I have been involved with music my entire life, and have dabbled in various facets of the entertainment industry. The most precious part of this journey had been as a disc jockey since I was around 15 years of age. I want to go further into the industry beyond just as a dj, so I have been seriously contemplating starting my own artist management company.
The main reason for this decision is that no one else will represent me, or at least take me as seriously as I have thought this out. Since I have a Bachelor’s degree in Music Business/Audio Technology, I am about to complete my Masters degree in Entertainment Business as well. Both of these degrees along with my industry experience should help a lot in building relationships with others in the industry.
I realize that there are many legs to this monstrous spider called the Music Industry, but it is somewhat intimidating to figure out exactly where I should start. I have some interests in Tour Management, Artist Booking, and Concert Promotion. The live entertainment business is bigger than it probably has ever been, and there is nothing more exciting than a great concert. As a dj, I have been somewhat involved in all of these divisions of the industry, so the choices definitely are widespread to say the least.
I’m hopeful that I will be able to keep in touch with other students at Full Sail University once I graduate next month, and even possibly create an artist management business with a few of them. I am now looking at companies that I may be able to intern with, and try to put myself in a good position for solidifying my entertainment career. For all of my visitors that come to my blog, I would appreciate any suggestions that you may have for this topic.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Expert Views On The Value Of Business Plans II
Continuing from my last post about this topic, I have had some time to ponder this information thoroughly. I have a better idea now on how I would be able to incorporate the value of a business plan into my own company. With the first key element mentioned previously, I already have a proper business name for my company in place. I am not going to mention its name yet, because I have not copy written or trademarked it yet.
It is extremely important to have the right name matching the right business, because it will not confuse anybody who comes across it, and furthermore it lets you know exactly what the business is about. I believe that my business name does let you know what it is about easily. The second thing that I plan to implement is a logo that is simple and straight to the point. There are a few ideas that I have in my mind for my logo, but I am trying to narrow those choices down.
The next important step for my business is, to create a slogan that will resonate with my potential consumers and pull them in. The slogan is being developed at the same time of my logo, so I am trying to get those things narrowed down to my best choices also. There are four sections of my business plan that I feel are the most important which are; 1) Target Customers, 2) Market Readiness, 3) Competition, and 4) Barriers to Entry.
These sections are the most important to investors, because it is getting to the point of whom your business will be going after and why. The market being ready for my company is important as well, because the figures that I have found tells me that there’s a market for my product. The competition section lets the investor know that I have thoroughly researched who my company is up against, and what barriers new companies may face in this market.
It is extremely important to have the right name matching the right business, because it will not confuse anybody who comes across it, and furthermore it lets you know exactly what the business is about. I believe that my business name does let you know what it is about easily. The second thing that I plan to implement is a logo that is simple and straight to the point. There are a few ideas that I have in my mind for my logo, but I am trying to narrow those choices down.
The next important step for my business is, to create a slogan that will resonate with my potential consumers and pull them in. The slogan is being developed at the same time of my logo, so I am trying to get those things narrowed down to my best choices also. There are four sections of my business plan that I feel are the most important which are; 1) Target Customers, 2) Market Readiness, 3) Competition, and 4) Barriers to Entry.
These sections are the most important to investors, because it is getting to the point of whom your business will be going after and why. The market being ready for my company is important as well, because the figures that I have found tells me that there’s a market for my product. The competition section lets the investor know that I have thoroughly researched who my company is up against, and what barriers new companies may face in this market.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Expert Views On The Value Of Business Plans
I had just read the stories about restaurant gurus Bobby Flay and Steve Ells, and I must say it is truly inspirational to know how these men have succeeded in their field. I have known about Bobby Flay for a few years now and he really seems to know his stuff. Steve Ells on the other hand I did not know about, because I was not aware that he founded the Chipotle restaurant. It is amazing that Steve Ells started his business with an $85,000 loan from his father, and was able to get Chipotle off the ground.
According to Bobby Flay’s personal website (www.bobbyflay.com), he’s been in the culinary field since he was 17 years old which is astonishing to say the least. I can appreciate the fact that he owns more than one successful restaurant, and has been on three successful television shows as well. It seems that each project that he has been a part of is more successful than the previous one.
