry? Well some conglomerates have come to the rescue with a new offer to artist called a 360 deal. So what is a 360 deal? A 360 deal is a contract between the artist and the record label/investor that will allow the label/investor to recoup its expenses through more than just album sales. Labels/investors spend more money on marketing and artist benefit from the exposure.

Some major artist was the first to take advantage of the deals such as, Jay-Z, U2, Nickel back, and Madonna. Jay-Z signed a $150 million dollar deal with Live Nation, which entitles them to partnership with his other business ventures. Live Nation is a concert promoting company that is in partnership with at least 3 major labels. This gives them ability to schedule and control the concerts that the major artist will perform at. But not all are comfortable with these 360 deals; many artists say that they would rather remain independent than to give up rights to their publishing, profits from performances, and merchandise. I personally feel that this is another ploy for record companies to exploit the situation. This will give them the ability to generate more revenue from artist without having to incur more expenses. Many labels hardly promote artist as it is and have cut the artist development departments. So now it just seems that they have developed a win-win situation. My advice is with the rise of social networking artist should just stay independent.

Music, Movie, TV and Broadband Leaders Team to Curb Online Content Theft

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:42:00 +0000

Recently there was an announcement that the Music, Movie, TV and Broadband leaders have come together to attempt to stop the online pirating of digital media content. Broadband providers have agreed to utilize a new system that will alert consumers when illegal content is being downloaded through their service. This will in fact help consumers because of the lawsuits over the past couple of years involving parents being sued for illegal music downloads. For example, a woman was fined $1.9 million dollars by a federal judge in Minnesota for downloading 24 songs. She was fined at a rate of $80,000 a song. She was the first case ever to go to trial for copyright infringement, and the fact of the matter is that she did not download the songs, but yet it was her son.

The initial spawn of this digital downloading era started over 10 years ago, but became most popular with Napster. Napster introduced a website where people could download music for free. This website started a trend and many other P2P file sharing sites were created. The music industry started to lose a lot of money with consumers not paying for music or movies. Artist called for the courts to put a stop the illegal downloading of media but they had no solution at the time.

Over the years the music industry has lost a large amount of money due to media piracy. The RIAA reported that each year over 16 billion is lost in earnings and 3 billion lost in state, federal and local taxes. With the new Copyright Alert System implemented it show slow down the media pirates. The government has also take additional steps to slow down the P2P file sharing websites, with the closing of the major sites such as Limewire, Bearshare, PirarteBay, and the television provider JustinTv.

This is exciting news for the entertainment industry because now there will be possible increases in revenue. The new alert system will force consumers to pay for the digital media content, which will slow file sharing and increase sales. Ultimately this will have an effect on the economy because jobs will increase as sales increase. Consumers will be given 6 attempts to stop the illegal downloading of content after the warnings issued by their Internet Service Providers. After that potentially Internet service can be disconnected or the consumer may be reported to the proper authorities. Being a part of the music industry I am glad to something finally stop the illegal downloading and help the entertainment industry back on its feet.

Not just rappers anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 02:49:00 +0000

Whatever happened to just being an artist? You know writing songs and performing for millions of fans. Well now it seems that you have to add criminal to the list to become a rap artist. As much as I love the hip hop culture it seems to be declining at a very fast rate. Song content has no substance anymore, artist just include a quick manual to how to commit capital offenses now inside their lyrics. Lets take for example the ever so popular Lil Wayne, 90 percent of his content involves the use or sale of narcotics. He himself has an addiction to cough syrup and marijuana. He brags about it in his records and is in interviews getting high all the time. This guy sold close to a million records in one week and the songs have no relevancy. He just was released from jail a month ago for possession of illegal firearms and narcotics.

These young talents mostly come from rough backgrounds but this is no reason for them to destroy what was built by others. It seems lack of substance and ignorance sells records faster than just flat out good music. Look at the days when music had a

message in it, these records are timeless because they still apply to todays current events. Just recently a former artist of P Diddy's label Bad Boy Records turned himself in for a murder he commited 17 years ago. He has been strung out on drugs for the past 10 years and just completely fell apart. The examples that the media masses choose to display are just ignorant, but yet no one wants their child to act in this manor. Well the children of today have poor examples in front of them and are confused on what is right and wrong. The change needs to come from the top, the labels need find artist who can actually put out good product and not some dope dealer who can rhyme.

