It's blogging time.

iTunes Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:11:00 +0000

Guvera. A word not recognized in the spell check of Microsoft Word, or by any human, until now. An Australian company, which was first launched in the United States this last March, is coming for the chokehold on iTunes.

As we all now, digital piracy cannot, and probably will not be stopped. Illegal file sharing has been going on for quite some time now, and as long as it is around, who would want to pay for any music or movies? Especially in this day and age, where everyone is struggling to just buy food off the McDonald’s dollar menu, people are having a hard time trying to afford 99 cents per song? That is almost one of your meals for that day!

Guvera changes all that, Guvera allows individuals to download their music for free, while the artist still gets paid. The way it works is the artists get paid via the advertisers. In order for you to download your music, you will be required to view multiple ads from companies that are sponsoring the Guvera music website, and paying the artist for the music download as you watch their advertisement.

This is a genius idea, as I mentioned before, no one wants to pay anything for any kind of digital media anymore, so why fight it? Have advertisements placed before a large audience, and have the companies pay the artists for the music downloaded, instead of having the whole world illegally and immorally steal music from artists. Remember, artists are supporting themselves with their music, and if you want to continue to hear great music from your favorite artists, they must be able to make a living. You wouldn’t like it if someone came in to your work and stole your paycheck, now would you?

Reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNwCgJ-Z7rg

Financial Options for Small Business Owners

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 01:01:00 +0000

The American dream, the dream of starting your own small business, buying a home with a white picket fence, and raising a family. Yes, many Americans are still starting small businesses everyday, taking huge financial risks. However, most inspiring entrepreneurs never even have the chance to take the first step towards entrepreneurship due to the biggest problem that even this entire country is facing; financial backing.

Luckily, there are tons of websites that are dedicated to helping inspiring entrepreneurs obtain the financial backing they need to start their companies, finding small business owners a mentor or counselor, and offer professional help and advice on company advancement. A couple of these websites are websites such as www.eda.gov (U.S. Economic Development Administration), and www.microenterpriseworks.org.

The first website, www.eda.gov, offers a few different financial funding options to small business owners. Federal funding is available through the government to businesses that qualify for specific federal funding options, as well as grants and special programs to help small businesses reach success. The website also contains an application page that details exactly what is needed and expected from small business owners to achieve financial backing.

The second website, www.microenterpriseworks.org, also known as AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity), is a national organization that consists of hundreds of member organizations. They have helped over two million small business entrepreneurs support their businesses and well being through business ownership. These organizations offer different funding options for small businesses as well as help business owners plan ahead for their target market, and to set goals to achieve success.

In today’s economy, small business owners need as much help as possible to reaching financial funding even for the simplest of businesses. Some small businesses may achieve financial backing by a small business loan, or some may need only as much as a credit card with enough of a spending limit to purchase lawn care equipment. However, for other small businesses that require more funding to launch off he ground, websites such as these are a secret weapon.

Views on business plans from industry experts

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:07:00 +0000

A well thought out business plan is the foundation for every successful business. It is essential that a new business have a solid plan for development and operation. After all, attempting to start up a business with lack of a plan is equivalent to steering a ship with no rudder. Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs must know the direction they are headed with their business, and the steps necessary to take it there. However, do you know what it takes to create a business plan that can drive a successful business? No worries, in this blog I will look at two experts, Bobby Flay, who is one of America’s top chefs and restaurant owners, and Steve Ells, who founded the national chain restaurant, Chipotle.

Bobby Flay has been into the restaurant industry for quite some time. “At the age of 17, Flay took a job at Joe Allen’s restaurant where his father was a partner.” Burhoe, 2011. Flay attended the French Culinary Institute, where he currently is a spokesperson and Master Chef for the Institute. Flay has opened up such places as BOLO and Mesa Grill. Beyond restaurants and cooking, he also has published several books including Boy Meets Grill and Bold American Food. It does not end there; Bobby is also featured on several hit TV shows as Hot Off the Grill for Food Network and The Main Ingredient for Lifetime.

Our other expert, Steve Ells, took a loan from his father for less than $100,000 and founded the now popular chain of restaurants known as Chipotle. Ells took a different approach than Bobby Flay, and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in art history from the University of Colorado. However, he also graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1990. Both Steve Ells and Bobby Flay are currently big investors on a new NBC hit series known as America’s Great Next Restaurant.

Bobby and Steve, investors on this new hit series, are looking for the next big restaurant to invest in. Well, this includes looking over business plans for each of these concepts that are brought to the table. Amongst some of the things they look for in a successful business plan is the name of the business, the logo, the slogan, and marketability.

