Develop this-Artist Development Talk

Entertainment Artist Development: The ALMIGHTY PRESS KIT.... yes..you need one.

2013-07-30T00:06:00.001-07:00

Who are you?

Is what they want to know. Who is they you ask? The Press! The news, bloggers, websites, people who cover events, and many more. But you can't just tell them who you are, you have to GIVE them who you are if they are going to give you some good publicity. In the link below I explain the use of and how to put together a press kit. Check it out, get some great info and then share it with a friend or two or three!

Article Continued here...

HOW TO: USE INSTAGRAM IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

2013-06-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

So you got your Twitter campaign together? What about your Facebook?

Google?

What about Instagram?...

What, you didn't know Instagram was just as important?

Many Indie Artists and Entertainers dont know the TRUE power of the little Polaroid camera. Its usesful for more than capturing duck faces and every meal of the day.

Check out the Article Below for some insight on using one of the most popular social media tools

on the Market!!

ARTICLE CONTINUED HERE...

FOLLOW JUGO AZUL ENTERTAINMENT & CHRYSAL DVEL ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

ON TWITTER

@JUGOAZUL

AND ON INSTAGRAM

@JUGOAZUL_THEBRAND

Is Artist Development Dead?? Some say yes...others beg to differ.

2013-06-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Is Artist Development A Dead Art?

In the last decade, labels have put artist development on the back burner. Prefering their artists well done when they come to them looking to be signed or to record. Check out the article below for an in-depth article that explains both sides. The industry stand point, and the present day developers view. The industry is ever so changing, but how far will the change take us with the future of Independent Artists and Music?

ARTICLE CONTINUED HERE...

FOLLOW JUGO AZUL & CHRYSAL DVEL ENTERTAINMENT ON TWITTER

@JUGOAZUL

Article: 5 STEPS to Mastering Your entertainment Social Media Campaign

2013-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

5 STEPS TO MASTERING

YOUR ENTERTAINMENT SOCIAL NETWORK CAMPAIGNS

When you are building your brand as an artist it is important to effectivley manage and execute your social media campaigns. Knowing how to share, post and distribute your information correctly can be the be all end all of your career as an up coming entertainer. In the Article linked below you will find a DETAILED 5 step guide to executing your social network campaign. Take a look and make sure you are following these important rules and that you aren't missing out on important information.

As always you can connect on Twitter @chrysalDvel and @JugoAzul

5 STEPS TO YOUR SUCCESS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

by

Jugo Azul

Article: The Reality of Artist Development in todays industry

2013-05-15T10:32:00.002-07:00

"Come Back when you are Fully Developed"...

Wow...Not words the hopeful artist wants to hear from a potential label. What do they mean by come back when you are fully developed? Well lets break down the term

Artist Development

The steps that are taken and set in place to help an artist reach industry and personal potential. In a big nutshell the artists:

Marketing

Branding

A&R

Social Buzz

Network

Performance Quality

and all those other things that make an entertainer a BIG one.

I expand upon this in my article found at the link below. Check it out, and give some feed back or ask questions in the comments or on twitter @chrysaldvel and @jugoazul.

Article: The Reality Of Artist Development In Todays Music Industry

By Jugo Azul

DEVELOP THIS IS BACK!!! NEW FEATURES, NEW LOOK, SAME GREAT INFORMATION!

2013-05-15T09:51:00.002-07:00

After taking time to develop my Entertainment blog http://jugoazul.blogspot.com it is finally up and running smoothly as I would like and has gained the exposure I desired. Now that it is up and going, it is time to head focus back to my artist development. Thank you to those of you who read while we were gone, and your wonderful comments and feedback.

Jugo Azul Ent. & Chrysal Dvel Artist development has grown alot since we last were active on the blog. There is now a twitter page you can follow at www.twitter.com/chrysaldvel. Also we have an updated Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/chrysaldvel.

In getting back into the swing of things, there will be some new features added to the blog, along side main page features, i will also be linking features and articles I right from my secondary site.

Keep connected to this blog through facebook and twitter and make sure you share any useful information with your friends as you get it.

"Let Me Dvel you"

Some material you may be interested in as well for my music industry followers. Check out is this book. It is full of useful information that anyone interested in the business will want to invest in.

For Vocal Artists: Passion Vs. Practice

2012-09-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings my good people, welcome to the blog and i hope all is well with you. Todays post will be for vocal artists, which in my development career is my area of strength. I would like to expand upon a very true aspect of vocal performance that many hear of but put behind them. Not to put it behind them on purpose, but it is kind of difficult in the situations that most vocalist put themselves in. Many vocalist have a tendency to practice how they perform. When in reality, they should be understanding and channeling their passion into their performance.

I will try to elaborate better with examples.

