Real Talk!

Digital Is The Way To Go

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

The music business is forever moving forward and as artist, we need to know the latest trends of this industry. There are some amazing facts about the music business today that has veered the direction onto another playing field. Everyone knows that music is selling more online than physical CD’s but did you know that singles sell better than albums?

These days with all the technology geared towards the online usage with smartphones and tablets. These mobile devices have allowed the consumers to change the flow of distribution through digital media. This new distribution is geared towards making money with singles over albums via YouTube, Spotify, Subscription, and licensing. This is all from the growth of mobile technology and the apps that allow you to utilize their services for instance, streaming audio.

Streaming audio is where the artist can license their music to these companies and consumers can pay a small monthly fee for unlimited listening of music. This is a great way for artist to earn money and for music lovers to have a broad library of music without keeping up with physical CD’s.

We all know that the Internet has evened out the playing field for independent artist. This new billion-dollar distribution channel is the way independent artist can be paid for our music without a major record deal. Trends are now showing that single digital tracks and music streaming are both leading the way right under radio audience on transaction and performance totals in 2011 according Neilson Soundscan.

Digital tracks music sales have been climbing strong since 2005 from 367 million sold to 1.306 billion in 2011 according to the RIAA. That’s 85% of the total digital sales that year. These are some things we need to look into when it comes to promoting a new single over putting together an entire album when you really can’t afford it quite yet.

Something to think about, Real Talk!

Alternative Funding Sources

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 04:01:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

Today we will talk about alternative funding sources that we can utilize as entrepreneurs to fund our business plans. There are plenty of alternative sources of funding than the traditional bank loans.

Some small business owners and entrepreneurs can get assistance from angel investors and venture capitalist, but today we will take a look at community development financial institutions like cdfi.org or opportunityfinance.net.

Community development financial institutions finance community businesses, including small businesses, microenterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate, and affordable housing.

Cdvca.org and Opportunityfinance.net offer different types of financial opportunities. Opportunityfinance.net offers financing opportunities by lending directly to Member CDFIs through the OFN Financing Fund, which pools capital from multiple sources to on-lend to its Members. Financial products include: Unsecured Senior Loans, Unsecured Subordinated Loans and Secured Participation Loans.

Cdvca.org is a network for the field of community development venture capital (CDVC) investing. CDVC funds provide equity capital to businesses in underinvested markets, seeking market-rate financial returns, as well as the creation of good jobs, wealth, and entrepreneurial capacity.

Requirements and qualifications to obtain the financing from either of Cdvca.org or Opportunityfinance.net are a little different. All OFN Members in good standing can apply for loans. An OFN Member in good standing is current on Member dues payments, has submitted the most recent FY Member Survey, and is not in default on an OFN Financing Fund agreement.

As for CDVCA, to obtain financing, one must choose out of their list of National and International and even CDVC Central Funds. There are so many to choose from and as long as you are improving the lives of low-income people and distressed communities, you probably qualify for the funding.

There is all type of helpful information on both of these websites. The OFN and the CDVCA sites have research, consulting services, news blogs and even publications on investments information tools to help with the journey of your financial investment needs.

There are some advantages and disadvantages when using alternative financing. Being affiliated with other CDFI members is a huge advantage that can help you in a long way. A disadvantage would be that you may have to compromise locations for your business. It depends on what’s important to you and your business. Thanks for your time again, Real Talk!

Corey

Business Plan Help From an Expert. Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 03:06:00 +0000

-->Hello Everyone!

Last time we talked, we spoke about expert advice on writing a business plan. Well today I want to pick up were we left off. I learned a lot from researching these veterans in their fields of business. Today I will talk about what I personally will do to update my business plan now since I've learned a few more pointers.

Dr. Steven Gedeon’s advice on writing business plans for different audiences was something that I intend to incorporate because he is absolutely correct. We need to understand Angel Investors, our management team, and even judges in a contest like Shark Tank will all want to see a different style of business plan than the others.

Dr. Steven Gedeon also spoke about avoiding useless big They don’t want to see these huge useless numbers. They only want to know your addressable market size numbers and how you’re going to advertise to those people. I plan to change that part of my industry overview to a more specific part of my industry.

numbers. He stated that it’s more important to have a realistic numbers for your market size. Writing your business plan with the numbers of the entire retail industry sales and say your company only needs one percent of it is not what the investors are looking for.

After researching these experts and taking Business Plan Development here at Full Sail University, I feel that the most important elements of a business plan that investors are looking for are the executive summary, the description of the management team and advisory board, and the financial projections.

The executive summary is a very crucial part of the business plan. Rhonda Abrams wrote in Successful Business Plan that “only a clear, concise, and compelling condensation of your business right up front will persuade readers to wade through the rest of your plan” (Abrams, 2010).

The description of the management team and advisory board gives the investors an inside of who will be managing the directions and finances of this proposed plan. The educations and experience backgrounds of your management team speaks volumes to the investors. They know that the management team has a greater impact on the long-term fortunes of the company than the product or service provided.

Abrams wrote that the financial projections are merely the reflections of decisions you make. Numbers are attached to every decision you make for the company. If you decide to take advertisement with a local magazine then there is a number attached to that decision. You want your numbers to show the result of careful planning. The better you have an understanding about your financial statements the better you have control of your company (Abrams, 2010).

Hope some of this will help you as well on your business adventures, Real Talk!

