The M2M Excluzive

Tribute to the Academics

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 00:17:00 +0000

No one knew that in the city of Dayton, Ohio in 1979 an extraordinary school was about to break the education scene and become a huge trendsetter in the entertainment industry. A man with an idea, a dream is all it took and soon with that idea it transformed into what was known at the time as "FullSail Recordnig Workshop." This trade school began offering educational courses that trained students on the production aspect of the entertainment industry focusing mainly on how to become audio engineers. As the school progressed the school eventually relocated its growing campus to Winterpark, Florida and changed their school name to Full Sail University where they expanded their campus, created more academic porgrams, and began to be recognized by the entertainment industry as one of the top Entertainment/Creative Arts School in the US.

Many creative students have graduated from Full Sail University, went on to break ground in the Entertainment Industry which has put Full Sail on the map. As of 2011 more than 36,000 students have graduated from Full Sail University and have made their almamater proud. Some major talents that are proud alumni's of Full Sail University are:
Oscar Award Winner, Sound Recording, "Inception"- Gary Rizzo
Screen Writer for "Saw I,II,IV & Repo", Darren Lynn Bousman
3 Time Latin Grammy Award winner, and 4 time grammy award winner Sebastian Krys
Dungeon & Dragons co- creator Dave Anderson taught at Full Sail from 2000-2008

In 2009 Full Sail University celebrated its 30th anniversary in the education system and in honor of that the school established the Full Sail University Hall of Fame where 6 students were inducted into the hall of fame. Since then Full Sail University continues to induct more students in the Hall of Fame which has created a place of inspiration and motivation to new students walking the campus halls, the same halls these extraordinary Hall Famers once did.

Artist now have a school they can call their home and sanctuary. A place that really offers you not only an education but also the opportunity to really refine your talent, access to state of the art equipment and resources to accomplish any thing, as well as teach you the life of the industry. Full Sails professors have had their own success stories and offer a unique and personal testimony that can aid to the students educational and talent growth.

I think that one of the best attributes of being a student of Full Sail University was learning all the statistics of the different Entertainment award shows like the Emmys, Grammys, Gold Globes, Academy Awards, MTV Awards and learning how many full sail alumni's were involved in the success of all those projects, especially the ones that won an award. It just tells you that Full Sail University is very much present in the Entertainment Industry. As I bring my Masters of Science Degree in Entertainment Business to completion, I can't help but pay tribute to Full Sail University, the school of which I'm so proud to be an alumni of. I can't wait to continue to grow my company and push my talents to grow and be the best they can be just like Full Sail motivated me to do the same. I love the fact that all the alumni's are doing what they love to do and they are proud to say that they graduated from Full Sail University.

For anyone who is looking into a career in the entertainment industry whether its being in the business aspect of the industry, the production side, creative side, or even the talent side, as a soon to be Alumni Graduate of Full Sail University on October 26th, 2012 I highly recommend you look into this amazing educational establishment. You get out of it what you put into it. You should love and do what you love to do. An I can say that where ever the road takes me in life and career I will always be proud to say that Im proud to be a graduate of Full Sail University. Thank you for a wonderful educational experience.

http://www.fullsail.edu

José Bowen: Beethoven the businessman....What Say You?

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:38:00 +0000

I never really considered Beethoven as a sort of a Business man/ Entrepenuer. I was just too focused on his musical genius side to really sit back and analyze the business framework of his entire musical career. But as Mr. Bowen sheds light on the similarities it all starts to make a little more sense. We tend to look over the primitave years of how the music business evolved from making to sound to turning it into a musical written piece to selling printed versions of the musical piece. How that changed the face of the music industry is what people tend to overlook.
Bowmen starts by mentioning how music/sound began people just pick up rocks and made sound with it. As time progressed man eventually turned the idea of picking up rocks to make sound to creating wonderful instruments that created new sound. In the 18th century people began to play very expensive and complicated instruments and in order to hear that kind of music you didn't have it at the convenience of your own home like a stereo or mobile iPod. You had to go to a specific location that held concerts were you could hear the music. Essentially you had to get out of the house of you wanted to hear the music you were interested in live. As a result of having to go and see your favorite music live, this created social interaction. Mr. Bowmen explains that there were two what he calls disruptions which were Music Print and the creation of the piano. As a result of these two "disruptions" it Beethoven starts to create a market. Music begins to be massed produced and is readily available for a fan or aspiring musician to learn quality music by obtaining a copy of the work and learning the piece in the their home if they have a piano to play on. Also because Music is being printed we've created "cheap music." You no longer have to travel far and wide just to hear you music live but now you can obtain their printed works and try to learn them yourself. Beethoven realized that there was market for him in this industry to sell and print sheet music where it can be mass produced and everyone could have equal opportunity to obtain. As time progressed to 100 years later, we get the recorder, piano player, and later the radio. Once the radio came to existence it created less social activity and more of a personalized secluded music listening experience. We began to have walk-mans and records and all that developed in to the mp3s, Ipods and digital files. People no longer have to leave their home to seek the music that yurned for. You have music at the push of a button. Mr. Bowmen found commonalities between Beethoven and Bill Gates as software designers. They both live in a time where hardware is changing rapidly. Mr. Bowmen mentions that in 1803 a french Piano maker creates a piano for Beethoven with more notes and Beethoven's first reaction to the new piano is to create a new sonata incorporating those new notes. Something other famous composers like Chopin and Bach hadn't gotten their hands on yet. Beethoven in a sence has the same relationship with his audience as bill gates does. Beethoven writes more as he gets new hardware. Even though Beethoven wrote piano sonatas, he delays so that they don't use the extra notes in a sense staying up to date with the times but already a step ahead for the next pending release. He limits himself to the amount of keys on those pianos. He redefined the product as we know it today.

Mr. Bowmen mentions some of the changes we began to see in the evolution of the Music Industry:

Division of Labor.
Changed Expectations of Quality.
Less Social Interaction.
New Personalized Experience
More Consumer choice
Larger Global Pyramids

The music industry is every growing and constantly evolving. Beethoven paved the way for the music industry in a huge way and we have him to thank for that. He would be proud and in aww of how far the evolution of music print has come and where it has led to from the first music print he had done. I found this video to be very intriguing and it behooves me to want to research more about the history of the music industry and how music was marketed and promoted during their time as artists.

IFPI- An organization you can count on

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Today's insightful video of the week features BBC's Zeinab Badawi interviewing John Kennedy, CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Now for those of you who like myself did or do not know much about this organization you may find this intriguing. The IFPI is an international non profit organization that strives to protect every aspect of an artists or even a company's intellectual property as it pertains to the recording industry. The not-for profit organization was founded in November of 1933 in Italy. The overall mission of this organization was to promote legislation and copyrights to protect the legal rights of the British recording industry at the time. However, overtime the organization has grown and gained much support all over the world. Their membership covers over 60 countries worldwide. Today we find ourselves to be transitioning head first into the age of a digital market. The recording industry has suffered significantly as a result of music pirating world wide. The IFPI is continuously working to resolve that never ending dilemma. I will agree with Mr. Kennedy that it is easier today for someone to digitally market themselves now that it was maybe 10, 15 years ago. With the grow of social platforms digital marketing is at the fingertips of the every day common man wanting to make some sort of a statement. I can resonate with Mr. Kennedy that with the amount of work an artists puts towards an album and the amount of investment a label puts behind their signed artists, it proves difficult for one to sell more units with out someone obtaining that intellectual property illegally and then offering it to the public for free. That creates a bad habit to the general public and financially robs the artists. The piracy issue is a dilemma that is constantly under debate and scrutiny. Yes the economy is bad, and yes everyone loves the opportunity to obtain free stuff but if you are a true fan of the artist then you will respect their work enough to not obtain it illegally but to buy their single or their album. Support your talents because they will show their appreciation ten fold. The legalities are far more complex than most people really care to comprehend. But at the same time I find it re-leaving that there is a hard working team like the IFPI and the RIAA that are working around the clock to create new iniatives to protect the recording industry so that everyone can continue to enjoy the great entertainment the recording industry brings to the table.

References:

HARDtalk: The Music Industry - Digital Music & Piracy

IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)

Google UK's Marketing Director, Dan Cobley speaks on behalf of Ted.com

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:55:00 +0000

One of my favorite websites to gain inspiration, knowledge, education, and enlightenment is non other than Ted.com. There are so many amazing speakers that place their life's or work's experiences in a perspective for people to go see or view online. As a fan of Ted.com if I find speaker that I resonate with weather it be work, career, or life I also want to share it with my readers who may find these guest speakers just as intriguing. With that said, I have chosen Dan Colbley, the Director of Marketing for Google in the UK Ted.com video as this weeks blog highlight guest speaker. Dan Colbley interestingly enough shares with us his love for physics and introduces us to a unique parallel perspective between physics and marketing. In this way bringing the idea of marketing to a more understandable platform for his listeners and online viewers as well as convincing his audience that physics is cool.
      Brand building takes a lot of drive and work. Colbley mentions in his talk that "[...]...the physics is, the bigger the mass of an object the bigger the force is needed to change its direction. In similarity, the marketing point is that the bigger the brand the harder it is to reposition it...[...]" I found myself agreeing with this point because when you start a brand, no one knows about it yet your brand idea is full of boundless possibilities. But how our you to build that brand to such a massive point? Its almost similar to the idea that if you start too big you become overwhelmed and nothing gets done. Yet if you start small and slowly build on to the brand it will have a stronger foundation and inevitably have a longer "shelf life." Colbley later mentions that "[...]...the physics is: that you cannot prove a hypothesis but its easy to disprove it...any hypothesis is shaky. The marketing aspect is: that no matter how much you've invested in your brand, one bad week can undermine decades of good work. Be really careful to avoid the screw ups that undermine your brand. With this point in mind I found it a very useful tip in consider the different pros and cons that may come with the process of building my brand. In addition with marketing comes clear decision making. You would need to have a clear sense of what it is your doing so that you don't go shooting yourself in the foot later for a marketing decision you made that in all truth may not have necessarily been the best move for you and your brand. The feedback one receives from their marketing efforts on a given project or brand development endeavor, varies from day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year. There for you must be careful to make moves that are in the best interest of your brand and its growth and development.
   In closing, Colbley states that "[...]...entropy will always increase. Its a fundamental law of physics. The message for marketing is that your brand is more dispersed and you can't fight it so embrace it and find a way to work with it."