Example #1:

First off this guy has some great video covers on Youtube channel Javery'sMusic so you should definetly go check him out for a closer look. But lets look at his performance rating. I give him a 7 on a 1-10 scale for this performance. Ok, im lying i give him an 11, I completely loved this passion! Notice i didnt say performance, i said passion. This guy is obviously passionate about his talent, and it shows. Look at the smile on his face, the expression on his face, this shows this was a one take video and no practicing take after take. There were mistakes, but they were masked by the obvious artistry that exudes from his artistic pores! This guy is a passionate artist, not a performer. As a matter of fact, he is the member of a GREAT underground band by the name of Send The City. Listening to their EP "Before Days End" you still hear this same passion expressed, but yet in an even greater form of raw power and passion. Check them out, you will not be disappointed.

Alfred 97-20003F Entertainer s Secret Throat Relief Spray - Music Book (Google Affiliate Ad)

Example #2:

My second example comes from another young man on youtube covering a popular Frank Ocean song. (sidenote: Frank Ocean exudes the most passion in music that I have ever seen in any artist in my LIFE...so to cover him and get a good response is hard to come by) But, to the critique, first of all he needs to make sure he is enjoying what he is doing. I give him a 4 on the scale of performance, and a 0 on the scale of passion. Now dont get me wrong, he may not really care about singing as an art and is just doing it to do it. The point is, there is distinct sense of "I have practiced this a few times, and now im going to do it" in the air. He does need some vocal work, but over all he doesn't sound horrible, he actually has a voice that could be worked with by a developer or vocal coach. But most important, he needs to understand the PASSION of what he is doing.

Passion is what makes us artists... ARTISTS! If an architect who didnt really care built your house, can you get made when it falls down? No, because you chose the guy with no passion, he simply came to your presence and said, hey i'm here to build you a house. You should have picked the guy that came in with a note book full of paint colors, decorative ideas, structure plans and ideas, floral possibilities, the guy who was excited to hear he had a house to build and it was just for you! Whether he knew who "you" was or not. The point is, make sure you find your passion, for your songs. As I close, check out some simple tips that can help you connect with your art work known as your vocal talents for a better passion, instead of a performance. Thanks for checking out the blog and have a great one!

Tips To your Passion;

Lyrics- Connect with the lyrics you are singing. You cant sing about pain with a smile on your face.

Mission- What is your mission for the song, or songs you are singing? Are you looking to make your audience laugh, cry, smile, dance? That message needs to be seen in your PASSION!

Knowledge- Know your voice! If you konw you cant do something with your voice, dont do it! It is too much of a risk for you to sound horrible, or worse, sound horrible after you sounded amazing!

Emote- You have to put yourself in the songs situation, if you are singing about coming back from heartache and you have never had your heart broken, imagine it as you sing. You will notice the difference in the sound from when you just sing the song.

Thanks for checking out the blog!!

Check out my other blogs:

http://jugoazul.blogspot.com - A blog about entertainment, and independent artist features.

TMN Online: The Hook: Have the majors given-up on long-term artist development?

2012-09-18T01:05:00.001-07:00

TMN Online: The Hook: Have the majors given-up on long-term artist development?

Great Article on whats going on currently in the realm of artist development. Def. a NEED TO READ!

Patience matters- Taking your time in developing your brand and material

2012-09-09T15:37:00.002-07:00

What is the one thing that thwarts all of us as artists and entertainers? Is it the lack of gigs and shows we can be featured in? No, there are thousands of venues and opportunities for exposure, so that cant be it. What about we don't have a database of material to show off? Nope, that can't be it either, because there is a plethora of social networks, blogs and groups you can join, or even moderate to expose yourself as an artist. So what is it that adds to our rate of success being so low?

Patience, patience is a virtue as we have heard many times, but it seems a lot of times we don't take heed to these words of wisdom. Many artist think they can become over night sensations such as Internet stars like antoine dodson and sweet brown, who both have views in the hundreds of thousands on YouTube. The only difference is, these are not artists, they are unexpected opportunists who gained revenue by luck of the draw. Many of us take these situations and hope an wish we could become famous that quick. But why is it so hard to be noticed on YouTube and social networks? First of all, there are over one billion people on every relevant social network and out of that billion, there are at least 600,000 posting material to the sites, so you aren't alone, and no one goes through all 600,000 people. The trick is to promote yourself through all your available networks and connect them to one another.

Strategy: Try this

-Make a Facebook Page, Twitter, Blog, and YouTube page dedicated to your work and your brand.

-Connect each of these sites to one another

Facebook should have all the links to your twitter, blog and YouTube channels, as well as share the content from these networks in posts on your page. All tweets should be visible on this page, simply because not everyone has a twitter account. Share your blog posts as well, most people don't use blogs, but they are the best way to generate healthy links and build your way up the search engine lists and become more visible to various networks. Your YouTube videos should always be shared even if you link the pages together, because not everyone looks at the about section on your facebook, so easy access is always key. Make sure the thumbnails are enabled, because people like to see what they are about to look at, and ultimately helps them decide if they are going to look at it.
Twitter- Twitter is the best way to shoot quick blurbs and links about your work for one of the largest social networks to view and read and share. Simple tweet about what you have going on, as well as links to all your sites, blog posts, video posts and links to your facebook. It will take alot of tweeting, but you will learn once you begin getting lots of followers twitter is a great resource. ALSO make sure you use the Proper Hashtags. Check out my article on hash tags here in my article Learning to Master the Twitter Hashtag

