Artist becoming Activist!

It is unfortunate that in recent news a citizen of Sanford Florida killed a young man by the name of Trevon Martin. Greg Zimmerman, a 27-year-old local citizen of a Sanford, Florida community killed young 17-year-old Trevino Martin after a neighborhood watch gone wrong. The community has cried foul play as witnesses say that Greg Zimmerman was acting more as a vigilante instead of a neighborhood watch. Local authorities reported that Mr. Zimmerman reported a strange black male was in the neighborhood and looked to be suspicious. Authorities then directed Zimmerman to stand down and not pursue the suspect. Zimmerman disregarded instructions and went after Trevon Martin where he perused him and attacked him in the neighbor’s backyard. The scuffle then led up to the shooting of Trevon Martin, which was unarmed are the time. Witnesses say that Trevon screamed in fear for his life as he begged for help. Trevon was found dead by local authorities with nothing more than a bag of skittles and a Nestle iced tea.

The community is in an uproar as Greg Zimmerman has yet to be interrogated or arrested. Local police chief has recently resigned his position as the media has speculated foul play in the case. This case has caught more than just the local communities attention but has reached the whole nation as they ask for justice for Trevon Martin. Major hip-hop recording artist Plies released a song in retrospect of the whole case. This case has sparked many You Tube discussions as to if thee killing is justified or foul play. In Kennesaw, Georgia Black Panther leader has demanded justice for Trevon Martin by putting out a $10,000 bounty for the death of George Zimmerman. Also superstar athletes Lebron James and Dewayne Wade have also showed support for the cause of seeking justice for Trevon Martin as they were pictured wearing a hoody with team members stating it could have been one of ours!

How influential are artist lyrics?

Jay-Z is known as one of the largest hip-hop artist in the world currently. He has a long standing career in the industry that has reigned for almost 20 years. Not only is he a savvy business man but a lyrical genius with word manipulation. He is constantly in the media headlines do to affiliations with other artist or his ever so popular wife R&B singer Beyonce. So what has the medias attention now? In recent news his lyrics have been quoted in the halls of congress.  A congressman in Florida inserted lyrics into a debate about illegal search and seizures that take place. The lyrics that were quoted stemmed from a hit song from Jay-z "Black Album" called "99" problems. In this song he depicts a situation between him and New York police officer that he encounters in a routine traffic stop. The officers state that he was speeding and because of that he has created suspicion, therefore it justifies his need of probable cause to search the car for drugs and guns. In Jay-Z's response he states that he know the law and you are going to need a warrant for that search. 


Congressman Alan B Williams utilized these lyrics in a debate in Tallahassee, Florida over warrant less searches and seizures.  He said the reason for this is because he connected with Jay-Z's lyrics in this song. But a congressman from Winter Park, Dean Cannon corrected Mr. Williams on his use of the lyrics. He recited the lyrics word for word and stated that the cop told Jay-Z in the conversation that he would need a lawyer to invoke his rights. The brought national attention to the media as entrepreneur Steve Stout tweeted about the situation and made light of it. Who would of ever had thought that hip hop would be so influential to our law makers. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etl9kkIGaHo

Expert Views on The Value of Business Plans

Mark Cuban is best known for his nontraditional management style of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mark does not come from a silver spoon like Donald Trump. He is a graduate of Indiana University where acquired his bachelors degree in Business Administration.¹ As an entrepreneur Mark has had his dealings in many start up businesses. Mark business venture views are accessed by the actual necessity in the market for a product/service. A very important aspect of the business model for Mark is the research for potential growth for the product/service in the market. Mark additional must have supportive information for the product/service like financial projections to support that the plan has been configured correctly. Mark also invests in business that he has familiarity with, something that may relate to previous investments.

Greg Alexander is current CEO of ISSOS and was a 10-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Additionally he also worked in the World Trade Center as an Engineer for Eastman Kodak. In 1992 he made his first initial investment into a skating rink, which helped him invest into his second facility. ² Greg is known as a venture capitalist that actually takes an active role in his all of his business ventures. Greg explains that before he can find a venture feasible he must be able to reduce his risk as minimal as possible. In addition he analyzes who will be managing the business and what is their proven track record. He looks for clear plan with a strong strategy and thorough research on the competition. ³ Greg must know most importantly what is the amount being requested and on what terms. He feels that every start up company should analyze their market for potential advantages and pitfalls. Last but not least Greg feels that every company should have a plan B to account for unexpected occurrences. 