More on Dan Colbley, Marketing Director for Google UK:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/dan_cobley.html
http://www.iabuk.net/video/dan-cobley-fast-and-happy-how-the-web-is-changing-the-world-for-consumers

https://plus.google.com/113390679691036376988/posts
Twitter: @dcobley

References:

Colbley, D. (Director) (2010). Dan cobley: What physics taught me about marketing [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dan_cobley_what_physics_taught_me_about_marketing.html

Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Marketing takes guts and drive to be successful. With the entertainment industry heading full speed ahead into a new digital era, marketing approaches are being reassessed to bring the most rewarding results possible. But how does one do that not knowing what the outcome would be? Seth Godin known as the marketing Guru couldn't have said it better as he elaborates in this 18 minutes presentation of what marketing is all about and how we should tackle it. One thing I really resonated with Godin is when he made the comment of "how do you get your idea to spread?" Yeah the market is constantly changing especially for those in the music industry however knowing that challenges will present themselves as a result of change, doesn't make a difference as Godin puts it. Godin goes to explain that people who have an idea and know how to spread that idea usually win and succeed at it. It doesn't matter what your trying to market whether its a record, a book, concerts, new clothing, etc. Its about selling it to the people who are listening; the ones who after listening just might tell a friend. Sometimes the all it really takes is to really hone in on what is it the people want. Who cares? When you figure out your target it market and you "talk to them" they just might tell someone about it and the chain effect is planted. Godin uses Pearl Jam as an example of good marketing because they only sell their music on their website and no where else. This directs all fans and intrigued visitors to go straight to the website and through there is where they find out everything they need to know about Pearl Jam. Also being directing all marketing to one major source (their website) it allowed for the integrity of the band to stay consistent and credible. Fans know that if they want to know all the low down on the latest music and retail products available that they can get their hands on, they can find it in the one place and one place only, the official Pearl Jam Website. In all if you create something remarkable like Godin puts it, it definitely more noticeable and where it grabs your attention is where you'll want to be. Find the consumer/fans/people that actually care about the product you wish to put out because those loyal, interested followers will definitely spread the word. In the words of Godin "Make it Remarkable."

A Look at an Intellectual Interview between Super Producer Swizz Beatz and NYU

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:14:00 +0000

So as I was browsing the web looking for the next insightful video to share with my readers, I came across this resent interview of Swizz Beatz and NYU from back in March of this year. I really appreciate the fact that the artists that have really mastered their trade in the entertainment industry have not forgotten where they came from. It is refreshing to see that even a producer as well recognized as Swizz Beatz can give back to the next generation by teaching classes and offering constructive critics and in sight to students seeking a career in the entertainment industry. Swizz Beatz is a mega entrepreneur in every sense of word. From breaking into the industry at the young age of 18 to now, Swizz Beatz is known as a Super Producer, Rapper, Designer, Writer. Swiss is a great example and testament to how the marketing direction of the entertainment industry is moving since his start in the industry. As a result of the market going digital and the demand for music is readily available through music downloading sites; artists, record labels, publishing and distribution companies have had to come up with innovative ways to feed the public demand and yet win them over in such a fashion that the fans will still reach out and purchase their album. Everyone knows that album sales have continued to plummet as the digital demand grows and advances. So how does the entertainment industry compensate for the fall in album sales despite all the financial efforts spent in marketing the product, meeting the financial quota for publishers and distributors? That readers, is the question of the day and the answer keeps evolving as the days, years go by and a new generation of eager creative talents join the industry. However for the time being Swizz beats has come up with an proactive method to the madness; Offering free singles under what he calls "Monster Mondays" where he releases free music on a weekly basis to his fans to create buzz for his work, please his followers, and also demonstrate his ability to stay relevant with the times. Fans are the driving force behind the artist. Fans help a single go viral and as a result of that, demand builds up. When the buzz is great then money sponsors begin to pour in and maybe a music video will come out of it or a surprise performance or appearance you never know. Luckily this method of offering back free music to the fans has proven successful for Swizz Beatz and numerous opportunities have presented its self to him. Other artists such as Timbaland and Kanye West have notices the success of Swizz Beatz with "Monster Mondays" and have also started to offer complementary music. Among all things I feel that artists who have been in the industry for years should definitely consider taking Swizz Beatz by example and maybe offer interactive seminars, public figure talks, or even teach a class like Swizz Beats does as another way of giving back to the next generation of entertainment entrepenuers, agents, artist, managers, etc. Just as a well accomplished artists can sign a new artist to his or hers label, so can he/she teach or educate a class of what they have come to learn of the years. The more educated students are to tackle the industry the more interesting the direction of the entertainment industry will take. With the industry becoming more technologically dependent, Music marketing, publishing, and distribution and everything that surrounds entertainment will need more heads than one keep it flourishing for many more decades to come.

Interview with Industry Professional Attorney Scott Goldberg

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:29:00 +0000

During the past week and a half yours truly had the opportunity to interview one of Orlando, Florida's finest, Scott Goldberg an Entertainment Attorney who's been in the industry for over a decade. Attorney Goldberg shares his insight into the world of Entertainment. Maybe rising entrepreneurs, agents, or even artist managers may learn a thing or two from this interview. Enjoy....

Maestro J: Hello Mr. Goldberg, Thank you for seeing me today.

Attorney Goldberg: The pleasure is mine.

Maestro J: So today I'm here to interview you on pretty much your experience as an Entertainment lawyer, the entertainment business and how your insight can be helpful to aspiring entrepreneurs like myself going into the field of talent management and/or booking agent among other things. Would you please share some general insight on that topic.

Attorney Goldberg: Certainly, for artist management, you have to have connections. You have to get yourself out there, mingle, network like crazy. Get names, numbers, pass out business cards and obtain them as well. Many people say "Hey, Im a manager" but what can you really offer to that talent or band to prove your value as a manager. It’s a very people intense profession. You have to go to functions. See what music events are in town that are easy to get to? If you're going out of state, what are some good conventions to go to where you can meet record label people, production companies, sponsors, and promoters that put on events that you can try and place your talent with them. Getting a databases of all your connections is very valuable to have in the industry.

Maestro J: Im working on obtaining my agent lisence; what are your thoughts on that?

Attorney Goldberg: As a manager, managers are not allowed to procure employment for their talent, that’s what an agent does. If you're getting a commission from your talent from a job you just got them that you most likely will be viewed as being a talent agent and if you're not properly licensed, you may be subject to certain actions and penalties under Florida Law. Other states have their own laws as well. So it would be in you're best interest to get the proper agency license if you think not only are you going to be managing talent but you are also going to be acting in the function of a talent agent. I would also recommend that you form a company and then go through the procedures of applying for the license which means paying the fees, getting your bond, in order to get your agency up and running.

Maestro J: If I were to have the agent license under my belt would I have to draw the line with certain talents that I manage vs. those that I'm just booking gigs for?

Attorney Goldberg: Well that’s entirely up to you. The way I see it is that you are a talent manager but because you are licensed you are also able to book gigs for them. So it’s like the best of both worlds. But yeah, if you wanted to separate both that its possible. You can try and test the waters and see what works best for you. It would be ok to keep things separate "I'll manage you only or I will only be your talent agent", you can do that.

Maestro J: So with my company in its premature stages and for other companies starting out in the industry in the right way, what are some helpful tips to keep in mind?

Attorney Goldberg: Well did you form a company and what is the company name?

Maestro J: Yes I did, its called Models 2 Music Excluzive Entertainment, LLC. but I do business as the abbreviated version: M2M Excluzvie Ent. LLC.

Attorney Goldberg: OK, well when you think about branding yourself you want to focus on a name that is not being used by other people or entities. Especially be mindful if the name is being used by people in the same industry. You want to think branding. You want to think unique and different. You have to do your searches on the internet making sure that there's no other companies in the entertainment industry with the same name or otherwise that has a very similar name. You should also obtain a trademark search clearance report through a reputable company. The test for trademark infringement is “likelihood of confusion”. So if its really similar, I would stay away from that. When you're starting out that is the time to think of something different if you have to. Do your Google searches, do whatever you can online. If you need help with that we can certainly assist you with that. Keep in mind that just because you spell your name somewhat unique may not be enough to make it distinguishable. It may still cause consumer confusion. You don't want someone to be confused by the two names. I would also recommend that stay away from adjectives and descriptive words. Adjectives are descriptive, they describe what it is that you're providing. Those are very weak trademark names, brand names. You want to think of something unique, arbitrary, made up if at all possible. You can have a name for your company and have a different name, a fictitious name, for your products or services that are provided by your business.

Maestro J: If you finally went through with the trademarking of the name, it is non-refundable there fore it is better to be exactly what you want correct?

Attorney Goldberg: Absolutely, make sure its exactly what you wanted it to be and that there is nothing out there already first in use. It is not first to file with the trademark office, it is first to use the trademark, so use it! If there's somebody out there somewhere in the United States already using the same or a very similar trademark name they will most likely have superior rights over you. For example, you filed your trademark first in the US Trademark Office, and lets say a company in California was already using that trademark for the past five years, and even though they didn't file with the US Trademark Office, they were using the name before you. Under this situation, even though you have a federal trademark now registered, you'll be able to sell you're services all across the country except for California because of this company using the trademark prior to your use. They would have superior rights and would be able to bock you from selling your services or products in California. So make sure you perform an adequate trademark search prior to filing.

Maestro J: What if you get you're agent license in the State of Florida, then can you only be an agent in Florida?

Attorney Goldberg: Yes I believe so, I believe that's how it works,. For any state you work in, you need to be properly licensed in that state.

Maestro J: The questions spawns whether to launch the company in the state of Florida? But what if I move? Then am I starting over.

Attorney Goldberg: Either you can start the company in a new state or you can take the Florida company and register it as a foreign corporation in that new state. So that allows you to transact business under that company that you registered in Florida in whatever other state. Or if it's cleaner, you can always form a new company. However, if you start a new company, with a new name, you will loose your brand and your trademark . However, you might be able to keep the name if it is not already registered as a company in that new state.

Maestro J: Wonderful, because that's initially what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to launch my business here and Florida be the home base.

Attorney Goldberg: Yeah, just go to the website for the Talent Agency. The Department of Business and Professional Regulations online. Look up the talent agent license. There are a lot of Q & A all over the place regarding talent agencies. I'm sure that there will be answers to the questions you posed about you practicing in another state under your license. However every state has it's own rules and procedures. You probably will have to get multiple talent agency licenses for each state you are working in. And that's just filling out the application, going through the process and paying the fees.

Maestro J: Or get them in the states you work the most right?

