Monday, December 27, 2010

My Road To The Music Industry...So Far

Fortunately, I have known that I have always wanted to work in the music industry ever since I was a kid. Getting into music entertainment or working for a music company is not easy, you must be persistent, work hard, take some risk and keep up with the latest trends in the field or talented enough to create your own trends.

Thousands of people have dreams of becoming the next hot rapper, rock band, singer or entertainer. There are even thousands of people that are looking for jobs in the industry as well. Only the strong survive in this industry and nothing is going to be given, you have to build relationships with people in the industry, work hard and earn it.

Currently, I am a New Media intern at Warner Bros. Records in Burbank, CA. I definitely have bigger plans than to just be an intern and looking for other opportunities but please believe me, I have worked hard to get to where I am and will have to continue to work smarter and harder to get to where I want to be.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, my road starts from the age of 9 years old learning to play the trumpet. I then started to learn how to play piano at 11 years old. I played in school bands, pep bands, and started playing for people in my high school talent shows. I continued to study music going into college at Alabama State University and UAB and eventually majored in Music Technology, where I learned how to use music, audio and multimedia software and recording equipment. In college, I kept myself involved with music. I was in Marching Band, Pep Band, Jazz Band, Concert Band, Computer Music Ensemble, participated in talent shows, I was a rapper with a group called "Unusual Suspects", I was on the Entertainment Committee, and I hosted a Hip-Hop show called "The Cybercipher" on Blazeradio, an Internet Radio Station. I am also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, INC, which is a music fraternity. Being involved allowed me to network, build relationships and learn so much about music but at the same time I also learned that there are many shady people in the music business or trying to get into the industry that will try to take advantage of you as I learned interning at a recording studio in Birmingham, Alabama and had rights to my music I created pretty much stolen from me.

After college, I moved back to Cincinnati shortly after graduating to take a "break" from school to work with a friend who was having a studio built in his basement. After working with him for awhile things did not work out with us and we went our separate ways. Then all of a sudden I found myself working a 9 to 5 job and being in a challenging relationship, unhappy and getting away from networking and not creating music.

After dealing with wannabe artists and shady people trying to "make it", one day it finally clicked in my head to get my own equipment. So I started saving money and using extra money I had and bought my own equipment to where I didn't have to depend on other people anymore. Next, I finally made a tough decision to get out of the challenging relationship of 3 years because we were going in different directions in life and I could not be the man or caregiver she would need me to be and follow my dream of being in the music industry at the same time. So after "The Big Break Up" I started getting myself involved with music again and started working for BMI as a part-time music researcher, going to different venues and establishments in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana to create performance licensing and songwriter royalties reports.

So what was suppose to be a two year "break" from school and moving back to Cincinnati to see if I could get into the music industry from a street level, turned into seven years of walking away from a recording studio business a friend where we had our differences and on a business level could not see eye to eye with, working jobs I was not happy with, getting into a relationship that fell apart because of a life-changing experience that I could not handle and not getting anywhere in the music industry other than getting my own equipment and doing work for BMI.

All of a sudden, things started to change. I decided to go back to school for my Master's and enrolled at Full Sail University and studied Entertainment Business online. The program taught me the business aspect of music, learning management strategies, marketing techniques and how to put together a business plan. I started working on Official Life Entertainment, a startup label and I also gained friendships with classmates in the program that I can network with and networking skills I didn't have before. I started building relationships with artists, promoters and other music/entertainment professionals in Cincinnati and around the country.

Thirteen months later I graduated from Full Sail in June 2010 and recently in October 2010, I moved to Los Angeles (Burbank) CA to intern for Warner Bros. Going into 2011, I am still working on putting together Official Life Entertainment and interning at Warner Bros, as well as recently interviewing with other music companies seeking other opportunities. I am truly looking forward to 2011 and to see what happens next.

My advice to young artists, entrepreneurs and people striving to get into the music entertainment industry is to stay focus, persistent, get educated about the business side of music. Artists, it is truly not all of the glamour you see in videos or hear in songs. It's hard work, artists truly work hard in this business. It's more than making a song, performing on stage, pretty girls/guys and after parties. You got to work hard to play hard. Entrepreneurs and people looking to work or get an opportunity, you have to keep your integrity and build relationships in the business with professional people that are working in the business or that have had success, be very detailed and specific on your resume about things you have done in the industry and build a team of people who knows and sticks to their roles.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Step Your Internet Game Up!!


