My 2 cents about the Music Business and Entertainment Marketing in general

I wear many hats, Im a brand manager, an account executive for a marketing firm, I do artist development and research, I got my break in entertainment by doing logistical site planning for concerts.

I'm immersed in the music industry, I've put countless hundreds of thousands of miles on my car because of it, I've boarded trains and planes in pursuit of musical happiness and I've slept on many studio couches after burning the midnight oil. I'm 32 years old but I'm constantly around young people, I frequent the most viral of blogs and I read the comments of both satisfied and dissatisfied consumers everywhere. I'm constantly learning and I'm always networking and building relationships. The one thing I'm always looking for when I work with people is the "core principles" that will give me a sign that there is a foundation worth building upon, that's number one!

That foundation is your talent...your potential!

I've worked with corporate brands, music artists, designers, practitioners of Yoga and even spiritual advisers, and no matter what there talent is...they've got to want it as bad as I want it for them. You have to understand that you're the head of your business and be as focused on your career as you want me to be. A lot of times people will do deals and expect you to do everything for them. It takes teamwork. So I look for people who have a strong work ethic and are willing to go the extra mile. People approach me often and say "Will you be my manager" and my response is always immediate and I say sure...but what have you managed? And they almost always look at me with a puzzled face!?! lol



I can't manage what you haven't managed yet, if there's something you've built...I can manage it. If your a music artist, do you have a web presence? have you built up a following that requires management? have you performed live? have you booked your own shows? Is your workload so incredibly overwhelming that you need professional assistance?

These are the kinds of people I want to manage and help...

I help people create believability, your act has to have a certain degree of believability already, but I help people buy into it more. In order for this to happen however, there has to be a real strategy behind that act. To break a new musical act, you have to come with two singles and two visuals first to create the definition, to see if people are going to buy into it before you put out an album. You have to come up with a grass-roots marketing campaign to help build the image that surrounds your artistry. All of this is not even possible unless you've established a foot-print for yourself (a mixtape, live shows, web presence, i.e youtube, tumblr, facebook, twitter).

THE NUMBER ONE THING ANY NEW ARTIST MUST DO IS INVEST IN THEMSELVES!!! Don't be ashamed to go out there and get a job, wait tables, bar-tend, drive a taxi...lol...anything that will support your dream, because your going to need a good video director, pay for studio time and mastering, and you'll have to hire a decent graphic designer to do your album art. This is your demo to the world...make it your best effort ever, and when your at this level...THEN you can submit for a manager, a publicist, public relations expert, these people would be more then happy to help you, if that work ethic can be displayed.



And that's my 2 cents for the day...lol

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Ethiopia Habtemariam: The highest-ranking African-American female at a major record label

Ethiopia Habtemariam: via Facebook



Ethiopia Habtemariam was born on September 24, 1979, and she headed Universal Music Publishing Group as Senior Vice President & Head of Urban Music. She will be taking over Sylvia Rhone's position at Motown Records. That makes her the highest-ranking African-American female (of Ethiopian descent) at a major record label. Motown is a division of Universal Music Group, the World's largest Music company.

Ethiopia Habtemariam
She “strongly believed Motown should be youth-driven,” an individual close to the executive told TheWrap. “It’s all about youth. They’re the ones who open the doors.”

How did she get there?

Ms. Habtemariam has signed some of music's biggest superstars, including; multi-platinum recording artist and songwriter Chris Brown, breakthrough artist and songwriter Keri Hilson, gold recording artist and songwriter Ciara. She's steered the careers of BMI Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year Polow Da Don, Andre Merrit, Candice Nelson, Balewa Muhammad, Ezekiel Lewis (The Clutch), Rock City, and Brian Kennedy to name a few.

She also oversee’s one of the hottest urban rosters in music — from multi-platinum and GRAMMY award winning acts like Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Eminem, Jeremih, Amerie, Ashanti, Jill Scott, Prince, Nicole Sherzinger, Ice Cube, Raphael Saadiq, Swizz Beatz, DMX, Asher Roth, Beastie Boys, R.Kelly, Babyface, Keyshia Cole, and many more. She is a native of Atlanta and she began interning at LaFace Records at age 14. Hired there as an assistant right after high school, she found herself in Los Angeles in 2001 working as a creative manager for Edmonds Music Publishing. Universal came calling two years later.

So essentially she's an executive from the publishing side of the business being given a very senior role within Universal's corporate structure (she is credited with wooing Justin Bieber into a global publishing deal) business moves like that help you a lot. With her background in music publishing and a sharp focus on discovering hit talent, Habtemariam envisions developing Motown to be a magnet for young trendy stars who appeal to the industry’s core youth audience.