Attorney Goldberg: yes, probably so

Maestro J: So Mr. Goldberg, how long have you been practicing as an Entertainment lawyer.

Attorney Goldberg: I've been practicing Entertainment law as an Entertainment Lawyer for about 12 years now.

Maestro J: What motivated you to get into that line of work?

Attorney Goldberg: This may sound silly but I grew up wanting to be a rock star, mind you I could neither sing nor play an instrument regardless of my love for music. So in figuring out my career, when I went off to college, I just started thinking to myself that I might as well represent those that can since I can't. Sound's cliche, silly, I know, but that's what happened. Thought that going to law school would be a good vehicle for me to get into the Entertainment Industry. That's what I wanted to do because I love movies, music, television, I love everything that goes along with it. And it's not just that it's authors of books, internet companies, it’s all the new multimedia that's emerging everyday, everything new and exciting that's happening. I went to law school wanting to be in the Entertainment industry one way or another. And that's what made me want to go to law school and be an attorney.

Maestro J: And what school (s) is/or are your Alma-mater?

Attorney Goldberg: I went to University of Florida for college. I went to St. Thomas University School of Law for my Law Degree and then I got another law degree, which is my Masters of Law degree in Intellectual Property at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL.

Maestro J: So if you're a lawyer, like you went to law school and stuff, did those programs have curriculum geared towards entertainment or just when you graduated you just kinda put yourself into that?

Attorney Goldberg: There is Entertainment Law. I would say it's more like... I don't know the proper terminology for it but Entertainment law is like a whole bunch of different types of laws put together specifically for artists & entertainers. For example, sometimes you're dealing with first amendment rights, Freedom of Speech and the right of publicity. These laws go together with entertainment law because celebrities have those issues all the time w/ use of their name and likeness. And newspapers & magazine have issues with freedom of speech all the time. Freedom of speech applies to movies, and television as well. Copyright laws and Trademark laws, which falls under the umbrella of Intellectual Property Laws are also apart of entertainment law because artist and entertainers need copyright protection. They need trademarks to brand themselves. Whether its their name or band name or whatever products theybrand themselves. Its all kind of like a bunch of different areas that kinda fall into the realm of what is commonly referred to as Entertainment Law.

Maestro J: Does that also include you're public figures, athletes, etc. ?

Attorney Goldberg: Correct, there is also sports law. I can certainly assist an athlete to a certain degree. There will be certain things I can't do because you need to be properly licensed. For example, the NFL requires you to be a licensed NFL contractor/negotiator of sorts. However, I can counsel sports figures because it's mainly contracts. It's contract review, drafting, negotiating. I am a transactional attorney, andI do a lot of contract drafting and negotiations. That's what I do. I work the contracts.

Maestro J: Ok. and what was your most memorable client(s) that you go to work with?

Attorney Goldberg: My first clients that I helped out were the Haxan Film guys, creaters of the “The Blair Witch Project.” Its always fun to work with movies and famous celebrities. Always a joy to be apart of it.

Maestro J: Oh cool.

Attorney Goldberg: I was one of the attorneys on the project and I helped with the distribution deal for the film.

Maestro J: Is Entertainment law all your firm does?

Attorney Goldberg: No, we also do and practice other areas of law; personal injury, criminal defense, DUI, auto accidents, etc.. I have two other law partners James Hetz and Jonathan Jones that do alot of the litigation for the firm. So myself and Mr. Hetz are located here in Orlando while the Mr. Jones practices in our West Palm Beach, FL office.

Maestro J: Whats the difference between a manager and an agent?

Attorney Goldberg: A manager would be the one to help a talent get to the point of obtaining a record deal. They should be a position where they're managing your career, your day to day itinerary, handling the money and expenses for their talent. They will consult with the talent on what is best for your career. There is a blurriness between what a manager can and cannot do in order to get that record label deal. I don't see that service to the Talent as procuring employment, but some people might. What a manager cannot do is be an agent and book gigs, like concerts, television, advertising, endorsement deals, things like that for the talent. A manager will consult with the talent on whether it makes sense to do or not and they may help negotiate things for you but they cannot procure employment for you.

Maestro J: So the Manager need the agent as the booking liaison between the work and the paycheck?

Attorney Goldberg: Yes, unless the manager is a properly licensed agent as well.

Maestro J: So for the talent when they're starting out is it important for them to look for a manager first or an agent?

Attorney Goldberg: It really depends on what you're needs are first. Just be careful and stay away from people that want you to pay them money upfront so that they can represent you. Managers and agents should only get their manager fees and agent fees out of whatever work or money is coming in. It should not be out of your personal pocket. There should not be any set up, registration, or administrative fees involved. There are people out there that do that. If they are a really big company there maybe a necessity but on the norm if they are a legitimate agency or legitimate manager they are not going to charge you money out of your pocket to represent you. You should never have to pay for that.

Maestro J: What do you find the most rewarding out of you're job?

Attorney Goldberg: I love going on sets, watching them film a scene here and here. Every once and a while you get to meet a celebrity and introduce yourself, that's always fun. Just being around them, being around the camera, being around the lights, and see what goes on. A lot of it can be boring because it takes forever to shoot one scene. But its fun to watch the whole creative process of filmmaking and television making. It's just fun to be around. I enjoy the Entertainment Industry. I wanted to get into it and that why I'm doing it.

Maestro J:And you're business partners how did you guys come together and form this team?

Attorney Goldberg: Well, I was on my own for a little while. My law partner who's here in Orlando, Jim Hetz, proposed the idea of "Lets make a full service Entertainment law firm here in Orlando." He had some entertainment clients as well and does some intellectual property matters as well. And we do focus primarily on Entertainment law even though we do offer other things as most law firm do. So we are a full service entertainment law firm. Through our relationships with Universal Studios we were able to obtain an office location here on the Universal Studios Orlando back-lot.

Maestro J: That's wonderful, and what about your Miami location?

Attorney Goldberg: The one in West Palm Beach doesn't do that much Entertainment law. Whenever something does come up in that location it usually gets forwarded to us here in Orlando. Mr. Jones does a lot of the personal injury work, and foreclosure and bankruptcy, etc.

Maestro J: Well for those baby entrepreneurs starting out in the industry of Entertainment, what is the best possible advise you can throw out there?

Attorney Goldberg: Well you want to make sure you're structured properly from the beginning. Any start up company requires a lot of money. That’s just the initial capital you have to put into youre company to get it up and running. A lot of people don't want to do this or don't want to do that because they don't have the money or don't want to spend that kind of money on that kind of stuff. They'll say to themselves, they will just figure it out later. For what it's worth, if that's what you want to do fine but it may cost you more down the line. Yeah you may have had to pay $1000 to do this, but it might cost you $5000 later on if there's an issue that you need to fix because it wasn't done the right way, perhaps you should have paid to have it done the right way in the first place. So yeah, get a company formed. Make sure you have proper contracts in place with people. A lot of people do things without contracts. So just get things in writing. It makes it a lot easier to defend things in court later on.

Maestro J: Ok, and for my final question in terms of starting an Entertainment company, what is the pros and cons between starting an LLC. and starting a Co.?

Attorney Goldberg: Companies can definitely vary with the type of company structure you want. For example, there can be tax differences between the various types of companies. From a liability standpoint, which is what I counsel clients on, either company will protect your personal assets. However, there are certain restrictions when you form an Inc. as opposed to an LLC. For example, if you are an "S" corporation this means you are subject to a limited number of shareholders, whereas an LLC has no limit on the number of members. Also, LLC allow for a little more flexibility in the structure of the company than an Inc would allow.. Both LLC’s and Inc.’s give you limited liability protection as long as you do everything as an officer of the company and you sign things as an officer of the company. Basically, you do everything under the umbrella of the company. Then you are not personally liable, only the company is at risk. If the company gets sued, they can only go after the company's assets, not your personal assets. An LLC is a unique vehicle for corporate entity. You can treat it for tax purposes in lots of different ways. It can be treated as a partnership, S corporation, C corp, or sole proprietorship for tax purposes.

Maestro J: Alright awesome. Well that concludes our interview in the Entertainment industry. Thank you so much for meeting with me. Im sure many will take this as a very insightful interview.

Attorney Goldberg: My pleasure. Keep in touch. Good luck with everything and let me know if you need anything, and if your friends need help please send them my way...

1000 Universal Studios Plaza
Building 22A, Suite 206
Orlando, FL 32819
United States
ph: 407-210-6588
fax: 877-539-6507

Info@HetzandJones.com

Website: Hetz, Jones & Goldberg, LLC.

Thank you for tuning in to our blog site.

Industry Liabilities in Entertainment- What Say You?

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:27:00 +0000

Mattel vs. MGA Entertainment

Mattel, Inc. (founded in 1945) is the world's largest toy company completely based off of revenue. They are known for producing popular brand products like Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels, and Fisher Price. Mattel Inc. filed a lawsuit against MGA Entertainment over rightful ownership of the popular doll brand "The Bratz" dolls of which did indeed hurt the sales of the barbie dolls when the Bratz were on the market. To Mattel's ironic dismay a California judge ruled in favor of MGA Entertainment forcing Mattel to pay MGA $88.5 million dollars citing that MGA Entertainment is the true owner of the brat dolls because Mattel did not own the drawings of the dolls thus bringing a 7 year long battle to a disappointing close for Mattel but a victorious close for MGA.

My Thoughts:

According to this article it just amazes me how a product can start with one company and end up in an ownership battle with another. If MGA Entertainment was indeed the original owners of the "Bratz" dolls as the court ruling decided then how can they have let such a product make its way to Mattel, Inc. to the point where they find themselves in a grueling seven year long lawsuit. That's a prime example of how its so important for business to guard their property or else some bigger company could very well take it and try to claim it as theirs. A win for MGA but also a lesson learned.

Danika Gerner va. Columbia Pictures, Amblic Entertainment, and costuming co-workers on set

So Danika Gerner was some sort of a stunt woman/extra on the set of Men in Black III. She is suing for a supposed wardrobe malfunction that left her "injured". She claimed that costuming provided her with a defective costume that was not in exceptional conditions. As a result she sustained bodily injuries from executing her role on set while wearing that defective costume. Gerner "claims" that the costuming staff, Columbia Pictures, and Amblic Entertainment failed to insure her safety by providing an adequate functionally safe costume in order to perform her role without pain and suffering. As a result she has been unable to perform her normal life routines in addition to whatever other jobs/roles she's committed to. Gerner did not provided specific details of her injuries nor did she specify what costume actually caused the injury. A verdict has not yet been reached the suit is still on going until updates have been released.

