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/#

            According to ARC Law Group (2013), there are two different copyrights for music.  There is a copyright in the physical sound recording and one in the underlying words and music.  The difference between the two is that the first one deals with what is actually being heard on the song and the second deals with the publishing rights, such as the lyrics and sheet music. 

            The entertainment industry is famous for being the source for many legal controversies.  Issues dealing with plagiarism, performing licenses, and infringement are rampant throughout the entertainment world.  Considering the numerous laws and regulations protecting creative assets, it becomes easy to see how often legal cases can happen.

            In one case in Korea, the Hyundai Department Store was accused of illegally playing music throughout their store and was demanded royalties by the Federation of Korean Music Performers (FKMP) and Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP).  Normally, any place that plays music for their patrons to hear, including live music venues and shopping stores, performance licenses need to be obtained.  However, the case was dismissed because the court deemed that the music was played using an online music service provider and cannot be seen as music actually for sale.  The Hyundai Department Store was in a legal agreement to play music supplied by KT Music, a local music provider.  Cases involving performing music in some way are always tedious.  In a previous post, I mentioned that small venues have been forced to shut down their live music because of their inability to pay for the licenses or even regulate the performing of only original songs.

            Plagiarism is no stranger within the world of music.  Recently, will.i.am was reported to have used a sample from DJs Arty andMat Zo without permission.  Will.i.am contacted Arty after hearing the song “Rebound” and wanted to collaborate.  When Arty expressed his interest in this venture, will.i.am took the positive response as permission record his vocals over the existing song to record as a new version, “Let’s Go”.  Will.i.am believed he was in his legal right to use the producers’ song because he credited Arty in the liner notes, thinking this was all the permission he needed.  In my strictly personal opinion, I feel that much of today’s popular music is mostly comprised of unoriginal content.  While many aspiring music producers now have more accessible resources to hone their craft, they can tend to create lazy and uninspired works by taking samples from other artists and piggy-backing off of their success.  As with the case involving will.i.am, taking another artist’s craft and using it to create your own can lose the respect from many followers.

            The BlackKeys have claimed that a casino used a song of theirs in their advertisements.  Pinnacle Entertainment, the company that runs the L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, and Manhattan Production Music, the company that sells similar-sounding songs for advertising purposes, are being accused of using the song “Howlin’ For You”.  The band has also sued Pizza Hut and Home Depot in the past for using their songs, as well.  As an artist, I can understand the frustration of hearing a song I created being used for other purposes with no mention of it being my original work or without being compensated.  But, with the vast amount of music being created every day, there are only so many chord progression combinations used within popular music that the possibility of coincidences is bound to happen.

            Being a creative artist has its share of difficulties.  To create and manage a career as an artist would require the expertise of someone who knows the business and financial aspects of entertainment business.  Hiring a professional in this field would allow the artist to fully concentrate on their craft.  However, there are people out there that will take advantage of those who are ignorant to these concepts.  More artists today are seeking to abandon the idea of the artist manager and decide to manage themselves instead.

            There are both advantages and disadvantages to having a manager as an artist.  As I mentioned earlier, the artist can commit to the development of their talents while a manager is responsible for the business aspects of their career.  Reputable managers also have knowledge of the necessary contacts and resources to expand the artist’s career, such as venue managers, promoters, and radio personnel.  Of course, there is also the risk of being taken advantage of by shifty managers.  This blog (Warning: Strong Language) demonstrates some instances where managers have exploited their artists’ lack of industry knowledge for their own benefit.  Colonel Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley, was receiving over 50% of the artist’s earnings by the end of his career.  Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, took a similar route and was reported to have taken 25% of the revenue.  The norm at the time of a manager’s salary was about 15% of the artist’s earnings.  Had the artists known that industry knowledge ahead of time, they could have better negotiated their contractual terms.

            Self-management seems to be the trend with most current bands.  Without a manager or record label, artists can have more freedom and control in the direction of their careers.  Bands have started turning to crowdsourcing to help fund their creative aspirations, such as filming a music video and recording their next album.  But, self-management seems to benefit those who have been in the industry and are knowledgeable in their business and finances.  Especially within the entertainment industry, credibility and knowing the right contacts are some of the most important factors in the success of rising artists.  In the case of Melissa James, even though she has already established her role as an artist and is known throughout the community, her credibility as a manager does not exist and has been dismissed by many industry contacts in her attempts to promote her new record.  And without being known by a strong fan base, methods like crowdsourcing would prove unsuccessful if nobody even knows the artist’s existence.  Taking on multiple roles as a self-managed artist can also take away from their craft, both time-wise and inspirationally.

            There are obviously pros and cons to each side of the artist management vs. self-management argument.  Artists can have the option of managing their own careers, but it would be more successful if they had help in developing their image and presence early in their career.  It’s always good to know basic knowledge of the entertainment industry, like the average percentage artist managers normally take from the artist, before establishing binding terms.  Then, once the artists see how the industry is run, they can better decide on how to continue their careers, whether it’s renegotiating a contract with a current manager or venturing out their own.