For those who are inspiring to be successful in entertainment, rather it is being a rapper, producer, singer, model, actor or actress, the industry is in a time of change as social media technologies continue to grow and dominate society. Digital media and internet marketing is taking over and to become a presence in entertainment, you better be internet business savvy or you are going to get left in the dust. Not to say that live performances or CD/DVD sales aren't still important but entertainment is moving to what people are calling "The Digital Age" and it is growing bigger and faster everyday.

Let's think about this for a minute or two. Just about everybody is on Facebook and Twitter and both can become very addicting. Here are some interesting statistics that may amaze you:

- There are more than 400 million active Facebook users, more than 100 million access the site from their mobile device daily

- There are more than 106 million active Twitter users, Twitter users increase by 300k daily



I could not find statistics that indicated how many music or other entertainment pages are on Facebook or Twitter but I think it is a safe bet to say there are thousands maybe even millions.

My point for bring up these stats is if you are an artist or entertainer, having a page on Facebook or Twitter is the bare minimum because every artist has a Facebook and Twitter page. You have to do more than that to get noticed or to build an online following. To be successful in any business you have to think outside the box and come up with other strategies and ideas that other people are not doing until you come up with one that works.

There are other music websites and social media networks on the web such as Reverbnation, IndiebyChoice, MySpace and it is important to build a presence there but as an artist, model and etc... it is important for you to have your own website that you can direct fans and online traffic to. It is also important to have an analytics program, to locate your drivers and referring domains to help figure out your target demographics. It does not make sense to continue to market yourself to the masses if you do not know who your audience is. I hear inspiring artists say all the time that they know their target demographics and in reality they do not. For those who have fan pages on Facebook, look into Facebook insights as you manage your page. That will give you a start to figure out who is listening, looking at you and how much interaction you have.

Get people to talk about you online such as bloggers, twitter followers, facebook friends and build personal relationships with fans. I'm not talking about doing direct mail blast all the time. Make the time to write your new and old fans a personal note, message or email, make them feel as if you appreciate them supporting you. It helps build lifetime fans that will purchase your product.

To be successful in entertainment you cannot just think on a street or local level, think globally. As an independent or unsigned artist it is on you to market yourself, remember entertainment is a business. Yes, you have to lock down your local region to start getting recognized but with the correct internet marketing scheme, you can build fan bases in a matter of hours or days in other areas in the country or internationally through the world wide web.

References:

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-facts-figures-for-2010/

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-twitter-statistics-facts-figures/

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Who Says You Can't Follow Your Dreams?


As children everyone has been asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and we reply with wanting to be a doctor, lawyer, athlete, entertainer or whatever it is you want to be. As people get older, some tend to forget about that dream or lose focus while transitioning into adulthood with decisions that are made in everyday life.

Having grown up in the urban community, I tend to see this quite often. Many of us allow ourselves to get caught up into situations and make decisions that negatively impacts our future such as committing crime, dropping out of school, having unprotected sex and selling or getting hooked on drugs, which causes setbacks and bad judgements. Sometimes these situations are just a bump in the road to where you can dust yourself off, refocus and strive towards the dream you once had as a child, but many times it can lead unto a path of imprisonment, poverty or a struggle of survival.

So the question becomes how can you stay focused on your dream and goals? The first step is to never give up on your dream. I have heard so many people say, "I don't have time" or "It's hard when I got to put food on the table" or "It will never happen for me". What is happening is that you defeat yourself before you even try because of your negative thoughts. Who ever said it was going to be easy? Achieving your dreams most of the time will not happen over night and you have to constantly work at it. That means if you are in a situation to where you have to do a little at a time to get to where you want to be then do the little at a time. You're not in a race but you have to stay consistent as you are reaching towards your goals.

The second step is to not be afraid. Do not be afraid to take on new and different challenges and do not be afraid to fail. Remember that everyone and I mean everyone makes mistakes. It takes a mature person to admit to themselves that they have miscued or was completely wrong about a decision they have made. Every now and then you will fall or there will be a bump in the road but people that are successful get back up and find a way to overcome the odds. Just remember that a higher power works together with you and determines your destiny, but you have to put the work in to reach your dreams because it is not going to just fall into your lap.

Finally, be confident and proud of your achievements. Not to the point to where you boast or come across arrogant, but have some pride in what you have accomplished. Be enthusiastic about your progress and steps you have made. Negative people will always try to deter you from going after what you want to achieve or want to say, "You're not good enough" or "You don't have what it takes". Just remember that your path does not run through them, it runs through you and from the man up above, so you have nothing to prove to anybody but yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, then who else is going to believe in you? Keep positive people that are constantly uplifting you in your life.

So honestly ask yourself, "Where do you want to be within the next five years?" Plan to prepare and prepare to work your plan and remember dreams do come true.