My Thoughts:
According to this article, I find this case to be absolutely ridiculous. If your gonna take the time to sue someone you need to come prepared. How can you have the nerve to sue so many people for a so called "injury" you sustained and not specify the type or magnitude of the injuries sustained in addition to not specifying what on the costume is it that caused the injury. People now a days are sooo ready to get up and sue someone over the most ludicrous things and then when they make it to the court room they shrivel up like a raisin because their case holds no water. A court room is neither a game nor a joke. One needs to come prepared with all necessary documentation to demonstrate the credibility of the reason why he/she suing or it will be dismissed in a heart beat by the judge. Also if Gerner was a supposed extra she had to have read a description of what her role in the film would entail and have signed some kind of a waver agreeing to all the good and bad that came along with that specific role. If you sign away and agreed to everything without reading the documentation you were signing, then the fault is even more on you. Movies will require you to take risks you don't normally take in your everyday life. Own up to your decisions and don't complain because you got a scratch, fell, or something which is pretty much what Gerner did, WINE AND COMPLAIN. Don't blame others for your inability to make cognitive, wise decisions.

Universal vs. The Asylum

Small win for Universal as they settled a lawsuit with The Asylum over trade dress and copyright infringement. The Asylum produces low budget knock off versions of large studio movies and distributes them straight to DVD, VOD, and TV just around the same time as the heavily anticipated large studio movie is nearing its premier. The Asylum has its legal reputation well established with the Hollywood lawyers. Thus Universal's suing of The Asylum case is just another addition to the list of movies that have fallen victims to Asylum's cheap productions. Universal eventually reached a settlement with Asylum in which Asylum agreed to change the name of the movie and also modify their marketing and packaging in return for Universal dropping the lawsuit. Universal had the movie "Battleship" set to premier May 18, 2012 and The Asylum made a low budget version of the movie and called it "American Battleship". In addition to creating the film, Asylum was marketing an packaging the movie around the same time "Battleship" was about to premier sending it straight to the stores knowing Battleship would not hit stores for couple more weeks post movie premier.

My Thoughts:
First off as an artist myself, I have a huge issue with this case the most. How can you proudly make a copycat movie and not only name it extremely similar to the highly anticipated box office version in addition to planning the release of the copycat film in stores before the real battleship was set to premier. I see that as a form of malicious sabotage. It's as if Asylum was using the promotional attention of the box office film Battleship to help sell their version in away taking away from the highly anticipated movie as well as ruining the thunder/ momentum of the want to go see the box office film because people may have gone and purchased the copycat version and it ruined it for them. People's ideas may get miss construed also thinking that since American Battleship came out "First" that they were the originators of the concept behind the film and that the box office film "Battleship" is the copycat of that which is totally the contrary. If you're going to make a movie, well then bigolly be original. Why make something that is clearly a copycat version of the original have it set to hit stores before the premiere of the box office movie knowing that something so close in resemblance will take you straight to court and will cost you x- amount that you did not have planned to spend. Well, according to the article post by the Huffington Post, The Asylum has quite the reputation for producing these kinds of copy cat films. It is not their first time they've been taken to court to settle copy right and trade dress infringement. What strikes me odd is that if The Asylum has this notorious history of copycatting films of which each case is recorded, why hasn't anything been done to severely penalize this company. Clearly "Battleship" is not the company's first infringement indiscretion. If they have a history, and are repeat offenders in the like then something needs to be done. They should have learned from the first time and its blatantly clear that either they didn't learn from the first or they just simply don't care and they're stuck in this mindset that it is acceptable to do what they do.

In conclusion, of the three I think that the last article discussed concerning the hit box office film "Battleship" was the one that concerned me the most. Its is a prime example of how you have to be on top of your product or someone else will wittingly try to steal from you and make it their own. The Asylum was pretty much ready to do that but the makers of "Battleship" where able to intervene just in time before their movie premiered in theaters. There are people out there that want to grow with you and there are others that seek to discredit and tear you done. Your company and the product produced by it is your baby. Protect it for all its worth. Stay on your legal issues because someone out there is looking for the perfect opportunity to sue you for whatever they can possibly come up with and if you are not prepared they can get away with the most downright crazy things. Stay on your game and be ahead of your attackers because they will come at you from every which direction.

References:

Belloni, M. (2012, May 31). Universal lawsuit sinks 'battleship' knockoff 'american battleship'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/universal-battleship-movie-knockoff-331150

Gardner , E. (2012, May 30). May 30 3 days 'men in black 3' extra sues over alleged wardrobe malfunction. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/men-black-3-lawsuit-wardrobe-malfunction-331034

Groom, N., Skariachan, D., Levine, D., Bavdek, M., McCormick, G., & Lewis, M. (2011, April 21). Mattel loses lawsuit with mga entertainment over bratz dolls . Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/21/mattel-loses-lawsuit-with-mga-bratz_n_852223.html

FaceBook Goes Public

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:53:00 +0000

Mark Zuckerburg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room in 2004. Since then Facebook has turned into a multibillion Dollar Company reaching just about every corner of the globe. Meeting people or network So Friday May 18th, 2012 Facebook the Social Network Titan went public. What does this mean? Facebook going public means that Facebook is no longer a privately run company. It is now open to the stock exchange for people invest in the purchase of shares. You could actually own a piece of the multibillion dollar company. When Facebook went public it was valued at over $100 billion dollars who wouldn't want a piece of that pie right? I feel that there is no better time to invest in buying shares of a company than when it first goes public. As the years go by your shares will be worth more because you've had them since the beginning. On the other hands value of stocks value fluctuate all the time. At times its a gamble and you have to be very confident that you've made a wise investment. The social network priced its flotation at $38 a share, valuing the company at $104bn (£65.8bn) - more than any other US company has been worth on the day of its market debut (Rushton, 2012). Even though Facebook is valued at over $100 billion dollars concerns are still raised as to the longevity of the company's value. The hype to purchase Facebook shares went down just after the first day of its debut. Who knows, as time progresses we'll see how strong Facebook really is to withstand the fluctuations of the stock market.

References:

Rushton, K. (2012, May 17). Facebook valued at $104bn on record-breaking stock market debut. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/9273583/Facebook-valued-at-104bn-on-record-breaking-stock-market-debut.html

AVENGERS SMASHES THE BOX OFFICE

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:16:00 +0000

So on Saturday I went to watch the long anticipated movie "Avengers" and man was that theater packed with a line that wrapped around the theater. From my observation alone I could tell that if the demand to view this movie was this impactful I could only imagine how it was every where else. I was reading entertainment new today on OMG.com...My hunch was correct. Avengers smashed the box office raking in a whopping $200.3 million dollars during its debut. This has set the record surpassing the last Harry Potter film last year when it only made $169.2 Million dollars in its debut. I ask myself what is it about the anticipation of this movie that allowed for such a fenominal turnout. With the country stilling trying to climb out of its recession it is surprising to see that the every day American can still spare a $10 dollar bill to at least purchase a movie ticket to enjoy a small get away from a srtessful day, family time. It is true, the entertainment industry does suffer to much as a resultof thr recession for thre simple reason that even though the country is in a recession state one can rest assure that although you may not have a lot of leisure money to spend around you can afford to get away from life issues and purchase tickets to knowning that you're going to relax and enjoy something that doesnt remind you of what's next on your to list.

REFERENCE:

GERMAIN, D. (2012, MAY 06). 'avengers' smashes record: $200.3 million debut. Retrieved from http://omg.yahoo.com/news/avengers-smashes-record-200-3-million-debut-153541542.html;_ylt=AvC2ppkexvrS4RNQMFNvcDZPpxx.;_ylu=X3oDMTRqaTVrNDZtBGNjb2RlA3ZzaGFyZWFnMgRtaXQDTW9kIFRvcCBTdG9yeSBDb2tlIDIEcGtnA2MxMWNhMGMzLWI4OGYtM2IxOS1hZGQzLWI2MzJhMDU3NTk0ZQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5X2Nva2UEdmVyA2FmYzA0YmQwLTk3YjctMTFlMS1iYWVjLTMwZDMxMzQwZTg4ZA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpcW84dHVuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANuZXdzBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Does our recession impact the Entertainment Industry?

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:21:00 +0000

As I was driving to work throughout this week I couldn't help but noticed how high gas prices had risen in such an extremely short span of time. Our Economy is in peril and desperately trying to return to its former glory days of the Clinton era. As I reflected on this I began looking up news on how our country's recession may be affecting other industries other than just my personal life finances. Apparently one industry has yet to really take toll from the recession. I was watching this video clip aired in 2008. And found that the Entertainment industry actually benefits more from the recession due to the fact that the everyday man will seek an escape from the everyday anxiety and stress through a small window of entertainment hence movies is an example. Regardless of how bad the economy is or how tight one's financial pocket is at the current moment they will take the time to either go to a concert, watch a movie at the cinemas, buy some music to relieve stress, etc. Anything to allow for a small window of escape from the harsh realities of the financial struggles our country has been and is in currently still striving to overcome. It nevr dawned on me that the sales of tickets to go see a movie have stayed pretty consistent and or have even sky rocketed in certain areas through out the years as a result of financial hardship. Regardless of whether people will go to the movies or not doesn't hide the fact that people have also access to movies from Red Box and Netflix; two affordable outlets where people can squeeze a dollar to rent a movive or maybe spend an $8 monthly fee to have a wider array of movie selections via a computer, wii, and watch movies with out having to spend additional money in driving to a movie theater. They can stay home and "economize" all the more. I can say that Im guilty of instances in my life where I may have been in a tight financial spot and still managed to squeeze two movie rentals from a Red Box and enjoy a couple hours of mental escape. The Entertainment Industry realizes that the money is in the digital world. And Yes we are predominantly transitioning to a digital state of business. Going digital will secure financial stability for eternity for the Entertainment Industry. Access to entertainment products are available to not just the U.S. but all over the world. Therefore, what is not earned in the homeland is made up for in sale across the globe. Entertainment is that escape from reality and so long as we have stresses, events, celebrations, etc. we will always need Entertainment and Entertainment will always need us.

Interview with M2M Excluzive Model: Andreea Marin

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:46:00 +0000

Welcome Blog Readers to yet another blogpost by yours truly, Maestro. So today I decided to interview one of my models I represent and love to promote; Andreea Marin. I hope that you enjoy this interview and grow fond of a new talent on the rise. Follow her social networks and see progress in the making.

