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Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Real World

Throughout this past year, I've seen so many changes being made within myself. As I continued to strive and push myself to complete my Masters in Entertainment Business, I learned the importance of an education especially while trying to start a career within the entertainment industry.

There are many great music artists and professionals who were fortunate enough to earn a college education. For instance, singer/songwriter/producer Ryan Leslie earned his Bachelors degree from Harvard University. Of course not all of us feel the need to attend an Ivy League college just to have a successful career in the music industry but he is someone that has something that he could always fall back on.

As well, soul singer Lalah Hathaway attended Berklee College of Music. Other musicians who attended this college include Quincy Jones, Brandford Marsalis, John Mayer and Melissa Etheridge. All of these musicians have been able to have successful musical careers but if things were not to happen for them that way, they have the option of relying on their education. Although there are many successful music artists who did not attend college, like Jay Z, things are not always guaranteed to go as we plan.

During the times that many of our parents and grandparents grew up, they were taught the importance of earning a high school diploma. As times passed, there was emphasis placed on the importance of attending college and earning a degree. Currently, there are many people out in the world that are not able to have a successful professional career due to their lack of education. Just as athletes are encouraged to get a higher education so that they can have something to fall back on, musicians should received the same type of encouragement. This is a way for them to secure their futures and be prepared for the real world that exists outside of stardom.

Something that is found to be common within young actors and musicians is that they always had to set aside time in order to complete their schoolwork. Their parents went to extenuated lengths to bring around teachers and/or tutors to help their children while they were working. The same care should be carried throughout their adulthood lives. Being just a high school graduate doesn't really get people anywhere in today's world. Being able to expand your knowledge and understanding is what helps others to build long and prosperous careers in the ever-changing world of entertainment.


--- Jackee Walker


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Sources:
Berklee College of Music - Alumni Grammy Winners

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Budget-Friendly Marketing Methods


So you have a great idea for a new business BUT you don’t have a lot of money in order to market it… What do you do?

I’ve found 3 simple ideas for marketing your new business venture when you’re low on funds.

1.     We always hear about importance of an elevator pitch. Many people don’t even know what an elevator pitch truly so to help you out, an elevator pitch is designed as a communication tool that will help you to articulate your message (ElevatorPitchEssentials.com). When you’re looking for a new job, we’re constantly advised that we should create an elevator pitch about ourselves in order to get people interested in our qualifications. The same tool can be used when you’re trying to find investors for your new business. In order to create one, all you need is a something to record it on. This is the opportunity to be creative so you can do a simple video or even narrate a presentation. Just make sure that you include important details to make investors want to contact you.

2.     Find a team of like-minded individuals to work with. This will allow you to gain some first-hand experience of the “Do’s and Don’ts” for your new business. In the end, this can definitely help to save you from making simple mistakes because you can hear what others have already learned. Also, you can take some of the heavy work burden from yourself by sharing the workload. Try bouncing ideas off of each other and come up with a simple plan to work together. Make sure that everyone is heard thoroughly and respected.

3.     Lastly, take advantage of networking opportunities. You can meet other entrepreneurs at various events all over the country. Don’t feel the need to restrict yourself to your particular industry because you never know who may be able to help you in the future. Many events are usually free of charge and take place in the evenings or on the weekends. So if you’re working a regular full-time job, you are still able to attend them. As easy way to take advantage is to look for events when you’re traveling to other cities. This will allow you to see what is taking place around the country and find valuable resources elsewhere.

Always remember to get legal advice from certified professionals. There are many other cost-effective solutions out there for you to take full advantage of when starting your new business so make sure that you do what works best for you and your business.

---- Jackee Walker

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Importance of a DJ


As a recording artist, many times major record deals are not given out on a daily basis. By understanding how the music industry works, many artists lean more towards building an independent following. By going the Indie route, the artist is able to take more of a hands-on approach to their music career. When working from this view, many artists learn how importance it is to build a relationship with the local DJs. These are the people that can give them the attention that they want to their music.
 

According to DJ Drama, “The role of the DJ is to bring the music to the people.”  Whether the DJ performs locally at various events or is working for the local radio station, they easily have the ability to influence music listeners all over the world. Although the radio DJ doesn’t have the option of playing any and every song that they want, they do have the opportunity to present more music to more listeners at the same time. Local Orlando radio stations, such as Power 95.3, offer a segment of Local Artist Spotlight on their website where they conduct interviews with local music artists and provide links to their social networks.
 

By artists connecting with local DJs that play at various events, such as nightclubs, they are able to test out their music with various crowds. They can physically see the listeners’ response to when the music is played. They also can test out their explicit versions of their music before deciding to edit radio versions.

