Industry Liabilities

In today’s world there are a multitude of liabilities that business owners have to prepare and protect their selves against before, after, and during ownership; however, not everything you do will ensure that you are protected against those who “will try anything to make a million” (The Personal Injury Lawyer Directory, 2013). Not that everyone is out to get you but in order for you to be as successful as possible  you must take the proper steps to ensure that you and your customers are protected.

For those of us that are already working in the industry, we know that you must take the proper steps to protect yourself and your artist’s work.

There is one particular case where Joe Satriani, Cat Stevens, and Sammie Lee Smith filed a copyright lawsuit against the members of Coldplay and Capitol Records alleging that some of the band’s songs contained “substantial, original proportions” of their own tracks (Iplj, 2010.). Coldplay’s main defense for these lawsuits was that the one artists were not very well known, the others were similar but very different, and made a point that they were being sued well after the songs had been released to the public.  These cases have not been finalized and have no further details. However, as a future artist manager, I will have to face similar problems to this with artists that I work with and will need to be prepared for it. I will need to become more prepared and detail oriented as my artists popularity rises simply because they will be more prone to similar lawsuits. I can prepare and avoid a similar situation, possibly, by having another artist manager listen to my bands music before it’s release to ensure that it isn’t similar to other music out there. I would even go a step further by having a process to follow with my legal team in the rare case that someone actually did sue my artists. 

Another legal case that I found rather interesting that has recently popped up was one between Shakira and Antonio De La Rua. Antonio, her former business partner and boyfriend, is suing Shakira for $100 Million Dollars he feels that he deserves for helping achieve Shakira’s current global success. Antonio goes on to claim that their partnership was terminated without warning and Shakira has refused to pay his earnings from 2011. The case is currently on going and there is no further information on it.  The main lesson that I learned from reading about this particular case is to always have a contract with everyone even if they are your boyfriend or girlfriend. Having a written contract holds each party responsible for their actions and might have allowed Shakira to avoid these legal issues. Applying this to my future business will ensure that if my business partner walks out on an artist or me even, I am protected and will not have to face the same legal issues.

Another case that caught my eye happened in 2011 where a Michigan woman hated the movie Drive so much that she sued them for false advertising. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sarah Deming filed a lawsuit against FilmDistrict claiming that the distributors of Drive, “promoted the film Drive as very similar to the Fast and Furious, or similar series of movies” (Hollywood Reporter, 2011). She also claimed that it “bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film” and proceeded to get a refund for her ticket as well as having the intention of engaging in a class action lawsuit. One of the best things that you can do as a business owner is to promote your business in almost anyway you can to boost sales; however, as the movie Drive did, don’t over do it.

Even though many of you might think that reviewing a few current legal issues is a waste of time, the benefits of knowing other people problems and being prepared for them is worth a lot. The ability to foresee these problems and prepare for them will potentially save your artist, yourself, and your business thousands! A question for my readers, “ How do you prepare or protect yourself from facing similar legal issues with your business and/or artists that you work with?”

References:

IPLJ. (2010).  Coldplay Feels the Heat Once Again. Retrieved on May 8, 2013, from; http://iplj.net/blog/archives/1371

IPLJ. (2013). Legal Woes for Colombian Popstar Shakira Ignite. Retrieved on May 8, 2013, from; http://iplj.net/blog/archives/5988

The Hollywood Reporter. (2011). FilmDistrict Sued Over ‘Misleading’ ‘Drive’ Trailer. Retrieved on May 8, 2013, from; http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/drive-filmdistrict-lawsuit-ryan-gosling-245871

The Personal Injury Lawyer Directory. (2013). The 10 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of All Time. Retrieved on May 8, 2013, from; http://www.the-injury-lawyer-directory.com/ridiculous_lawsuits.html

Why the Entertainment Industry?

