Forever Changing

Music is my passion. I am well rounded and I enjoy all types. So why wouldn’t I want to work for that industry. I see it as art. It intrigues me to watch how much the music and entertainment world evolves. The industry is forever evolving which is the beauty of it.  When I first fell in love with the beat of a song would be when I was running around the house as kid singing. I remember many of times singing “This Weekend” by Anne Nesby  . The funny thing is I didn’t realize my mom was talking about getting rid of my brother and I. All I knew was I loved that sound. When I would go to my friend house we would make up dances to Whitney Houston Step by Step. Music now is completely different.

Now, the kinds of things that catch my ears are far different. Tunes about being rich and the finest thing in the club gets my hips moving.  An intense beat drop with a beautiful stream of cords and piano puts me in my feelings every time.

Notice as I change my choice of music changes. So how can artist possibly keep up?

It takes a talented person to evolve with music. If you ask me Lil Wayne is just that.  Look at his career. Check out his feature in “ I Need a Hot Girl” with Cash Money Millionaire’s in 1999.  Now fast forward to 2011. He drops a hit called “ How to love” Notice those two song are totally different. He even picked up a skate boy act. Some of his fans that loved him when he was just a boy from New Orleans are upset. They feel he has gone too far from his roots. I am here to tell you those statements aren’t true. He is evolving. He still is one of the most respected rappers around no matter which roll he is playing at the time.  He is giving the people what they want and still reaching success. He could be a gangster rapper one second and free spirited skaters kid the next regardless, he will give you a show. That is the definition of an artist isn’t it? So why be mad at Wayne.

As music continues to evolve I expect many more changes from our artist. It may get more strange things in the years to come. 

The art of Negotiating from Zedric Smith

The entertainment business has a wide array of avenues. The gospel industry is one. I grew up watching a lot in this industry. One person who had a major impact on me at that time was my choir director Zedric Smith. He was over the youth choir. That may seem like a small title but I was way more than that. My church is huge and full of talent. We often went on tour and sung at engagements. Not only did he have to negotiate with others outside of the church, but also his biggest works were convincing the church. For new uniforms to contracts and rewards for tours the list goes on. I decided to interview him on his negotiation skills. For me this was a great trip down memory lane. Below is condensed a script of our conversation.

Q: How did you deal with your most difficult positional bargaining situation (Haggling)?

           

Zedric: Well I can remember one in particular that was tough. I know you remember when you guys finally got out of those old heavy choir robs. That was no easy task. I had to work all kinds of hard to convince the musical director you all needed a change. Their position on in great concern that you guys remain discrete in your attire. She didn’t want skirts to get short or pants to sag. To her robs where safe. So I had a presentation set up to show her the current trends and how far behind we were as a church. If I wasn’t for that visual I don’t think I would have won.

Me: Wow I still have that outfit. I loved the new gear. We were so cool after that. It is great to see how you used objective criteria to get your point across and give a benchmark to go off of instead of just your words.

Q: Have you ever used dirty trick? Is not why not. If so tell me more about it.

Zedric:(Laughing) I hate to tell you but I had a few tricks. I don’t think they were that bad though. I would have to manage to produce a great line up for Sunday service as well as manage they young kids feelings. Mike was a great singer but Tim wasn’t kind of thing. So I would use Saturday service to lets the less fortunate get a chance to sing.

Me: Gasp now I sung at a few Saturday services. What is up with that?

Zedric: (laughs) You know you sung every chance you could get. That was the only way to keep you behaved.  You were a very bright and fortunate young lady

Me: Thank you! That is also a great example of mutual benefit. You came to a conclusion that was of great benefit to everyone.

Q: How do you prepare for negotioations?

Zedric: I found it useful to research to whom I am dealing with. I mean everyone from the investors to the congregation to the choir members. This was great because I would have my plan lined up. It would be just awful for me to go and say my students want to go to the water park after their hard work and they actually wanted to go to the movies. I would have looked so bad. This is also great because you can kind of get a sense of everyone’s position before you go in for the fight. Proper preparation also allows you to have a best option in your pocket that is great for everyone.

Me: Something like a mutual benefit?

Zedrick: Yes like the time I convinced the parents to let you guys compete in contest. Winning those allowed me to get a raise because it brought recognition to the church and you guys more funding for trips. Those benefits went three ways; the church, the kids, and me.

Me: Wow! See what a little preparation can do? It allows everyone to win.

This was a great interview. I was able to look at his personal experiences and connect them to negotiating. It is obvious that sometimes you have to get dirty to get the task done. Like he did. Those poor kids that sung on Saturday thought they could sing. Including me. The biggest lesson here would be prepare, prepare, prepare. It can make the difference from getting things done and getting things done right. 

Mix tapes the New Era

It’s so many people out there that are coming up from this fast growing idea of a mix tape. It is a sure way to promote your music and get your name out there.  People like Lil Wayne and Drake have made this category huge. Personally I love Wayne mix tapes more that most of his albums. Why are they doing so well?

It’s always been huge to get a record deal. Even when I was a kid I wanted to be just like Brandy and sign to a major record label. To have a label backing you was huge. You have to listen to the labels creativity and desires. You have no choice but to do the music they want you to do. You have to perform how they want you to perform. With all the puppetry you do at least they fund all the projects as well as pay you. This is pretty much what it is like to get signed to a label. 

When I think of an artist I think of one that wants to express them self through whatever avenue. Being apart of a label isn’t much of that anymore. It’s more about being marketable than anything else. When I heard mix tapes from Chris Brown, Chrisette Michelle and Elle Varner this year I looked at mix tapes in a whole new prospective.  Chris Brown “In My Zone” was a completely different artist that he would of never got to express on a label. That is where “No Bullshit” surfaced don’t get me started on “In my Zone 2” its lots of my favorites there.  Elle Varner put her heart into he mix tape and a great album followed.