Maestro: What's your background in modeling? When and why did you started? Was it for the glamoure?The Money? Pure Kicks?

Andreea: I have been modeling for years. I first started doing runway shows at the age of 16 and was represented by Centra Ent. I found modeling and acting to be a passion of mine and continued with it. I have been able to turn it from a hobby into a successful career while still being able to juggle going to college for premedicine.

Maestro: Who are some of your favorite models and designers? Why?

Andreea: Some of my favorite models have to be Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks. Not only have they been able to be successful models, but they have been able to transfer their careers into other fields as well. They are inspirational women! As for designers, I would have to say I love the 80's fashion twist of Betsey Johnson with the classics of Osar de la Renta

Maestro: Which fashion magazines, websites, blogs, and catalogs do you visit the most often?

Andreea: I love the fashion inspiration of allure magazine! If anyone were to search my history tab on the laptop they would find self.com, toneitup.com, ivillage.com, and definitely twitter for some magazine tweetspirations!

Maestro: What's your fashion Mantra?

Andreea: definitely a mix between classy and sexy. A woman should show her femininity and express herself through her fashion. However, being classy while achieving that is the ultimate prize! Nothing beats classy. Classic is forever

Maestro: How would you describe your style? Consider anything and everything from color to historical eras and more?

Andreea: I love mixing classic pieces such as a silk button up shirt with a hip top bun, while adding intense pops of color. Fashion is art. It is a way of expressing who you are! I would say my style is an equal mix of Kourtney Kardashian with a little bit of 40's. Red lipstick, black eyeliner, white with black staple pieces, and diamonds galore!

Maestro: Where do you generally shop?

Andreea: Some of my favorite stores include BCBG, H&M, Forever21, Banana Republic, and Bebe

Maestro: What other modeling projects have you done? Can you provide links?

Andreea: I currently am a spokes model for an online clothing company (catwalkclubwear.com). I have done calendars, I'm also an Umbrellagirl and model at special events nationwide, have participated in many fashion shows, and have many more to come!

Me: What is fun and rewarding about modeling?

Andreea: I think one of the most rewarding parts of modeling is the ability to change one's emotions through a simple snapshot. One of the fun aspects of modeling is the ability to play a chameleon! Today I play a pinup girl, but tomorrow I could be a mermaid!

Me: What do you dislike about modeling?

Andreea: I honestly can't say I dislike anything about modeling. It provides me with travel opportunities, feeds my imagination, and allows me to express myself in ways nothing else can

Me: What does fashion mean to you?

Andreea: Fashion is life, it is everywhere we turn. It is art and as I have stated before, an amazing way of expressing one's personality!

Maestro: What distinguishes a good model from a bad model?

Andreea: A good model knows what her strong attributes are. She does not need much direction from the photographer and knows how to convey not just beauty through her photographs; but emotion as well.

Maestro: How has modeling changed other aspects of your life?

Andreea: Modeling has allowed me to let my imaginations run wild. It has allowed me to dream, come up with amazing ideas, and let me see that anything is possible. It also gave me immense confidence. Confidence is extremely important when reaching for success in all aspects of life

Maestro: Is it good for a model to have a manager/agent to enhance their career opportunities? Why/not?

Andreea: Yes, I most definitely believe that in order to enhance one's career they must have an agent. Support is a substantial part of making it in this type of business. It is all about who you know! Having the correct agent who represents you in the light you wish to be cast in can help you get connections in the business.

Maestro: Do you have a manager? Do you have an agent? What are some important qualities you look for or like in a or about your manager?

Andreea: I have chosen to manage myself but I do have an agent. She is amazing and helps me represent myself correctly. I learn new things from her each day and am grateful to have an agent that understands what I want out of my career. If an agent forces their model into opportunities that are outside of their morals or beliefs then it is time to look for some new representation. Communication is key in this relationship!

Maestro: Well thank you so much for interviewing with me. Im sure our audience will enjoy getting to know you as a model and learning some new insight on your take of life as an aspiring model. We look forward to seeing more of you down the line. Good luck with all your endeavors.

Andreea: It was my pleasure! Thank you for having me today and letting me express myself to my fans. All of my hardwork and dedication goes out to those that have always supported me! I wouldn't be anywhere without all of those who stand beside me. I love my fans!

Andreea Marin social netowks:
twitter: @ayyy_marin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1235070121
Modeling Profile: http://www.modelmayhem.com/Dreea28
like M2M Excluzive Managment page: https://www.facebook.com/M2MExcluzive

The Demanding Lifestyle of an Artist Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:51:00 +0000

Equator Music principals Mathieu Drouin and Francoise de Grand talk about the lifestyle of an artist manager and advise novice managers on how to balance for themselves the competing demands of business, art, and life. I love hearing testimonials of other fellow managers around the world. As a growing artist manager myself I face a new challenge everday with my artists. It is a very demanding role to live up to. An artist manager has many people relying on them to get things done. Artist need a manager just as much as a manager needs his/her artist(s). As I get deeper and deeper into the business I feel like Im becoming more aware of the complexity of the business as well as the demanding lifestyle it exceeds. It truly is a way of life that you decide take. It is not the normal nine to five job. You clock in and clock out, answer to a boss, etc. No, you are the boss of your career. You have to learn how to harmoniously balance your life in such a way that you can manage you artists, your business deals, and your own life all at the same time without losing all your marbles in the process.
After starting out in the industry as a sub-agent working as an executive assistant to an artist manager and now growing to be an artist manager myself, I can truly say that the people around you unless in the same industry of work will never to truly grasp and comprehend the demand, liability, and responsibility that comes with the role of being an artist manager. You are on call twenty four hours, seven days a week, all year round. The lieason never sleeps. You have to always be accessible to your artists. Because the role of artist manager is such a huge under taking, artist will have specialized managers to handle different responsibilities. In this way helping to lighten the load on the personal manager of the artist. I have artist that I manager personally but at the same time I have others that I am solely their business manager, or tour manager. In the beginning you will be doing mostly everything yourself unless you have the financial backing to hire people to create a team. However eventually you'll have your team to make each event and experience a success. If you the artist don't have a manager be wise in who you choose at the same time if you do have a good manager do not take them for granted because if you've known your manager for a long time and you trust them, you know they are one of your biggest supporters. They believe in you and being a manager is what they do for a living, how they put bread on the table, you the artist are their job and career choice.

I know that being an artist manager is what I want to do for the rest of my life as a career. It is my passion and I live for it. And Im proud to be the manager of my artists.

A Vocal Talent Gone But Never Forgotten

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:22:00 +0000

On the eve of the most anticipated day of the year, The Grammy Awards which was during Valentine's Weekend, the world lost one of its most beloved vocal titans Ms. Whitney Houston. How could this happen we have asked our selves time and time again. However Ms. Houston had a long time battle with drug abuse and alcohol which inevitably contributed to her demise. Reports say that Ms. Houston was discovered in her luxury hotel room submerged underwater in her bathtub. Confirmations have not been made through toxicology yet but it is believed that Ms. Houston passed due to the mixing Xanax and other powerful prescription drugs and alcohol and that she may have passed prior to slipping underwater. Reports state that here family was told by Los Angeles Coroner officials that there was not enough water in her lungs to declare cause of death by drowning. Sadly enough it was reported also that 18yr old daughter Bobby-Whitney was hospitalized for having fallen asleep in the bathtub the night before and that she was also hospitalized again twice after the devastating news of her mother's passing. Fears grow the young teenager maybe suffering a melt down and is suicidal at the wake of her mother's passing.
While the world can agree with me when I say that words can not express how saddened I am to lose such a vibrant talent, admired and loved by all who knew her and followed her music, I can not help but observe how when a known artist passes suddenly their popularity sky rockets. Ms. Houston's songs have top the charts in the last week since her passing.
A similar effect was seen after the deaths of Michael Jackson in June 2009 and Amy Winehouse in August 2011 as fans paid tribute by buying the artists' singles and albums. In summer 2009, six Michael Jackson albums hit the Official Albums Chart Top 40, including a greatest hits at Number 1, while five singles hit the Official Singles Chart Top 40, a week after the singer's death. Two years later, Amy Winehouse's albums took three places in the Official Top 10, along with five singles in the Official Top 40.
It is interesting to note that with out fail every time an artist passes that when an artist passes their popularity sky rockets and they sell way more music having passed than having been alive. Does their passing make for a better artist sale wise then them having been alive? Many beloved artists' along with Ms. Houston that have passed have come out of bankruptcy because their residuals have soared as a result of their booming album and single sales.

Sources:

Gye, H., Dewsbury, R., Boyle, L., Keneally, M., & Moran, L. (2012, february 15). Whitney houston . Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100426/Whitney-Houston-cause-death-Star-died-drugs-NOT-drowning.html

Thank You Madonna

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:20:00 +0000

So today was the long awaited 46th Annual Superbowl 2012 with the Giants facing the Patriots on the green field....However, there can be no Superbowl without a half time show.... After the grueling 2011 NFL lockout finally drew to a close bringing results to both players and owners, it is a breath of fresh air for the legendary Madonna to come and put on a phenomenal show. It was so carefully orchestrated and coordinated. Set design was spectacular, vocal quality was on point...Its safe to say that Madonna truly brought back the life of what a Half Time Show is all about. Black Eyed Peas performed well but didn't sing well last year at the 2011 Superbowl, as well as Rolling Stones, and the infamous wardrobe malfunction between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. I truly believe that this half time show was by far the most anticipated show over all the past years performances and is gonna be one of the most watched. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Madonna's medley performances of classic hits like "Vogue" and "Like a Prayer"....
Interestingly enough I found many on my Facebook page and twitter pages to have mixed feelings concerning the half time show....Many still feel that it was no different from the other shows....Its as if they're still waiting for a new re invention of the Half Time show... I say we could use a face lift. But at the same time was just got out a major lockout, the owners and players are were of all the negotiations, the players were growing anxious to get back on the field and playing, providing financial stability to their homes once again. But the most hit hard was the fans...Fans look forward to their football games whether it be watching it in the convenience of your own home or going to the actual game....The lockout itself made everyone restless. The future of American Football was in jeopardy of being shut down. This was the most anticipated game of the year....
Despite all the critics, football is here to stay, and entertainment performances will continue to be a trendsetters during the half time shows... Lord knows how much this cost to make it all happen after going through such a vigorous lockout the year before.