Blog (blogger, wordpress)- Blogs are where you build your search engine optimization campaigns. It is where you in bulk build your brand and your material and connect it to healthy links that reach other social networks and show up in the top of search engines. The best sites are wordpress and blogger, both have a plethora of templates and sharing options, as well as keyword insertion tools. Keywords are what link people to your site through search engines, the more populated a keyword the more different groups appear for that keyword, but if you optimize and choose keywords with a high search popularity but low population, the more you will be seen when that keyword is searched.
YouTube- YouTube is the largest used search engine database on the world wide web. It is searched even more than google. So starting a video blog (vlog) or posting your creative material here for exposure is a plus. Also YouTube can be connected to your other networks, and if you know how to use YouTube fully, you can fill your videos with lots of healthy links to other material.

The main point I'm trying to make to you is, you will not become a sensation of any sort over night. Many of the over night sensations don't make it far because they have not built reputation or plethora of material for their initial fan base or interest group to explore. The thing about artists such as Frank Ocean, or his affiliated group OFWGKTA is they have a large amount of digital material and exposure online. You can sit for hours and never get to the end of the amount of material they have produced for public view. Its also interesting material that feeds into an specific audience who finds an interest in the material. Too many times artists try to gain an audience over a wide network, instead try finding groups who are interested in your type of material and getting them to view, share and follow the work. It takes longer, but the results are much better and more evident.

So remember when you are trying to promote your work, it is a time released capsule in which you have to be patient for it to work. Take your time and build your audience and your brand, and in the end you will have a more plentiful harvest of interested viewers.

Continuaton and wrap up of 'Serious business'

2012-08-26T16:28:00.001-07:00

In my last post for class i gave some examples of business experts who had some good insights on business practice and plan writing. This week we were asked to give our input on how these experts tips have or will help us in our own business ventures.

I spoke of professor Steve Gideon and how he mentioned the best way to get your ideas out and organized is to write them down, ultimately the main reason for writing a business plan. I have been composing my business plan over the last few months within my masters program and i totally understand his concept. Before i started writing papers and doing research for my business idea, i had alot of unorganized thoughts flying everywhere. I wanted to do a million things plus one, but had no organized plan of execution, nor did i understand how to incorporate my ideas into financial planning. Through organizing a business plan in writing, i now see how much work i actually have to produce to get the results i am capable of. Before i had a lot of unreachable goals due to the amount of excess work that i would have to do. Gideon speaks on this in reference to making mistakes, i made alot of mistakes and still make alot of mistakes especially in financial forecasting. I'm sure i will need a financial advisor before i even make any attempts to fully open a business. But in the positive light, i would not know i needed this advisor until later on why it may have been detrimental to business operations.

In the previous blog i also referenced visiting Ryerson Professor W.Daniel Mothersill who spoke on in a YouTube video about expressing your competitive advantage. He breaks down the steps you should take when presenting your advantages, and I understand his method in just reading his suggestions. When it comes to presenting your company to investors, and potential customers, it is important to let them know why you are different than any other company in your industry. Break it down and mark off those advantages point by point so not to repeat or jumble up information. Also he explains that it is important to show why your approach to your business is unique to your industry. I will definitely be able to present this factor because of the completely new approach i am taking in providing my services, especially in my target market. I know i will have a significant gain over my competitive market due to the nature of my services and i plan to make sure that the expression of this is articulated correctly and clearly to investors. In light of Professor Mothersills suggestions, i have significantly shortend a number of my points to be covered to the most important and descriptive. I in reading over my plan over and over with corrections from my professor as well, i have seen how it would be possible to become tired when reading it. This point also goes back to when Gideon speaks on making mistakes and changing them because they are written down.

When investors read my plan, i want them to be drawn automatically to the company description. The reason i want this to be the main area of focus is that there is no company like it, not with the number of working components and special focus that is possesses. I will have no problem presenting this area of the plan because it will be fresh and will draw undivided attention due to its foreign nature.

Serious Business! ... Seriously

2012-08-05T14:55:00.001-07:00

Serious Business

Greetings and welcome to the blog,

It has been a while since the last blog, but we are back and fully in action, or should I say back in business. This weeks blog will be the start of a two to three part topic on a very serious issue we all need to focus on. As part of my curriculum in my Entertainment Business courses, it is necessary to discuss the topic of business plans and being successful with in them. So this week, we will check out some information on some expert business planners. A majority of the examples found this week can be found on Professor and professional business planner Steven Burhoe page here on blogger.

The first expert we will meet is Steven Gedeon, PhD(MIT), MBA, PEng. He is a professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of management. According to Ryerson.ca faculty and staff bios, Dr. Gedeon has won over 20 awards, founded and led over a dozen private, public, venture capital and non-profit organizations, and provided over 40 public speaking engagements and on-line videos on personal leadership, motivation, entrepreneurship and teaching (Ryerson 2012). Some of his relevant research interests that may directly relate to our topics in the business of artist development are: financing entrepreneurial ventures including seed capital, angel investing, venture capital, private equity and merchant banking (Ryerson 2012).