Bobby and Steve have mentioned that the name of the company must fully represent exactly what the company is about, and not mislead consumers to believe anything different of the company. The logo must not be complex and directly portray what the company is about. The slogan must be original, creative, and catchy. Consumers must be able to memorize the slogan with ease and the slogan must portray the company perfectly. The company must also have a solid marketing plan, as any business lacking a solid marketing plan is sure to fail.

These are just some of the simple things to keep in mind while creating a successful business plan. For more information, please visit: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

Resources:

Burhoe, Steven. (2011) Expert Views on Business Plans. www.blogspot.com. Retrieved on July 12, 2011 from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

Social media marketing in the music world

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:19:00 +0000

Social media is an excellent way for people to meet new friends, connect with communities, and share ideas with others. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter allow users instant access to huge social networks. Beyond being a great networking tool, social media is now a huge part of digital marketing, especially in the entertainment industry.

Artists can market themselves and promote their albums and tours directly to their fans through any means of social media. One of my personal favorites, Deadmau5, utilizes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Ustream to connect with his fans and market his new tour dates and album releases. Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5) has recently announced his new tour dates via Twitter and Facebook for his upcoming North America tour, officially named the "MEOWINGTONS HAX TOUR". Mr. Zimmerman even goes as far as streaming himself live on Ustream, from his home studio, as he works on new music and interacts with his fans via Twitter, getting instant feedback on brand new music. By utilizing such social media, not only do you effectively market yourself, but also your fans will feel like they are involved in something and are giving their input. When you let fans interact with the artist in such a way, it will draw the fans further into the artist’s life, and create a dedicated, loyal fan base. Deadmau5 regularly posts on Facebook about his cat named “Meowingtons” and keeps fans up to date on his home life. Just a few days ago he posted on Facebook “I am going to get a haircut”, and received thousands of likes and comments within 30 minutes. He already has his fan base drawn into his daily life and interacting with him on almost a friendly level.

I have seen other artists that are now jumping on the bandwagon; as Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas has recently started streaming himself live as he works on new music. Social Media has become an extremely valuable tool as far as marketing your brand and your music goes. It is truly the cheapest way to reach the largest amount of people.

Survey time! :D

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:54:00 +0000

Digital Marketing and the Future of the Music Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:03:00 +0000

These days everything int he music industry has gone digital. Major studios have thrown out tape machines and switched over to an all digital format, cassette tapes have been ruled obsolete ages ago by the CD, the CD is now ruled obsolete due to the iPod and digital mp3 music, even marketing and distribution in the music industry has gone digital.

The age of digital information sharing is a great tool as far as marketing yourself as an artist, but the downfall is that with digital technology comes music piracy at an alarming rate. Recording artists these days can not rely on music sales alone to make a living, they now have to turn to other means of revenue such as merchandise sales (t-shirts, books, memorabilia, etc.) and ticket sales from live shows in order to be make a good income.

One positive side of this is the fact that any unsigned artist can effectively pursue a music career on their own without the help of a record label. Even musical spoof videos go viral on YouTube and launch the individual into a web-star. For example,

“Our friends Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan are Karmin and have found amazing lightning-fast popularity with this cover of Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes Look At Me Now.

2.9 million views on YouTube as of a few minutes ago, in less than 7 days. Wow. That’s some velocity.” D. Kusek, 2011.

Utilizing digital marketing today, if done correctly, can be just as good - if not better, than the old way of marketing music artists via television and radio. There are plenty of really amazing recording artists in the world that never get their chance to be heard, because record labels are afraid to take a “risk” with a new sound. Record labels tend to go with proven artists that have sold tons of music before and hope their flame does not burn out. Things are going to change in this digital age, as major labels will recognize that independent artists can effectively reach success on their own. Who needs a major when you have digital marketing and distribution?

Similar blog post regarding digital marketing:

http://cliffanderson.blogspot.com/2011/04/music-publishing-in-digital-age.html

Reference:

David Kusek, 2011. Quality and Talent Win, www.futureofmusicbook.com, retrieved on 05/08/2011 from:

http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/2011/04/quality-and-talent-wins-online/

In depth with digital distributor Catapult

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:54:00 +0000

Catapult is not just a medieval siege weapon, but one of the many great choices as far as self-publishing and digital distribution goes. So who is Catapult? “Catapult Distribution is a leading digital distributor of audio content for Artists and Labels from around the world. We distribute music CDs, albums and other audio content into the top digital music stores such as iTunes, AmazonMP3, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, Zune and many more. Once albums begin appearing in the music stores and customers make purchases of the content, we then report the downloads and make payments to the artist or label.” Catapult, 2011.