First and foremost we will be going a little off track this week as I want to start of this week’s blog by asking my readers a simple question, “ What makes you happy?” This is the exact question that I asked myself right out of High School, and although it took me a while to figure out, I finally came to where I am today as a Live Sound Engineer/Artist Manager. One of the main reasons that I love being a part of the live entertainment industry is because of the direct contact with my artist’s fans emotions. What do I mean by that? Well when you are at a concert and you are screaming your favorite bands music at the top of your lungs, how does that make you feel? Awesome, right?! Well imagine helping someone craft his or her music into something that people, like yourself, want to scream or clap along to. After all the work put into the music is done, that is the ultimate benefit in my eyes, not the money, not the fame, but the emotions that the music (or my artists music) you helped create is able to pull out of the fans. It’s the small moments like that that give me the push to make it to the next day. This is a quote from Steve Jobs that I try to abide and ask myself everyday, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” My answer to this question hasn’t been “no” yet and I hope that it will never be. Finally, I want my readers to look in the mirror and ask yourself the same thing. What are your answers? What will you do if your answer is a “No?”

 

Reference:

Good Reads. (2013). Steve Jobs Quotes. Retrieved on April 22, 2013, from; http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/412696-i-have-looked-in-the-mirror-every-morning-and-asked

The Next Step in Live Entertainment?

Over the past decade the music industry has become an ever-changing landscape that continues to develop, grow, and change before our eyes. According to the New York Times, technology has allowed global music sales to rise last year for the first time since 1999 (New York Times, 2013). Technology and innovation have been the front-runners that have affected the music industry and my career as a front of house engineer the most; however, what will be the next big transition that the Entertainment Industry sees? One of the most notable transitions over the past decade that I remember was one that took us from the buying a physical CD to single mp3s. Do you remember how amazing it was to be able to put every single album that you owned in your pocket? The idea and application of the iPod as well as iTunes was amazing for everyone involved; however, the notion that someone could buy just one track off a full 12-song album really impacted sales and the total income artists were seeing. Artist managers everywhere, including myself, scrambled to find ways to keep people buying the entire albums; however, the decline of full physical CD sales inevitably led us to focus on other forms of income. The music industry as a whole began to focus on making touring revenue and concerts the main source of income for artists. Coupled with album sales (even though they were and still are declining), concerts and tours are where artists make the majority of their money. According to Billboard’s Ray Waddell, “the touring industry was robust in 2012 and is teed up for continued growth” (Mashable, 2013). Artists make money off of the ticket sales and merchandise but where else could we generate revenue? I keep asking myself this question and always come to the same conclusion, which is that the music industry needs a dedicated in Home Live Concert Streaming Service. Is that not where every industry in the world right now is currently trying to migrate to and monetize? It would benefit the artist a lot if they were able to bring their concerts into their fans homes without them actually having to attend. It would be an amazing way for them to reach out to a bigger demographic or even around the world. The streaming service would be set up similarly to that of Netflix where you can pay a monthly fee and watch all the live shows of you your favorite artist or pay per show, kind of like pay-per view; however, these tickets would be at a discounted rate because you would not be physically there. The discounts could expand to package deals on their merchandise, physical albums, or even including a live concert DVD for an extra fee.. EVNTLIVE is on the forefront of providing a service for streaming live concerts and will soon be offering invitations for people to try it out. EVNTLIVE’s CEO Judy Estrin stated, “We will offer webcasts of live concerts” and “our focus is a combination of signed, popular indie [artists] that have strong followings up to the top brands.” This is something that I see becoming another great source of income for artists and will be watching out for it to go public in the future.

References:

New York Times. (2013). Music Industry Records First Revenue Increase since 1999. Retrieved on April 11, 2013, from; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/technology/music-industry-records-first-revenue-increase-since-1999.html?_r=0

Mashable. (2013). Live Concert Streaming Platform EVNTLIVE Begins Offering Invitations. Retrieved on April 11, 2013, from; http://mashable.com/2013/04/09/evntlive/

Concert Industry Growing!