After shuffling around the web, we find a plethora of at least over 185 videos on the youtube page @startmeupryerson . There are six videos featuring Dr. Gedeon, but one sticks out specifically is his video: Steve Gedeon on the Purpose of writing a business plan. In this video he speaks on how he sees writing as a guide to thinking. We see our thoughts as making sense in our head until we write it down on paper. We don’t think through all the various elements of our business, and writing it down gives us a chance to make mistakes and understand the various whys and why-not’s. It’s a good way to say what are the risks, how great is the idea really, what are all the operational logistics of the business? All very important factors and questions that need to be asked when running a business such as an artist development company, especially one that is different from the run of the mill development companies that are featured into days industry market.

Ryerson.ca. Ryerson faculty and staff bios [Steven Gideo]. http://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/bm/faculty_staff/bios/gedeon.html

Youtube.com. @StartmeupRyerson [Steven Gideon videos]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-uYTCk7xe8&feature=channel&list=UL

Blogspot.com. Steven Burhoe [Topic of Steven Gideon]. http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

W. Daniel Mothersill is a serial entrepreneur and an Angel investor. He serves as a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University, as well as an organizational and positioning strategy specialist focusing in financial approaches, communications and investor relations. We take a look at some of Mothersills key focuses in entrepreneurship with his contribution of videos on the @StartmeupRyerson You Tube channel. In one video he focuses on the importance of defining your competitive advantage to investors. He explains that it is important to highlight your advantages and mark them off as you present them, not continually reiterate your advantages. Businesses want to literally see, this is why, and then this, and then this reason is why my business A is better, or significantly different than business B. The next thing you must do is explain why you’re in the business and why your approach is unique compared to the competition. You want to give investors a reason to invest in something that is different than others. Investors want to know that your business will have a significant gain over the competition.

You can check out more business plan and investor experts on @startmeupryerson on YouTube.com, as well as @bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/ which is an excellent link source as well as expert. It’s important to understand the topics these experts discuss. They can help you pin point and fine-tune your thinking and views when building your own business, and writing your businesses plan.

Special recognition to Steven Burhoe for guidance excellent links that contributed to todays blog topic.

Are you big into entertainment? Take this Survey!

2012-08-01T03:24:00.002-07:00

Click here to take survey Hello! This is just a quick survey to get your insight on some current industry questions a lot of artists are asking. No one better to tell an artist about an artist than a consumer, so if you can just take a quick moment of your time and click the link above it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Marketing Your Sound -Social Media use for Singers and Musicians

2012-07-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to the blog. In this weeks blog, id like to discuss a topic near and dear to me seeing it is one of my own current projects at the moment. Today id like to discuss marketing your sound to your personal audience. We all as artist want everyone to hear and know our music, but then if that were the case we would already be nominees for the grammy awards. But since we all are aspiring artists its important to market ourselves to our own audience. So in todays blog, id like to give a few pointers and tips to helping you move towards your own personal bubble of fame.

The Portals

Lets talk about the various portals you can utilize to disburse your sound and material.

YouTube- YouTube is probably one of the best venues to marketing yourself as an artist. Why? YouTube is one of the top viewed websites on the world wide web, and get this Google is like their best friend so the search power is awesome.

*statistics extracted from 2012 youtube statistics which are found on the website*

Traffic

Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
YouTube is localized in 43 countries and across 60 languages
In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
Millions of subscriptions happen each day. Subscriptions allow you to connect with someone you're interested in — whether it's a friend, or the NBA — and keep up on their activity on the site.
To Check out the rest of the stats check out- http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics

In short, YOUTUBE IS THE BING BANG AND BOW! of internet traffic and usage. Hundreds of artist upload their work to youtube daily, and Millions view that material! When using YouTube to promote yourself, you must remember a view key tips. Search fluidity being number one, when people search for your work, they should be able to search by two main factors, your band/artist name, or by the names of the material you produce. You can't just put up: "Me Singing in the shower", do you know how many people are on youtube singing in the shower? You have to make it almost too easy, for example, when i do covers of my music i want people to check it out so i put the artist name first and the song then add my name.(ex. X-Factor by Lauryn Hill (cover) by Jugo Azul). This makes it first more noticeable because people looking for Lauryn Hill X-factor will also find my cover, and those looking solely for Jugo Azuls Cover of X-Factor will find the video as well. Its all a matter of your SEO (search engine optimization) on YouTube, as well as in general search engines such as google and yahoo.

SoundCloud/ReverbNation/Myspace- All three of these sites give an artist the opportunity to post material individually or in playlist form and share and distribute amongst various social network portals.

SoundCloud- is a simple upload and share tool, you simply upload your music and share it. You have the option to group your music into sets and categories. You get over an hour of space to upload, once you go over that you have to pay to add more hours to upload more content. Its a good tool for artists who want to simply upload new material in bulk. Its suggested that when using original material or work on this site it be copyrighted or watermarked as to keep material from being purged from the website and stolen.