From reading the last statement about the company, you may wonder what separates them from the competition? Well first, they distribute your music to over 100 digital music stores across the world! So you will not be restricted to just one market area, like iTunes USA for example. Secondly, they have very reasonable prices per upload, $9 per single track, and $25 for a full album. These prices are very reasonable considering the competition charging over $50 per album. Thirdly, they take a very small portion of royalties from your music sales, about 8%.

Seeing as you are getting charged per upload and a royalty rate, you may think it is not such a great deal. However, you are getting much more than you would get at any competitor. You are getting fast payments from your music sales, 24 hours upload time to all the digital stores, and on top of that, worldwide distribution! For the little bit extra you go much further than with other digital distributors, such as CDbaby. Your payments are made once a month, however, every digital music store is different and has different intervals of payments. Catapult promises to make a payment to you every month, depending on what each music store has paid out to them.

Catapult is a win-win situation, for a small fee you can distribute your music globally within 24 hours. You can be completely unavailable to the world and within a day be available to all your eager fans!

Reference:

Catapult, 2011. About the company, www.catapultdistribution.com. Retrieved April 17^th, 2011 from:

http://www.catapultdistribution.com/front_about.html

Music Publishing in the Digital Age

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:04:00 +0000

Back in the old days, an unknown recording artist would look for a record deal the old fashioned way, by making a name for himself through shows and networking. If the artist got lucky, an A&R from a record label would be in the crowd at the artists show, and hopefully the artist is good enough to grab the talent scout’s attention. Once this happened, the artist would get the coveted record deal they sought after for a very long time, and enter into an agreement with a publisher, who usually takes 50% of royalties.

Well 50% is a lot of money to take, and thanks to digital technology and computers, you as an artist no longer have to give up that 50% to a publisher, you can publish your work all on your own! If you go with digital distribution, you can save yourself the publisher costs plus cost of producing a physical CD (who uses those anymore?).

With free marketing tools such as YouTube, Myspace Music, Soundcloud, etc, an artist has plenty of powerful tools at their disposal to do their own promotion and marketing. The distribution can be taken care of by joining a digital distribution company, such as Catapult, your music will be distributed to hundreds of online music stores around the globe. This makes it super easy for as an artist to promote and market your own material, and also easy for your fans to locate and purchase your music.

There are lots of new ways coming around the bend that is changing the way new talent is found and distributed to everyone in the world. With all of today’s technology, the music industry needs to adapt with how people are finding talent and buying music. Even publishing models are changing, “For example, Londoner David Courtier-Dutton, a former financer and real-estate developer, rolled out Slice the Pie, a firm with a model of transforming the music publishing business into a stock exchange for unsigned acts. By allowing unsigned acts to raise money from fans to record an album, Slice the Pie helps bands to essentially raise public money from “investors” within the Slice the Pie exchange market.” Bayley (2011).

Reference:

Patricia Bayley, 2011. The Future of Music Publishing. www.ime.edu. Retrieved on April 17, 2011 from:

http://www.ime.edu/Portals/41606/docs/futureofmusicpublishing.pdf

Intellectual Property Advice from Industry Experts

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:08:00 +0000

Podcast:

Derivative Work podcast by Doug Lichtman from the Intellectual Property Colloquium

http://www.ipcolloquium.com/

There are many legal issues that arise when an individual creates a derivative work from another copyrighted piece of intellectual property. This blog describes the unauthorized creation of an encyclopedia of Harry Potter by a company known as RDR books. The problem here is that original material was actually copied from the original Harry Potter series. This led to a lawsuit filed from Warner against RDR. Due to the fact that the encyclopedia basically copied a lot of original works from Harry Potter, led to copyright infringement. If the work created was original and not directly from the original Harry Potter, the work may not have violated copyrights and have been considered a derivative work.

Podcast:

http://www.ipcolloquium.com/

The original copyright act that allowed authors the rights to their works for a period of 14 to 28 years, depending on the law of the time, and then the author could renew the copyright for another 14 to 28 years. However, if the author sold the copyright or the rights to the copyrighted work, when it came time to renew the copyright, the rights would come back to the original author instead of the new owner of the rights or copyright. Thus, copyright transfer deals started happening in both copyright periods so that the new owner would have the renewal in their own name. However, the copyright termination right allows authors to reclaim their original copyright after 35 years of the copyright transfer. This is dangerous because if you are paying a lot for the rights to a copyrighted work, your license or ownership can be terminated and rights be transferred back to the original owner.