According to Forbes Magazine’s website (http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ells/19160), he is a graduate from my alma mater the University of Colorado. He got his start at Stars Restaurant in San Francisco and had worked for two years there. He realized early on that food should not be of a low quality or be ridiculously expensive. This is the backdrop to how Chipotle was born (Forbes, 2012).
It was amazing to learn that Chipotle has grown from a single restaurant to well over 1,000 restaurants in 17 years. All of this from a single vision of believing that good food should be affordable and tasty. Bobby Flay has really developed a true sense of what southwestern food is all about, and you can tell that he knows what it takes to create it from scratch. There were some very interesting key points of what investors look for in a business.
The first key element in a successful business plan is the name of the company. If a name does not match the company, then consumers will be confused about the business and probably will not be customers of that business for long.
I had not really thought about it before, but if a name is offensive then it will turn off certain demographics of potential customers.
Picking a proper name to represent the owner and the business is very important. The next key element that I found was important was the logo that a company chooses to represent itself. The name should be easy to read and without it being all jumbled up together. I have seen some places where I could not read the name of the business no matter how hard I had tried.
I agree that a logo should be simple and straight forward, and it should be easy to pronounce as well. The slogan that the company goes by should really hit home with what the business is all about too. The concept of the slogan is equally as important as the other key elements in a successful business plan.
The slogan needs to catch the consumer’s attention and be easy to remember too. Investors want to know where their money is going, and more importantly how much of a payback that they will receive in return. I can understand now how an ROI ( Return On Investment ) can be so important to an investor without a doubt. All of these elements are key in a business’s success, because being marketable is what truly captures a consumer’s attention.
Without a good marketing plan, the business is doomed from the outset. The company must have a strong team-oriented environment and possessing good leadership skills are critical. The owner of the business must show investors that he/she is willing to take risks and to bounce back from any failure. It is important for the owner to prove to himself or herself and to the investors that they are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.
Sources:
http://www.bobbyflay.com/bobby-flay.php
http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ells/19160
http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/chipotle_story/steves_story/steves_story.aspx
According to Bobby Flay’s personal website (www.bobbyflay.com), he’s been in the culinary field since he was 17 years old which is astonishing to say the least. I can appreciate the fact that he owns more than one successful restaurant, and has been on three successful television shows as well. It seems that each project that he has been a part of is more successful than the previous one.
According to Forbes Magazine’s website (http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ells/19160), he is a graduate from my alma mater the University of Colorado. He got his start at Stars Restaurant in San Francisco and had worked for two years there. He realized early on that food should not be of a low quality or be ridiculously expensive. This is the backdrop to how Chipotle was born (Forbes, 2012).
It was amazing to learn that Chipotle has grown from a single restaurant to well over 1,000 restaurants in 17 years. All of this from a single vision of believing that good food should be affordable and tasty. Bobby Flay has really developed a true sense of what southwestern food is all about, and you can tell that he knows what it takes to create it from scratch. There were some very interesting key points of what investors look for in a business.
The first key element in a successful business plan is the name of the company. If a name does not match the company, then consumers will be confused about the business and probably will not be customers of that business for long.
I had not really thought about it before, but if a name is offensive then it will turn off certain demographics of potential customers.
Picking a proper name to represent the owner and the business is very important. The next key element that I found was important was the logo that a company chooses to represent itself. The name should be easy to read and without it being all jumbled up together. I have seen some places where I could not read the name of the business no matter how hard I had tried.
I agree that a logo should be simple and straight forward, and it should be easy to pronounce as well. The slogan that the company goes by should really hit home with what the business is all about too. The concept of the slogan is equally as important as the other key elements in a successful business plan.
The slogan needs to catch the consumer’s attention and be easy to remember too. Investors want to know where their money is going, and more importantly how much of a payback that they will receive in return. I can understand now how an ROI ( Return On Investment ) can be so important to an investor without a doubt. All of these elements are key in a business’s success, because being marketable is what truly captures a consumer’s attention.