A Day in the Life of a Model- Interview with Model Saycred Monroe

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:01:00 +0000

Today I had the opportunity to interview a model/film maker/Entrepreneur known as Saycred Monroe. She has been in the industry as a model for a little over a year and film making for 4 years running. As her career unfolds we are a given an insight in a day in the life of a model through her daily experience on set.

Maestro: Saycred Monroe Welcome. Thank you for joining me today.

Saycred Monroe: Thank you. Glad to be here today.

Maestro: How do you manage to separate the people from the problem as a model when engaging with other models, producers, artist in shoots?

Saycred Monroe: I separated the people from the problem by simply thinking to myself that everyone has a job to do. The model wants to at least have their 15 min of fame. So if they get cranky it's, because they have been up for sometime and they just want to get to the top just like I do. I just brush them off and try not to have any animosity toward them. I never really have any issue with a producer. Artists can get a little grabby and I let them know that they can't do that if we are not shooting. If it continues I simply leave the shoot.

Maestro: Is there biased appreciation for models in the industry?

Saycred Monroe: Yes, there is. most of the time if you are not red or yellow bone or caramel skin which means lighter skin tone its harder for you to get in the door. If you are my complexion, which is darker then caramel it is hard for you to get work. Unless you have a big backside then they have no other choice , but to let you in.

Maestro: What has been your criteria objective when diving into multiple roles other than modeling? how do you balance out the load?

Saycred Monroe: My objective criteria is just to be successful even if it is not with modeling. Just to be a dam good businesswomen. How do I balance the load? Well I have a really crazy schedule. I have to make sure that I attend to my regular business. Along with networking in the film industry, and going to shoots that don't require me to be in front of the camera. I also still have to keep my networking up in the modeling industry and try not to miss any events. I can't let people forget about me. I have to exercise almost everyday. So on an average day I go to bed around 4am in the morning. Along with juggling a lover. I actually use almost all of my 24 hr in a day.

Maestro: How does your definition of "model" give you leverage and power over other models in the industry? What makes you more valuable as a model than the rest?

Saycred Monroe: What makes me more appealing is that I am very artsy when it comes to shooting. I have no problem with doing tasteful nudity. I push the envelope enough, but I wont go into pornographic work. To make this clear I will not show my boobs or my "vajay-j"...(laughter) I am very intelligent and I know a lot about the business. I can tell if someone is trying to screw me over. However, I do feel that I have a big personality. It kind of gets me through the times when I am nervous about something that I am doing ( such as public speaking) along with God.

Maestro: As a whole how do you see the mutual benefit when working with others that may try to sabotage you and how does that shape who you are as a model today?

Saycred Monroe: I see every negative that comes my way as a positive. When someone does something wrong to me, like take my panties and my shoes(laughter), I look at it as a plus. That means that I am doing something right as a model; that they are scared that I will steal their shine. Things that I have seen in the business has shaped me as a better model, because now I know what not to do. I feel like I've made some mistake, but I have learned from them. I am only 23 years old, I started almost 1 year ago, and I picked up quick on the bad and the good of the industry. Now I can apply them and make it all positive for me.

Maestro: Thank you so much for sharing your personal insight on the life a model. I wish you all the luck and success in your career.

Saycred Monroe: No Thank you for having me

Amy Purdy: Living beyond limits

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:07:00 +0000

Amy Purdy inspires me to keep striving to achieve my ultimate goal ^_^
How is it that someone go could through so much, yet over all obstacles surpass and become the number female snowboarder in the special Olympics. Such an accomplishment like that shows how strong the mind is over the physical body. She wasn't about to let her inhibitions keep her from doing the things that she loves to do. Its kinda of like how they say that when you tell yourself something even if its not legitimately true, if you keep telling yourself thatth eventually you end up believing that it is true. Such negative thinking was something Amy did not allow herself to become taken over by. Overcoming bacterial meningitis is no joke and she looks absolutely amazing and you would never know that she has two prosthetic legs as a result of the bacterial infection. In addition to the loss of her legs she also lost part of her ability to hear. I couldn't even begin to fathom what its must have been like to wake up to half your hearing gone and both of your legs gone as well....Its even interesting to note that even though she lost half of her hearing, her form of speech is quite intact.

How to Start a Movement- Derek Sivers

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:53:00 +0000

Derek Sivers presentation was straight to the point. Its true how the saying goes "where more than one are gathered big things happen..." A movement can start with person but it will eventually result in a bunch of participants and believers. Such is the same principle with starting your business. It begins with you but as you start to develop this business of yours you begin to tell people about it and the people you told tell their peoples about it. Thus you've created followers and supporters for your cause. A movement can be a very powerful thing and can spread like wild fire.

Reference:
This video was uploaded from youtube but was originally found at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html

Author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Speaks on Nurturing Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:45:00 +0000

As I was browsing around Ted.com I stumbled upon this wonderful presentation of Elizabeth Gilbert writer and author of "Eat, Pray, Love" which is one of my favorite novel's yet next to The Divinci Code by Dan Brown. Gilbert explains that writing is not just her profession but it has been her "life long love and fascination." Through the recent mega success of her novel, Eat Pray Love she has found her self through some what of a slight predicament. No one ever imagined that Eat Pray Love would blow up to be such a huge local and international success.

Gilbert has found herself in the midst of daunting questions like "Are you ever gonna be able to top that? Will you able to produce another novel just as powerful that everyone will care about just as much if not more?....With such questions picking her thoughts it has caused Gilbert to recalibrate her whole outlook and relationship with her work. Gilbert admits to fears before and after her success. Event when she was young and in grade school she would constantly get asked by her peers "aren't you afraid that you won't be able to make a career out of writing?. Should we as creative minds fear the work we were put on this earth to do.

I can say that I'm on board with Gilbert on the notion of the fear of being successful or not in the career that I feel I was destined to fulfill in my life time has always been a daunting question in my mind. It lingers in my mind constantly questioning my reasoning in every decision and move I make towards getting closer to reach my career goal. Every creative mind that can affirm that at some point in time in their path they have question themselves on their motive, direction, and purpose.

Gilbert later on elaborates on the notion of how there is such a high death rate among the creative minds of our time and day. As time has evolved the genius is now considered to be the creative mind instead of having a genius as the ancient Romans considered it. Gilbert says that it was a bad bad idea for the perception of "genius" to be the creative mind because it now adds this load of anxiety and responsibility that human psyche cant handle resulting in the pressures of that responsibility killing our creative minds for the past 500 years. Artists like Marylin Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Chris Farley, Curt Cobain, Chris Penn, Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger and the recent death of Pop King Michael Jackson are just a few examples of creative minds that unfortunately short lived there lives due to the pressures and anxieties of life and career responsibilities overwhelming their psyche.

Gilbert wishes this would stop because "I want our creative minds to live" we all want all the talents and stars that we have come to love to last for as long as they can.

I feel that through Gilbert's presentation has edified my perspective outlook on the importance of nurturing creativity. Truly is precious and important to safe guard and hold fast to or else it can spontaneously combust if not properly care for. I agree with Gilbert's perspective of the roots of the artist and how it has evolved and effected our artists through out the years. The vain materialistic demands of the craft and how it distorts the beauty of the creative mind. It has also help me to focus on nurturing the creative mind of the talents that I manage within my company including not losing my own creativity. I have fears as well but I can't let those things hold me back. I acknowledge that those fears are there but I evaluate options on how to get past those fears and I hope to help my talents with those fears as well.

In order for Gilbert to protect herself from that "pit of despair" as she calls it she creates a psychological construct to manage her emotional and mental inhibitions. When she feels stuck or going through a small road block she figures out ways to circumnavigate and continue persevering to the work is finished and finished to her satisfaction.

I agree that creative process is different for every creative mind and does not behave rationally and can be at times as Gilbert would put it "paranormal". Inspiration comes elusively and tantalizing.

Gilbert gives the example of Tom Wade a tormented contemporary artist who figured out how to take the "genius" out of him to relieve the stress and heavy anxiety that had been tormenting him for soo long. He understand how to calibrate it to fit his creative process. The work was all the same and just as good just the process and outlook on life is what change and helped him continue to make the music that everyone appreciated.

Gilbert is an amazing speaker and I hope to one day be able to attend one of her presentations. She continues to be one of my favorite authors and I look forward to enjoying a couple more decades of her amazing writings.

Source of original video:
Elizabeth Gilbert presentation on Ted.com

What you may or may not know about the RIAA

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:45:00 +0000

          One of the most influential associations in the growth of my company has been learning about the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which is a trade organization designed to give the much needed support and promotion of creative and financial vitality of the major music companies of our day. In addition RIAA strives to protect the intellectual property and first amendment rights of its artists and music labels; they conduct consumer, industry, and technical research as well as monitor and review state & federal law, regulations and policies. There are four main services that RIAA provides beginning with the technical services which includes things like watermark payload specifications, Global Release Identifier also known as GRid, and Digital Data Exchange. A second service RIAA provides is the Dual Disc; a product sought after by many in the music industry for the mere reason that it is both a CD and DVD in one- allownig an artist to deliver audio, video, and computer content all on a single two-sided disc to the anxious consumer fan. One side of the disc is CD while the other side of the same disc is DVD... in this way their is more interactive content in the album as a whole thus allowing the artist to offer more appealing features and bonuses to its fans. Not everybody can obtain a DualDisc product. Record labels are required to obtain a license to use the Dual Disc logo on its products.
          A third service RIAA provides is the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) which is the internationally recognized identification tool for sound and music video recordings. It is used by major download sites, digital distribution companies and collecting societies as a tool to manage digital repertoire and track commerce. The fourth and most important service RIAA provides is the FBI Anti-Piracy Seal & Warning (FBI Seal) which is important to artists and record labels in the protection of their material. As a result of substantial losses to the recording industry due to constant piracy, the RIAA worked closely with the FBI to devlop a new government seal & warning for placement on copyrighted music products in order to increase anti-piracy awareness. If you weren't aware infringement can cost you up to $250,000 in fines and up to 5 years jail time. You can't use the mark unless your a member of the RIAA. Companies must join this program in order to use the marks.
         The RIAA specifically states in their site that takes an uncompromising stand against censorship and for the first amendment rights of the artists to create freely. There for you can be a member, submit what ever artistic material and there will be no bias against it. They work to protect not to hinder.

