RSS

MUSIC is the new FASHION...(where's the money)

9:20 PM |

After fame in the music industry, artists tend to go into other industries such as real estate, acting, and fashion. Fashion plays an important role in making money for entrepreneurs who pursue this industry. There are many artists who are already successful and more to come. Here are two artists that I commend for their accomplishments and impact in the fashion industry.


Sean John Combs started his clothing line, Sean John Clothing Incorporated in 1998. Its clothing was focused on urban sportswear and reached out to the low, middle, and high class of fashion. Sean John has reached revenues that exceed over $100 million dollars per year and is often recognized at the award ceremony for the Council of Fashion Designers of America in New York. (Seancombs.com) Sean John also produced the first nationally televised runway show during Fall Fashion Week when it simultaneously aired live on E! Television and the Style Network. Sean John is also one of my favorite clothing lines to wear and I highly recommend his signature cologne, Unforgettable.


Shawn Corey Carter also known as Jay-Z is my favorite entrepreneur in the business industry.  He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010. Jay-Z is part owner of the New Jersey Nets and also husband to R&B superstar Beyoncé, who also has her own clothing line Dereon. Jay-Z created Rocawear in 1999 and has exceeded revenues over $700 million. (Jay-Z.com) In March 2009, Rocawear launched its first social networking site, offering style news, music, fashion, and cultural connections. Jay-Z is one of my favorite artists because he grew up with a goal that he was going to be on top of hip-hop.



Overall, I feel that after my success in the music industry hits its peak, I will then want to pursue my career/name and other industries such as film, fashion, and more. I value making money and if my name or success helps me create a buzz in a different genre of trends, then I am willing to take that risk and pursue my passion at being successful in that field as well.  

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff

Attorney Shannon Ligon

4:37 AM |



Attorney Shannon Ligon is a wonderful woman whom I met at a Black Student Union meeting on campus when I first began my education at Full Sail. Her law firm Ligon LawGroup is based through out Florida. Ligon was very inspirational when coming to talk to our group on campus and created a positive mindset for how successful I would want my career to be. I had the pleasure of interviewing and getting to know Ligon on a personal level.
            Attorney Ligon received her Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Florida State University. While doing this, she also studied International Business abroad at the Universidad de Valencia in Valencia, Spain. She also received her certification in Television & Radio Broadcasting from CSB School of Broadcasting back in 2004. Ligon has worked in the Entertainment field for almost a decade. She has worked in the entertainment and sports industry for the past 8 years and has been involved in managing artist and athletes, A & R’s, as well as collecting numerous trusted networking contacts throughout the past 9+ years.
            When interviewing Attorney Ligon, she broke down how she handles contracts within her company. Whether it was upholding the law and duties as an attorney, acquiring endorsements from her clients, (artist and athletes), or copyright infringement, Ligon says she has experienced it all. As a musician and producer, I asked Ligon has there ever been a situation where a beat or song was either stolen or borrowed from someone without them knowing and if so, did they ever find out?
            Ligon brought up a story about her working with Richard DeLuca of Integrated Sports Management Company. She explained that working with DeLuca opened her eyes to new endorsements deals and how she had to negotiate for her clients based on their needs as well as acquire the needs of the companies that were being endorsed.
“Copyright infringement can be a very slippery slope. Take for example, a beat is mixed and used, the beat is not making any money. You may send a cease & desist letter rather than suing the individual. One of the ways you can ensure there is no “bad blood” or “black balling” is to consider using that individuals beats in the future. Just because someone may possibly infringe on your intellectual property doesn’t mean that you, (the artist or producer), wont want to work with them again; you just want to be recognized for your work and/or compensated. Always be careful “who” you decide to sue; you never want to rub the “right person” the wrong way.”
 She also stated that there are plenty of times when major artists find a beat and want to use it, but cannot find the originator of the created beat. The producer is then not found until they possibly hear their beat/s on an album.
Attorney Shannon Ligon is a great person to listen to and has motivated me to learn more about the law, therefore knowing how to protect myself in certain situations. I am very pleased in meeting Ligon and hope she continues to pursue her career at a high level in the Entertainment Law field.

