Setting the Stage

            This journey of earning my Master’s degree in Entertainment Business has been a very enlightening one.  I never imagined myself going back to school after earning my Bachelor’s.  However, it seemed to be great time to go back to school and learn about the entertainment business.  I was hoping to one day be able to use that knowledge to open my own music venue.  In the end, I came away with valuable education on how businesses are created, managed, and eventually evolved.  This is a chronicling of my journey at Full Sail University and the classes and projects I completed.

            Technology has really come a long way in the live music industry.  It is becoming easier to perform tasks that would normally take a large amount of effort and time.  Custom settings can be saved and recalled instantly instead of having to write down every knob position on paper.  A guitarist’s entire collection of effects pedals can all be replaced with a single digital effects rig.  Recording music “in the box”, or using recording software through a computer, can have the same quality as a recording coming from a multimillion dollar studio.  As a user of Line 6 products, I recently discovered their products for live mixing and its effectiveness for independent performing musicians.

As a budding musician, I have always wondered how previously unheard artists are able to create a following and eventually become a widely known name.  In this digital age, more tools and resources are becoming available for musicians to promote their art to an audience.  Marketing in the music industry is about making connections and interacting with your audience.

            Many fans of music artists jump at the opportunity to see their favorite bands live when they come into town.  For major acts, fans can be expected to pay up to hundreds of dollars just to be able to be in the same building.  They sometimes travel great distances to see their favorite musicians in person and perform their craft live.   Much how digital technology has helped evolve many other things, concert viewing has changed.

            The ability to stream live concerts has become a trend among large music festivals and major artists.  Those that are not able to physically attend the concert can still experience the event through a live broadcast over the Internet.  For many artists, this is great publicity and can help their audiences grow immensely.  This can also be used as a great tool for travelling acts to use.  By measuring the amount of people within particular areas that are watching the streamed event, bands can now find places with a strong following to travel to on their next tour.

            There are a few sites that have adopted this trend and allow people all over the world to experience concerts from the comfort of their own home.  The Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall continually broadcast their performances in high definition and provides archived footage from previous performances.  They also include interviews and other information with their broadcasts.  Concert Window gives people a chance to “watch concerts from [their] couch”.  While the artists featured on the site do not seem to be well known, it still provides easy access to a plethora of outside music for those wanting to explore other genres.

            In beginning the initial steps of building a business plan, I started gaining a better understanding of the amount of intricacies and details involved in opening a business.  In my last blog, I described two experts, Dr. Steven Gedeon and Carl Schramm, and their views on business plans that I intend to use for my own.

            In achieving a successful business plan, people often turn to experts in the field for assistance.  Two experts, Dr. Steven Gedeon and Carl Schramm, have had a history of promoting their expertise to those in need of business advice. 

            According to Ryerson University (2013), Dr. Steven Gedeon is a professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management.  He has spoken at events and published articles about leadership, motivation, and entrepreneurship.  Recipient of numerous teaching awards, Dr. Gedeon teaches the year-long experiential capstone courses in entrepreneurship and have helped students create new revenue for existing companies, as well as create new companies. 

            While Dr. Gedeon teaches principles of entrepreneurship, he believes that the best way to learn about being an entrepreneur is by becoming one and learning through experience.  He illustrates the ideal method for learning by comparing to the way guitarists learn their instrument.  The player does not learn by watching others or by simply reading a book.  The guitarist learns by physically playing, immersing himself into the craft, collaborating with other musicians, and gaining new ideas from them (YouTube, 2013).

            Carl Schramm was the former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, one of the largest private funders of economic research (Syracuse University, 2011).  The foundation aims to educate budding entrepreneurs by teaching how to be economically independent and encourages the improvement of their communities (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2013).  Providing opportunities for disadvantaged children with academic programs, the Kauffman Foundation strives to become a model for preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs and workers.  Carl Schramm believes that a solid education is the foundation for a successful life.  He says under-developed nations can instill growth with their communities by focusing on entrepreneurship and small businesses. 

            In starting businesses, Carl Schramm believes that writing a business plan is essentially a waste of time.  He says there is a plethora of information on how to write a succinct business plan and not enough education on actually starting a business.  Carl believes that a person’s character will determine the success of the business rather than how well the business plan is written (Stein, 2012). 

            Both Dr. Steven Gedeon and Carl Schramm share similar views when it comes to starting a business.  The only way to be better at entrepreneurship and beginning a startup is to just do it.  Basic information is all that is needed for success: what is the product, who is willing to buy it, why is it needed, and how is the product being delivered (Stein, 2012).

References

Ryerson University (2013). Bios – Dr. Steven Gedeon. Ted Rogers School of Management.  Retrieved from http://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/bm/faculty_staff/bios/gedeon.html

Stein, A. (2012). Carl Schramm – straight talk on entrepreneurship. SteinVox. Retrieved from http://steinvox.com/blog/carl-schramm-straight-talk-on-entrepreneurship-why-we-need-it/

Syracuse University (2013). Profiles – Carl Schramm. School of Information Studies. Retrived from http://my.ischool.syr.edu/Profiles/Preview/cschramm

YouTube (2013). Steven Gedeon | Entrepreneurship is like learning to play guitar. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQiJd2CrPQ

For many businesses, one of the challenges of marketing is maintaining relationships with their consumers, as well as gaining new ones.  Common practice would be to advertise as much as possible in hopes that people would take notice and fuel their business.  In this digital age, the Internet is littered with advertisements that bombard the user with products and services that may not have anything to do with their interests.  There are some things to avoid when marketing a brand.

An article in Direct Marketing News says there are some tactics that are overused in marketing and, therefore, usually dismissed by the audience.  With Twitter being a popular branding vehicle for many businesses, using hashtags too often just makes the tweet look immature and could get lost if using too many general words.  One personal pet peeve of mine is finding a QR code for a product expecting some sort of reward, like a coupon, and having it turn out to merely be a link to their website.  

Acting like a robot can also drive potential customers away.  Search Engine Journal posted an article about common marketing tactics that can make the company seem cold and uncaring.  One way to appear indifferent toward the consumer is to not respond to any social media interactions, such as Twitter or e-mail.  It is an arduous task for much larger companies to respond and interact with other users, but the payoff of customers knowing that human beings run the company is hugely beneficial.  Another piece of advice is to post less about the company itself.  Shifting the focus away from you and toward the audience is one way of keeping their interest, which is also proven to work on first dates.  The Internet is notorious for negative discussions and comments.  If there are people shining a negative light on the company, the worst thing to do is to fuel the fire by trying to control the conversation

References

Dholakiya, P. (2013). 5 digital marketing tactics that make you look like a robot. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-digital-marketing-tactics-make-look-like-robot/67886/

Malikova, N. (2013). 8 overused marketing tactics. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved from http://www.dmnews.com/8-overused-marketing-tactics/article/303186/#