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

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/

My Idol DJ Jazzy Jeff Clowning On Turntables

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.

DJ Premier Breaks Down Serato vs Vinyl 

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/

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

Some Current Music Publishing Issues

          I had read an article online on www.americansongwriter.com, about some recent changes in the music industry regarding music publishing, and the direction that the music industry is heading in.  According to Tune Core founder Jeff Price, he states, “ in the new music economy, a songwriter will have the most power” (Inman, 2011).  This is due to the drastic change that major record companies and its artists are facing and how both will survive in the new digital age.

            He also believes that songwriter revenue will increase and that the revenue of major record labels will drop from this change.  The article also mentions that major record labels will begin to look more like artist management companies, and will offer more 360 deals to milk as much money from their artists as possible (Inman, 2011).  The major labels sound like they are seriously in decline, and that the power of the business will fall into the hands of the artists themselves.

            According to the website, if record companies continue to decline, then more artists and their managers will seek distribution and marketing deals directly, which will really put the majors in dire straits.  An interesting point made in the article, spoke about how artists can collect their own royalties without having to be affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization. 

            That is where Tune Core and few others come inn, because this service allows artists a way to cut out the middleman when collecting royalties.  Tune Core gives artists a chance to make more money from song sales and Internet streams, and works for self-published and non-published writers as well.  Of course, the industry is not pleased with the waves that are rippling throughout the music business, but I am happy to see the power is going back to the rightful hands of the independent musician. 

 Source:  http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/12/a-new-frontier-in-music-publishing/

Industry Expert Blog

I recently read three very interesting cases in the entertainment industry regarding some legalities going on with music and film.  These topics were discussed on a podcast called Entertainment Law Update and the host’s name was Gordon Firemark, Esq.   The first topic that I really found interesting, was about the recent ruling on a case involving Star Wars creator George Lucas, and the prop designer of the Storm Trooper character that he hired for the movie.

            This was mind blowing to say the least, because George Lucas commissioned the designer Andrew Ainsworth to use Lucas’s drawings to create the mold for the actual character that was used in the movie.  After the success of the movie’s release in 1977,  Ainsworth setup a website to sell the costumes of the Storm Trooper from the original film and Lucas did not appreciate that. 

George Lucas filed a lawsuit against Andrew Ainsworth and the case went all the way to the British Supreme Court.  To make a long story short, the court ruled in Ainsworth’s favor, saying that he could sell the costumes on his website and there wasn’t anything that George Lucas could do about it.  The judge ruled that the costumes are functional works and not artistic works, which allowed Ainsworth to dodge the copyright infringement bullet (BBC, 2011).

The Court of Appeals and the High Court had previously ruled in Ainsworth’s favor, but Lucas felt that infringement did occur in the United States.  Andrew Ainsworth does not own any assets in the Unites States, but resides in the United Kingdom and Lucas could not win in the United Kingdom (BBC, 2011).   If this issue had began in the United States, then Lucas might have had won this case.  It really blew me away that George Lucas lost this case, because he is the creator of the Star Wars brand. 

I was shocked about this case, because I thought that George Lucas had more protection over his franchise than this.  I am not sure why he did not have the sculpture trademarked somehow, so the prop designer would still have to get his permission for use.

 The second case that I found that was interesting to me was about the Hangover 2 film and the lawsuit against Warner Brothers by a tattoo artist seeking damages.  One of the characters in the movie had a tattoo on his face that was exactly like the one that former boxer Mike Tyson made famous. 

The tattoo artist by the name of Victor Witmill had designed a tattoo for Tyson and the tattoo was featured in the film.  The article mentions that Warner Brothers copied the tattoo without asking Witmill’s permission, and ended up placing the tattoo on another actor’s face (Belloni, 2011).

I remember hearing about this case and I wondered what was going to happen at the end of it.  Victor Witmill wanted to stop the film from being released, but the film still came out anyway in spite of the lawsuit.  Warner Brothers ended up changing the cover of the DVD release of the movie, probably as part of the settlement.

The last podcast that I found was about Justin Beiber and a fan that invaded his privacy recently.  The case involved a fan that somehow found Justin Beiber’s personal cell phone number and began texting the pop star repeatedly.  Beiber ended up posting the fan’s phone number on his personal Twitter account, and the fan received 26,000 messages  (Firemark, 2010). 

It turned out that Bieber had four and a half million followers on Twitter, and the fan had to change his phone number (Firemark, 2010).   It just goes to show that you should not invade another person’s privacy.  This kind of thing could be a real headache to fight in the end.  The podcast also mentioned that this case could possibly become a small claims issue, but did not say definitely that it will for sure. 

I believe that some fans can really take things too far at times and this is one of those situations.  Just because someone loves their fans, it does not necessarily mean that they want their privacy compromised.  I am sure that I would feel the same way about having a fan that did something like this.