             

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff

Rappers in trouble with the law

1:58 PM |

Artist, musicians, and entertainers throughout the industry never think about legal issues until something happens and they're sitting in court defending themselves. Lawsuits can make or break a successful business/artist and recreate the direction they are pursuing. 



There are so many rappers in trouble with the law. In October of 2010, promoter Carl Davis filed a lawsuit against rapper Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., better known by his stage name T.I. It was explained that Davis and Jervon Morgan, T.I.'s first cousin and agent, had put together an agreement for a welcome back party for the artist who had been in prison on weapon charges the previous year. Davis also met with Jason Geter, CEO of Grand hustle LLC, and made a payment of $50,000 into a bank account held by the rapper. Davis said he made the payment even though the rapper, T.I., was on 3 years of home confinement. Later that month after T.I. went on a radio broadcast station stating that he would not be performing at the upcoming welcome back party, Davis suffered a financial lost due to sells, emotional distress, and hospitalization. Davis is suing for misrepresentation, promissory fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract. In this case, if I were the artist I would apologize and offer to reschedule the concert and hopefully work out things in a more professional manner.




Snoop Dogg, (Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr) is usually known for going to court on procession of illegal substances, but in 2005 he appeared in a California court for assault and battery on an audience member at one of his concerts. Richard Moore says he was hit with a microphone and brutally beaten behind stage after he jumped on stage to touch the rapper. Jurors were also shown a videotape of the incident. In defense the artist, (Snoop Dogg) stated that he felt he was being attacked when the man suddenly jumped on stage and reacted quickly to the situation. Lawyers also claim Monroe Jr.'s alleged injuries were not "evidence of someone who was savagely beaten." In the end, Richard was suing for $22 million dollars for damages and punitive penalties, but due to no real evidence of the situation, received $440,000 for injuries. I would agree that Snoop's attorney made a great case in explaining how the artist felt that it was a self defense situation and he was only defending himself.





In late news, Lil Wayne is being sued for stealing the "How to Love" beat from rapper Rick Ross, who bought the owner rights of the instrumental from rapper and producers Drummer Boyz. In addition, Rick Ross is also suing Drummer Boyz for going behind his back and pitching the song to Lil Wayne. This lawsuit is based on who owns the rights to the beat whether it be a written or oral contract. Even if Rick Ross doesn't have a written contract for the sale of the master recordings, there's still a chance that he will prevail in this case. In my opinion I feel that it's best a producer remember to include a contract with everything being produced or sold. Therefore, when a situation like this arises, the producer has the proper resources to show who owns the intellectual property. 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff

Kirk Imamura

6:06 AM |

Tuesday I attended Kirk Imamura's lecture about running a successful studio. He touched on the who, what, when, where, why, and how concepts of what a person needs to establish a professional studio. He also mentioned that if a person is not determined to lead a pack, then he or she shouldn't think about running their own studio anytime soon.  Kirk has written and produced many songs for artist such as Aaliyah, Eric Clapton Aerosmith, George Benson, and many more.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff

Love vs. Music

12:02 AM |

Love vs Music

In the music industry, can an artist/client manage a positive and respectful relationship, as well as build a successful career for themselves?

Building a relationship defines taking the time and commitment out of one's life to discover an unconditional love between themselves and another person. It requires learning and falling in love with everything the significant other has to offer, and building a strong trust within each other; kind of like music. The significant other plays a special role in a persons life because they are represented at the top of the throne above, or along side music. They can also help build the other person's career based on “having your back,” and getting the things that need to be done, done.
A (truly-focused) artist is married to their music. They are focused on producing, advertising, and critiquing their music to its best, so that he or she may publicize well put-together tracks. Nothing can come between an artist and their music except love. Love makes you do stupid things. As an artist, relationships can make or break a career depending on how the artist interacts with the other person.
Artist are known for writing about love and hate that is involved within their relationship. That music can be accepted as an award (compensation) through out the music industry. On a good note, this can improve the artists fan base by relating to stories that other people go through when dealing with relationships. 