ReverbNation- This site is more like SoundCloud with your own virtual artist manager built it. You can book shows, announce bookings, reach out to fans, post music, and keep a social connection to your audience. Once again, you must be careful with posting original work if it is not copyrighted, reverbnation has the option for fans to buy your material, but also reaps a large amount of the profit if not all. But in the end, if you are just looking to market yourself, this is a great tool to help yourself get organized and recognized.

Facebook

Facebook is a great place to put an artist or business page. When you are an up and coming artist who is broke and looking for every possible free venue to post work that you CAN advertise more freely its better to look to Facebook. Its much better for promo because its more exposure because face it, its Facebook for crying out loud everyone is on it. But businesses on Facebook becomes much more known through their advertising services than their promoting services. You can promote to your personal fan base (your friends list and subscribers) but what about the people who don't even know "Jugo Azul" exists? Almost everyones page is private now and you cant simply say "hey check out my page, like and view" you have to be their friend. So you encourage people to follow your Page, or get them to subscribe to your feed to keep up with you.

When it comes to who Google likes to play with YouTube is your best bet when looking for a large scale digital venue to display your work. Its viewable online and on mobile devices, giving you the artist the opportunity to be mobile yourself. You are more likely to be seen on YouTube than any other social networks, and you can view exactly how many people like you, dislike you( we all need haters) and how many times your work has been viewed. It also makes it easier to network and contact other artists through other social networks, as well as share on other social networks.

We all as artists need to be seen, and heard, its just a matter of what road we take to get there. What road do you choose?

References:

Youtube Press Statistics:http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics

Youtube Statistics 2012 by: Amit Agaraul Article

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Everyone Thanks for viewing my blog thus far! Make sure you follow my Artist Development page on facebook. >>>>>>>>>>> Chrysal D'vel

Also check out my entertainment blog >>>>>>> Jugo Azul vs. Entertainment

REVERBish your options...

2012-06-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

As an artist developer, encouraging my artist to produce a social media following is very important. This is important for 2 reasons. Reason 1, it's a required move. Who wants to spend money or time on someone they don't know. This is the reason for the fall of many mainstream artists now. They are just dropped on the scene with no recognition or marketing and companies expect them to just stand out and make money. Reason 2 is, its important in teaching the artist to work for him or herself. Every artist in the business is not signed to a label. There are a huge amount of independent artists who sell their music on iTunes and other social music sites. This gives the artist a chance to personally develop him or herself.

Taking into consideration that in today’s industry it is completely necessary to use all realms of personal development, many artists are learning to use social media portals. Some of the most popular are Reverb Nation, and Sound Cloud. Reverb Nation is a website where artists can gain followers, promote and get feedback on their music. Sound Cloud is the same as Reverb Nation, but is more of storage for your music where you can share. In my own independent development business I require my artists to own and maintain both of these pages. I let them know that it’s the easiest and least expensive way to distribute their material to be heard so that potential consumers may buy. The reason I require this is to make sure artists get a feel of how to promote for themselves and grow a fan base, because labels today do not take the time or money to do this.

In concluding this post, it is important for upcoming artist to make sure to have social media portals in which they can share and promote distribution of their material. I highly recommend that any producers or managers of artists require their artist to obtain and maintain one of these pages to up views and possibly sales.

Distribute Distribute read all about it!

2012-06-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Dealing in the use of social media and distribution

As a development company who provides its services to artists by putting them into a real industry setting, it is important to use these social engines to promote an online presence. Social media has had its fair share of success stories due to the proper use of services. Look at YouTube sensation “the man with the golden voice”, he was an overnight success story, who’s powerful radio voice gained him much attention in a very short time as well helped him get off the streets. This video went viral, meaning it spanned the World Wide Web with hundreds of thousands of views. For a short time his online presence or at least the representative of the videos online presence harbored thousands of views and likes, making the unknown street man an online sensation.

When using technology portals in social media, it is evident that music promotion has gone digital. We see the importance of sites such as www.reverbnation.com , www.soundcloud.com, and www.youtube.com many of todays underground and indie artists use these sites as portals to their material. Using social media portals is now today the leading way to distribute your music to consumers. As a developer I believe it’s important for my artists to self market, promote and distribute material via social media. If the artist can build a great site or link to his/her material it will be easier for the artist to prove a fan base when seeking a position at a label. This also can help save face with a label when they inquire about your ability to independently promote yourself. A great example of an artist who self promotes well is soulja boi, he had YouTube videos of his material as well as a very active and heavily followed twitter page.

Artist having an online presence can positively increase the opportunities for distribution. Effectively distributing music can also be improved by finding an online distribution partner. There are hundreds of retailers, commercial and independent that can help artists effectively distribute their material. To conclude, social media has become the leading and future of distribution, and an artist with a healthy online presence can easily increase opportunities for distribution.

Reference:

Social Media and Music Distribution: An Online Presence may lead to success in sell

Copy it Right! 2012 legal controversies exposed.

2012-05-06T20:15:00.002-07:00

Copy it Right! 2012 legal controversies exposed.

