2012 Grammy Award Show

2012 Grammys

Grammy week in Los Angles California is full of exciting and productive events for people in the music industry. The Grammys 2012 made a lot of history. With the loss of the great Whitney Houston, her death took a toll on many of the artist participating in the Grammys.  The Grammy Awards have taken place for more than 50 years and is the biggest award show for music. People are honored for achievements in recording arts and supporting the music industry.

            This year an amazing artist by the name of Adele took home 6 Grammys leaving the show as the top winner.  Nicki Minaj Caused a lot of controversy by showing up to the award show with a man dressed up as the Pope. The Catholic Church was not happy about this due to her show performance being very demonic. The Church feels she is sending a very negative message about the people of the Catholic Church.

            Chris Brown blew the crowd away with an amazing performance. Chris Brown has turned his career around taking on a positive campaign working hard to win his back. After his incident with Riahnna he has worked very hard to put on great shows and make great shows for the people.

            Lady Gaga also was nominated in a many categories this year. She has been doing very well world-wide. The fans continue to appreciate Lady Gaga’s music. Foo Fighters took home a few awards this year also and had many nominations and many different categories.

            I feel the 2012 Grammy Award show did bring out a lot of press and media. I also feel this year was different then most years. I feel like the Recording Academy did a great job by acknowledging Whitney Houston through out the show. I am looking  forward to the future of the Grammy Award show, it gets better every year. 

Artist Management: Irving Azoff

Artist Management: Irving Azoff

Irving Azoff is great example of a great artist manager. His success speaks for itself when looking at the current position he holds today as the executive chairman of Live Nation.  Mr. Azoff sets a great example on how to execute the title and responsibilities of managing an artist. Mr. Azoff has held positions has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert promoter, movie producer, independent record label owner, merchandiser, music publisher, and CEO of a record company. The previous positions that he has held explain why he is the best person for the position he holds today. Live Nation is one of the largest entertainment and ecommerce company’s in the world. Live Nation is the complete package for any artist in the music business today. Live Nation consist of three entities: Live Nation Concerts, Frontline Management Group, and Live Nation Network, which are all needed for the success of any artist in todays music industry. Live Nation also has a contract with Hip Hops icon Jay-Z, this has created a great amount of leverage for Live Nation.

Irving Azoff has a strategy that many of todays record labels and artist managers should consider using. Irving Azoff has no limits with being the executive chairman of Live Nation. Mr. Azoff sets the standard for all artist managers and sets a great example to follow. Mr. Azoff started off promoting events in college, this just shows that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. The leaders of Live Nation have salaries that show the music industry is progressing to some degree even though technology has changed it drastically. Mr. Azoff has been a great addition to the music industry and will continue to make a positive impact. Many record labels in today’s market can learn a lot from the strategies of Live Nation. 

Steve Moore Legacy Entertainment

Steve Moore Legacy Entertainment

Steve Moore is the CEO/President of Legacy Entertainment.  Legacy Entertainment is an entertainment marketing company that specializes in product placement.  Legacy Entertainment is located in Hollywood, CA and works with every big studio from Warner Brothers to Universal Studios. Legacy’s clients consist of Bentley cars and Juice and many more. Legacy Entertainment Guarantees their client’s placement opportunities in feature films, television series and celebrity events.  

Interview with Steve Moore:

How long have u been working in the industry? “16 years created company from working with friend.”

What makes u want to continue to work in the industry? “ I enjoy it everyday is different, its new and fresh everyday.”

Are you more involved in music or film? “Pretty equal with celebrity events and business to business.”

Would you say NY or LA has more work in the Entertainment industry? “LA has all of the studio headquarters most NY offices have been shut down.”

What are some of your past projects? “200 feature film projects a year, 50 celebrity events, and television series.”

What are some of your current projects that you are working on? “Monster trophy safari television series and new celebrity events.”

When you are in a position to negotiate how do you deal with negative emotions and leverage and power?

-       “I use a term called seal, felt, and found. When people begin to have negative emotions when I am in a position of negotiation, and the person begins to have mixed feelings I let them know of people that I work with that have felt like them and are happy today that they work with me.”

-       “Many times when they have loaned up to millions of dollars to companies, there are package deals. This allows me to get new clients to want to sign with my company so they can guarantee that their products will be on television and in films.”

Watch the Throne Tour

Watch the Throne Tour hits Los Angeles California for a third show due to high request for those that missed the first and second show. The Watch the Throne Tour headline artist are Jay-Z and Kanye West. These two gentlemen released an album in the month of August that broke sales records on iTunes and charts across the world.  The Tour began September 22, 2011 and will continue through out the month of December.  The show has created a large amount of revenue with ticket prices costing $100-$1000 a ticket. This show has been well put together the fans have shown a lot of support and continue to travel across the country to watch Jay-Z and Kanye West Live in concert.

Over the weekend I spent time at the LA Live center in downtown Los Angeles and I met people that flew in from Oregon, Chicago, and Arizona just to see this concert. Everyone that I met and spoke with said they are very excited about the concert and Love both Jay-Z and Kanye West and feel that they are making history by attending this concert. I have yet to attend a Jay-Z concert but everyone that I speak to that has attended one says it is a priceless experience. I have to commend both artist and Live Nation for making the concert possible. It is an extremely good business move to make money for the artist.