Reference:

Abrams, Rhonda M., and Eugene Kleiner. The successful business plan: secrets & strategies. 4th ed.; Deluxe binder ed. Palto Alto, Calif.: Planning Shop, 2003. Print.

--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW9FF9yAfXQ

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Business Plan Help from an Expert?

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:25:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

Today here on Real Talk we will be taking a look at “experts” in the field of writing and or reviewing business plans. This is good information, for those of us thinking about starting a business and want to do a good job at running it. In order to stay organized and to keep good records of your own business, then a good business plan is essential to your success.

The first business plan expert I want to talk about today is Dr. Steven Gedeon. Dr Steven Gedeon has a PHD, MBA and is a professor in Entrepreneur & Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management. According to www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/bm/faculty_staff/bios/gedeon.html, Dr. Steven Gedeon has led over a dozen private, public, ventur

e capital and non-profit organizations; published over 100 articles, reports and patents; and delivered over 40 public speaking engagements and has done on-line videos on personal leadership, motivation, entrepreneurship and teaching (Ryerson.ca, 2013).

On his Linkedin.com page it states that Dr. Gedeon is currently the Director of the Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute, Director of the Ryerson Angel Network, Director of the Dobson Micro-Financing Seed Venture Fund, Chairman of CEO Fusion, Chairman of the Research Committee of the National Angel Capital Organization, Faculty Advisor to Students in Free Enterprise Ryerson and the Digital Media Zone, and Advisor to the Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization (Linkedin, 2013).

The next expert business planner I want to discuss is Chuck Blakeman. Chuck Blakeman has a slight different approach to business that has been adopted by thousands of business owners. He has bootstrapped five wildly different businesses and two non-profits from the ground up, making every mistake possible along the way to some big wins. As an internationally acclaimed business speaker averaging more than 100+ speaking engagements and workshops per year, he has been quoted and featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, CNNMoney.com, NYTimes.com, other online magazines and small business blogs throughout the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand (Blakeman, 2013).

His company, the Crankset Group, based in Colorado, works with business owners to help them make more money in less time and get back to the passion that brought them into business in the first place, so they can build a mature business in support of their lifetime goals (Blakeman, 2013).

Blakeman feels that preparing a business plan wastes time that could be spent actually doing the business. He states that real life gets in the way of plans. A business plan helps an entrepreneur plan for the future. But the flaw with that is the future cannot be foretold. Since the future is unknown, Blakeman says, “Implement now, perfect as you go” (Blakeman, 2011).

The most important components that investors are looking for is what kind of business is it and to whom are we selling to? What is the price of your product, who are your competitors and how is your business different from them? Does the plan have credibility and is there a plan to action? All of these are key components that investors look for and all good business plans should have. Thanks for your time. Real Talk!

"bios - Business Management - Ryerson University." Ryerson University - Toronto, Ontario, Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 June 2013. <http://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/bm/faculty_staff/bios/gedeon.html>.

Blakeman, C. (2012). How: the worst, most asked planning question. Retrieved from http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question

"Chuck Blakeman / How: the worst, most asked planning question." Chuck Blakeman / Live well by doing good.. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 June 2013. <http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question>.

www.ca.linkedin.com/in/stevegedeon

The Impact Of The Digital Landscape In The Music Business Today

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:02:00 +0000

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The Impact Of The Digital Landscape In The Music Business Today

The digital landscape has made a significant impact on the music business over the past 15 years. Technology has made it easier than ever before for an artist to share and sell their works to the masses via online. Let’s take a look at how the digital landscape has changed in the music industry.

CD’s Then Downloads Now

To some, the days of buying CD’s from a record store is a mere memory and to others, they have never bought a CD from a record store in their life. That’s the biggest difference in the music industry in the last 15 years if you ask me. Technology and the rise of the Internet have changed everything that we do today. Instead of going to Blockbusters to rent a movie, now we just download our favorite movie from Netflix. Instead of buying your favorite hip-hop artist’s new album from the local music store, now we download it from iTunes directly to our iPhones.

This rise of technology has been good for us artists to publish our music to the masses for a bigger cut and it has been bad for the record companies of old that has had a strangle hold on the music business for years to adjust to this new age. On Vertygoteam.com, they state that record companies have been in trouble for the past 25 years. They say there have been a lot of mistakes made by the record companies in the music industry and it has only gotten worst over the years.

Social Media

It’s no denying that social media has a very strong presence in the music industry today. Now more than ever, artist can communicate directly to their fan base via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a variety of other social media type sites. Artists today are taking control of their careers and are promoting and selling through social media sites. Being able to join conversation with fans for potential sales instead of a sales pitch is key to monetizing the social sphere is what Kyle Fisher wrote in his blog on Famehouse.net called “As It Stands: Digital Marketing In The Music Industry”. Kyle speaks about keys to be successful with digital marketing in the music industry with very helpful advice.

Analytics

Now since everyone has a Twitter account and a Facebook page, artist are taking advantage of the free promotions they offer. In my opinion, it’s being over saturated with too many novice artists trying to get in the music industry door. My notifications are overloaded with everyone’s party and up coming album releases. I feel that maybe if they did their homework they could get more accomplished in their marketing scheme. It’s called analytics and it’s the study of statistics and making good decisions on who’s buying what and where. This vital information can catapult an artist career if done correctly. Kyle Fisher said that aggressive and evaluated analytics is the most effective aspect in digital marketing.

If you are not familiar with analytics or digital marketing then read more about it or hire you someone that is familiar with it so you can upgrade your Internet presence and build your brand up for success, Real Talk!