Podcast:

Entertainment Law Update Episode 13 - copyrights, trademarks, fair use – Gordon P. Firemark, Esq.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/

In this podcast one of the many cases discussed was a case of Jay-Z v. Ahab Joseph Nafal. Mr. Nafal claimed copyright infringement on one of Jay-Z’s hit singles, “Big Pimpin”, claiming that the hit single from Jay-Z violated one of his Egyptian compositions known as, “Khosara Khosara”, which was written by Baligh Hamdi. Apparently Nafal tried to argue that he acquired the rights to the song through a third party, which got the rights from a relative of Hamdi. After a little research into the claim, it turns out Nafal never got exclusive rights to the Egyptian composition and therefore the judge threw the case out, claiming Nafal had no rights to sue over a composition that he did not own a copyright for. Moral of this case: Make sure you are getting rights to a composition from the correct copyright owner, or purchasing the copyright from the correct owner.

Court Cases in the Music Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:35:00 +0000

In today’s music industry, there are a multitude of legal issues that arise due to intellectual property complications and copyright infringement. It is not uncommon to see hundreds or even thousands of court cases a year in the entertainment industry. Let’s take a better look at some of these cases that exist in this industry.

First I would like to take a look at the case of copyright infringement against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a resident of Brainard, Minnesota. Ms. Thomas-Rasset was found by the court to be liable for copyright infringement due to downloading 24 songs illegally through the Kazaa file sharing network. Initially, a ridiculously outrageous amount was sought per downloaded song, in the amount of $83,000 per song, bringing her grand total of infringement for 24 songs to $1.92 million dollars.
“In his ruling, Judge Davis found the initial award of $1.92 million dollars in favor of the plaintiffs "monstrous and shocking," despite the acknowledged need for deterrence of the illegal downloading and sharing of music.” T. Roth, 2011. Just as the honorable Judge Davis found this to be a shocking amount, I too believe that for this amount to even be considered in the first place is absurd. This poor mother of four would be working for the rest of her life and still not have that amount paid off. After the second go around of this case, Judge Davis shaved the award amount granted to the RIAA to $54,000. No where near as bad as $1.92 million, yet still this is enough to ruin a persons life and send a family to live on the streets.

Another case similar to the last case of Ms. Thomas-Rasset, involves a Ms. Whitney Harper, who had shared some music on her families computer back when she was only a teenager. After the merciless RIAA slapped her with a lawsuit, “Harper claimed that she was an “innocent infringer” who went straight when she learned about copyright law, and that she had thought P2P use was basically like (legal) Internet radio.” N. Anderson, 2011. At first, Ms. Harper was lucky enough to get a reduced liability on each song at $200 per song, instead of the usual minimum of $750. However, “An appeals court overturned the ruling; as it pointed out, copyright law currently states that one can’t claim “innocence” so long as a copyright notice was printed on the physical “phonorecord.” But because Harper had downloaded on computers and never seen the CD version of her songs, she argued that the provision was patently unfair and appealed to the Supreme Court.” N. Anderson, 2011. Despite her attempt to claim her defense of “innocent infringer”, the justices of the Supreme Court refused to hear the case because “This provision was adopted in 1988, well before digital music files became available on the Internet…. But a person who downloads a digital music file generally does not see any material object bearing a copyright notice, and accordingly there is force to the argument that §402(d) does not apply. In such a case, the question would simply be whether the infringer ‘was… aware and had… reason to believe,’ that the downloading was illegal.” N. Anderson, 2011. Unfortunately for Ms. Harper, she is currently stuck with 37 songs at $750 each, or a grand total of $27,750 owed for her copyright infringement.

By looks of the last two cases it seems that the music industry is no longer playing around with individuals and copyright infringement. As a matter of fact, let’s take a look at a bigger case, involving copyright infringement by an Australian ISP’s users, and how music studios actually attempted to hold the ISP responsible for their users actions.

The Music studios that came together to embark on this lawsuit consisted of such companies such as Walt Disney Co., Paramount Pictures, 20^th Century Fox, amongst 30 other various studios. The argument was that there has been tens of thousands of copyright infringements going on through this particular ISP, known as iiNet. However, iiNet argued back that they cannot be held responsible for the actions of their users, and in no way has the company encouraged any type of infringement actions by their users. If this were the case, and the ISP could be held responsible for the actions of their users, that means they would have to watch every users actions on the internet, however, “as of now Australian ISPs will not be required to actively police their users.” J. Korba, 2011. This case to be seems to be a waste of time, and I believe that music companies are going too far when they are trying to have an ISP be held responsible for copyright infringement done by their users. If the music companies were to of win this case, that would of called for ISP’s to be shaken and watch every action of every user to ensure that this could not happen to them. That to me is taking it a bit too far and would cause huge upsets. Thankfully, the ISP cannot be held responsible, and although I understand music companies want their money, they will have to get it by going through each individual copyright infringement case, one person at a time, ruining one life at a time.