1. In 2012 there have been various legal controversies that have made their way into the news spotlight. The first is the copyright case dealing with Oracle and Google. Oracle owners of the Sun Microsystems which cost them 7.4 billion dollars, is suing google for copyright infringement against androids mobile platform which they say was part of the creative work that went into the Sun Microsystems Java platform. Micheal Jacobs attorney for Oracle expressed that the copied system information took a lot of talent and creativity, hence why they are taking the claim so seriously. Googles attorney Robert Van Nest let it be known that it was Sun who supported android and that it wasn’t until they failed in their own efforts as a company did they decide to bring the lawsuit to light.

In this case its very hard to actually decide who is wrong and who is right, seeing that with this stipulation of the case, Oracle was involved in androids build up, and android is directly connected to google and always has been, so of course if google is part of androids system then it would be necessary for android to function as it has been. They should have been more careful though and actually copyrighted or asked permission for all parts of the system that they did not create when Sun Microsystems was bought out.

Read the Article here.

Article by: Dan Livine (Reuters)

2. Google seems to be having a rough year, in another case dealing with its video site You Tube. You Tube is facing a huge royalty case after losing a legal bout with German regional courts. They are dealing with this situation due to YouTube not being able to control the upload of copyrighted material. GEMA in a statement projected that YouTube is completely capable of appropriately protecting their creative works. YouTube argued that it was not responsible for the content users uploaded, but in the end the court did not agree saying they were not doing enough to prevent users from uploading the videos.

In this case, it is very difficult to chose a side in a sense of logic. Logically, users can upload anything they want technically. But still YouTube is responsible for monitoring activity. They also should have made more haste in fixing the situation due to reports that there was content being uploaded that was in violation of copyright law.

Read here

3. In the final article, we look at the case of the Drug Abuse Resistance charity who used photographer David Hoffmans images for two of its websites. The 19 images were covered in the DAR charities crown copyright and were for use on the site, but the charity at the time of asking for permissions did not receive rights to spread the images abroad, though they had been offered the opportunity. Seeing they did not take the opportunity initially, it became an issue of permissions when the images turned up on two more of the parent sites websites. The company simply thinking it was OK to use the images is not a feasible defense. The infringement becomes relevant once the fact no permissions were given is stated and a case is easy to seek.

It is very easy to see the infringement of copyright in this case. It’s a simple case of giving permission that is not there. Seeing the company had the opportunity to give permissions from the beginning and turned down the offer makes it even more of a case. Meaning they group knew that the permissions had not been given seeing they had been offered.

Author: Olivier Laurent

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2141623/photographer-wins-copyright-infringement

Check out the full story

Artist Development in Action-1st Artist

2012-04-22T15:39:00.001-07:00

Recently i just started working with my first artist Mr. Dejon a radio dj from Charlotte NC. He is extremely talented, and is far more developed than he thinks he is. He is very powerful on the radio, as well as on the microphone. He just is needing to understand a few pointers: 1. As an artist he must be willing to reach out some himself as well as through me. He is very uneducated in the business of entertainment like many, he understands his performance, but not his business. 2. As a artist he can not be afraid to learn who he is and present that artist to others.

1. He is completely dependent on his developer/manager to present all the business to him, as well as handle all his business. He has to gain an understanding of industry practices on his own before he solely relies on a developer to make all his decisions for him. As a developer i could easily take advantage of this and play him into my field and make great money off of him and he be completely clueless to this. He needs to educate himself on legal practices, as well as how money is made and paid before trying to move completely into the entertainment field.

2. He has to learn and understand who he is as an artist before he can present himself. He has presented himself well as a radio personality, but its just that, a personality. He has not yet found a way to understand who he is as an artist so that his brand is evident. Knowing who you are as a brand and selling it, is extremely important. It's like buying toothpaste with a weird name you have never heard of and guessing that it will protect against tartar and gingivitis. Instead of buying crest complete and knowing that through its advertisement will protect against cavities, tartar, gingivitis, and bad breath. Its the same as an artist with a brand, I know that "this guy" is funny and likes radio, but Mr. Dejon i know is hilarious, has great guest discussions on his show, and is completely hilarious when it comes to guests who call into the show. It's all about your brand and who you are and what you are offering to your public.

As my first artist, i am learning to understand the mentality of the "new artist" and the questions and concerns they have. Their pre-conceived thoughts and understandings make it easy to understand why they may seem a little uptight and worrisome when it comes to making decisions, but just as my job is to make them POP as an artist, they depend just as much on me to make that POP more explosive. My advice to new artists is to take your time and understand yourself, even if it takes time in sitting down with your developer or manager and blue printing who you are. My advice to new developer/managers , patience is a virtue that must be practiced well.

Thanks Alot

#D'vel

Priorities?? oh..yeah. Those.

2012-04-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

Where are your priorities as an artist? Are you the kind of performer who looks for opportunities, or wait to hear on opportunities to appear? You must take the time to research the different possibilites to promote your craft.

In my class this week, we did an assesment on the Creedence Clearwater Revival. As an aspiring manager artist developer i noticed alot of basic mistakes the group made. They didn't take their financial situation serious at all, nor did they take the time to make sure all the work they created was assesible by them. There were various options they could have explored for them to become more successful in reaching their goals. Had they had better managment it would have been easier.