I once heard a man say, “If I gave love up, music would repair my soul. But, if I gave music up I wouldn't have a soul. –Anonymous

I feel that music is born in your heart and that love is to be discovered and built within your heart. You can have love for someone, but not be in love with that person. Unlike music, you can dislike a melody, yet fall in love with the instruments that make the composition. In conclusion to answer the question, “In the music industry, can an artist/client manage a positive and respectful relationship as well as build a successful career for themselves?”
I think that if a person feels that he or she can build a relationship with another person, (and the other person know how much work and commitment that an artist/client has to go through to get to the top) than he or she can build a great relationship amongst one another. But, if that person (the significant other) can’t see that it takes commitment to music and trust to a perfection of the relationship, then they (the artist and significant other) should not be in a relationship. 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments1
Posted by Cliff

Knowledge is Power

7:20 AM |

Artist, musicians, and entertainers dream of becoming famous in the entertainment business. Some try to learn the business on their own, while others pursue a higher education such as internships and college. Knowledge is Power. Here are a couple of schools that I believe or great assets to achieving a career within entertainment. 


Full Sail University, located in Winter Park, Florida, is devoted to educating students in art, music, film, digital arts, and other careers that help when entering the entertainment business. The school provides a hands-on education working with top of the line equipment. The school is set to offer "real world" experience (Full Sail).  Full Sail allows students the ability to create their own artistic style and bring it to life through projects during the courses that are studied. Full Sail also offers online classes for students who are already involved in the media or just can't move to Orlando. Full Sail is the school I currently attend and I believe that it has bettered my education in entertainment business.


The University of Miami is another school I recommend for advancing education within the entertainment field. The Frost School of Music (UofM Music department) offers over 10 different programs specializing in music that will help create the right path for students. UofM also offers over 5 programs in film including an M.F.A in Motion Picture Screenwriting. The Motion Picture program helps students understand the effective creation of moving images and screenwriting (UofM).


The University of North Texas is a comprehensive music school with the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (UNT). It is the first school to offer degree programs in Jazz studies. UNT has over 36,000 students and approximately one-third of all North Texas music students have been enrolled at the graduate level (UNT). They also offer over 20 College of Music summer workshops that help increase students' knowledge in music as a whole. 




Berklee School of Music located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent music college in the world (Berklee). I believe that if a student is accepted into this school that they've increased there chances of making a better music career for themselves. Berklee offers music degrees in film scoring, music production and engineering, music therapy and many more degrees that are a valuable asset when entering the entertainment business. The schools mission is to educate, train, and develop students to excel in music as a career and I feel that they have achieved this goal. 


In conclusion, Knowledge is Power. Knowing what it takes to make it in this industry will help you move above and beyond other individuals. Passion, commitment, and motivation will help when striving for your goals, but education is the key to success.  

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff

Investing your Money within your Music

12:25 AM |

Many artist and musicians look for ways to invest time, money, and passion into their music. They value the best equipment and software that will produce a high quality sound and song to be distributed around businesses, online, as well as other venues that generate revenue. I have listed three valuable tools that have helped me produce well-rounded tracks.

Pro Tools is a professional digital audio workstation that is used to record and edit music, (Pro tools, 2011). I have been using it since 2003 and it has helped me mix and master tracks that I've recorded within the software. You can also create your own sounds. In the new version of Pro Tools 9, for the first time, it has added aggregate devices, which allows more than one interface to be used at the same time, (Pro Tools 9, 2011). For the complete version of Pro Tools 9, it runs $599.00 (avid, 2011).


Equipment can range on the price depending on how much money is available. Purchasing a top-of-the line keyboard such as a Roland Phantom, Yamaha Motif, or a Korg Triton can range between $2,300-$3,300 (Guitarcenter, 2011). These keyboards are used to produce sounds, beats, and other instrumental sounds that create tracks and other features such as commercials, soundtracks, and more. 
Having the knowledge to create is the best asset in producing music. Many people are born with an ear for music; others attend college and universities to develop a background in audio engineering and other musical fields. I attended Texas Tech University majoring in music with a minor an audio engineering. 
I feel that these three tools have led me to develop a broader technique for producing music. If you (as a producer, artist, or individual) can save money and invest in equipment and software that you need, and invest your time and mind into education, then you will have the knowledge, background, and tools that will help you produce well-rounded tracks. 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read User's Comments0
Posted by Cliff
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)