References:

Tanya Roth, January 26, 2010. Copyright the Songs: Court Lowers Award for Illegal Downloads. Blogs.findlaw.com. Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://blogs.findlaw.com/decided/2010/01/i-copyright-the-songs-court-lowers-award-for-illegal-downloads.html

Nate Anderson, January 2^nd, 2011. Supreme Court refuses innocent infringement P2P case. C4sif.org Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://c4sif.org/2010/12/supreme-court-refuses-innocent-infringement-p2p-case/

Jack Korba, February 27, 2011. Music Studios Lose Copyright Case Against Australian Company. Ipbrief.net. Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://www.ipbrief.net/2011/02/27/music-studios-lose-copyright-case-against-australian-company/

Artist and product management

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Throughout this class, we have all been presented with valuable ideas and information on the artist and product management side of the industry. From creating a career plan for your artist, to setting up an event with an artist, we have all gained a good chunk of knowledge that will prove useful in our future careers.

These are some things I have put a lot of thought into and believe will help me in my future:

1. Make sure to research the artist you are interested in managing. Get to know there past history, such as successes and failures. Also research their life in the past to get a feel for the type of person they are. You don’t want to manage someone who has had more failures than successes in their past, especially if they are a lazy artist that just wants success to be handed to them. You want the hard working artists that have at least got some success on their own.

2. When creating a marketing plan for your artist, think outside the box. This does not just apply to marketing either; this can apply to your all around career plan for your artist. There are plenty of ways to make money especially if your artist is successful, coming out with a headphone line or a vodka company with your artists name or face on it can bring in the big bucks, and get your artist more exposure.

3. Through my interview this month I learned that you might want to start with managing events, networking, and eventually coming to artist management. I believe by starting with something like events you get the opportunity to meet club/venue owners, artists, and other important people in the industry. Then when your name has grown and you have plenty of contacts, you may be able to start taking on artists careers and developing them. Who you know is very important.

4. Have all legal contracts drawn up by an entertainment lawyer. A good idea may be to write up a rough draft of what both parties want in the management contract, then brining this to a lawyer to have a legal document drawn up with the terms that the artist and manager negotiated.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as artist management. But with the knowledge gained from all the assignments and reading this month, I feel ready to start working for an event management company, such as Exact Entertainment Group, the company that I had a chance to interview.

Interview with Exact Entertainment Group's Nikos Kozobolis - Artist Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:27:00 +0000

For my interview I had the opportunity to interview Nikos Kozobolis of Exact Entertainment Group, based out of Orlando, Florida. He is a busy man with his work and he was pressed for time, but I got lucky enough to get this much of an interview! Enjoy!

Interview:

How did you get into the business of artist management?

Nikos: By being around artists and music through shows and networking. Which a interest for music in general turned into a career.

Do you have any words of advice for an inspiring artist manager trying to earn a living in this field?

Nikos: Take the time to protect your interests and understand the legality of the business before you get too involved, and plan for more than one project at a time because when one project goes nowhere you are going to have to answer to your artist as to what is the next move.

I notice you also are involved in event management, would you say event management is similar to artist management?

Nikos: Event management and artist management has alot in common in the sense that they both require a large amount of planning and risk management. What can go wrong probably will. They differ however in that events are over when they are over, and the artists career will continue on.

What are some things you look for in an artist that you are thinking about managing?

Nikos: Above anything is sound, but equally important to me is marketability. The artist must look the part and be sold as a product one day.

How important is it to have a plan for the artists’ career?

Nikos: Very important, you should have the long term plans in the mind at all times, though projects will change from time to time, overall planning is essential.

What is a good starting rate for an artist manager?

Nikos: That is next to impossible to answer, because each artist ranges so differently in success, but I would believe the majority don't make too much, while the few make 20% percent or more of income of the major act's they represent.

Networking of course is very important in this field, how do you normally approach an important person as far as networking goes?

Nikos: Straight forward, I explain what I do and my interests in the business, and if we as professionals have shared interests than that's what leads to business.

Do you have any further advice you would like to share?

Nikos: I would advise others to stay proactive and always looking for new opportunities. Also ask yourself if you have a true love for music before you get involved with artist management because it will keep you interested when all you see is the business side.

Through this very short and time pressed interview, I believe we can all see that becoming an artist manager takes a lot of knowledge of the entertainment business in general, as well as having good connections. Without proper knowledge of the entertainment business and good networking skills, your career as an artist manager will be non-existent. You need to be able to get your artist exposure, develop a plan, use your connections, and above all get you and your artist paid.