You as an artist must cover all fronts, or your career could potentially be

Interview Blog for Negotiation Class

2012-03-18T15:10:00.001-07:00

Interview with a Pro Party Girl

For our assignment this week we were instructed to create a blog post of an interview with someone in our chosen field of the entertainment business. I have many areas of focus within my chosen field or artist management and promotions. I decided to focus on the promotions portion of my field.

For my interview I decided to interview the girl I’m working under as a sort of intern. Her name is Lisa Kelly, she is a local party promoter for several clubs in the area. Mainly focusing on the EDM (electro dance music) scene, she is known for making the slowest nights at a club, the largest and most hype. I currently am under her as the twitter personality for the clubs Wednesday night EDM party, promoting through twitter, which automatically goes to other social portals such as Facebook and tumblr. Our interview was done in sections as we don’t have many opportunities to actually speak during the week except for Wednesdays and Fridays, and even then it’s a very hustle and bustle environment.

In my interview sessions I asked about two of the most important issues dealing with negotiating, in my eyes. When it comes to promotions and parties how do the roles of each person coincide with one another?

-In her response she stated that the role of each person is just that, a role for that one person, your role is to update and send tweets, my role is to advertise as well but mainly to secure the venue for each week. The role of the club owner is to supply our demand and gain from what we are trying to accomplish-.

This brought me to my next question and point, mutual benefit, how important is this in a negotiation?

-When negotiating on club and party venues, it’s easy to lose focus of the fact that you are not the only one benefiting from the event. Our goal as the promotions team is to gain more followers/partiers for our EDM night, while the goal of the owner is to gain more patrons in general. It’s a mutual benefit, we both gain followers, reviews, and revenue. As an intern you don’t gain revenue, but you gain free entry and free orders at the bar, that’s your mutual benefit because you bring us new faces every week who bring in revenue for the EDM night team and the owner of the bar.

These two concepts of role and mutual benefit are the most important when dealing with this type of scene, we spoke more on a few other issues but as stated our time was short as far as interviewing. But great insight! Cant wait to discuss more.

Liabilities can kiss my Assets

2012-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

LOL, You like the title huh?

In the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it is explained how the key to becoming rich is to spend money on your assets instead of liabilities. Liabilities are the things you spend money on, that don't bring funds back into your pocket. Assets are investments you put your money into and expect annually to get money back. It kind of reminds me of the music industry, so many artists in the world, but not all of them are signed. Why? Because everyone is not an asset to a label, not everyone is a 360 artist. Many artist don't understand the business, and why they don't simply sign a good artist. Labels are not going to sign an artist who is going to bring them below average income, that makes the artist a liability. The liability factor is one reason why development in the industry has come to a screeching hault. Labels do not have time to invest money into making an artist a money maker, they expect an artist to have a following that will solidify revenue predictions when signing them. Companies no longer spend X amount of dollars to turn an artist into a 360 deal, they must already be "IT" when they present themselves to a label or are asked to join. No one wants to be held liable for bringing in an artist who isn't producing revenue, and only serving AS a liability to the company. Thats just how the cookie crumbles my friend. :-/

Wheres my money!!!!....going?:-|>

2012-02-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

In attempting to put together the future leading company of artist development, it is necessary to have the proper facilities to push this project forward. Initially for my company whose initials are CD, it has to be understood the timeline of productions which include facility logistics. In the beginning, the company will run from a base office for its left brain projects, that include the legal, technical, and relations logistics of Artist development. The performance area will take place in local art institution studios where we will rent out spaces to rehearse, record and perform. This expense has been calculated at about $600 per month for 11 months, until we have gain enough revenue and fund raised enough to pay for the building of our base operating facility.

"Every building project has a mixture of money you put into it (equity) and money borrowed form a bank (debt).

The decision to purchase a building comes down to two issues:

whether the artists/group has enough money (equity) for the initial down payment;
whether the artists/group can convince potential lenders that it will have sufficient cash each month to pay mortgage (debt service) and the operating costs."

(artistLink.org)

In an article on artistlink.org , they explain how 80-90% of the financing for a project is obtainable, but those lenders you contact will expect you to have some of your own money when it comes to the project, this money is labeled as equity. The money required is the down payment, the initial amount that will jump start your payments before your loan. Paying a larger amount makes your re-payment lower in the future. But if you are trying to maximize on your income tax deductions, this is not good because it lowers your interest costs.

When financing you have to consider: Construction financing as well as permanent financing. Construction financing is not permanent seeing it is only dealing in the building of the facilities. Risks with Construction financing are labor risks, contractor search, weather, supplier issues as well as poor planning and management. With these risks of construction financing companies offer, short-term, higher interest rates, staged disbursements...etc.

With Permanent financing, the lender must feel secure that the company will produce a sufficient revenue to maintain property value, this includes operating and maintenance costs through out the loans time frame.

These are only a few of the main issues that must be understood when financing your development firm, to get a deeper understanding please read the article on construction and permanent financing of space on www.artistlink.org.