The hype for this tour has made me personally want to attend a Jay-Z concert. If I am able to attend the Watch The Throne Concert tonight I am sure it will be a life changing experience for me. I love the Watch The Throne album and to see the songs performed live would be great. I love the energy that concert goers have and their vibes are great.

http://www.tweematic.com/watchthethrone/

World Star Hip Hop

World Star Hip Hop

World Star Hip Hop also known as WSHH has become the biggest site for up and coming artist to display their music and music videos.  This site has become extremely popular in the urban community. It not only displays music it also displays videos similar to “Americas Funniest Home Videos”.  I personally feel the website is great and has a large variety of content. The only flaw I can say the website has is that it is very unorganized. The content on the site is everywhere, the space on the page is not being utilized properly, the advertisements take up a lot of space, and there are no categories for people to search within the site.

I can defiantly say the creators of World Star Hip Hop did an amazing job marketing their site, bringing attention and creating buzz. Many of World Star Hip Hop’s viewers were YouTube users and now can find the videos catered to them on World Star Hip Hop. The site not only displays the music and music videos of up and coming artist but it also allows its users to see their favorite artist music videos first. World Star Hip Hop will have music videos up loaded before they even make a world premier on television.

World Star Hip Hop has become a new marketing tool for the music industry. If your video hasn’t made it to World Star Hip Hop you need to get it on their so people can become familiar and aware of your music.  Once World Star Hip Hop improves its websites visual appearance and makes the site more interactive they will continue to do well. The site attracts all age groups and demographics. World Star Hip Hop was a great idea and I am sure the founders are very happy with their company. 

www.WorldStarHipHop.com

www.YouTube.com

Speech "How to Live Before You Die"- Steve Jobs

“ How to Live before you die” Steve Jobs

 Steve Jobs, one of the most powerful men of technology to walk the universe. The speech he made at the Stanford Commencement ceremony allowed the attendees to learn a great amount of information about his life and his views and opinions on life. I was moved and touched by the three stories he discussed during his speech. I was touched by every story and was able to paint a picture of everything that he was talking about. 

Jobs motivation to learn and continue to live and love what he does inspires me greatly.  His story about his mother giving him up for adoption gave me an entirely different outlook on him.  Steve Job’s group up with adoptive parents after his mother in the nicest way possible let it be known that she did not want to be a mother, or was not ready for mother hood at the time. Jobs did not let that stop him from being great and I admire this about him.

Jobs letting it be known that he is a college drop out and it was the best decision that he made allowed me to reflect on my days of undergrad and all of the time that I spent taking classes that I had absolutely no interest in. I love the fact that he spoke of the struggles he went through to get where he is today; sleeping on friends dorm room floors, recycling cans for money to eat, etc. His story is very similar to those that move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment. It is not as glamorous as television makes it seem. The people in the industry work hard and put in a lot of hours. The special thing about people in the entertainment industry is the work doesn’t feel like work because they are doing the things that they love.

Jobs touched on how important work is to your life, and how important it is to love what you do.  This part of the speech was very motivating, as I do not ever want to work in a field or industry that I hate. I completely agree with him on how important it is to do what you love and he is a prime example of the success that comes when you are doing something that you love.

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

The Recording Industry Association of America plays a huge role in the careers of independent and signed artist. The RIAA is a reliable source for artist and music labels that need the protection of their intellectual property and First Amendment Rights. The RIAA also “ conduct consumer, industry and technical research, and monitor and review state and federal laws, policies and regulations (RIAA).” The RIAA is also responsible for the certification of Gold. Platinum, Multi-Platinum, and Diamond sales awards.

The technical standards that have been created by the RIAA are as follows; Watermark Payload Specification, Global Release Identifier (GRid), and Digital Data Exchange. Watermark Payload Specification is a payload format for data, which is included in a watermark added to music tracks.  The Watermark Payload Specification is a great asset for any artist and music label.

The RIAA has a database that allows people to search if an artist has gone Gold or Platinum, etc.  It also has many other important data information that is valuable to people in all areas of the music industry. RIAA has a Shipment Database, “It is designed to help music industry professionals, analysts, fans, reporters and students more effectively sort and display shipment data and better understand music purchasing trends. Use the controls below to click through the highlights of this new subscription-based resource (RIAA).” This database will continue to be used to compare statistics over the years that are related to music sales.

Individuals that are involved in the music industry will always be able to depend on the RIAA for reliable pieces of information. They even offer a music industry report, which provides information pertaining to “music industry sales, labels’ investment in artists and 
the explosive growth of innovative digital models in the U.S. and abroad (RIAA).”

Independent and signed artist are both dealing with similar issues as the music industry is still developing its self with all of the technical changes with music becoming so digital. Conducting research on the RIAA will allow people from all areas of the music industry to prosper and do better. The RIAA is a great source with a lot of valuable information. They are defiantly an association that all artist and music labels should be affiliated with.  The Recording Industry of America is very confident with the work and resources that they have, which should make anyone in the music industry confident with their resources also.

Resources

http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php?content_selector=about-who-we-are-riaa