An Interview with Ty Stover - Artist manager / Event production

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Ty Stover (Left) Nikos Kozobolis (Right) of Exact Entertainment Group

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Exact Entertainment’s very own Ty Stover. Ty represents multiple artists in the music industry, and also handles event production. We had a chance to sit down and speak about his negotiation skills and Ty Stover offers advice from his experience in deal making.

The interview begins:

How long have you been in management?

Ty Stover: I have a history in event management, parties, concerts, etc. and have been managing artists exclusively for Exact Entertainment Group just over a year now.

How would you say your status plays a part in negotiation?

Ty Stover: If people respect your status and who you are in a negotiation process you are assured to get a superior outcome for yourself. Always carry yourself professionally and that will support your result as well.

When deal making, have you ever had to deal with negative emotions? And if so, what is one way you have dealt with negative emotions?

Ty Stover: Negative emotions can arise in any negotiation process. My answer is at that point to not try to become friends with whomever, but make the process as simple as possible. Sometimes personality has nothing to do with getting a deal done, but more about statistics. I am providing X and Y, and in turn we would like Z. Keep it plain and simple.

Do you have any advice for negotiators on reaching mutual benefit?

Ty Stover: Always put yourself in their shoes before you step into any negotiation process. Think about the questions the other party would have for you and have answers readily available. Do your homework on the person or business ahead of time and do not expect something you would not deal for yourself.

Lastly, how do you deal with negotiators trying to pull dirty tricks?

Ty Stover: Follow the golden rule of business and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. People who use dirty tricks will get weeded out soon enough. That is just nature of the business. I’ve always said that if you do something right you might have somebody tell one friend, but if you do somebody dirty they are likely to tell everybody they know. Word spreads like wildfire, especially in businesses that revolve around networking.

Thank you for your time and excellent advice!

Ty Stover: Thank you for having me!

Through this interview you can get a better understanding of what it is like negotiating in this industry and what you can do to better yourself as a negotiator. Great advice from a rising star in artist management and event production.

Musical marvels and technologic advances = SWEET LIGHT SHOW / SYNTHESIZER

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:45:00 +0000

Imagine stepping onto a podium and looking out into a dark room filled with orbs of all sizes. As you move your arms, you notice that that orbs are changing color and you are producing sound through a state of the art synthesizer. You are actually controlling the room with your very own body. Sounds science fiction? Believe it or not, this advanced synthesizer / light show is very much around today and fully functional.

DJ Lux (or DJ Light) is the name of the project. “DJ Lux (DJ Light) is an immersive public sound and light installation that gives visitors the power to orchestrate a performance of light and sound across a large public space.” Synthtopia, 2010. This incredible installation features a thermal camera, which senses body movement and sends control signals to the software application that is controlling the entire light show and synthesizer. Pretty amazing and unique stuff if you ask me.

Being able to come up with new technologies and ideas for musical instruments is essential towards grabbing and enhancing a musician’s creativity. By doing so you will gain a big following of loyal fans and customers. By bringing out the best in others, you bring out the best in yourself. It is all about letting people take complete control, let them customize what they want to do, and making them feel like a true artist. “It is an empowering experience where the public is invited to be the artist.” Synthtopia, 2010.

Reference:

Synthtopia, Dec 10, 2010. DJ Lux (Gorgeous Interactive Audio + Visual Installation), synthtopia.com.

Retrieved on Sunday, December 12, 2010, from:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/12/10/dj-lux-gorgeous-interactive-audio-visual-installation/#more-29629

The future of electronic music instruments

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Since the first ancient instruments of the past were made, such as a flute from animal bones, musical instruments have evolved over time, adding stringed instruments, percussive instruments, and electronic instruments. I have set out to bring a very unique electronic to the market with my company, Red Audio. However, it has recently come to my attention that my real competition has just opened up shop.

Music Computing is the name of the challenger. Former head of Open Labs, Victor Wong, founded music Computing. His former company specialized in pretty unique music workstations with built in computers. His most recent conquest sets out to crush his former company and move forward with the advancement of electronic instruments and workstations.

Music Computing currently offers three state of the art new products. The Studio Blade, a hardware keyboard with built in computer for a complete music production station including microphone preamps, inputs, multiple outputs, and a plethora of midi controlling knobs, sliders, and buttons. The iKey dock, a hardware keyboard that docks with any laptop and instantly creates a full blown production station with microphone preamps, inputs, outputs, and the same insane amount of midi controllers. Finally, their most interesting products to me, their touch screen products. Music Computing now offers a product very similar to the idea I originally had going, but not fully there with my idea just yet. This product, the MotionCOMMAND work center offers users a complete touch screen resolution to music production. This is fantastic in the sense that people would naturally love to be able to use their hands and not a mouse, this also shows the innovation and direction of which the future of electronic instruments are going.