         RIAA currently has two programs the Gold and Platinum program which was luanched in 1958 to honor artists outstanding achievements and create a standard by which to measure sales of a sound recording.
Gold Album award = 500,000 copies sold
Platinum Album award = 1,000,000 copies sold and was created in 1976
later the Multi-Platinum award was created in 1984.
In 1999, the RIAA launched the Diamond Awards honoring sales of 10 million copies or more of an album or single.
50 years the Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum and now Diamond award programs are the longest running objective measure of achievement for sound recordings in the United States, and it also provides an unmatched historical perspective on the success of countless recording artists.

Lastly, In connection with the RIAA, The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) issues a silver, gold, platinum, and diamond award category for a number of countries including the US (IFPI has members in 70 countries and 5 continents)

The RIAA is important to our industry because it has sought to protect the work of artists and labels through out the years and continues to do so in the most meticulous and genius way. Not only do they offer services to the music industry in the US but they also take it over seas internationally as well. Piracy happens all over the world and the RIAA is protecting its current artists and incoming artists that aren't educated on the demands of the industry and all the legalities involved in keeping their careers safe and intact. I can definitely see my company eventually becoming a member of this association in the future. As a manager protecting the talents and their creative material is extremely important to me and the company I run. RIAA helps facilitate that in a more legitimate way. There are a lot of legalities involved in managing talents and I feel that RIAA has educated me on a lot of details I didn't know about. This inturn helps clarify the direction and decisions I need to take in insuring the success of my talents.

Reference:
The official site of RIAA
(2011). Retrieved from http://www.riaa.com/index.php

MUSIC MANAGER AND MANAGEMENT ROLES

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:04:00 +0000

There are generally six types of music managers that can play a role in the careers of recording artists, record producers, songwriters, and musicians. Most artists will interact with only one or two of these managers, but it helps to know what to expect from each of them nonetheless.
Following is a brief description of the roles of the different types of music managers.

Music Manager (aka Artist Manager, Talent Manager, Band Manager, or Personal Manager)

The Music Manager has the most interaction with the artist and is generally the most important person in the artist's musical life. They are involved in planning, coordinating and organizing the career of the artist. They are involved in counseling and advising the artist on all matters related to their musical careers. The personal manager should research the music industry and know all about record labels, publishing companies, producers, booking agents, promoters, publicists, stylists, photographers, recording engineers, graphic designers, video directors, music licensees, etc., and how they integrate themselves into the overall career plan. The more contacts the manager has, the more effective they will be at their job.

Business Manager

The Business Manager (usually an accountant by trade) manages the income and expenses of the client. Business managers usually take care of making payments to musicians, background singers, roadies, tour managers, etc., on behalf of the artist. They also advise the artist on assets and investments, savings and taxes (local, state, federal, and International). Most artists are unaware that they have tax obligations that relate to their performance and licensing income, CD and merchandise sales, equipment purchases, sponsorship cash, other miscellaneous income, etc. Business managers also try to get their clients to invest in their future and save something for a rainy day since even the most successful artists eventually stop earning regular income from making records and touring.

Road Manager

The Road manager normally takes care of logistics while the artist is on tour (or on the road). Duties include making sure that everything on the road is provided as spelled out in the contract and all monies are paid on time. The artist is then left free to concentrate on their performances and not whether the promoter, venue booker or booking agent has met their obligations. The road manager also follows up on items that were promised as part of the contract such as accommodations, per diems, equipment rentals, commissions, etc.

Tour Manager

The Tour manager on larger tours coordinates all the Road managers along with the details and logistics of the tour itself. Sometimes the road manager and the tour manager are the same person. The Tour manager is in charge of all the details that relate to the entire tour including communications, merchandising, tour routing, catering, hospitality, etc.

Production Manager

Production managers can be found on larger tours involving major record label artists. Production managers work closely with tour managers, helping with certain details having to do with the production of the show; like renting sound, video and lighting equipment, dealing with trucking issues, etc. Production managers also deal with the publicity for the show, as well as assist with scheduling and coordinating both the touring crew and the local venue crew (stagehands, carpenters, riggers, etc.).

Technical Manager

The Technical Manager (or Technical Director) is usually the person in charge of set design, construction, and control during the performance. They work closely with the production manager.

Responce:
I found this article to be so enlightening for me. I never realized how many different manager roles there were in relevance to the career of an artist. As an artist manager it didn’t dawn on me how many other manager’s I’d have to collaborate with to ensure the success of my artist. This article not only enlightened me on the fact that I won’t be doing everything myself but that I will also have to look for qualified people to fill that role for each of my artists. Being a music manager is a demanding job but at least now I know that there are other managers that I will be working with that can share my stress level and can understand the demands. In addition this is good information for my artists to know as well because most artist think that they only deal with one manager. Little do rising artists know that there are a number of different managers of which they will have to rely on other than their personal manager. This fact of “my manager handles everything” is proven myth because it various managers to make a project come to full fruition. It is a relief to know that there are other managers that fulfill various roles like road trip duties, production, tour, technical etc. It is less that I have to know and take on. Granted I would have to check in on their progress but for me to not have to worry about everything and assign specific roles to qualified candidates is a huge load off the shoulders. After this revelation, I am looking to see how each one fulfills these roles and how do people end up becoming one the indicated managerial roles. It is good for a manager to learn new information concerning a relevant topic and forwarding that educative information to their artist. Artists appreciate and value the counsel of their manager and keeping them informed secures the clarity of communication between manager and client (artist). It is good to always be on the same page.

Reference source:

Music manager roles. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.artistmanagementresource.com/music-manager-roles.html

Getting a Label Deal in Today's Music Industry: Interview with Artist Manager Dean Baylor, Winton Elliott & Associates

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 03:53:00 +0000

Dean Bayler is currently a day artist manager with Winton Elliott and Associates, an artist services firm based in Nashville, TN. Prior to this, he was a road manager and tour manager for various Christian and mainstream artists, such as Amy Grant and Mercy Me, and Keith Urban. I find Dean’s interview to be refreshing to the ears. In this interview, Dean elaborates on the record labels, the need for down sizing and cutting costs due to the market going digital, and where the industry stands today. Because the digital market has evolved so much within the last five years it is so easy for artists to independently market themselves. Artists have some many outlets to use for self-promotion; social networks like reverbnation, twitter, youtube, facebook, myspace and the list goes on. There’s also the ability for artists to sell their music through digital websites like tunecore, i-tunes, rhapsody which in turn has created a way for artist to rake in mass revenue.

Digital marketing has allowed for fans to be able to have immediate access to their favorite artist’s music. They no longer have to purchase the entire album they can pick and choose their favorites. Even though this method of purchasing music digitally has grown with such fever, it has struck distribution companies immensely causing album sales to plummet. Not only has this been a reason for album sales to drop but also pirating of music has been a factor as well. More and more websites are creating different ways to download music for free which hurts everybody in the music entertainment industry in some form or manner. However the die hard fan will go out of his/her way to buy the album. With this said more and more independent artists have found success through online stores, self marketing and promotion. Dean also explains that the manner in which an artist is initially development has changed as well due to the market going digital. This way the team behind the artist pretty much composes the package and have it ready to go for the labels. Reference Source: Baylor, D. (2008). Getting a label deal in toda'ys music industry [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/getting a label deal in todays music industry

Excluzive Interview of Terry McBride- CEO of Nettwerk Records

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:50:00 +0000

My career field has to do with my entertainment company encompassing artist management, media production, and starting a record label. The video I have posted features CEO & Co-Founder of Nettwork Records, Terry McBride. In this exclusive interview he discusses a little background on starting his company and elaborates on everything it takes to be a good manager and connecting with your artist. Terry McBride is one of my entrepreneur icons. I relate to his video so well and thought that this would be beneficial to all my readers who are interested or are pursuing a career in artist management, building a record label, or even creating their own entertainment company....I love how Terry mentions that an artist manager inspires his artist as well as acts as an educator of how things run. He goes on to say that an artist manager also has to love what he/she does and needs to connect with his/her artists. A manager pretty much takes care of everything for the artist especially in the beginning when artist's can't afford it. He makes an interesting point that artist management should consider having their own label because you can experience both perspective's in managing the artist as well as directing the label....In many instances artists find themselves blaming the label for a failed project. It is wise to create your own label that way you and your artist experience being on the outside as well as on the inside of how everything operates in the entertainment industry. Its better to have both so you can run the show yourself and you don't have to go through so much chain of command to get things done or taken care of.

I found this video on the following website which hosts a lot of imformative articles and video's to learn from : http://www.artistshousemusic.org/Home
also the home website for Nettwork record is www.nettwerk.com....

ARTISTS DON'T MAKE MONEY FROM RECORD DEALS

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:52:00 +0000

This is an article that I found very informative and thought you guys might like to read....Enjoy

By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition

Who is the incredible bonehead who said rappers make mad loot? Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!! Because the fans expect their favorite artists to be crazy paid and livin' large, this puts an incredible amount of pressure on the artists to appear wealthy. And it's not just the fans; I can't tell you how many times I've been out with rappers along with people in the industry, and the industry slobs have expected the artists to pick up the dinner check. I've even seen people cop an attitude if the artist doesn't pay for everything. This is small minded and ignorant because the artist is ALWAYS the last to get paid. Everyone gets their cut first: the label, the manager (15%- 20% of all of the artist's entertainment income), the lawyer (by the hour or 5%-10% of the deal), the accountant (by the hour or 5% of all income), and, of course, the IRS (28% to 50% depending on the tax bracket).

Once an artist releases a record, the pressure is on to portray a successful image to fans, friends, families, and people around the way. People expect the artists to be well dressed, drive an expensive car, etc. Think about it. Don't you expect artists "to look like artists?" Would you admire Jay-Z as much if he drove a busted old 1990 Grand Am instead of that beautiful, brand new, top of the line Bentley?

Sadly, when an artist gets signed to a label deal, especially a rap artist, he or she receives somewhere between 8 and 13 points. What that means is 8% to 13% of the retail sales price, after the record label recoups the money it puts out (the advance, the sample clearances, the producer advances, usually half the cost of any videos, any cash outlays for the artists, etc.). The artist has to sell hella units to make any money back. Here's an example of a relatively fair record deal for a new rap artist with some clout in the industry and a terrific negotiating attorney:

ROYALTY RATE: 12%

We're going to assume that there are 3 artists in the group, and that they split everything equally. We're also going to assume that they produce their own tracks themselves.

Suggested retail list price (cassettes) $10.98
less 15% packaging deduction (usually 20%) =$ 9.33
gets paid on 85% of records sold ("free goods") =$7.93

So the artists' 12% is equal to about 96 cents per record sold. In most deals, the producer's 3% comes out of that 12%, but for the sake of brevity, in this example the group produced the whole album, buying no tracks from outside producers, which is rare.

