“The ego is not master in its own house.”

- Sigmund Freud

The BET Awards just wrapped up and everybody has an opinion on it.

Everybody.

Whether you loved it or hated it though (there’s FAR too much blatant negativity, without real basis, online), I will say that I give respect to any staff that has 3 days to scramble and re-arrange an event that took them months to set up.

Was it the best show they’ve ever done?

No.

Was it the worst show they’ve ever done?

No.

It was a decent production – especially given the fact that they had to reformat the entire scheduling in such a short timeframe. (After speaking to several people who were in attendance, apparently, the live show was actually incredible.)

I think the main reason why most people were hating on the BET Awards this year, is because after the tragic news of Michael Jackson’s passing, the awards were hyped as a “Michael Jackson Tribute Show” – which changed everyone’s expectations.

If it weren’t hyped as a “Michael Jackson Tribute Show”, then it probably wouldn’t have received such harsh criticism. (Janet’s appearance was major though. And definitely very brave on her part.)

With that said, one of the rumors about the “tribute show” was that Chris Brown was scheduled to perform as part of the tribute.

People were skeptical, due to the obvious legal issues he’s been having, however there’s no denying that he would have put on an INCREDIBLE show.

He’s a great singer and an incredible dancer. That’s what people really wanted to see!

Chris Brown didn’t end up performing though. Apparently, he was pulled due to some circumstances that I’m sure will be uncovered over the next few days.

But heyyyy… this is the internet. We can always add things on here!

So anyways, here are 2 clips of what I (and pretty much everybody else) was hoping to see when thinking about a “tribute”:

*Sidenote: Anybody see my tweet show up on TV during the BET wrapup? lol.

Last year, I featured the big homie, Bu; co-CEO of Konvict Muzik.

Not only did that feature get some attention, but a lot of people started asking for more information about him, his ventures and his everyday life.

Well, Bu decided it was time, and so he recently joined Twitter & launched his own YouTube channel.

Make sure to subscribe to his updates on both sites, as he’s going to be offering some insight into his life as a young music executive.

Bu on Twitter
Bu on YouTube

I see you homie!

The homie EL Johnson just interviewed me for his site, Mogul Monologues – a business lifestyle blog for the young professional.

Check below for an excerpt:

Name: Moe Arora
Age: Twenty-Something
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec
Company: Rockstar Branded
Pet Peeve: Egos and Music Snobs
Life Goal: To positively influence others based on my example.

Since you live in Montreal, how are you able to connect with so much clientele in the US?

Two words: technology & travel.

Right now it’s incredibly accessible to work from anywhere in the world. Especially as a consultant.

I don’t have to have face-to-face meetings all the time, but I have a US phone number which makes it incredibly convenient for my US clients to call me as if I worked just down the street from them.

Once in a while, if my client is set up for it, we’ll also have video meetings via iChat or Skype. This way, we’re able to talk face-to-face, in a certain respect, and bridge that gap even more.

I also travel when needed. If I have several clients in one city or I have one major client in a city, I’ll make a trip to go there so we can sit down and just break bread. I don’t travel all the time, but I make trips every now and then.

If you never meet the people you work with, they’re still just that person behind the screen, or that voice on the other end of the phone. Once you connect with people in person, you know their facial expressions, their sense of humour, how they carry themselves, their confidence levels – you just know their presence.

Plus, you get to have real experiences with them. These things make it so much easier to work with someone from a distance. And in all honesty, it’s sometimes even better that I don’t live in the same city as most of my clients. This way, we have a friendly distance to be able to work independently without that constant interference that hinders creativity and productivity.

And when we do get together in person – it’s always an event! We make good use of that time. Those experiences help strengthen your bond.

What would you say are some of the pitfalls of your business? feel free to share a story with us if you have one.

Particularly to Rockstar Branded; it’s been a little difficult to expand and accept more clients. With the nature of this business, you have to be careful with who you trust.

Everybody says they want to work in the music business, but 9 out of 10 really just like the idea of it more than they actually want to do it.

People like Russell Simmons & Diddy, have really popularized the concept of being an entrepreneur and a businessman in the music business.