It would be good to see how she and Chairman Barry Weiss work together, hopefully he'll be forward thinking as well, just as he was in the 80's during the maturation stages of Hip Hop when he was keenly aware of what the trends were then. Weiss's resume is well established even now (Britney Spears, Usher, Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake, 'N Sync and T-Pain) and now with Ms. Habtemariam steering the ship at Motown, things should be interesting indeed.

Ethiopia Habtemariam: "The labels think they dictate what's hot to the consumer. That's the biggest mistake. You can never underestimate the intelligence of the consumer, especially the youth. I'm not going to mention any specific songs, but there are records that are just hits at radio but don't translate into sales. So you have labels that will chase the charts or what's happening in different areas and then will sign those acts.

But they're not quality acts. That's because artist development doesn't exist anymore. I remember when people knew the names of everyone in a group. Now labels might rely heavily on production companies to give an artist some definition. That's because labels have smaller staffs and so many artists. As such, there's a short list when it comes to the next generation of urban music superstars"

- She definately knows what she's talking about...

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The Remix Project – Coming Soon 2010

Via: theremixproject.ca



The Remix Project is getting ready to reopen their doors early 2010.

The Remix Project: has been receiving awards and accolades since it's inception in October of 2006. Running for almost three years now, the program has successfully graduated 120 young people from diverse backgrounds and situations through it's programs who have gone on to comprise the backbone of Toronto's burgeoning urban cultural and lifestyle industries.

Diversification 101: is the class the most successful moguls aced

Malik Melech Soliman: (Curator and Administrator of this Blog)

When I'm in my element I often wear a suit and tie when I work, so that probably makes me corporate. I've always hustled, so that makes me a hustler. Any of my other credentials are but mere mentions in between those lines. A University Degree, street credibility, the respect of your peers, the envy of your enemies - I've aquired all of these things at a great cost, a price that many of you would be unwilling to pay. Hopefully you should never have to, because it is wiser to learn through the suffering of others rather then taste defeat.

Diversification 101:



If you want to know how an industry is doing, you've gotta watch the leaders. You've gotta learn from the innovators in the game, and pay attention to those who make the formulas. For some time now, there's been a pretty simple path to follow when it came to making cash within the Music Business. I said simple, I didn't say easy. First, you made a demo, which—these days—has been replaced by the mixtape. Next, you created some buzz for yourself. After successfully creating some buzz, you might have gotten signed to a recording contract. If the label had enough faith in you, they might have given you an advance on your record sales, follow that up with a major label release, then you went on tour, and presto! Before you knew it, you'd be making it rain and pouring champagne on strippers and video models in no time. Despite the apparent simplicity of that business model, it was still hard work and most couldn't hack it. There were mutations on the plan, some people did things backwards, but for the most part, people followed in the footsteps of artists signed since the 60s. Sure a couple did it better than most. You know the names: Jay-Z, Eminem, Curtis "Interscope" Jackson, Kanye West — artists who have consistently moved units. So what are they doing now that records sales are slumping?



Diversification. That's what the big boys are doing. In the school of Hard Knocks, Diversification 101 is the class the most successful moguls aced. This isn't true just for Hip-Hop. This is true for every enterprise you can think of. Trying to hustle real estate is what I'm about these days...you've gotta be prepared for the down turn. Hustle stocks on the side. Artists like 50-Cent and P-Diddy are never at a loss for an income stream. 50-Cent earned $100 million for his small stake in Glaceau's Vitamin Water brand — which was purchased by Coca-Cola in 2007 — and Diddy's ventures into clothing, film production, and his current role with Ciroc Vodka; co-branding it as that brand's director has the potential to earn him up to $100 million —- these people come to mind as prominent examples of how rappers have parlayed their initial success in Hip-Hop into dollar signs in other industries.

You can ask the street corner hustler or the financial planner; the answer will always be the same: you've gotta diversify your income streams if you want to achieve reliable gains. You can't rely on one source of revenue, and even newer artists are starting to recognize that. Taking their cues from Hip-Hop veterans like Russell Simmons and Jay-Z, relative newcomers like Ciara and Rihanna have already landed major endorsement deals with Rocawear and Marc Jacobs, respectively, to capitalize on their popularity and compensate for shrinking record sales.