Posted by C.D Wright

References:

"Marketing Strategy in the Music Industry || Record Companies || Vertygo Team ||." || Vertygo Team || Strategy Advisors || Marketing & Communications || . N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.vertygoteam.com/music_marketing.php>.

Team, Kyle Fisher for the Fame House. "As It Stands: Digital Marketing in the Music Industry / Fame House / (R)evolutionary Digital for the Music & Entertainment Industries - Digital Strategy | Marketing | Social Media | Web Design & Development | Merchandising." Fame House / (R)evolutionary Digital for the Music & Entertainment Industries - Digital Strategy | Marketing | Social Media | Web Design & Development | Merchandising. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://famehouse.net/as-it-stands-digital-marketing-in-the-music-industry/>.

Image Reference

http://www.dataxu.com/innovation-center/dataxu-marketing-digital-age-whitepaper-2/

Need Distribution? Let's Talk about it. 2

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 03:59:00 +0000

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Hello Everyone!

Ok, I know earlier we were talking about publishing and distributing music through POD’s like Tunecore.com and CDBaby.com. Both companies offer similar options to publish and distribute your music but very different options in fees. Tunecore.com’s ability to claim and collect all of your royalties worldwide without a percentage of your sales is a plus.

I really didn’t see any ways to promote on Tunecore.com. It’s going to be very difficult to sell anything if you don’t promote it. I like what Reverbnation.com has to offer. They help independent artist in so many ways. Not only do they help you distribute and sell your music, they offer promotional services, show bookings, app building, etc. Reverbnation helps artist keep in contact with their fans and all around digital presence all on one platform.

The whole site is a great tool for independent artist, promoters, labels, and managers. Reverbnation connects the artist’s with their social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and their Youtube accounts so you can update your digital presence all from one site. Everything is kept track of with statistic and demographic reports, a manager’s dream. They have so much to offer, you have to go and visit their site to get all the valuable information.

Reverbnation’s prices are reasonable for independent artist on a small budget. They have plans that for emerging artist starting at $19.95 per month and even for rock star level artist at $41.67 per month. They even got basic free accounts for artist just getting started. Check them out when you get a chance.

Oh yea, for all of you film producers, I have a classmate named Kevin Petterson who did a great research on a POD site called Distribber.com. Distribber is a site that works similar to Reverbnation but for films only. When you get time check them out also. Thanks for your time again,

C.D.Wright

Need Distribution? Let's talk about it.

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:32:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for checking out my blog today. It’s been a busy month since spring break and I’m happy to be back with you striving towards our careers to be successful in the entertainment business.

In my Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution class in the Entertainment Business Master's program at Full Sail University, we are discussing a great topic on how to publish and distribute our own media, like music, books, films, and even video games. I love talking about self-distribution and publishing because I started out as an artist in this business as well. Back in those old prehistoric days were awful for independent artist, you would have to record a demo and try to get someone at a record company to sign you. Living in Oklahoma made that somewhat impossible for us in the early 90's. Then some of us were able to raise enough money to promote and sell our own music but most of us just fell to the wayside due to the lack of knowledge on what to do next or the funds to do it.

Thank God for technology because now days with the Internet and social media, you can promote, distribute and publish your own music, books and films with POD (print on demand) sites. Companies like CDBaby.com, Tunecore.com, and Reverbnation.com are publishing and distribution companies that can help independent artist us take our careers to the next level of the game.

Since I came from the music side business of entertainment, I want to start out talking about the sites that can help us promote and sell our music to our fans. First let’s look at CDBaby.com. CDBaby.com is a great site to sell albums or singles. There are no any annual fees and they only charge $49 per album for worldwide digital and physical distribution. If you want global royalty collections then it’s $99 per album. You can sell singles for $12.95 for a sign up fee or $39 per singles if you want global royalty collections. CDBaby.com also offers disc manufacturing and you can also sell mp3’s, vinyl and physical CD’s.

You can get a UPC code for only $20 an album or $5 per single and you can get web hosting for only $199 per year. You pay only $4 per album and artists keeps the rest of their own set price. That means we receive 91% of all digital downloads! That’s cheaper than iTunes and Amazon. You can also license your music for films, T.V., movies and even for YouTube. You can even set the amount you want to be paid out and once that amount is reached, you will be paid. Payouts are every Monday.

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Now you have other sites like Tunecore.com that offer similar ways to distribute your music as well. TuneCore.com charges a set up fee of $29.99 and an annual fee of $49.99, but

you get to keep 100% of your sales and rights. There are no physical CD’s or vinyl to distribute, but Tunecore claims and collects all of your publishing royalties across the world. There is a $75 fee for the publishing administration.

Both of these sites are great for independent artist to sell our music to our fans and keep a good track record of it as well. Even though these sites make things easier for the artist to sell their music to their fans, you still need to promote, promote, promote. You have to build up your fan base so they will even want to pull out their credit cards and purchase your music. Let’s talk about that in my next blog.

PS: We will also talk about publishing and distributing films and books in my next post. Thanks for your time,

C.D. Wright.

References:

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https://members.cdbaby.com/what-we-do.aspx

http://www.tunecore.com/index/how_it_works

Intellectual Property and It's Importance.

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:55:00 +0000

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Today let’s talk about intellectual property (IP) and why it’s important to your business. Wipo.int describes intellectual property as creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. IP is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs (Wipo.int, 2013).