Let's assume that they are a hit and their record goes Gold (although it is rare that a first record blows up like this). Let's also assume they were a priority at their record label and that their label understood exactly how to market them. So they went Gold, selling 500,000 units according to SoundScan (and due to the inaccuracies in SoundScan tracking at the rap retail level, 500,000 scanned probably means more like 600,000 actually sold).
GOLD RECORD = 500,000 units sold x $ .96 = $480,000. Looks like a nice chunk of loot, huh? Watch this. Now the label recoups what they've spent: independent promotion, 1/2 the video cost, some tour support, all those limo rides, all those out of town trips for the artist and their friends, etc.

$480,000
-$100,000 recoupable stuff (NOT advance)
--------
$380,000
-$ 70,000 advance (recording costs)
--------
$310,000

Still sounds OK? Watch... Now, half of the $380,000 stays "in reserve" (accounting for returned items from retail stores) for 2 to 4 years depending on the length specified in the recording contract. So the $70,000 advance is actually subtracted from $190,000 (the other $190,000 is in reserves for 2 years). Now, there's also the artist's manager, who is entitled to 20% of all of the entertainment income which would be 20% of $310,000, or $62,000. Remember, the artist is the last to get paid, so even the manager gets paid before the artist.

So the artists actually receive $19,333 each for their gold album, and in two years when the reserves are liquidated, IF they've recouped, they will each receive another $63,000. IF they've recouped. Guess who keeps track of all of this accounting? The label. Most contracts are "cross-collateralized," which means if the artist does not recoup on the first album, the money will be paid back out of the second album. Also, if the money is not recouped on the second album, repayment can come out of the "in reserve" funds from the first album, if the funds have not already been liquidated.

Even after the reserves are paid, each artist only actually made 50 cents per unit based on this example. The label made about $2.68 per unit. This example also doesn't include any additional production costs for an outside producer to come in and do a re-mix, and you know how often that happens.

So each artist in this group has received a total of about $82,000. After legal expenses and costs of new clothing to wear on stage while touring, etc, each artist has probably made a total of $75,000 before paying taxes (which the artist is responsible for-- remember Kool Moe Dee?). Let's look at the time line now. Let's assume the artists had no jobs when they started this. They spent 4 months putting their demo tape together and getting the tracks just right. They spent another 6 months to a year getting to know who all of the players are in the rap music industry and shopping their demo tape. After signing to a label, it took another 8 months to make an album and to get through all of the label's bureaucracy. When the first single dropped, the group went into promotion mode and traveled all over promoting the single at radio, retail, concerts, and publications. This was another six months. The record label decided to push three singles off the album so it was another year before they got back into the studio to make album number two. This scenario has been a total of 36 months. Each member of the group made $75,000 for a three year investment of time, which averages out to $25,000 per year. In corporate America, that works out to be $12 per hour (before taxes).

OK, so it's not totally hopeless. Since we're using the fantasy of a relatively fair deal, let's look at publishing from a relatively fair perspective. There are mechanical royalties and performance royalties to figure in. Mechanical royalties are the payments that Congress stipulates labels must pay based on copy right ownership and publishing ownership. These payments have nothing to do with recouping, but everything to do with who owns the publishing. Publishing is where the money is in the music business. Suge Knight claims to have started Death Row Records with the money he made from owning Vanilla Ice's publishing for one song: Ice Ice Baby. It may not be true, but it could be. Avatar Records (home of Black Xuede) is financed through the publishing that the CEO has purchased over the years. Although publishing can be quite cumbersome to understand (just when I think I get it, I read something else that makes me realize how little I know about the subject), but the most basic principle is that when an artist puts pen to paper, or makes a beat, the artist owns the publishing. It's that simple. Whoever creates the words or music owns those words or music. Where it gets confusing is all the different ways to get paid on publishing, all the ways to split publishing with other folks, and all the ways artists get screwed out of their publishing. In the 8 years I've been doing this, I have heard so many times, artists say that they don't care about losing a song or two because they can always make a ton more. That's stupidity. It's undervaluing one's ability. That's like saying it's OK to rob me of my cash, I can go to the ATM machine and get more money. Wrong!! It's never right to rob someone. The "I can make more" defense immediately goes out the window when the creator sees someone else make hundreds of thousands of dollars off a song. Every time!! So why not protect yourself in the door?

Bill Brown at ASCAP breaks it down more simply than anyone I've ever heard. He compares publishing with real estate. When you make a song, you are the owner of that property: the landlord. Sometimes you sell off a piece of the land for money (but you NEVER give away your land, right??) and if someone else wants to use your property, or rent it, they have to pay you rent to use it. I love that analogy. It's so crystal clear!

A copyright is proof of ownership of a song, both lyrics and music. If there is a sample in the music, you are automatically giving up part of the song, at the whim of the person who owns the rights to the original song (not necessarily the original artist). In order to "clear the sample," you send your version of the song to the owner of the original composition or whomever owns the publishing (and to the owner of the master, meaning original record label or whomever now owns the master). Then you negotiate the price with those two owners. Some are set in stone and you get to either agree to their price or to remove the sample. On DJ DMD's last album (22: PA Worldwide on Elektra) he spent close to $100,000 in advances and fees due to the sampling on his album. It came out of his upfront monies (advance) and he bears the burden of paying for it all, even though Elektra released and owns the record. Proof of copyright is easy to obtain by registering your song with the copyright office in Washington DC. You call them (202.707.9100) and ask for an SR Form (sound recording). You fill out the form, listing all of the owners, and mail it back to them with a copy of the song (a cassette is good enough) along with the Copyright fee (around $25 or so). This way, if someone steals your song, or a piece of your song, you can sue them for taking it and for your legal fees. With the "poor man's copyright" (mailing your tape to yourself in a sealed envelope with your signature across the sealed flap, and then never opening it when it arrives back to you with a postmark proving the date), you can not sue for damages and it's more difficult to prove your case. The copy right fee may seem like a lot of money to some, but it's nothing compared to what a law suit would cost you.

Performance royalties are money that is paid for the performance of your song. The money is paid based on the percentage of ownership of the song. So if you own 100% of the song, you get the whole check. If you own just the music, which is half the song, then you get half the money. If you own the music with a sample in it that claims half the song, then you get a check for 25%. Ya follow? Performance Rights organizations consist of ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC (which is still quite small). They police the radio stations, clubs, concerts, etc (any place music is played or broadcast), all of whom pay a fee to play the music which the performance rights societies collect and split amongst their members based on the amount of times a record is played. Although the formulas change annually based on play, a Top 10 song played on commercial radio can earn a good chunk of change in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

There is another kind of royalty artists receive when their records sell: mechanical royalties. These are paid based upon a pre-set limit placed by Congress which increases automatically every two years. In 1998 and 1999 it was .0715 cents per song, but on January 1, 2000 it increased to .0765 per song. Record labels put caps on mechanical royalties (the slugs) at either 10 songs, 11 songs, or 12 songs, no matter how many songs actually appear on the record, and you get what you negotiate for. Also, there's a slimey little clause that restricts payment of mechanicals (because God knows labels don't make enough money as it is) to anywhere between 75% and 85%. This evil deed is called percentage of statutory rate. Here's the difference those few pennies make as it pertains to an artist's royalty check (I refuse to even consider illustrating the worst bullshit deals such as 10x at 75%) provided they own 100% of the song:

# songs stat mechanical 100,000 sold 250,000 sold 500,000 (Gold) 1,000,000 (Platinum)
11x 85% .6639 per album $66,390 $165,975 $331,950 $663,900
11x 100% .781 per album $78,100 $195,250 $390,500 $781,000

12x 85% .7242 per album $72,420 $181,050 $362,100 $724,200
12x 100% .852 per album $85,200 $426,000 $852,000 $1,704,000

10x 85% .6035 per album $60,350 $150,875 $301,750 $603,500

I based the above chart on the old 1998-1999 rate of .0715 per song, so I could use my friend Fiend as an example. His first album came out in April of 1998 when the stat rate set by Congress was at this rate.

The dollar figure above represents monies due an artist (regardless of recoupment) per album based on ownership of 100% of publishing. So for example, Fiend who is signed to No Limit, provided he owns 100% of his publishing (I can dream can't I?), if his deal gives him 11x rate at 85% (I hate it but it won't kill me) then on his first album, There's One In Every Family, which came out 4/28/98 and sold 565,977 SoundScan units, No Limit would have paid him (hopefully) $378,369.77. If No Limit owns half of Fiend's publishing, he would receive $189,184.88 provided he wrote all of his own songs (which he did, except the verses by other artists who appeared which lowers the ownership percentage and dollar amount) and provided he made all of his own beats (which he did not; he features outside producers on this album like Beats By The Pound).

So there you have it, the real deal on how much money an artist makes. You can subtract out now another 28% to 50% of all income, including show money, (depending on the artist's tax bracket which is determined by how much income was made within any given calendar year) for the IRS who get paid quarterly (hopefully) by the artist's accountant. If the average artist releases a record every two years, then this income must last twice as long... I think about this every time I see my favorite artists flossing in their music videos drinking champagne or every time I see them drive by in a brand new Benz...

What is the difference between performing right royalties, mechanical royalties and sync royalties?

noreply@blogger.com (Maestro J) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:49:00 +0000

BMI royalties are performing right royalties, which are earned when a musical work is performed publicly. Public performance occurs when a song is sung or played, recorded or live, on radio and television, as well as through other media such as the Internet, live concerts and programmed music services. BMI grants licenses to perform, use or broadcast music from its extensive repertoire to hundreds of thousands of users of music in public places, such as radio and tv stations, hotels, clubs, colleges, restaurants, stores, and more.

The "mechanical" right is the right to reproduce a piece of music onto CDs, DVDs, records or tapes. (Non-mechanical reproduction includes such things as making sheet music, for which royalties are paid by the publisher to the composer.)

When reproduction of music is made onto a soundtrack of a film or TV show, the reproduction is called "synchronization," and the license that the TV or film producer needs to obtain is called a synchronization, or "sync," license.

Mechanical royalties and synchronization fees are paid by record companies and film and TV producers directly to the copyright owner, usually the publisher, or his or her representative. The Harry Fox Agency, 601 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001, (212) 675-2707, harryfox.com, represents many U.S. publishers in granting mechanical and synchronization licenses and collecting fees for them from the record companies and producers who need them.

(NOTE: this is an informative exert from BMI.com)