Funding a Music Company

There are many decisions to choose from when starting up a business in the music industry. Funding is one of the first in this process. Without a location, equipment, and other necessary tools to get your business running, it is almost impossible to become successful as an entrepreneur.

Funding Options to Consider:

- Record Label Grants as a Small Business: File as either Business, Organization or Individual. Those of a Nonprofit Variety may be eligible to receive financial aid or grants.

- Crowd-funding: Small amounts of money raised from a large number of people on sites such as KickStarter to support projects and ventures.

- Art Grants for Record Labels: Supports businesses that demonstrate a clear vision, fixes gaps, engages a new market. Beneficial to the community and related field.

- Venture Capital: Manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in small/startup businesses that hold strong growth potential.

- Personal Capital/Angel Investors: Money that comes from a specific source such as yourself or a close connection.

- Business Credit Cards: Obtained through banks similar to a mortgage.

- Winning A Contest or Lotto: Who knows...You may be turn out lucky one day.

- Rent/Sell Items: If you have any items of value you can sell or rent them to raise money.

- Side Business/Jobs: If you work anywhere else be sure to save money.

REMINDER: Grants do not need to be paid back however loans and financial aid  do.

Youtube Marketing: Getting Yourself Known in Entertainment

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Since February 14 2005, YouTube has help to shape and evolve many peoples lives. Its is used to not only entertain people but also to market and promotes one passions, dreams, products, etc. In the entrainment industry you have sublets such as music, film, television, fashion, and a few others. Within those, you have thousands of creative artists waiting to be heard and seen. When marketing a video, one should be sure it tells a story whether for entertainment or a deeper meaning.

These 9 tips provided by Mashable will help it appear in search results.

1) Partner With Youtube Celebrities - There may be known you-tubers, who won't mind helping you promote your business in exchange for discounts or freebies. This this helps direct their audience to you.

2) Link back to Your Website - Include your website information directing in the video or in the description box to drive traffic to your site.

3) Fill out your descriptions thoroughly - During the upload process, be sure to fill out all the fields and put as many relatable keywords in the tags information.

4) Be Clever - Take Time to advertise your business by using tactics that stand out.

5) Tell A Story - Using pictures and sound tell a story that captures your audience/target market.

6) Highlight Your Fans With Fan Videos - Repost your fans videos.

7) Single Out Customers - If consumers, fans, or clients, have questions regarding the video, be adventurous and respond back to them with another video.

8) Create a Video Landing Page - If you marketing B2B or B2C creating a landing page will help drive potential clients to your website creating traffic and also ranks your youtube video.

9) Maximize Youtube - Post videos often to keep your consumers engaged with your current trends.

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In music, artists can post their latest music videos, performances, and even videos that allow fans to see what they do behind the music. In film and television, one can post short movies, shows, mini-clips, and reels.  If your advertising a product or service, briefly show how it works and "why" customers should buy or use it. There are endless opportunities with YouTube.

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Two Experts Views on the Value of Business Plans

Dave Lavinsky

Dave Lavinsky, a holder of a Bachelor and Master degree,  is the founder and president of ''GrowThink", a Los Angeles based consulting firm and "GuidingMetrics", a company that tracks KPI's that help businesses grow faster since 1999. Known as a He helps future and potential entrepreneurs develop business plans among many other things. Lavinsky also has a background of guest speaking at top universities, developing over 100 business plans, and has written numerous articles on entrepreneurship, business planning, and capital raising.

His book "Start At The End: How Companies Can Grow Bigger and Faster by Reserving Their Business Plan" has landed in the hand by thousands of people as it implements some of the most useful strategies a business owner can think of. Those strategies are: 

1. Creating Vision Statements from a customer and business perspective that increase your sales and profits.

2. Systemize your business and minimize mistakes. 

3. Improve performance and productivity of your employees. 

4. Increase your conversion rates and the lifetime value of your customers. 

With these and more, Lavinsky gives advice about four essentials business plans tend to overlook. Those include: 

1. Company Description - A one line summary of what your company does.

2. Financial Model - Summary of finances, investments, and sales projections.

3. Risk Mitigation Milestones - Risks & Action plan for milestones achieved. "For every milestone your company achieves, the risk of investing diminishes significantly.  