For those who are thinking about starting a business may want to consider your intellectual properties and how you may want to protect them from being infringed upon. In order for someone to protect his or her IP’s for business use will have to register for a trademark through The United States Patent & Trademark office.

When dealing with copyrights, Trout wrote in Cyber Law: A Legal Arsenal For Online Business, “once an original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium, copyright protection attaches. Although federal registration is not mandatory, federal registration is required to file suit in the United States and may entitle the author to recover attorney fees and statutory damages from an infringer”. (Trout 62)

So when you come up with a brand of some sort and you want to make sure no one tries to make a profit or receive credit for your work, it’s best you send it off for registration for protection. Here are a few examples of some lawsuits on intellectual properties and their outcomes.

EASTLAND MUSIC GROUP LLC v. LIONSGATE ENTERTAINMENT INC LLC

Lexisnexis.com states that The Eastland Music Group is the owner’s of rap duo Phifty-50 and has registered “PHIFTY-50” as a trademark. It also claims “50/50” as a trademark and contends that Lionsgate Entertainment infringed its rights by using “50/50 in the title of one its motion pictures in 2011(lexisnexis.com, 2013).

Findlaw.com states that it was determined that The Eastland Music Group could not sue for infringement because the title of the movie doesn’t refer to the producers of a rap album or group. This complaint fails at the threshold: it does not allege that the use of “50/50” as a title has caused any confusion about the film's source. According to law, titles to songs and movies cannot be copyrighted. Only confusion about origin supports a trademark claim (Findlaw.com, 2013)

I have to agree with this judgment because it makes sense. It’s so many songs and movies that utilize words for titles but have different meanings in creation. I feel that you have to be more original in your idea to have trademark protection.

ALREADY LLC V. NIKE INC.

This case with Already LLC versus Nike over the trademark infringement of Already’s brand “YUMS” for making a shoe that was similar to the Nike’s Air Force 1. Nike ended up dropping the suit because it’s trademark for the Air Force 1 was weak in my opinion and different from what Already had registered as their trademark. With Nike dropping the suit, Daniel Fisher wrote on Forbes.com that Nike provided a “ covenant not to sue” a promise to leave them alone in the future (Forbes.com, 2013)

I don’t know, maybe Nike dropped the suit because of fear they maybe exposed from infringement of trademarks to other brands. That Air Force 1 trademark registration drawing looks like other older brands of shoes if you ask me.

VIACOM V. YOUTUBE.COM

Rob Arcamona wrote on PBS.org that Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns a slew of television networks as well as Paramount Pictures, sued Google, the owners of YouTube, for direct and secondary copyright infringement (pbs.org, 2010).

The case centered on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and within the law, legislators created a way for website producers to escape copyright lawsuits, called a "Safe Harbor" provision. In order to invoke the Safe Harbor, the court ruled, YouTube must remove any material violating copyright laws once it has "specific knowledge" of particular copyrighted videos that the site is helping to distribute. Judge Stanton concluded that it was against the DMCA's purpose to hold YouTube legally liable for every video uploaded on the website -- some 20 hours of video every minute -- even if they might have had a general idea that the site was being used to violate copyright laws (pbs.org, 2010).

If you ask me, this one here is tricky. I can understand both sides of view. Viacom has a point and a right to protect their interest. Does YouTube have the right to distribute copyrighted property just because they are overwhelmed with activities? Is it fair that they can just say they didn’t know when really they did? We are going to have to figure something else out on that one. What do you think? Real Talk!

References:

Arcamona, Rob. "MediaShift . What the Viacom vs. YouTube Verdict Means for Copyright Law | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/07/what-the-viacom-vs-youtube-verdict-means-for-copyright-law183.html>.

"EASTLAND MUSIC GROUP LLC v. LIONSGATE ENTERTAINMENT INC LLC LLC, No. 12–2928., February 21, 2013 - US 7th Circuit | FindLaw." Caselaw: Cases and Codes - FindLaw Caselaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. <http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1623861.html>.

http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/hottopics/lnacademic/676 F.3d 19, *2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6909, **102 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1283Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P30,231

http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?oc=00240&hl=t&hns=t&hnsd=f&perma=true&lni=57FY-V131-F04K-F4MF&hv=t&csi=6443&hgn=t&secondRedirectIndicator=true

133 S. Ct. 721, *184 L. Ed. 2d 553, **2013 U.S. LEXIS 602, ***105 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1169

http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/hottopics/lnacademic/ 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3621, *

"Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit Over Nike Trademarks - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/01/09/supreme-court-rejects-lawsuit-over-nike-trademarks/>.

Trout, Brett J.. Cyber Law: A Legal Arsenal for Online Business. MBS Direct, 2007. <vbk:MBS983926#page(62)>.

"What is Intellectual Property?." WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. <http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/>.

Image References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nike_AF1.JPG

www.inoutfield.com

www.findlogo.net

Need Management?

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 03:33:00 +0000

Good question but not an easy answer. These days it’s so much easier for artists to manage their own careers. From utilizing social medias for marketing and promotions to selling albums and singles directly to their fans from their own websites through iTunes, artist are taking control of their own careers more than ever before. With this in mind, artist can take care of most of their business without a manager taking a cut out of their revenues. Well, that’s how we think when we are just getting started as an artist because we want to save as much money as we can, but this is not always the best answer.