That's because they know they can't rely on just music sales to see the financial gains they're used to. Although the popularity of ringtones—and its profitability—caught everyone by surprise, profits from ringtones will be short lived as content providers go through the growing pains of revamping their business models. More and more, music isn't the main product, but it's what's being used to move other products. These days, advertisers are capitalizing on the marketing power of the Hip-Hop lifestyle and culture to sell cars, computers, Nike boots, and even soda—Coke or Pepsi. It doesn't matter what the brand name is. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I'm saying that artists won't be able to make what they did when Hip-Hop was the main product. As the swagger turns from a commodity to a freebie, those who manufacture the swagger will have to take their cut out of the main event.



Even though it is clear to see that the money is draining out of Music record sales, the situation is quite the contrary for Music's marketing. The power that Urban Culture has to bless brands with "The Cool" is legendary, and so the industry still has millions left to milk. Artists just have to be more creative and business minded. Mostly because times are changing, and so are business plans. For instance, R&B artist Ryan Leslie has adopted the TV model for making money from his music. Instead of selling his music to fans, he gives it away for free on his website. And since free music—if it's good— will obviously attract plenty of Internet traffic, he makes money by selling ad space on his website to advertisers.



And that's just one of the business models being field-tested right now. I guarantee you there are more quick minds churning over the next multi-million dollar distribution method for Hip-Hop and other content. The problem of media distribution and gettin' paid for your bits is about to be solved, and someone is gonna get caked up. If you're a young, hungry up-and-comer, you better have your game plans tight and numerous because the point and shoot method of making it big as a rap star or singer is done.



If you are an aspiring Music artist who wants to survive the drought, you better take notes well: Hit up Youtube, start your own channel, and get paid when people watch your videos. Get your Myspace promo game on lock. Look for ways to not only own your music, but the feelings your music gives to people. Create your brand, own your brand, and then license that brand. You should own stocks in the companies that use you to sell their products. Stop giving companies like Nike and Ed Hardy free promotion. Smarten up! When you finally start making some cake, don't waste it on poppin' bottles and supporting your sneaker habit (I talk about shoes because I can lol). Flip that cash with new business ventures. The music business is like musical chairs. It's all about where you are sitting when the music shuts off. But if you're a hustler, you already knew all of this.

A Music Industry Discussion: Glow in the Dark Tour? Is it Esoteric? Secret Symbolism

I've had discussions with fellow colleagues in the business who've all told me that their is a 'gateway' in the Music industry...and your either chosen or your not. Take in this video because about 80% of it is very dead on...and I only post the stuff that will really make people think...and talk!

About the Music Business: Some of the various roles within this industry

Of all the roles in music - writer, singer, instrumentalist, manager, lawyer etc. - which would you rather be? Well of course, you'd prefer to be the lawyer because they make piles of money and never get swindled. (Except of course by other, cleverer lawyers).

Next in line is the writer. If you write music, then you will get a royalty for the rest of your life, plus 70 years, and there are very few ways you can get swindled out of this, or have it siphoned away by 'expenses'. You could be a performer. They can do quite well, but they don't have the same security that the writer does. You don't want to be a non-writing member of a band. You'll end up bitter and twisted when you see how much more money the writers make.

So what else is good as a career?

A Record Producer of course!

Why...?

Because you get paid royalties. Not quite so reliably as the writer, but you get a share of everything that's sold, for the duration of the copyright of the recording, which is a long, long time. And you are one step ahead of a non-writing performer. Where they can probably make an album every eighteen months to two years at maximum, to allow for promotion and so as not to saturate their market, you can make several albums every year.

And although it's fair to say that producers are like fashion trends, record labels are nowhere near as fickle as the market. So your career could be long. The going rate for a producer seems to be around 3% of retail, with the normal deductions that record labels seem to be able to get away with. If you tried to hold out for 4%, then another producer would get the work. If you were satisfied with 2%, then it wouldn't be long before you wanted more.

If there were two or more producers on an album, then the royalty would be shared between them. Royalties are often called 'points'. 'Point' is short for 'percentage point'. Complicated bit follows...

Suppose I have a cake and I give you 50% of it. Suppose I'm not so hungry and I give you 60% instead of 50%. Have I given you 10% more? Not from your viewpoint, because 10% of 50% is 5%. I have given you ten percentage points more, not 10% more.

So the difference between 50% and 60% is ten percentage points. The difference between 3% and 4% is one percentage point. Phew, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

... It's OK - the complicated bit is over now.

If you were a real hotshot producer, then you might ask for a fee as well as points. Of course, the label would try and negotiate your points down to compensate. So in conclusion, financially it is a very good option to be a record producer. If you're successful, you could make an incredible amount of money.