Exploitation of Hip Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:58:00 +0000

World Star Hip Hop is a website that was created for independent artist to display their works through video blogs or music videos. In the beginning the website did just that, but as of lately things have changed dramatically. They have now taken over as a source for distributing your works as a major artist. The independent artist are now charged large fees for distributing their works. The website is cluttered with large banner advertisements and illegal copyrighted material. YouTube has been in constant lawsuits with major labels over the distribution of copyrighted material without the consent, which has open up the gates for World Star to be a platform to distribute music videos. The website no longer has any substance to it, it's only about the money now. A platform for anyone with the cash to distribute pure lack of talent and ignorance! For example a video showing major rap artist 50 cent counting millions of dollars, I ask how is this relevant to the music industry.

World Star Hip Hop is not even about hip hop at all anymore, it has become more of a TMZ for hip hop culture. It also exploits people by displaying embarrassing home footage of individuals who have not consented to have this shown. YouTube on the other hand gives individuals the ability to report videos to be taken down, but not on World Star where it is archived for who knows how long. The hip hop culture in about be creative and innovative with the ability to adapt to the culture changes. What happened to rapping about politics or social injustice? Well thanks to this website and others like it, the young children's minds will be poisoned with this filth. We need to bring back Yo MTV Raps! and Rap City, which enriched the culture of hip hop with its daily programming and filtered out all of the non-sense.

Piracy ending?

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:54:00 +0000

It seems that lately the government has been doing its job. There has been recent crackdowns on the Peer 2 Peer file sharing epidemic. Piracy is a big issue when it comes to the entertainment industry, because it kills the revenue from music and movie sales. So why has it taken the government so long to crack down hard on the offenders. Truth is there is no real answer, but better late than never! Recently Limewire, one of the top 5 used Peer 2 Peer file sharing websites was shutdown. This is a year after the big lawsuit against the owner of Pirate Bay and many years later after the lawsuit of a women who was charged millions for downloading 24 songs! 1.92 million to be exact, Jammie Thomas was sued by the RIAA in 2007 for that amount. Lets be realistic its stealing but the some of the records she downloaded will never be worth $80,000 a song.

I personally think that iTunes should be shutdown also, seeing as how they are ripping off the artist for major portions of there royalties. How is it that they can take the artists songs and make these iTunes mixtapes and resale them with the artist getting no profit at all. I truly believe that iTunes has helped contribute to the demise of the music industry more than it has helped. There programs out there such as Mojo that enable a user to take their music content and let someone else on the same network copy it unto their computer. With all this said will piracy ending help or hurt the music industry, I guess only time will tell! I honestly thing if the artist work a little harder at putting out quality music and focus on performing that record sales would increase by 15% in the next year. I feel that the artist have lost connection with their target audience and thats what may have additionally caused the demise of the music industry.

noreply@blogger.com (Djstnl) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 18:01:00 +0000

When you think of music, you tend to think of how it makes you feel. Music provides us with the soundtrack to our everyday life. Avid music listeners can place times and dates to particular songs that are significant to parts of their lives. The content of music since the beginning of time has been the most important factor in its existence. For instance, remember that time you were down and out and this song came on that related to your situation. It actually felt like the song understood what you were going through. This is what makes music so powerful to each and every culture.

But what happens when music loses its most important factor the content. Have you heard the different genres of music lately? It seems as if everyone is talking about money and sex! Well the labels are not looking for uninqueness anymore, but looking for the next one hit wonder. It seems as if Hip-Hop is taking the biggest hit lately. Record sales are down 25% since the year 2000. A lot of people blame it on the new digital era, because music is now consumed over the internet legally and illegally. Though these may be factors, the truth is that the artist plane out "stink" right now. Everyone is copying each other, its like a never ending cycle to become a one hit wonder. The music is lacking content and there no one who respects the culture anymore. We are not supporting the underground artist who talk about real issues and actually help preserve the culture of Hip-Hop. I wonder will this culture die and grow again like a beautiful flower or is this another Disco all over again.