For an artist to stay creative and give his all into his arts and craft, an artist has to be free from all of the stress of day-to-day business preoccupying the mind. This is not to say that an artist can’t manage their own Twitter account, but when an artist gets too busy to book their own shows and handle calls with distributors while writing a song, then it maybe time to look for some professional help.

First of all, I suggest that all artists manage their own careers or at least take part in it because it’s a learning experience that’s much needed. Once an artist has built a web presence and is performing live, then they may want to look at taking it up a notch and getting some professional help in handling their music career business to allow them to get more done creatively. Some of us artist try to handle too much at times and it will show with lack of energy somewhere down the line.

Once an artist gets the ball rolling with shows and building a web presence, they should look into seeking a manager to help build their brand up while the artist can be as creative. Now days, artist are faced with 360 Deals that label executives throw at them making them sound great. Having a manager telling you that you may want to keep on pushing before signing could be for your best interest. Check out what Kevin Liles says about 360 deals and how good they could be for you. This is where you could use a good manager.

A manager’s job can be overwhelming at times. When an artist or group is as big as Outkast, there is no way they could manage themselves. Check out a day in the life of Blu Williams, Outkast’s manager. He has more than a busy day with a group at that level. That’s what it is all about. What level you're on? Are you at the level were you can still handle your business or have you reached a level were you may need more of a professional assistant helping you? That's a decision that needs to be decided soon if you're a new artist, Real Talk!

Thanks for reading my blog and please share with friends,

Corey

References:

"Blu Williams on Artist Management Pt 1 - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXm_bJPt_M>.

"Kevin Liles on Def Jam, 360 Deals, Trey Songz and Mentoring Young America - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChXXrpUX6-E>.

www.rottentomatoes.com

www.pmpworldwide.com

Sign Now Or Keep Pushing?

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:22:00 +0000

Stay Independent or…?

Would you stay an independent artist in the music industry today or would you, “hurry up and sell completely out for the quick buck”, by signing a 360 deal with a record label? These days, artists are left with the dilemma of staying independent and is it the best thing for them or should they leave it to the professionals to help them with their careers? If you ask me it’s all about your position in this negotiation.

There’s no doubt that the record industry has been in decline-mode for the past decade due to piracy and the Internet. According to "The State of the Music Industry 2012", The Nielsen Soundscan Annual Report, 785.1 million records were sold in the U.S. in 2000, but in 2009 only 373.9 million records were sold, a 52% drop from 2000 (Nielsen, 2009). That’s to show you that in just a decade, technology has made it easier than ever before to file share music to the masses.

Traditional major record companies have been slowly fizzling out the picture when it comes to album sales so they had to figure out something. Here come the 360 deals. According to 360 DEALS AND WHAT THEY INDICATE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY STRUCTURE by Jonathan E. Basofin, “labels primary objective is to capture revenue streams beyond sales of recorded music” (Basofin, 2010). In other words, the labels do not want to just depend on the artist record sales as the only way of getting paid. They want a part of the artist merchandising, live shows, publishing, and other outside commercial endorsements as well. The record companies want in on just about every source of income possible that the artist would be able to make based off of their music career. Sounds pretty steep for some, but it can be very good for the right situation for others.

I feel like Kyle Rambeu’s “360 Deals In The Music Industry-Good VS Bad”, when he states that 360 deals can be a “win-win situation for artist”, especially the ones that have been successful in touring (Rambeu, 2011). Say for instance, Jay Z, he has recently signed a 360 deal in 2008 with Live Nation, the king of concerts for a whopping $150 million. This is great, I think, for Jay because he has an established career and now has partnership with the industry giant in live shows for all his other endeavors like Roc Nation (Rolling Stone, 2008).

I also feel that if you’re an artist with a strong independent push, you have a support system with a good team and you can promote and book your own shows then you may want to keep your leverage going for yourself until the offer from the label is too good to turn down. In these days more then ever before are an abundance amount of resources on the Internet for independent artist to be able to market and promote with best of them. If you asked me, I would advise all artists to take this approach first. So when the time does come for a sit down with the majors, you will have plenty of leverage to negotiate when it comes to the percentages in your 360 deals, Real Talk!

References:

Basofin, J. (Director) (2010, March 30). 360 DEALS AND WHAT THEY INDICATE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY STRUCTURE. Entertainment Law Seminar. Lecture conducted from Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., Chicago.

Hiatt, B., & Knopper, S. (2008). Live Nation Strikes Deals With Jay-Z, U2; Shakes Biz. Rolling Stone, (1051), 11-12.

Rambeau, K. (n.d.). 360 Deals In the Music Industry - Good vs. Bad | Suite101. Suite101. Retrieved February 10, 2013, from http://suite101.com/article/360-deals-in-record-contracts---good-for-the-artist-a339869

The State of the Music Industry 2012 - | The Blend.ie - News That Matters Ireland. (n.d.). | The Blend.ie - News That Matters Ireland. Retrieved February 10, 2013, from http://www.theblend.ie/comment/the-state-of-the-music-industry-in-2012/

Nielsen SoundScan 2009 Annual Report, available at http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100106007077&newsLang=en [hereinafter “SoundScan 2009 Annual Report”].

Image reference:

www.qualitybath.com

Negotiations, an interview with G.F. of Problem Child Records.

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:03:00 +0000

By C.D. Wright

What's good my friends? Today I'm here talking about negotiating deals with other business owners. I did a quick interview with independent rap artist and CEO of Problem Child Records, G.F. out of Oklahoma City. Before I get into all of that here is a brief background of G.F. The Godfather.