When I found this out I was very excited about these products, as my ideas for my company are similar and the touch screen workstation assures me that my ideas are on point and going in the right direction. What I offer still stands its ground as the only product that would be like it, however, I believe that Music Computing will either become my main competition, or perhaps I could partner up with them on a new product idea. Like they say, “If you can’t beat em, join em”

PREPARE FOR EXCITEMENT!! (BRING A CHANGE OF UNDERWEAR) ITS NAMM TIME ! ! ! !

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Endless rows of booths filled with studio electronics, innovative musical instruments, impressive studio monitors and control room mixers. Flashing lights, automated faders, and incredible audio quality surround you.This can only mean one thing, you my friend are currently in the middle of the annual NAMM - or National Association of Music Merchants trade show! (HOW EXCITING!?!)

This special event happens once a year and unifies merchants, musicians, engineers, and technology junkies under one roof. “Our association—and our trade shows—serve as a hub for people wanting to seek out the newest innovations in musical products, recording technology, sound and lighting—everything you need to enhance and grow your business, presentation or event!” NAMM (2010). Events like this are essential in my industry. Without an event like the NAMM trade show, thousands, maybe even millions of people would be deprived of checking out new and innovative ideas that directly relate to their field of work. Engineers can stay ahead of the game with new studio technology, musicians can stand out with innovative instruments, and even lighting techs can shine above the rest with creative and unique lighting gear. The trade show effectively creates suspense and really lets all the manufacturers show what they got coming up around the corner. People will anxiously await on that new mixer, that new analog to digital converter, or even that insane new touch screen, customizable, modular synthesizer with a nice glowing, “Red Audio” on it. ;)

Personally when my own company, Red Audio, gets off the ground and has its first prototype, we are going straight to the NAMM trade show and our booth will be one of the most talked about booths there. Think about the amount of people that never even heard of something like my product, and then suddenly laying their eyes on something that is so enticing that it hypnotizes you and draws you straight over to us. After closer inspection, what’s that you say? CUSTOMIZABLE TOO?! Sold. Before we even begin mass production of our product. Pre-orders will be available just like in the video game industry. Being able to do this will effectively help build my brand name in the minds of the consumers. As they see the product being used in a live demonstration before their very own eager eyes and even get a chance to use it themselves, trust will be built in their minds about our company and our innovation.

Long live the NAMM show!

Reference:

NAMM (2010) About NAMM. NAMM.org.

Retrieved on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 from:

http://www.namm.org/about

Don’t worry be happy! - Your brain has factory built in pattern recognition :)

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Bobby McFerrin, the extremely optimistic, good old, one hit wonder. I know, I know, all you younger generations out there may be asking yourself, “Bobby who?” He may only be remembered by his ‘80s mega hit song, “Don’t worry be happy,” which is sad because the man is brilliant and understands the human mind very well. However, even if he is only remembered for that one song, that’s still a lot better than what the majority of the rest of the world will be remembered by.

In the video, “Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music”, posted on TED.com, Bobby grabs the attention of the audience and shares information through a demonstration of the ability of the human mind to recognize and predict patterns. Bobby begins by jumping in the air and singing a single note, and as he lands, he signals the audience members to follow along and sing the note as he continues to jump. By the second jump, the audience began to recognize the simple pattern and started singing along with Bobby. As Bobby proceeds to jump on stage, he jumps towards the audience’s right and introduces a new higher note to the audience, and the audience picks up on this instantly. Shortly after the audience learns the new note, he proceeds to jump back and forth between the two spots, and the crowd immediately catches on to the notes and sings along with his actions depending on which spot he lands on. This is pattern recognition by the human mind. As Bobby jumps again over towards the crowds right (the higher note), he suddenly switches it up on the crowd and jumps beyond the high note even further towards their right, and without him even singing the note the audience instantly knew which note to hit! A step up from the previous high note! This is pattern prediction, which the human mind is completely capable of and hard-wired to do. He continuously adds new notes even without singing them to the crowd, and everyone in the audience sings in sync with his actions. Incredible.

What does this mean to me? Well, it means quite a few things. Of course it means we are naturally able to recognize and predict patterns, but not just of musical nature. Human beings can use the brains natural ability to recognize patterns in consumer trends, marketing trends, and business trends. If we really put our brains to work, we can even predict patterns in each of these trends. Being able to recognize and predict patterns in consumer behavior can be a remarkable help to your business. If you can recognize a pattern of trends that your target market is following, and then predict what the next trend will be, well my friend, you are ahead of your game and strapped for success. Unless of course your brain is malfunctioning or you make the wrong prediction. But as the saying goes, no risk – no gain. This is Cliff Anderson, signing out. Stay classy my friends.