TED.com-Patsy Rodenburn-"Why i do Theater"

2012-01-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

In Patsy Rodenburgs speaking on why she does theater, its seen very well how her reasons can be tied into my career path. She talks about reality and passion in a series of stories she has experienced. She talks about artists she has met, and workshops. She speaks of the second circle, which is dealing with presence. Presence is important, just as actors and playwrights. She explains that actors and playwrights were holders of the truth.

She speaks of "teeth and tit" actors, from what i gain from this is basically BS gigs that aspiring actors pick up on their way to their desired place in the industry. She breaks down how actors are the people who give you presence. Presence is very important in peoples lives. Presence on stage is truth, to be able to present truth to those who may ignore it or not acknowledge it is a greater gift than the actual ability to perform.

She speaks about a man, whom of which him and his wife did not enjoy a past speaking she had done. As she spoke at another function he watched her in disgust almost which made her uncomfortable. But at the end of her speaking she met the man, and he explained why he was not to fond of her speech. She spoke of a noise that was made when another woman speaking before her explained how her son killed himself. She asked him why this disturbed him, and he replied its the same noise he made when he found out that his daughter had been sexually assaulted. This startled her because he had made himself present to the issue, knowing she would understand as an actor.

In performing, making yourself present to truth is very important, to gain an understanding and connection to your audience. Presence can make or break an experience, and in performing a stage presence is just as important as a presence of reality, because all in all, they are both the same.

Thanks.

Public Relations-PRSA

2012-01-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

The PRSA is an organization that brings to the forefront the essentials of Public Relations practicum.

Why am i interested? In the field i am pursuing, Artist Development and Relations, it is important to understand the ethics and practices of the Public relations ring. Understanding the practices of networking, professional recognition, industry education, and intelligence.

The company focuses on the main practices within their respective categories, my focus which is in Entertainment, is categorized under their Entertainment and Sports Sub category. They provide in-person and virtual networking events that allow those practicing in public relations to develop PR and Management skills that are able to be used directly within their respective paradigms.

The Entertainment and Sports sub-category provides information such as podcast, and newsletters which can provide essential information. They also provide a networking section, so you can connect and review or even work with others within your field.

The PRSA is a great resource for growing workers within the various realms of entertainment. It may serve well within my personal development in Artist development and relations.

Customer Service...and im not talking wal-mart.

2011-09-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

So you walk in wal-mart and you ask the greeter where is the milk? She replies, "somewhere over there". Great definition of bad customer service. As an artist, especially an indy artist, you have to have great customer service. A lot of times artist take for granted that their talents are not the only thing that make them marketable. But in this we see that there are two types of public relations: Good and Bad. The good type of public relations include communicating with your fan base with a "inclusive We" view point and making them feel as if they CAN communicate with you. Treating them with positive feedback and positive growth on your end can give you the best following resulting in a continuous flow of support. The bad type of public relations include making yourself marketable through rants and raves on a negative note. For example, we have a striving young artist who grew up a teenage heart throb and was gaining wonderful sales and support, who then became a man who gains his following from ill written rants on social websites, and the abuse of his former spouse. This is a bad way to market yourself, because before you were gaining followers through your positive actions, now you may have lost some followers of your craft and only gained a paparazzi. Its always good to have followers, everyone has them on twitter, but its one thing to be a follower and an active follower. You can gain a following, but are they actively bringing your maximum earning potential? The key to successfully marketing your entertainment lies solely in the connection between your brand and your entertainment proposition your audience cares for(MSLG). In short, your connection with your audience is what makes you marketable. But the question that stands, will you remain profitable?

Top Ten Music PR tips for Todays Unsigned Artist

Yes...can i get my artist "well done" please?

2011-09-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

In 2011, we look at a plethora of artists out in the music and entertainment business. They all are offering one of 2 things. A hit record, or a pretty face. This is what we know today as "the business". What is really going on? Why are there a huge amount of one hit wonders, or repeat and copy cat artists? The answer is simply this, the lack of artist development. This laziness within the industry is causing the scene to become very monotonous and repetitious as far as artists go. Where is the substance in an artist now a days? Every song ive heard in the last 3 months whether it be radio play, or a night life venue has been the same concept. A lot of artists are taking the easy road out and just doing what the last guy did, and making it a hit. The craze right now is bass bumping dance music with a house, trance feel. This is ok in some eyes because the artists are making money and they have a fan base, but the fan base is general. A general Fan base is seen when the current times within the industry are reflected in the wide range spectrum of music that is being released. Artists need their own fan base, this is why most artists are one hit wonders or low income artists. Many artists come out of no where now a days, no mixtape, no twitter, no kind of marketing or advertisement. Just a pretty face and a nice song, and everyone falls in love with him/her for the next 2 months until the song is played out. Owen Husney breaks down this scenario very well in a segment called The reality of Artist Development. He explains how record companies dont take the time to develop artists anymore. It costs too much to put an artist out and let them grow, instead industry heads just want them to be the hottest thing out as soon as they are released.
*Owen Husney is a musician, artist manager, and concert promoter based in Minneapolis*