Resources:

¹⁽Lojewski,B) March 31, 2011. Expert Views on Business Plans. Retrieved: February 05, 2012. From: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

² International SOS Society. Retrieved: February 05, 2012 http://isoss.com/isoss_ceo_greg_alexander.htm

³ (Uknown) March 31, 2011. Expert Views on Business Plans. Retrieved: February 05, 2012. From: http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

The expert view blog gave me much insight on how I can revise my business plan. The knowledge obtained will give me the ability to restructure the business plan to make it more effective. Upon reading the blog of Mark Cuban I learned that he researches the market for potential growth. In addition he researches for product/service financial projections to support the business plan. I would like to incorporate these techniques into business plan to make it stronger. I first plan to research my market again and measure for potential growth. I also want to analyze if the business is feasible by measuring it against he financial projections for the first 3 years compared to an existing business model.  

I also read a blog on CEO of ISSOS Greg Alexander who is known as a venture capitalist. Greg takes an active role in all of his business ventures, which I believe is an important aspect when initiating a business.  In researching some of the key strategies that Greg utilizes I have learned that he analyzes the financial projections first to see if the business is feasible. If the financial projections state that the plan is not feasible then he will not take the risk. Upon analyzing my projections if I do not break even within the first two years then I do not see it worth taking the risk. Greg also researches his competition and looks for a clear plan and a strong strategy to capitalize on the market. I want to go back and redevelop my competitive strategy and make sure that I develop a plan B.  One of the most important out of all of the strategies that I plan to implement in my business plan is the Plan B incase of a non feasible plan. By utilizing some of Greg’s strategies combined with Mark’s I will be able to redevelop a strong business plan that will be feasible.  

The end of piracy?

Could this be an end to the current media piracy that is plaguing the entertainment industry? Well not anytime soon! Legislation recently attempted to pass a law to stop online piracy and to protect intellectual property from being stolen and shared online. In light of attempting to help the entertainment industry these acts would hurt and violate a lot of Americans rights.  The Internet is a platform that gives people the ability to research, communicate, and share information.  The legislation's act prompted a nationwide protest to stop the bill before it could even be passed.  Close to a 100 million web users protested the web by not accessing their favorite sites. The results of this caused the senate to postpone the vote on the PIPA bill. So in light of this situation in may look like a win for the users, but the senate will return with this bill in the future just in a revised form.

The current attacks on the piracy has also led to a major figure in the music industry finding him self in a lawsuit. Universal Music Group is suing super producer and artist Swizz Beatz for violating the intellectual property laws. It is storied that a couple of years ago Swizz invested in the website Megaupload,a file sharing site that allows users to upload large files on to the platform for other to access. As the acting CEO of the Megaupload he is being sued by Universal Music Group because he had artist appear in a commercial for the site and used music that was not cleared by the label. Megaupload was recently shut down along with other sites such as the notorious PirateBay.org. Swizz Beats has countered the lawsuit with a defamation of character lawsuit. With the two sides at war the initial goal is not being focused on, there is a need for a stop to the piracy but the constant pull and tugging is not helping. 

The affect of the Digital Landscape on the Music Industry

How has the digital era affected the Music Industry? The answer to that question is that it has completely restructured how music is consumed.  The first introduction to the digital era was when Steve Jobs introduced iTunes to the world. iTunes is the first legal digital platform that consumers could purchase music by digital download, either by a full album or a by song single. This definitely made a major impact on the music industry because of the ability for consumers to share music without having to pay for it. Peer to peer file sharing evolved from digital downloading; this is what some may call pirating. As pirating increased record sales decreased therefore putting a lot of major record stores out of business.