G.F. short for Godfather, is an independent rap artist in Oklahoma City, reppin’ Port Author, Texas. G.F. has a great lyrical flow, descriptive like a Stephen King Novel, with an original “gangsta swag” that’s impeccable. G.F. has worked with rap artist like C-Bo, Killa Tay, Marvaless, Mob Figas (Rhyda.J.Klyde), and Fed-X. G.F. also went even further to record the underground classic "See Me Flossin", with deceased rap legend Pimp C. He has been shown interest by Scarface while Face was over Def Jam South. MCA Records also sought out G.F., alongside with several other well-known independent labels. Since then G.F. has been running Problem Child Records, his own independent label and has went on to open up shows for Slim Thug, Foxy Brown, Juvenile, West-Coast vet C-Bo, E-40, and several other prominent hip-hop factors.

The first question I asked G.F. about negotiating was when I asked him how does he separate the people from the problem when negotiating?

When I asked G.F. that question he went on to tell me about the time he negotiated the deal to get Pimp C on a track with him. G.F. said he first spoke to Pimp C’s manager at the time and his manager gave him a price of $20,000 for a verse. G.F. stated to him that he thought that was too high and out of his price range. The manager went in the positional bargaining tactics direction. He used his position to belittle and attack G.F’s ego and position to negotiate his side of the deal. Then G.F. told the manager that he wanted to speak to Pimp C directly to see if this was legit, but when he got Pimp C on the phone he could only pay Pimp C $5,000. Pimp C told G.F. that he would only freestyle his verse if that’s all he was going to pay him. G.F. then flipped the game and attacked Pimp C’s ego when he told him he would “murder him”, lyrically of course, if he decided to just free-style on the track. G.F. seen Pimp C later that night a show Pimp C was doing and the sound equipment had messed up so he caught him in a situation were he was in Okc and he might as well make a few more thousand while he is here. G.F. separated the people from the problem by focusing on what both parties truly wanted and not the positions people.

Next, I asked G.F.,do you utilize objective criteria when negotiating? How?

G.F. said of course. Having objective criteria when negotiating is like a war tactic G.F. explained. He went on and spoke about a negotiation deal he did with West-Coast Mafia CEO and artist C-Bo. He spoke about that he knew first hand that C-Bo would do a track for a cheaper rate than what he requests. G.F. knew a friend that just got C-Bo on a track for one price that sounded reasonable. By G.F. knowing that C-Bo had done a verse for cheaper and was not in high demand as earlier in his career, G.F. not only said that he only had a certain amount and put the cash on the table. He knew it would be hard for C-Bo to turn down the cash that was in his site and plus C-Bo was cool with artist in Oklahoma City so he didn’t put up a fuss about it.

Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?

G.F. started speaking about a time when he had to negotiate with a club owner when he was promoting a show with Trae’ The Truth. G.F. said the club owner wanted a fixed upfront price. G.F. said instead he asked the club owner to take a percent of the door. Also he added that he would buy out the bar and give the club owner a cut of the bar sales as well. By doing this, G.F. was able to come to a mutual agreement for a mutual benefit for both him and the club owner. The club owner was cool with that deal and G.F. was able to have the show with Trae The Truth and the club owner made his money for the club.

G.F. has demonstrated various negotiation skills with his label for business. It is very important that we negotiate to make things happen instead of being so cut and dry with each other when we want to do business but our egos sometimes get in the way.

Real Talk!

Check out G.F. The Godfather on; Reverbnation.com/7deucegf, Facebook.com/joegfcool, Youtube.com/tokool72, and Twitter.com/@gf72

Upgrade your web presence for cheap!

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:47:00 +0000

When it’s time to get professional sometimes you need to upgrade your web presence. Most of us starving artist upload our music online on several sites like YouTube and Soundcloud to get exposure. That’s great and the right thing to do, but after a while you will want to upgrade your online presence. I would think around the time that you’re doing shows consistently and maybe have CD’s distributed to those regions where you’re doing the shows.

What I mean when I say, “upgrade your online presence” is to have a website of your own will make you look professional. Now most of you knew that all ready but you didn’t know how cheap you could do this and be ready to go in a few hours. No more blogging from a sub- domain names like yourname.blogspot.com

Introducing FatCow, a webhosting company that has the cheapest rates in the business. Fatcow has been in the web hosting business for over 10 years. While most web hosting companies charge $10-30/month for web hosting, FatCow charges just $2-3 per month in web hosting for your site. They’re cheap but they are good. A professional look but affordable for the starving artist. So when you have time go ahead and check FatCow out. This might be what your were looking for, Real Talk!

Mobile Marketing For Your Music

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:45:00 +0000

If you got great music and you want to be heard then mobile marketing is the way to go. Smartphones and tablets are becoming like extra limbs on the body to humans these days. Everybody and their momma got a cell phone. The Pew Research Center’s Internet& American Life Project states that 70% of 18-29 year old cell owners have used their phone for entertainment when they were bored. That’s a lot of people to market your music to.

So with that in mind, we as artist need to accommodate our fans and potential fans’ current trends. There are several ways of doing this. A recent study of cellphone usage in the U.S. showed that text messaging (besides talking) is the most frequent task done on a cellphone. Developing an opt-in phone list is key to text message marketing success.

It’s all about visuals. Did you know that YouTube is responsible for 22% of all mobile bandwidth usage? Me neither until I read this article on Gigaom.com. According to Allot Communications YouTube now accounts for 52% of all global mobile video streaming. So just think, all of those cool videos you got on your YouTube channel of your group can reach all of these people if you let them know you exist.