4. Unique qualifications for success - Personal Qualifications and Ideas. 

Dave Lavinsky

Resources:

BP Expert Views

Start at the End

Grow Think

Bloomberg

Forbes

Carl Schramm

Carl Schramm, a holder of a law and Bachelors' degree is the 16th person at Syracuse University hold the title of Professor and President of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He is a recognized leader in entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth. He has founded/co-founded many companies in the fields of healthcare, finance, and information technology.

In relation to business plans and entrepreneurship, Carl mentions that business plans aren't useful because they go out of date quickly. Instead he focuses on the characteristics of an entrepreneur and what it takes for one to have a successful business. Some of those characteristics include:

1. Working in a job they didn't like.

2. Working in multiple places and fields. 

3. Thinking in terms of disruption.

4. They know a lot of facts and information. 

5. They are an outsider. 

6. They see things differently. 

Carl Schramm

Resources: 

BP Expert Views

Carl Schramm Bio

Syracuse University Professor

Lecture Bureau Speakers

Both experts have good point of views and advice on entrepreneurship and business plans. As I continue to work on my business plan I will implement ideas and strategies especially with those that help minimize mistakes and maximize profits. 

Building Your Brand

In a generation, immersed with outspoken personalties and media, theres no doubt that there aren't brands attached to our everyday living. Whether your in entertainment, business, medical, or any other field theres a brand that follows you as an individual. A brand can be either a trademark or your persona. Throughout life this is what people remember/know you by.

Six Steps to Personal Branding Are:

1) Define your overall aspirations.  (Goals and Objectives)

2) Conduct Research (Are you where you want to be in life?)

3) Determine Your Brand Attributes (What makes You, You?) (In what niche of the market do you want to become known?)

4) Assess Your Current State (What can be done better, Why?) (S.W.O.T.)

5) Create Your Game Plan (Branding Yourself in Social Media,  Tangible & Intangible Characteristics.)

6) Manage Your Brand. (Make sure all aspects of you are in sync with one another and that they continue to reinforce your brand attributes and market niche.)

By these steps your reputation and presence amongst your friends, family, clients, consumers, will know and understand you better. It also allows you to network with those that like the same interest.

"In the past, cattle ranchers used branding irons to mark and indicate which animals were theres. As the animals moved around other ranchers and the public were able to recognize who they belonged to. That mark could've had a history / meaning behind it as well."

Social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Google+, Linkedin, and many others help craft and show your brand to the world. They allow you to post pictures, videos, comments, your favorite music, or any thing else you want your friends, or family to know. They are also useful when marketing your business. They help spread the word about your products or services  much faster than the old way of using postal mail or newspapers.

Impact of Music Festivals/Concerts

For many years, people have come together to hear their favorite artists or to check out new music. Despite ones culture, racial background, or religion, among other things, theres always that one thing that will bring everyone together. "Music".  Music Festivals and Concerts are not only about the music but creating a experience beyond the music. Dating back to ancient times people have gathered together for this one specific purpose. 

These type of events create an atmosphere that connects music, experience, memories, and fun all together. By performing music that you have not only copy-written, but also published will allow you to receive royalties. If the event is based upon independents artists it is a great time to network and if you don't already have one to find an agent or get contact information for one. You will want to find a agent who is able to support your musical career, and is able to help you distribute and promote your music. 

This ties into promoting your creative content for distribution. Whether your and indie or major artist/musician/or band it allows you to showcase to the public and your fans what your all about. They are beneficial for both the artist and the consumer.  By allowing consumers to get a taste of your  music your exposing and pre-marketing your material.  It is one of the easiest ways to get your product or services into the consumers hands. Many people there after will post their experience to social media sites, or buy music from the artists personal website, amazon, ITunes, etc, if they couldn't get the hard copy.

From personal experience I am a fan of r&b music, so anytime theres a festival or concert featuring this type of music, I'm sure to go. Also, the event South by Southwest (SXSW), is a event anyone whether they're in the music, film, or interactive industry should attend. It is a combination of music festivals and conferences theta takes place one a year in Austin, Texas. Major and Independent artists attend form all over and are able to sign up, perform, promote, and distribute their music. 