Without a good marketing plan, the business is doomed from the outset. The company must have a strong team-oriented environment and possessing good leadership skills are critical. The owner of the business must show investors that he/she is willing to take risks and to bounce back from any failure. It is important for the owner to prove to himself or herself and to the investors that they are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.
Sources:
http://www.bobbyflay.com/bobby-flay.php
http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ells/19160
http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/chipotle_story/steves_story/steves_story.aspx
Thursday, January 19, 2012
War On Entertainment
In a recent tidal wave of political fighting, the new flavor of the day has been aimed against the entertainment industry by greedy lawmakers. There has been a great deal of talk recently about how to fight against online piracy and illegally downloading music and movies. File sharing is nothing new, and I find it hilarious that these lawmakers are making it seem like it is.
I think many people must have forgotten that file sharing started much earlier than in the 1990s, and bands that had created a following as a result of it like Metallica must have suffered amnesia as a result. The original file sharing has been going on since the days of Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock, when people would record the shows on cassette tape and share it with other music lovers. Companies like Sony, Maxell, and others made probably billions of dollars from the sales of blank VHS, CD, and DVD discs.
None of these items were sold with the intention of a music or movie fan just sitting at home enjoying it in solitude. Music and movies were meant to be shared with the public and it is absurd that the government now wants to crack down on online piracy. All of us have downloaded or obtained music and movies legally or illegally at one time, or another. Where do people think mix tapes originated?
I had read an article on the website Mashable (www.mashable.com), where the topic of course spoke about this very thing dealing with online piracy. The interesting thing about the article was that it mentioned that countries like China have been illegally downloading music and movies for decades. I am sure that everything that has happened in the United States has already blown over in other parts of the world.
According to Christina Warren, first run movies hit the streets of China before they are ever seen in the local theaters (Warren, 2012). This has been going on since the beginning of the Entertainment industry. The real pirates that are downloading and selling intellectual property illegally are going to continue doing so regardless of what our country feels about it. Most of the people that are complaining about this stuff has already made their millions of dollars, so there really isn’t any harm being done to them.
The real harm is to the consumer who suffers from non-accessibility to their favorite band or actor. The result has always been the same whether the material was received legally or not. The consumer has always been the backbone of this industry and we all need to remember that. There has not been one musician or actor that has had success in entertainment without some illegal file sharing of some sort as an added help.
Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/18/sopa-and-pipa-wont-stop-piracy/
I think many people must have forgotten that file sharing started much earlier than in the 1990s, and bands that had created a following as a result of it like Metallica must have suffered amnesia as a result. The original file sharing has been going on since the days of Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock, when people would record the shows on cassette tape and share it with other music lovers. Companies like Sony, Maxell, and others made probably billions of dollars from the sales of blank VHS, CD, and DVD discs.
None of these items were sold with the intention of a music or movie fan just sitting at home enjoying it in solitude. Music and movies were meant to be shared with the public and it is absurd that the government now wants to crack down on online piracy. All of us have downloaded or obtained music and movies legally or illegally at one time, or another. Where do people think mix tapes originated?
I had read an article on the website Mashable (www.mashable.com), where the topic of course spoke about this very thing dealing with online piracy. The interesting thing about the article was that it mentioned that countries like China have been illegally downloading music and movies for decades. I am sure that everything that has happened in the United States has already blown over in other parts of the world.
According to Christina Warren, first run movies hit the streets of China before they are ever seen in the local theaters (Warren, 2012). This has been going on since the beginning of the Entertainment industry. The real pirates that are downloading and selling intellectual property illegally are going to continue doing so regardless of what our country feels about it. Most of the people that are complaining about this stuff has already made their millions of dollars, so there really isn’t any harm being done to them.
The real harm is to the consumer who suffers from non-accessibility to their favorite band or actor. The result has always been the same whether the material was received legally or not. The consumer has always been the backbone of this industry and we all need to remember that. There has not been one musician or actor that has had success in entertainment without some illegal file sharing of some sort as an added help.
Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/18/sopa-and-pipa-wont-stop-piracy/
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Vinyl vs. Serato Scratch Live Debate
There has been a
long standing battle in the hip hop dj world between what’s been considered
“real djing” versus “digital djing”, and there are djs who stand on both sides
of the fence on this decade long issue.