Last but definitely not least is Social Media. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud.com, etc. are great for starters. Social media sites are a great way of reaching your fans directly. There are plenty of tools to help you build your social media presence up. For instance, Facebook has Top News feeds and Most Recent news feeds. You want to be in Top News feeds because it’s the default news feeds where you are most likely to be seen according to Facebook’s EdgeRank.

In all, you want to do the most you can for free when marketing online. Taking advantage of the mobile technology that’s out there can help you and your career flourish. Keep in mind of all the potential fans that will want your music out there that access the Internet through their cellphones. It’s enough to keep me motivated, Real Talk!

SXSW Can Help Your Career In The Entertainment Business.

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:37:00 +0000

What’s good everyone?

This week on Real Talk I want to talk about SXSW (South by South West) Music Conference that’s held every March in Austin, Texas. Well it’s actually a music festival that started in 1987 and grew currently into a film and an online interactive conference as well. SXSW states that their original goal was to create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas.

Well if you ask me, we really needed something like SXSW, especially in the region where I’m from. Being in the music business as a rap artist out of Oklahoma is not the easiest thing to do and the resources were like slim to none. SXSW created a great resource for entertainment business people to network with others and create future business partners or job opportunities.This was very important for us, especially for the independent artist in the South West region.

SXSW offers a variety of resources to help us in the music business as well as the film and interactive communities. Resources like talk panels, for professional discussions in music, film, and interactive industries. SXSW also have shows going on about 100 different stages showcasing new artist around the world. SXSW has a program called Startup Village. Current and future entrepreneurs benefit from learning and networking with investors, technology trailblazers, media representatives, as well as digital creatives from their exciting industries. Along with the Startup SXSW offers Accelerator. Accelerator is a competition of companies in presenting the latest innovating technologies in music and the interactive industries. They also allow companies to sell equipment to potential clients in the expos for music, films, and interactive, which is the cutting edge in technology like video games and software etc. This type of resource for independent artist is extremely helpful for our careers.

SXSW has been around for years. Since it’s conception, it has grown to over 48,000 registrants from the music, film, and interactive fields of the business to Austin Texas every March. They have affected all of these industries in numerous ways since they started. By bringing like minds from all around the world together and to give them an opportunity to discuss and share ideas with each other or even receive advice from a professional in our field of entertainment business is priceless. Thanks goes out for SXSW for giving us a platform for entertainment business heads to collide and expand the industry with knowledge we share. So if you haven't beent in a while or never attended before, make plans to make it to Austin in March to the SXSW Conference for an upgrade in your entertainment business network. Real Talk!

Videos Are The Way To Go!

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:20:00 +0000

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This week I want to talk about Kevin Alloca, a TED speaker that works for You Tube as a trends manager. Kevin watches You Tube videos for a living. Kevin’s unusual job is very informative for many of us out there especially those of us who are in the music industry and need to know how important it is to upload and promote your videos.

Kevin is an expert in his field and he examines videos everyday and he see’s which videos go viral and which ones that don’t. He says that it’s three things that make uploaded videos go viral. They are unexpectedness, community participation, and tastemakers. Tastemakers are the influential people that always bring new and interesting things to a larger audience. People like Jimmy Kimmel, Tosh.0 and Oprah Winfrey. These are the people that has a big influence on everyone. Once we think it’s cool to them then we want to be cool like them and do what they do. This happens more when the videos are unique and has something unexpected to them. By sharing, remixing and twitting about these videos we are community participating with them. This is how they go viral.

This approach works for anything new we do creatively. Kevin teaches us that unexpectedness, community participation, and tastemakers are characteristics of a new media and culture where anyone has access and the audience defines the popularity. We should utilize this media for our music careers. This is the future in entertainment.

We live in a visual world and these days it’s important to do as many videos as you can and upload them on You Tube. This is very good for building a buzz and a fan base for the artist. When I say videos, I’m not just talking about music videos. I’m talking about the behind the scenes action. Let the fans get to know the artist on a more personal level. People love reality television. This doesn’t mean go and do stupid incriminated stuff to get some attention on camera, that stuff can get you locked up. Real Talk!

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P.S. Here is a site that I came across that has plenty of pointers of how to promote your videos online, http://promotingyourvideo.com

Mr C.D. Wright

R. Kelly Still At It

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:26:00 +0000

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R. Kelly has done it again!

R. Kelly has done it again! After all R.Kelly has been through, he still sells millions of records and writes hit songs for himself and many other artists. R Kelly continues to show up and show out in the music game with his newest efforts, Write Me Back, which is a twelve-song collection that is part of this year’s -- The Year of the R. Also with his new album, R. Kelly is publishing his first memoir, Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me.
R. Kelly is definitely staying busy on his marketing efforts. He recently signed with the IFC Channel to add chapters to his hip-hop opera Trapped in the Closet. I can’t lie ya'll, I was kind of caught up like everybody else when the first series of Trapped in the Closet came out. They had me waiting to see what else was about to go down. This new series is featuring all of the original players in 20 brand new chapters. It will debut this year on November 23, Black Friday.

R. Kelly is utilizing several angles of entertainment to stay relevant in the music business. These mini-series he keeps putting out are showing us more and more of his skills as a writer, producer and an actor. His talents spans across the horizon. I'm not posting this story of R. Kelly because I'm in his fan club or anything I just have to recognize his hard work in the music industry. He is definitely doing his thang, Real Talk!