Music Industry Controversies

Copyright Infringement 
Robin Thicke/Pharrell Williams vs Marvin Gaye

"Blurred Lines" was one of the biggest hits during 2013. Millions of copies were sold, with millions of youtube views. However many people, including Marvin Gayes family, took notice that the track sounded much like Marvin Gayes 1977 hit, "Got to Give it Up. The family took Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams to court for copyright infringement. Williams was responsible for the creation of the track.  In the end, the Jury found Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams guilty of copyright infringement which caused them to pay $7.4m to Marvin Gayes family.

      "Copyright Infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing certain exclusive rights, granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display, perform, or to make derivative works. "

In my opinion, I don't think that the Gaye family should have targeted Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for Blurred Lines. For many years, and for years to come music has been sampled some even without clearance. Im not promoting copyright infringement but its nothing new. New music is adapted from old music. At the same time, however they should received clearance and permission to sample the song whether directly or indirectly. This controversy increased views and sales of both songs which can be a both good and bad depending on the parties involved.

Blurred Lines Trial

File-Sharing (Piracy)
Sweden vs Pirate Bay
In this case, the well known site Pirate Bay was shut down due to allowing the use of file-sharing copyrighted material without purchase. This was both a criminal case and a civil copyright action brought together by major record labels, movie studios, and others of the like. Piracy is something that goes on in many countries, it just happens to be Sweden that was targeted this time.

      "Piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's work".

To me this was a good thing to do because file-sharing robs companies of their products. Instead of a consumer going to a company to purchase something they instead go to file-sharing sites and download it for free. This type of issue has been going on for a long time, and I believe it is something that would die down easily. With the abundance of internet driven technology, this is an issue that may arise from time to time.

Sweden vs Pirate Bay

Payment of Copyrighted Material 
Lil Wayne vs Birdman

In this case Lil Wayne is suing Birdman (Cash Money) $51 million for unpaid royalties and agreed upon monetary contracts which include quarterly payments. Wayne is also trying to end himself and his company (Young Money) from their relationship with Cash Money. This is still a pending case.

In my opinion, I really don't understand what the two are arguing about. They have worked together for a long time and became celebrities with each others help. However, as a owner of a company Birdman should live up to his side of the contract and make sure his dues are paid respectively.


Lil Wayne vs Birdman

Audio: Producers vs. Engineers vs Artists: What's the Difference?

In todays' world, there are more than a million billboard top hit songs. As of today, Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars takes the #1 spot on the Billboard 100 list. With the help of producers and engineers, artists are able to make these ranks. Within this song, Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars, and Jeff Bhasker are the producers. Several engineers worked on this song as well such as Boo Mitchell, Charlez Moniz, Wayne Gordon, Bruno Mars, and a few others. Now lets rewind. Bruno Mars. Producer, Engineer and Artist. Are they the same or different? The answer is different and here is why.

An artists is one who performs, or releases recorded music through a label or independently. This is be a singer, rapper, or music with musical talent. Both Ronson and Mars, played drums on this song too.

There are two types of producers. The first type of producer is the one who creates the instrumental. This can be done through playing instruments or programming music using DAWs such as Pro Tools and Logic Pro. They create the track for the artists to sing to, and give advice on any ideas whether good or bad such as redoing a verse second type of producer is an executive producer. The executive producer oversees the production phase. They are also in charge of the recording budget, hiring and overseeing talent, engineers, and any other crew members needed to complete the song.

An engineer is one who operates any audio equipment that is used during the recording, mixing, and mastering stages in music. The main job is to help bring the artists and producer vision. Through the three stages vocals and instruments get recorded, audio gets cleaned up, and the final mix gets corrected for different media formats. Producers are capable of being engineers and vice versa as well, because audio knowledge is needed for both.

It is possible for one person to possess all of these talents through hard work and dedication. In Bruno Mars and Mark Ronsons' case, they were apart of all three positions into getting this song done.