Mix tapes are a chance to go independent from a label and do what you want. It is a chance to create what expresses you most. It has proven to be a great platform for up and coming artist and current artist to do what they want to do.  It’s a great way to remind us of your capabilities if we have forgotten. The downfall is if someone picks it up and uses it in a commercial or on their show you can’t get paid on it. In that most mix tapes take samples from current popular hits. Its not all fully your own works. Its kind of funny if all else fails put out a mix tape its free we will listen.

If you will click here you can find more on the differences between albums, mix tapes, and singles. 

The Guilty Pleasure

Reality TV Americas Guilty Pleasure

My first encounter with reality TV and music would be TheAshlee Simpson Show. This show was a hit in 2005 on MTV. I as well as plenty of other people in America watched her career transform before our eyes. The reality show allowed us to see all the aspects of it too. The ups and downs of the career, business and personal side were presented to the public. Ashlee went on to make many hits. Shadow, la la, Invisible and one of my favorites Pieces of me were huge hits in 2004. The Ashlee Simpson show was one the first to combine music and reality television. To take that even further her career was pretty successful too.  At that time having America watch you might not have been a bad idea. Times sure have changed.

  Now there are way more out there. We had Making the bad and plenty to follow. To start out these shows were not a bad career move. Now, artist resort to these to help they careers progress. Brandy, The game, DMX, Chill, Left Eye, RNB Divas, Toni Braxton are to name a few. I am pretty sure the list continues. To add fuel to the fire shows like Love and Hip Hop have turned for the worst. I will say America watches but how does it help an artist career?

            If you’re out to entertain and make money or spread the word, shows like that are worth it. But if your trying to build a solid sound career these shows with what they have become now are a big NO Go.  The focus is more on the drama than the music. I wouldn’t advise this to any artist I work with that is really serious about their music career. I again will admit I love watching these shows! They just do nothing for a solid music career look at the Making the band crew now.

AMA Mission Accomplished

I was apart of the American Marketing Association starting in high school through college. The association has always done great things in my time of being apart. It truly believes in building the generation before them into the best that they can be. I was apart of many programs and it was experiences I can forever take with me. When it comes to marketing jobs there is a very tough stigma. The industry is competitive first and foremost. When companies go through cut backs and economic down falls, one of the first places they cut back is the marketing department.  So as a mission the Marketing Association has banned together and created a solid mission. The decided their mission is to serve as a forum to connect like-minded individuals and foster knowledge sharing, provide resources, tools and training and support marketing practice and thought leadership around the globe.  Their website does just that. Being a member of the association keeps you connected through daily emails and events worth your wild.

The most intriguing part to the industry to me would be the job-seeking segment of them. As a college graduate I was completely nervous to go out there and reach for a marketing position. Its intimidating to walk into and office with a degree and nerves and say hire me! So if you go to their website you will find a career management tab. How awesome is it for a group of professionals and teacher to give back to the community and post jobs advice and trends. These people know the industry. They live in it everyday. So I took the time and searched the possibilities and I noticed they were real opportunities.  Lets be honest how many monster.com sites and job finding sites have you took part in and found some of the most bogus postings.  It even got to the point that I almost was scared to give my information. I still can’t get some of them to stop emailing.

This is awesome to the industry in that it promotes growth. To step back and pull those who love the industry and give them honest guides to seek employment. Like I said before there is often great concern about the security of the marketing world. So to stumble upon this in my research gave me a warm feeling.

If you are out there looking for a job in marketing and don’t know how to go about it take a second and join those of like minds and search a site that has your best interest at heart. 

Steve Jobs Inspiration

I took the time to watch the speech Steve Jobs gave to the Stanford University graduates in June 2005. I was browsing through Ted.com and what drove me to watch the speech of the late CEO I don’t know. I am extra sensitive sometime and boy was I crying and inspired at the same time! Everyone needs a little inspiration so here is what I got for his speech.

As Steve told his story he was very open and honest with the crowd. He adds humor through out the speech to lighten the mood at the right moments. The entire speech was about connecting the dots and he did just that. Every part of the story had a great message. In a crowd full of college graduates he openly admits to not graduating himself. He point out everything happens for a reason. Not graduation was one of the best things that happened to him in that he became a drop in student and pick which classes he wanted to drop in on. This drop in student concept tickled me! It was great for him to tell us how he overcame the adversity of being fired by the company he founded. He reminds us everything happens for a reason. If you love it keep doing it. So he goes on after being fired to create two more companies. He then later reconnects and combined he two new companies to the mix.  This created the powerhouse it is today. He uses that part of the story to say don’t loose faith. If he had gotten down in the dumps he wouldn’t of continued to do great things and take part in what he loved.

So now, this is the part that tore me up. He tells the students live everyday like it’s your last. I honestly felt like the whole speech was a build up to these important words. He goes into detail about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and how it opened his eyes to appreciate death. “Death is the single best innovation in life, he says”. Coming from someone who recently died, this touch my soul. It should make you live life to the fullest. This is where the positive and uplifting words keep coming. “He then tells you not to waste life living someone else’s life get out there and find your own.” The way he speaks so calmly and positively inspires you. Here is a man who has done these things and found success. This creates trust with the audience. For most of his career he points out he had to follow his heart and intuition no matter what others said. As the camera pans the audience you can see the inspiration.

I must say watching this speech inspired me to trust my heart! Going for my dreams and desires are truly worth it. As a CEO his speech was simple, calm an well put together and I hope the day I tell mine it is as good as his. Something to walk away with and take with you daily should be his closing remark. He said; “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. That was totally a drop the mic moment, no explanation needed. 

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