Vinyl records have been equally as important as the turntable itself in
the hip-hop world. Ever since the
inception of the Technic 1200 turntable in the late 1970s, hip-hop djs have
used only vinyl for their amazing party rocking events for years.
That all changed
around 2004, when a New Zealand company called Rane introduced a digital dj
software program called Serato Scratch Live Serato Scratch Live.
Serato had already been around since the late 1990s, but the Scratch
Live element brought a completely new twist on how djs manipulated sound with
vinyl records. I remember first hearing
about this program around 2006 when I was an undergrad at the University of
Colorado-Denver.
A fellow dj
classmate of mine told me about a program that uses mp3 files in the same way
vinyl has been used. I came from the
vinyl area and this sounded too good to be true, because of how new and
innovative that this idea was at that time.
I remember my friend taking me to his house so I could see this “Serato”
for myself, because I was just too skeptical about djing with mp3s on
turntables. In a dj’s mind, playing with
anything besides vinyl was absolute blasphemy in the highest form, and I was
determined to never let digital take over my dj talents.
Once I had overcome
my prejudice about this program, I eventually bought my own and began
experimenting with it at home. This was
a phenomenal experience for me, because I had been used to vinyl records all of
my life. I had only dealt with mp3s for
a few years before this on my home computer.
I also had been used to carrying 6-8 milk crates full of records up and
down stairs, hallways etc. for 10-15 years anyway.
To make a long
story short, this program actually made djing fun again for many people, and it
made travelling with your equipment much easier to haul around. Now all you need in order to dj a gig is to
have your turntables, mixer, laptop, and Serato itself.
There are still
some djs who refuse to use it, and even some that feel you have to earn it
through using vinyl records first. I
have included a video by a famed hip hop producer named DJ Premier who started
off with vinyl, but has since began using Serato Scratch Live as well. I agree 100% with the comments that he had
made in the video and I hope that others will understand vinyl’s importance in hip-hop.
At some point,
audio and digital would have had to meet in the music world, but I think
overall that this program was a blessing to djs worldwide. At the same time, there has been some
backlash from purists (myself included), who felt that “new school djs” needed
to know the history of djing before using Serato. There is unfortunately a misconception about
djs now, and that all you need to dj is a laptop and headphones.
Serato has been
both a blessing and a curse at the same time, but regardless of others views on
its worth, I am happy to now be a digital dj more than ever.
Sources: http://serato.com/about
http://hiphopwired.com/2011/10/20/dj-premier-breaks-down-vinyl-vs-serato-video/
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Online Music Distribution Problems For Start Up Companies
There was a very interesting article about digital distribution that I had read by way of www.cnet.com. The article spoke about potential problems that some starts up companies have faced in trying to distribute music online, and there were some good suggestions on how to improve it. According to Matt Rosoff, a service called Speak Heart allows artists to sell songs through the service’s digital store, and the artist has complete pricing discretion.
This pricing discretion is good on one hand, but on the other hand, the service keeps 25 cents per song sold by the artist. Another problem with a start up service like this one is that most mainstream artists already have their own distribution; so many unknown artists will continue to live in obscurity without any recognition (Rosoff, 2008). Most of these unknown artists are not able to build a fan base online, because their not being given the exposure that they need to break in.
A good suggestion that Rosoff mentioned about was to possibly have a mainstream artist featured on the site to help bring traffic. I believe this is probably what CDBaby and some other services have possibly done to breakthrough with unknown artists. Another service called eMusic had an advantage over Speak Heart, because it has been around for over 10 years already. Speak Heart was really knew, so the uphill battle for recognition was probably pretty steep.
The author mentioned some good advice for beginner artists that are trying to build their fan base. He said “ if you’re a beginning artist, I still think the best recipe for success is to give full downloadable samples away on your home page or MySpace, then sell your music through a service like CDBaby or Tune Core” (Rosoff, 2008). I am not sure how many artists have really taken heed to this kind of advice, but I believe it would help a lot of unknown artists become mainstream much easier.
Source:www.news.cnet.com/8301-13526-_3-9887085-27.html