Over the past decade the music industry has had its ups and downs that included the transition from artists and recording labels losing money when they went from selling full physical albums to selling the single mp3 after the invention of iTunes. That transition alone rocked the music industry and caused many aspiring artists to have to go back to their day jobs because they just weren’t selling enough. Despite the decline in physical album sales, the music industries main focus and so-called “money maker” has turned to the concert industry. According to Digital Music News, the global concert or touring industry has become and will grow larger than the global recording industry. Over the past few years North American ticket sales alone have increased by 4%, which has caused many people to think that the concert industry is on the path to having more revenue in the future when compared to the record industry. This means that artists are now looking at the big picture and are focusing on producing live concerts that amaze people and leave them wanting to come back tomorrow for more. The fact that ticket sales are rising also means that the amount of money each artists receives per show will go up. According to Quora, it is common for artists to receive 10% of the ticket sales with a guaranteed fee for performing. As a artist manager and live sound engineer it is my job to ensure that they receive as much money as possible from each show that they do. It is just like a business and the performance they put on is their product. With that being said, the more they make, the more I make! The main thing I want my readers to take away from me today is that the concert industry is growing larger and becoming more important to artists. So be sure to take that into account in the future when you are planning concerts for artists you are working with! It’s their business, their product, their performance and you are the middle man that has to ensure it makes them as much profit as possible! 

Speakers?

As an aspiring live sound engineer there are a lot of things that you have been learning in order to understand your craft better, am I right? Well, other than microphones, the next most important detail to getting the perfect mix is having and choosing the right speakers! There are many factors that come into play when choosing the right speakers; however, understanding what a speaker entails of is the first step to making the right decision!

How do speakers work exactly?

The basic way a speaker works is that a electromagnet turns electrical signals (from a microphone or cd player) into different strengths of movements (or frequency) which we perceive as sound coming from a speaker. The process starts off at a coil that is connected to a cone, which vibrates together causing a sound to be created. This sound is then amplified by the diaphragm and in turn heard by us as music or vocals. I have included a diagram of how a speaker is made below so that you will be able to understand it a little better.

Types of Speakers?

The two main types of speakers that live sound engineers use today are active and passive. The main difference between the two is that a passive speaker needs to have an amplifier in order to work and an active speaker has a built in amp inside the actual speaker housing. Active speakers are appealing to many bands and live sound engineers simply because they are easy to set up and have an amplifier they have built in them is perfectly matched to the speaker that it is powering. Where as with a passive speaker you have to match the right amplifier to the right speaker, which can a daunting task for some. Despite active speakers using less space and being super convenient to set up, if anything goes wrong you have lost an entire speaker. Passive speakers are more flexible in regards to failures simply because you can easily replace the speaker or amp itself which proves very beneficial during a live concert.

How to Choose?

In reality it is really hard to choose what speaker will be right for you and the applications you will come across down the road. When I bought my first sound system back in 2006 it was really scary to be throwing around my hard earned money; however, it was something that I loved so I jumped right in. After thinking about it a while, I wanted to have the ability and flexibility to run sound for shows that had 1000 people to acoustic shows in a small coffee shop. With that being said, I ended up getting a combination of large and small passive speakers with separate amplifiers. This was the right choice for me because the amplifiers were meant for ten of those speakers I had just bought one of. I did that so I would have the ability to build onto my system without having to buy all new amplifiers. Today I have a system that has the power to blow the face off of 1000 people and maybe even more than that!. According to Sounds Live, active speakers are becoming more popular because they are an easy solution, involve fewer cables, are easy to upgrade, and cost substantially less than passive speakers. With that being said your budget is the next thing that you must factor into your decision.

It is very important that you think about where you want to be with your system in the future. Will you be a person who has speakers in his garage? A person with a coffee shop sound system? Or will you want to have the ability to someday have built a system that will impress a thousand people?  Take your time to think and ask yourself these questions as I hope it will help you decide which speaker is the right one for you.