Product and artist management

This month I am reviewing Artist and Product Management by Japheth Campell from the website 360 digital artist. In this article Mr. Campell discusses the differences between Artist and product management and how they rely on each other for the success of the artist career. How it is the manager’s responsibility to integrate the artist and products on behalf of the artist. It is also important that a manager designs a career plan for the artist before any sources of revenue are attempted, this way the artist had connected with his/her fan base building awareness for the brand before trying to turn them into customers.

According to the article taking a creative inventory will help identify the artist abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and see if the artist has an appealing appearance that is marketable; are they the total image package? After the creative inventory a manager can start to map out the career path and seek to develop and market the artist by having an online presence to retain current fans and make new ones. It is also important that a good manager knows how to manage a product and understands the target audience, and to talk to the fans to find out what they want.

In Ian’s article he make mention of a few good resources for the aspiring artist and product manager, The Product Manager's Field Guide: Practical Tools, Exercises, and Resources for Improved Product Management and This Business of Artist Management by Jr. Xavier M. Frascogna, H. Lee Hetherington both very good resources for anyone interested in artist and product management. I have found this article to be of great importance to me in my efforts to become a very good manager in the music industry and the resources are a mainstay on my bookshelf and I read them to help me be a better manager.

Interview with the President of Rayo Entertainment

In this post I interviewed my long time friend David Ogden who changed his career focus from Real Estate to the Music Business and started Rayo Entertainment, a Record Label & Music Group that has offices in New York and Lima, Peru, he plans to take his company worldwide. Rayo Entertainment has four divisions, which offer Management, Publishing, a Record Label and opportunities to perform on Stage. David has used his negotiating skills to grow a international company that caters to artists and the music community, he has a long history in negotiating and making deals from his background in Real Estate.  

Here are the questions I put to him.

1) How do you separate the people from the problem when you are Negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this?

When negotiating, it important to clearly know what you want in the negotiations. Once you establish what you want, I find it best to try to detach and stick to principles. It’s hard to negotiate with emotion.

2) How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?

Again, I think it’s clear to know what you want and what you are willing to concede before negotiations.

3) Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?

Its important to listen in negotiations, sometimes the other party wants less than you anticipated. If you know what you are willing to give, giving a little back might seem like you are meeting them. Because ultimately you want the deal to close, you don’t want the

person to kill the deal after an agreement. This is important, there is no deal until it’s closed.

4) How do you handle dirty tricks when negotiating?

Acceptance, there will be always dirty tricks, its negotiating. There are no rules.

5) When you are negotiating how do you view interests vs. positions?

Separate them; you have to be as detached as possible. In order to negotiate, you have to pay attention, and you must know your value.

6) Do you think self-confidence plays a major role when negotiating?

Yes, but more than that is self worth or what your value is to the deal.

Thanks to my class on Negotiation & Deal-Making I am able to reconnect with David and get his take on Negotiation and Deal-Making, I thought his answers were to the point and insightful. David has the skills for Negotiation from his days as a Real Estate broker and now with his passion for music he is applying those skills in the music industry.

Music Business Models Today

Just recently I read an article on growing your music business by Andy Hill CEO of “I Like Music” where he speaks about a simple business model that has kept I like music to survive and thrive in the ever-changing music industry. “I Like Music”  provides music that is full licensed for use in many markets, and has access to a large collection of vinyl and CD’s from every genre of music that includes Top 40 Hit singles.

In the 1980’s he was part of the creation of the first digital music-licensing model while working for IBM that would provide music for commercial use. Being there for the birth of digital music sharing he gained insight into what changes were being made in the music industry and with this knowledge “I Like Music” was able to thrive taking advantage of the many opportunities in the music industry. Looking to expand in the music market “I Like Music” set its focus on the North American market because of its large media and retail markets.

After identifying companies that could help “I Like Music” develop their products “I Like Music” decided to release their virtual jukebox, which were used in pubs and bars. At this time getting capital was hard to come by because Banks viewed it to be to high- risk. “I Like Music” has grown worldwide supplying their virtual jukebox to many areas of the world. Through it’s partnership with the Santander group and their Growth Capital fund “I Like Music” has been able to expand and hire staff to help their growth.

Businesses should always be sure that their business objectives could be scaled up to guarantee the potential for growth in overseas markets. For “I Like Music” Santander Growth Capital fund was right for their business and if you are a music entrepreneur in the Digital music market remember that changes are always happening in the industry, and we need to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that come with change.

Do What You Love

This week I watched Gary vaynerchuk, “do what you love, no excuses” on TED Talk and found it to be very inspirational, in his talk he points out that many people are doing what they really hate and we all need to have patience and passion for what we are doing in life. There is no reason for us to do things we hate and we have to be passionate about what we do while being patient. As business people we have to care about the community that we engage with and learn to hustle because when we hustle we put the time in to grow our business.

I realize that I am building a business and I need to work hard to make it a success, so if I have to put many hours in to learn what my business needs then I need to hustle and hustle hard. Some people look at the word hustle as something that is only done in a negative sense, but we have to do the legal hustle to build a successful business. When we work for someone else we have no problem working long hours to make that business a success, so why not hustle and do overtime to build your own business.

Gary offers motivation to the up coming businessperson who has doubt about succeeding in business, there is no excuse for not succeeding we have the Internet that offers a formula for success. Gary goes on to say that we must believe in the product we represent or get out of the business NOW! If you love what you are doing it will show and people will want to be a part of what you do. Your business has to be transparent and we need to build brand equity to have a successful business. Don’t try to figure out what social tools you need to use Gary suggest to use them all, because the people who follow your brand are everywhere and you need to be there too.

It all boils down to YOU; what do you want to do, and once you put your finger on your passion then you can build a business modal no matter your niche, there are many opportunities available, but you have to have passion for what you do. The social media landscape is wide open.

Getting music into Film and TV

Having a record deal use to be the way to get your music into Film or TV, but in today music industry musicians are getting placements through music licensing that provide a steady income. There are many ways to license music and many sites available that will license your songs, but you need to know which ones will give you a fair deal and which one won’t. There are many companies that will take a major percentage and pay you less than what is fair but most will enter into a 50/50 split.

The music licensing business is very tricky so you have to be careful; you need to know whom you are dealing with. For many musicians they seek out Music supervisors and some look for Music Libraries to place their songs. Making contact with music supervisors usually means going to film festivals or other networking events, but make sure you have done your homework first.

This is a great time for independent musicians to get placements for their music, and the pay can be pretty good depending on if it’s a background track or main theme song.  Remember to never send MP3’s or CD’S without first getting permission, you could send a email if you have the contacts info and make sure you add a link to your music from your Soundcloud or Reverbnation profile.

Never forget that music licensing is very competitive and you need to send the right music that fits the film or TV show you’re pitching to. Make sure that you first find out what films or shows are looking for music and that you have the right song style that they need. You can make a generous income from music licensing and start to build a list of contacts to pitch your music.