As an indie artist, you must learn how to cut costs as much as possible so that you are not throwing money down the drain. Taking advantage of every networking opportunity can save money in the long run as well as teach you inside secrets to a more prosperous career. This will show the major record labels that you have done all of the proper groundwork to invest in your career even if they are not willing to.


--- Jackee Walker


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Sources:


Facebook. (n.d.) DJ Drama [Web]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/djdrama


King, R. (2012, March 22). How Indie Labels Changed the World. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/22/indie-record-labels-changed-world


Power 95.3. (n.d). [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.power953.com

Power 95.3. (n.d). Artist Spotlight [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.power953.com/s/artistspotlight/

twild71. (2009). DJ Drama Class Discussion "The Role of the DJ" [Web]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeHWGkjxUqk 


Sunday, October 6, 2013

Rolling the Dice... Landing on Entertainment Industry


As you look at the history of some of the most successful names within the entertainment industry, you may come to find out that many of them did not even study the industry while they were in college or even attend college. There aren't many colleges through the United States that even offer a program that will help you to earn a career within this industry. Many people have rose to their level of success by being in the right place at the right time.


http://www.biography.com/people/jay-z-507696
Jay Z
Take a look at some of the most famous music artists like Jay Z (Sean Carter). Prior to becoming a highly successful rapper, Carter was a drug dealer. According to Biography.com, he did not live the "average American life." His mother raised him in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects, which has been known for it's heavy drug use within the area. Growing up around all sorts of poverty, he relied on his creativity of music to be a way of getting away from his true surroundings. Deciding to change his life path of selling drugs to become a rapper was only the beginning for Jay Z. I'm sure that while in his youth, he had no idea that he was going to become so successful as he did with his music.





Richard Branson

Another person to think about is Richard Branson. He is the founder of Virgin Music. Branson didn't even complete his high school education; he dropped out at the age of 16 years old while suffering from dyslexia. He exemplified his talents at a young age by creating a national magazine. As a teen, he ventured out to develop his first business, a discount record shop in 1972. As times went on and he remained successful, Branson acquired more businesses that we successful as well (The Biography Channel UK).


This goes to show you that although having an education is extremely important, being successful in the entertainment industry isn't only guaranteed to those with a degree. Jay Z completed high school but was not able to attend college. He utilized the resources he had in order to make a career for himself. Richard Branson dropped out of high school but found a way to start a successful business. When it comes to success in the entertainment industry, your level of success is only guaranteed by the amount of effort you put into it.

---- Jackee Walker

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Sources:
http://www.biography.com/people/jay-z-507696
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/richard-branson.html

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Age of Accountability


Parents are usually held accountable for the behavior of their children in public and some private places. Some people feel that children should be held accountable for their own actions when they reach a certain age but there are numerous private debates about what that particular age should be. In the United States, the legal age of consent varies by state. Many of us know that the legal age which to purchase lottery tickets and tobacco products is 18 years old and the legal age for consuming alcohol is 21 years old.

As times change, I see many parents allowing their children to make their own decisions at an even younger age. I do believe that the abundance of technological advances does play a role in the dynamic. My five-year-old nephew can take the iPad (that he shares with his parents) and find music videos via YouTube. When I was his age, I wasn’t able to type anything, although we did not have iPads back then. Most of my entertainment at that age was from television shows on PBS and videocassette movies that my parents purchased for me.  As well, he is able to take anyone’s cell phone and call anyone that he is allowed to. At his age, he’s able to make more decisions on his own than we were able to do so at the same age.

Being that children are given so many tools to learn from at such a young age, I think that the age to be held accountable should be judged according to that particular child. If the parents are teaching their children the rules of responsibility at a young age, then I don’t see a reason that they are not able to allow them to be held accountable for what they do. I think that this method of upbringing can help them as they get older. This can prevent them from making bad decisions when they reach that legal age of consent. It’s understandable that everyone doesn’t raise their children the same as others but basic principles should be instilled in the forward-thinking children early on.


----- Jackee Walker

Individuality


What Makes You Different? 

According to a Google search, individuality can be defined as “the quality or character of a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from others of the same kind… separate existence.” 

As we all continue to reproduce and raise children, one thing that many suffer from is being recognized as an individual. I have a twin sister and, although we are not identical, it seemed as though it was extremely difficult for some people to tell us apart. Growing up, my parents would dress us alike (as many twins are dressed) but we didn’t see it that way. We wanted to be seen as different people at a very young age.

Babies are naturally born selfish so we grew up not wanting to look alike as well. To give a little difference, my parents would put us in the same outfit but would have us to wear different colors. This seemed to help us somewhat. My mother told me that when we started school, she requested that we not be placed in the same class so that we could learn to not depend on each other. As we got older, I think that this really did help us out a lot. We were able to form our own friendships outside of each other. This allowed us to form our own personalities independent of each other so people could really get to know us. We didn’t begin to have classes together until we were in high school, but even then, it would be only one class out of the entire day. By this time, our friends were able to tell us apart.