I mean really, does anybody even remember when R. Kelly was in trouble with that sex tape scandal that almost ended his career? I barely do. You don’t even hear about it anymore. Shout outs to his publicist and his record company for saving his life and his music career by helping him deliver his musical gift from God to the rest of the world. Maybe it’s over, I don’t know, but I know that R. Kelly must be one of the hardest working-men in the business. Real Talk!

Hip Hop Hooray!

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 03:07:00 +0000

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Hip Hop Hooray!

Bet Hip Hop Awards Show 2012 was a great night for Hip Hop. I had to admit that it made me get that old good feeling about Hip Hop again. I was starting to think that Hip Hop needed a flushing but I have to say the cyphers this year was one of the best thus far. It was like a movie starring all of your favorite actors or a comic book with some of your favorite super heroes. I got to see Mystikal, DMX EVE, Snoop Dogg, DJ Quick, Kendrick Lamar & E-40 again. It was great! If you ask me Kendrick Lamar killed it. Once again I felt proud to be involved in this magnificent art form.

The night was filled with memorable moments. You had Taylor Gang leader, Wiz Khalifa in a black leather jacket performing his hit “Work Hard, Play Hard.” Young Jeezy joined him representing the ATL. to the fullest.

P Diddy came through with his Bad Boy Records entourage that included Machine Gun Kelly with his off the wall antics performing “Wild Boy.” French Montana also stole the scene when he showed up in about 100 gold chains. While Future brought his #1 hit single, “Turn off the lights” to be joined by all his Bad boy comrades.

Leave it to 2 Chainz to show up or show out jumping out of a Gucci printed coffin performing his smash hit “Birthday.” He was dressed in a white shirt with a suite jacket and tie. He reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson in “Pulp Fiction”. Then to top that off he sat down at a white grand piano playing the keys like a pro for the intro of his hit “I’m Different” that blazed the stage.

The night was toped off with a special tribute to the great late music executive, Chris Lighty. Artist like; LL Cool J, Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Missy Elliot, and 50 Cent performed their hit records they recorded during the times while being managed by Lighty. They all were representing Violator and the Chris Lighty brand with high regards.

The Bet Hip Hop awards, by far has out down themselves in 2012. From the commercials of Kevin Hart’s new show to Mike Epps hosting the entire extravaganza, Bet’s Hip Hop Awards show 2012 left a great impression on the world for the genre. What a night for Hip Hop!

Technology & The Music Business

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:08:00 +0000

A Look At How Technology And Music Coexist

Hey everyone, this week I want to talk about the new ways artists are utilizing technology to upgrade their brands and sales in the music business. Technology and music intertwines so beautifully these days. So many of us love music and the Internet and smartphones have allowed us to take more control over the music and keep it with us no matter where we are.

Independent artists are able to sell directly to their consumers all around the world quite easier than ever before. Sites like Facebook and Twitter has helped create the mobile marketing business, as we know it. Entertainment dominates the list of popular Facebook pages. This is well known so companies in the music business utilize this information in their mobile marketing campaign.

New apps software is also helping with this mobile trend. Apps are making so many things easier to do and collecting data on everything you do. This information is of great value when it comes to marketing. The data is sold to companies so they can pinpoint their target market and solicit them directly from their demographics. Facebook is a perfect example of this. They collect plenty of information of its users and share it with plenty of companies buying advertisement on their site. It’s a very useful source for marketing.

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are enabling us to be online everywhere. Artists are not only releasing singles for sale with an instant download on iTunes, but they’re coming up with all type of ways of interacting with their fans and consumers. Using sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube.com, and iTunes, artists are able to brand and promote themselves like never before. Mega artist Lady GaGa has taken mobile technology and music to a new plateau. She has a joint promotional venture with Apple Inc. She has a new album coming out next year called “ARTPOP” which is a mobile app for iPhones and the iPads. The album “ARTPOP” will be interactive with her new music, photos, games, videos and much more. This futuristic way of releasing an album is innovating and will take the Lady GaGa brand to a whole new level. This will make the rest of us step our game up when it comes to marketing an album in the music industry in this 21rst century. Real Talk!

Real Talk #1 Labor Day Weekend 2012

noreply@blogger.com (realtalk405) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:05:00 +0000

Hello everyone, This is C.D. Wright and this is my first post to Real Talk so I want to let you guys know that it's an honor to be here with you all. Real Talk will basically be a place where you can discuss news and opinions about important topics in the urban community and in Hip Hop & R&B music business.

This is Labor Day weekend 2012 and we have already had some upsetting news in the hip hop community. Chris Lighty committed suicide this past Thursday August 30th 2012. He was the CEO of Violator and has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. I have to wonder what was he going through that would make him take his own life? Was it just the divorce? That's another example that money won't by you happiness, Real Talk!

Also I want to shed some light on this years election and the whole voting thing. Does voting really help us or help you? I mean think about it. I know we have all been trained on the whole democracy state of mind, but is that what we really have or is it just a mirage or a smoke screen to keep us from knowing the real agenda? Are there just people put in place to hide the real ones who make things happen? Rappers like Kendrick Lamar keeps it real by stating that he doesn't even partake in voting. Lamar stated that he doesn't believe in what's going on in the world today. I must agree with him, I don't believe in a lot of the crap we are told either. What do you think? Real Talk!