They made it “cool”. Because of that, we have a flood of what I call “Diddy 2.0s”. They say they want to work in the business, but they’re more obsessed with the idea of attaining all the televised benefits of being a celebrity, without needing the musical ability of being an artist.

They just want to be fly.

This mentality is a serious problem – and the people who have it, make it more difficult for the real cats who are coming up in the business to be taken seriously.

So with my own business, it’s been a little difficult to expand my team, because I have to filter out the people who are serious from the people who are just idealizing it.

Another problem is getting paid properly.

Artists, management teams and labels will do whatever they can, just to get you on board with them; but once you agree and you’ve already invested time and resources to them, things start getting sloppy. They won’t fulfill their responsibilities, they’ll begin taking you for granted and they’ll ALWAYS have an excuse to delay payment.

Some of them will wait until you bring it up, then they’ll act like it just slipped their mind and offer more excuses to delay it.

We’ve found ways to avoid this from happening, but it still happens.

I just find it hilariously ironic when artists brag about how much money they have in their music and then call me complaining about how they can’t afford to pay.

Click here to read the rest of the interview where I discuss Rockstar Branded, a typical workday, things you may not know about me and advice for other aspiring professionals

Also, don’t forget to let me know what you think.

One of the biggest questions every artist, manager & label rep asks themselves on a daily basis is, “how can we further connect with our fans?”

Amongst all the teams out there, one of the best examples I can think of (and one whom I mention in nearly every meeting) is Ryan Leslie.

From his initial YouTube videos, to his MySpace push, to his Twitter profile and blog – he’s consistently shown that he’s one of the very few, that truly does “get it”.

Last night, R. Les posted a message on Twitter, telling fans he would purchase & autograph an iPod for any fans that met him at the 24-hour Apple Store in NYC in the next 15 minutes.

And he kept his word.

Peep the video:

Love him or hate him, ever since 50 Cent first launched his media channel, ThisIs50.com,  nearly every other artist ran to launch their own Ning site in hopes of copying his success.

While others are frantically trying to emulate ThisIs50.com, the man behind the site and its success, Chris “Broadway” Romero, is continuing to move on and break new grounds.

Broadway was recently interviewed by TechZulu, where he offered some insight into the success and motivation of ThisIs50.com.

Watch the video below:

[via TechZulu]

Here we are – another Monday morning and the start of a new week.

Many people loathe Mondays, and it’s very common to get stuck in our habits and forget why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Most of us say that we’re working towards financial freedom and the ability to take care of ourselves, our families and our loved ones.

That’s an highly respectable goal to have – and one that I believe most of us share.

But does it stop there?

What about giving back and helping bring positive change to your community?

Where does that fit into your plan?

As we start this new week, and new month, I want to share a video with you that puts you directly into that situation.

It’s an incredibly inspiring video from Fox’s “The Secret Millionaire” in which 26 year old self-made, multi-millionaire, Gurbaksh Chahal, moves into a poor neighborhood and mingles with the locals to learn their stories and how he can help.

A quick heads up; this video is broken down into 4 parts and is about 40 minutes all together. So, if you’re at work or in class, just remember to watch this when you’re free.

You’ll be thankful that you did.

Part 1/4

Part 2/4

Part 3/4

Part 4/4

Click here to watch other episodes from “The Secret Millionaire”

Yesterday, Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, wrote an article for The Huffington Post discussing how piracy has effected content business’ (music, movies, books, newspapers, etc).

While this is an overly exhausted debate, I feel the need to share this article with you guys.

He starts of with a statement that made me cringe:

… I was on a panel the other day which opened with a question about the impact of the Internet on the entertainment business, and I responded, “I’m a guy who sees nothing good having come from the Internet. Period.”

I almost closed the browser when I read that, but I guess he was just trying to spark a flame.