Once we finished high school, we went to two different colleges and people we amazed to know that we were twins when they seen us together. I think that we figured out who wanted to be as we grew into adults. Shockingly, we are a lot alike but we are still very different from each other. We tend to forget that we are twins because we feel as though we are just sisters who look alike. Few times people get us confused but they soon realize it when they don’t get the response that they were expecting. Now that we feel that we are so much different from each other, we find it fun to dress alike just to shock strangers when they look at us together.

I think it if wasn’t for our parents forcing us to separate from each other at such a young age, we wouldn’t have been able to become individuals and learn more about ourselves on our own.


---- Jackee Walker

Sources: Google.com

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Expert Advice for Industry Liabilities


Gordon Firemark is the producer of various podcasts entitled Entertainment Law Update available on iTunes for free. During each of his podcasts, he discusses various legal cases with other attorneys. While discussing different forms of copyright, he talked about the case of Faulkner Literary Rights v. Sony Pictures Classic. In this particular case, there was a debate over the phrase “The Past is Never Dead… It’s Not Even Past.” Faulkner is suing Sony for using it in a movie. Federal Judge agreed that it’s not Copyright Infringement; referring to it as a small portion from the book (9-word quote).

Looking at the use of video games, EA Sports was in court (9th Circuit Court of Appeals) because they were being used for using collegiate athlete’s likeness. This isn’t protected under the Fist Amendment. According to the research, student athletes cannot be compensated for use of their likeness. EA Sport’s defense is that he students’ names are not being used on the jerseys in the video games. The court’s ruling found that elements of the athlete’s likeness were found in the game but it did not go far enough to be considered infringement.

In 2011, musical group No Doubt sued ActiVision over the video game Band Hero’s unauthorized use of their image. The court’s ruling decided that creative elements of their likeness in the game were used for commercial exploitation of the band’s image and that it wasn’t fair use.

(Firemark, Episode 43 - No Copyright, Sherlock)

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 In November 2011, Julie Tamor (author and director) sued the producers of Spiderman “Turn of the Dark” for firing her. She was claiming royalties were not properly paid out to her. The producers filed a counterclaim stating that it took them a lot of efforts to save the show after she was fired. In August 2012, there was a preliminary settlement of the case being dismissed. As of May 2013, both parties are still pushing for the case to go to trial.

Photographer David Harney took a picture of a father and his daughter. It turns out that the father had kidnapped his own child from a different country and brought her to the US. Later on there were actors portrayed of the father-daughter in a movie so Harney sued Sony Pictures for copyright infringement. The jury awarded the photographer monies; after appeal, courts ruled that there was no way that the jury could determine that there was any copyright infringement because the photographer has nothing to do with the creative elements of the photo (photos were notably different in composition and color making them different). Attorneys are questioning what copyright protected elements does the photographers hold in the photo as well as what was the purpose for the photo being included in the movie. The court is not giving credit to the photographer even though he actually stopped the father in the street to take the photo of them.

Subway is trying to sue another restaurant that is claiming that their sandwiches are 12 inch. Others are claiming that subway’s sandwiches are only 11 inches long. Looking from a trademark standpoint, there are no registrations occurring because other restaurants have been blocking them. The “foot long” claims are descriptive but not actually the size of the food. The question of puffery comes up when people are starting to ask, “Does the consumer have a reasonable expectation of the sandwich really being 12 inches long?”

Copyright for Students and Teachers: What right does the school have to the work of students to display throughout the school when they want? Students should be able to own their works that they create while in school. Copyrights are being conveyed to the school board and districts. School districts want to be given recognition for the works. Students are being asked to sign over rights of research when grants are being provided to allow them to do the works.

(Firemark, Episode 38 - When a Foot is Only 11 Inches, and a Batmobile is a Character)

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Questions of misrepresentation come up in the case of William Eggleston. An art collector purchased 8 photographic works from Eggleston claiming that they were a part of a limited edition collection (16x20 in size individually numbered). Eggleston reprinted more of the images in different sizes, mediums and production dates and sold them. This caused the originals to decrease in value. Lower courts dismissed all claims of infringement; stating that they are all different from each other.

(Firemark, Episode 40 - Areo, ReDigi, Veoh & IMDB)



----- Jackee Walker

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Sources:
Firemark, G. (n.d.). Episode 38 - When a Foot is Only 11 Inches, and a Batmobile is a Character. Entertainment Law Update Podcast .
Firemark, G. (n.d.). Episode 40 - Areo, ReDigi, Veoh & IMDB. Entertainment Law Update Podcast .
Firemark, G. (n.d.). Episode 43 - No Copyright, Sherlock. Entertainment Law Update Podcast .