The digital evolution also affected how music was produced. For the past few decades’ music has been recorded in an analog format to record, tape, and compact disk. With the evolution of digital recording the technology would be innovated into computer software and then printed into a digital format. With the emergence of the Digital Audio Workstation the production process could be completed in a faster and cheaper fashion. With these two major changes in how music is sold and produced it may have cause a backlash on the record companies. Companies began to suffer from album sales because of two factors pirating and the economy. This left little money in the budget to support artist projects and forced the labels to make cuts in the budgets and infrastructure. Major labels began to shut down and some even merged with other labels to stay afloat. The digital era also has had a major affect on the artist also. The artist is now in an era similar to the 70’s where consumers are not interested in buy albums but purchasing singles. Artists have had to become more creative to reach their potential fan base by utilizing social networks for exposure.  So it seems that the digital era has hurt the Music Industry more than it has actually helped it. 

http://www.thecampuscompanion.com/off-the-record/2011/09/08/evolution-of-music-the-impact-of-digital-on-the-music-industry/

Revenue and Distribution

Rap artist are now expanding their opportunities by endorsing various brands to increase revenue. These business ventures have opened up opportunities for artist to expand their brand while endorsing others. Recently music moguls have partnered with liquor brands such as Ciroc Vodka and Ace of Spades. Sean “Diddy” Combs for example endorses and develops the Ciroc brand Vodka, which he utilizes product placement in his records and videos to endorse the brand. Other artist have followed suit such as music mogul Jay Z who recently began endorsing “Ace of Spade” in 2007. Jay Z does not officially have and endorsement deals with the owner of the brand Armand de Brignac but is said to receive 4 million a year for product placement. Other Product endorsement includes Dr. Dre’s (Andre Young) partnership with Monster Cable who produces high quality cables used to transmit audio. He and partner Jimmy Iovine created the “Beats by Dre” professional headphone line. Dr. Dre utilizes his connections with artist and athletes to endorse the brand by product placement in videos and appearances. These partnerships have created another revenue stream for artist other than the declining music industry.

With the decline in the music industry artist have been forced to become more creative to gain potential album sales. What was once effective is now obsolete in the music industry. In the last couple of years artist have taken a more aggressive approach at marketing and creating their materials. Social networks give the artist an advantage to staying in touch with their fan base and an opportunity to market for free. In a more independent approach artist have also utilized inexpensive ways to record more music and distribute it themselves. The” mix tape” has become a staple in the music industry as a marketing tool. With the growth of the cellphone industry, the mixtape websites have now created apps that allow its users to download music directly to their wireless devices. This now gives consumers the ability to always have access to their favorite artist.

Industry Expert

In episode 19 of Gordon Firemark's Entertainment Law podcast Eminem filed a lawsuit against his record label for breach of contract. In his lawsuit he states that he was not paid his full royalties for digital downloads. In his contract he has an agreement to receive 18% royalties for album sales and 50% royalties for digital download licensing. He suit claims that digital downloads are considered licensed material, whether it’s a song or a ring tone. The supreme court ruled in the favor of Universal Music Group that they were abiding by the stipulations of the contract and that digital downloads are not considered licensing but are considered as album sales. Rick James estate also followed suit and filed against Universal for the same breach of contract. The major difference between Rick James contract and Eminem is that his was created before 2000. Before then most contracts had a clause stipulating that you cannot contest royalty practices after 2 years. If any ruling is successful the artist could be owed 10’s of millions of dollars. Gordon states that you have to understand the wording in the contracts clearly or have it clarified, because of the way the words were manipulated in the contract Eminem did not have a successful case. Understanding each word or phrase is key to the success of your contract and plan to have a lawyer review every extent of my contract and have the other party clarify there terminology.

In Episode 21 the famous Mike Tyson face tattoo designer filed a lawsuit and a cease and desists against Warner Brothers for replicating his design of the tattoo in the “Hangover Part 2”. Firemark states that the liability is fairly clear but the author had not filed for copyright 90 days prior to the movie being released, which Warner Brothers may counter claim fair use because its being utilized in a parody. The issue at hand is that the tattoo is identical and not altered in anyway to be used as a joke. So in likelihood the case may never see light it may just end in a settlement. What one could learn in this case is that anything that has the ability to copyrighted should be for the success of your business.

In Episode 23 The Wizard of Oz film characters are still protected under copyright law after 100 years. Technically after the copyright ends they would fall into public domain but Warner Brothers says that can copyright certain characteristics about the characters that can not be used. Which is true that you can copyright the way something is designed and process is created. I think that this is very useful to implement into my business model to protect the process.