P.S. Here is the link to the TED speaker :)

Keeping your clients happy

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:47:00 +0000

It has recently come to my attention via musicindustrynewswire.com, that the former head of the innovative company, “Open Labs”, has recently gone into competition with his former company. As far as executing the new company opening, Victor Wong, CEO, will have the event streaming live through musiccomputing.com. Music computing is the new company, owned and operated by Victor Wong, former head of Open Labs. On the day of the live streaming, they will show case eight new hardware instruments and two new software products. Personally I am extremely excited to see what new technologies will be implemented into each new product!

“We dissected everything down to the smallest possible particles and then redesigned it all,” states Victor Wong, CEO, “what we have created can only be described as a quantum leap in music instrument technology.” C. Simmons, (2010). Apparently the new company is aimed at giving Open Labs a run for their money. The incredible instruments that Open Labs were pumping out of their factory were in fact amazing at the time simply because no other company had offered something like this before. However, customer satisfaction was clearly not met and Open Labs almost collapsed into the abyss. I am personally hoping that this new company is the new standard of advanced instruments and not just a knock off of the previous companies products. Personally, I knew a friend back at Full Sail University in 2007 that had a Open Labs "MiKO", which was the flagship of the companies keyboard workstations at the time. He brought it by my home studio one day and at first sight I was ecstatic and ready to use this eight thousand dollar piece of musical inspiration. After 4 hours of exploration of this keyboards capabilities, I discovered that for something that is a decent computer, stuffed into the frame of a keyboard with mixing controls (as many other keyboards have), and a decent mic pre, the price of $8000 was outrageous. The keyboard simply wasn't much more than an overpriced home studio stuffed into a keyboard. No amazing new technologies, no innovative ideas, nada. I personally could spend that much money building a very nice home studio that would blow the MiKO away.

“According to their press release, the company’s goal is to “invent new technologies and integrate them with proven standards to create the best possible instruments for today’s musicians.” Most of its products are cross-platform in nature and will work within the Microsoft Windows® or Mac OS operating systems, allowing more flexibility than ever.” C. Simmons, (2010). With that statement in mind, the planning of this company’s goals are very similar to my own. Will Music Computing end up being my arch nemesis after they blow Open Labs out of the water? Either way I believe that this company was created with customer satisfaction in mind. Since Open Labs failed and almost went completely bankrupt, Victor Wong is making a comeback to show his customers that he knows what it is they want.

Reference:

Christopher Laird Simmons, Tue, 05 Oct 2010. Musicindustrynewswire.com, Former Head of OpenLabs announces new company: Music Computing to Launch Ten New Music Products. Retrieved on October 17, 2010 from: http://musicindustrynewswire.com/2010/10/05/min3330_163328.php

Teams: The most essential tool for your project

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Anderson) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:24:00 +0000

A well-put together team can make or break your company. That goes for the entertainment industry as well as any other industry. Teams are essential for the necessary completion of whole projects within a company. No one single person can break down each task required to complete the project and successfully accomplish the tasks on his or her own. “Working in a team has an advantage of the workload getting distributed amongst all the team members. With work properly distributed, you can concentrate on a single activity till the time you gain expertise in it and you do not feel stressed out due to work.” D. Ujwal (2009). Special skills may be essential to the project that would require professionals of certain fields. For example, if you are producing an artists’ album then you as the producer rely on the recording engineer, assistant engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, and the artist themselves to each put their own unique skills into the project. With one piece of the team missing, the project can fall behind schedule and may even fail. Every individual within the team has a certain skill or asset of which they bring to the table. With each person’s individual skills and combined work, the project has a much greater chance of being a successful one.

Personally putting together my own team I would search for the best candidates possible. Persons with a great amount of experience, a good attitude, excellent work ethic, and hardcore passion for the specific project at hand would be the most eligible for me. Having a team with that passion for the project is essential. The team should feel like they are not working but doing something they love to do. With an excellent team that consists of hard working, passionate, experienced individuals, your project’s chances of success will be greatly enhanced.

Communication within your team is essential for any hope of getting the project or task completed. Modern technology has enhanced the way we can communicate with individuals in our team. Instead of just face-to-face communications, we instead have the office phone, cell phone, email, instant messaging, etc. Utilizing every method of communication available is key to great communication within a team. If you keep up with the times and technologies, you can keep up to with your bosses standards and desires for the project at hand.

Reference:

Teamwork in the Workplace, Buzzle.com, Ujwal Deshmukh, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/teamwork-in-the-workplace.html