He continued:

… Contrast the expansion of the Internet with what happened a half century ago. In the 1950’s, the Eisenhower Administration undertook one of the most massive infrastructure projects in our nation’s history — the creation of the Interstate Highway System. It completely transformed how we did business, traveled, and conducted our daily lives. But unlike the Internet, the highways were built and operated with a set of rational guidelines. Guard rails went along dangerous sections of the road. Speed and weight limits saved lives and maintenance costs. And officers of the law made sure that these rules were obeyed. As a result, as interstates flourished, so did the economy. According to one study, over the course of its first four decades of existence, the Interstate Highway System was responsible for fully one-quarter of America’s productivity growth.

We can replicate that kind of success with the Internet more easily if we do more to encourage the productivity of the creative engines of our society — the artists, actors, writers, directors, singers and other holders of intellectual property rights — yes, including the movie studios, which help produce and distribute entertainment to billions of people worldwide.

But, without standards of commerce and more action against piracy, the intellectual property of humankind will be subject to infinite exploitation on the Internet. How many people will be as motivated to write a book or a song, or make a movie if they know it is going to be immediately stolen from them and offered to the world with no compensation whatsoever? And how many people whose work is connected with those creative industries — the carpenters, drivers, food service workers, and thousands of others — will lose their jobs as piracy robs their business of resources?

Internet users have become used to getting things when they want it and how they want it, and those of us in the entertainment business want to meet that kind of demand as efficiently and effectively as possible. But what has happened online is that if it is ‘beyond store hours’ and the shop is closed, a lot of people just smash the window and steal what they want. Freedom without restraint is chaos, and if we don’t figure out some way to prevent online chaos, the quantity, quality and availability of the kinds of entertainment, literature, art and scholarship we need to have a healthy, vibrant culture will suffer.

So what CAN we do then?

How can the music business survive, when everything is being stolen?

“Eff the music business, man! It’s what’s wrong with the world today. It killed the freedom of true artistic expression, dude!”

Please sit down, you hippie.

This isn’t about “real music” versus “diluted mainstream crap”. We can debate about artistry, and art vs commerce, and all that – but let’s stop using that as a bullshit excuse to justify pirating.

I’m not sure what the solution is, but I’m a firm believer in the “practice what you preach” mentality – and I still purchase music and movies – both digital and physical (hey.. I’m nostalgic, okay). Plus, I would hate to be part of the demise of an industry that employs me, or part of the reason that the world never gets to experience future music legends.

Bob Marley. Michael Jackson. Elvis Presley. Marvin Gaye. Aretha Franklin. The Beatles. 2pac. Bach. Ray Charles.

These are some of the legends we already know – because there was an industry in place to push them out to the world. But if we don’t find a way to support the industry now; the next greats will never get further than his/her own basement.

[Read Michael Lynton's full article on The Huffington Post]

(Note: I’m not arguing for the current model. Of course not. I’m simply questioning the future of the business if we don’t find a way to financially support its continuation.)

It’s been a minute since I’ve updated my blog, but that doesn’t mean I forgot about you guys.

My workload has been crazier than usual lately, but it should be calmed down again after this week…

Hopefully.

Anyhow, I just wanted to give you guys a quick update, since many thought I was M.I.A and a few started putting my pic on milk cartons. I’m still here, just busy – but things are calming down again, so I’ll post more often.

Also, one more thing:

I’m often asked how many social networking sites I’m on & how many accounts I have; since I seem to be opening new accounts almost daily. While, I admit that I do join new sites often, I mainly do so just to test them out and see what they’re all about, their potential, etc. There are very few of these sites that I actually bother sticking with.

Still though, I decided it would be a good idea to keep all my links in one location. So, I updated my homepage, MoeArora.com,with links to my main accounts on different social networking sites and my 2 blogs.

Yes, 2 blogs.

I have this one, MakingTheMogul.com, which focuses on my journey in the business side of the music business, and I also have a Tumblr blog – which I’ve been using more often nowadays.

My Tumblr blog a.k.a blogaveli.com is mostly for daily ramblings and other content I feel like sharing (funny videos, interesting links, throwback songs, etc). Check me out there & if you’re on Tumblr, make sure to add me.

I’ll update MoeArora.com with other links when I find myself distracted intrigued by another site.

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”.

- Og Mandino