Music & Football

Being from a different country, I have been an eager student on the American ways. During the FIFA World Cup 2014 series, I cannot mention the countless conversations I had about football (soccer, as the Americans insist on calling it!) and American football. I enjoy both very much but I must say, the pomp and circumstance that goes into one of these American football games is quite remarkable.  

I went to my very first American football game between Georgia Southern University and Savannah State University on Saturday 6^th September 2014.

For many, the game was their ultimate point of focus, but being a music enthusiast, it would only make sense that I was as equally entertained by the musicianship displayed. The World Cup series put on an engaging ceremony during the opening day to which I was glued, but that was the end of that and the disconnect is quite apparent.

Besides the whole excitement of tailgating, southern cooking and the actual game, my attention was entirely drawn to the marching bands. It was so interesting to see the relationship between music and sports in such a captivating fashion. To think that all the football games have these elaborate productions however is incredible. 

This certainly peaked my interest to try and understand how it became such an important part of the football games. Marching bands evolved from military bands, and as they became less important in the armies, they became more ceremonial. Bands were integrated into American football since before the twentieth century. They are a big part of the pregame and halftime shows. The first formation was of the block ‘P’ in 1907 created by Paul Spotts, director of the Purdue All-American Marching Band. The first halftime show was in the same year by the University of Illinois Marching Illini.

Picture from personal collection

This Saturday however, it was definitely a highlight when the Southern Pride Marching Band and the Coastal Empire Sound Explosion (C.E.S.E) from Savannah State University performed a joint piece during the halftime show in honor of the Military Appreciation Day.

The Southern Pride Marching Band was formed in 1983 and has over a hundred members with some of their music recordings available on Soundcloud.

The World of Social Media Marketing

In the past three weeks, I have had the pleasure to sit in on a few Product and Artist Management classes, which the professor jestingly refers to as the mini SXSW. It has been remarkable having distinguished professionals in the entertainment business share their experiences, expertise and honestly, taking the time off to talk to young up-and-comers such as ourselves. It was especially an honor meeting and listening to the senior VP Southeast House of Blues and the International Marketing Coordinator, Sony Music Entertainment. Because of my interest in artist management and live events, these two encounters were very helpful in creating and shaping business strategies for my clients.

Another influential guest speaker, Greg Jackson, a Social Media Community Manager at Walt Disney World provided food for thought for this article. It is clear that social media marketing has become one of the most popular avenues for corporations and famous entities to reach their fans/customers in the hope of gaining new clientele. What was once a way of friends finding friends, sharing views and homemade videos and making plans has become a strategic marketing tool in today’s business generation.

According to Greg, there are three ways of ensuring your social media marketing works for you and not against you. First, is ensuring that you are relevant to the platform. The smartest way to think about this is to be aware of your market and the demographics on each of the sites. For example, what might work well on Facebook may not be received as well on Pinterest. No one would be delighted that his or her posts are seen as an intrusion of privacy. However, this calls for subtle marketing tactics.

Secondly, ensure you are relevant to the brand and audience. Any information that you put in the public domain has to draw the viewer back to your brand and what it stands for. Walt Disney World is known as ‘the happiest place on earth’ and every post on each platform should be able to reflect back to that brand positioning.

Lastly, you should be able to take risks. Social marketing today is as a result of an unintended side effect of the global acceptance of the Internet as a marketing tool. Forward Internet Group, a UK-based technology company, taught its staff to work on projects that usually started based on the management team’s hunch on the market’s direction. They literally made stuff up as they went and this is a great example of taking business risk on the World Wide Web. If the first two are on point, the risk will almost always pay off.

As easy as it may seem to create social media content for artists with the aim of pushing sales and converting audiences into diehard fans, without intruding on their cyberspace, it is always a calculated risk what the reception would be. Therefore, understanding your brand, audience and brand positioning and remaining relevant to those will ensure a successful social media presence.




http://www.forbes.com/sites/edmundingham/2014/08/20/were-all-marketers-now-the-growing-power-of-social-media-and-search-marketing/
http://www.forward.co.uk

Live Entertainment Legal Liabilities

NJ Concertgoers v. Live Nation

Live Nation, the country’s largest live entertainment company faced a class action suit that is potentially going to lose the business millions of dollars in revenue. In 2009, the company was sued for padding ticket prices with an additional parking fee of $6 regardless of whether the ticket holder intended to park at the venue or not. Live Nation argued that the fee was set as a way to alleviate traffic backups. On March 28, 2014, the court approved the settlement. The two men who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the other concertgoers each received $7,500 and the company was ordered to pay $1.7 million in attorney fees. An estimated 363,000 people who purchased their tickets online and attended concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Centre from June 2003 to June 2011, are set to benefit from the settlement. This entitles them to three free lawn seat tickets over a period of four years and a $5 discount on future purchases. The tickets are estimated at $33.25 each. It would cost Live Nation well over $38 million in revenue if all the members of the class applied and received their share of the settlement deal. By the time of approval, only 10% of the members had applied. It is my opinion that the settlement was fair more so for Live Nation, all circumstances considered. However, considering the period over which the lawsuit addressed, the facts of the case, for example member attendance over the seven years would have been important in determining more accurate settlement details.

Sugarland Trial

In 2012, Hellen Rollens, Sugarland’s tour manager was investigated over the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair that left seven people dead and more injured. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rollens had been made aware of the severe weather conditions and instead went ahead to confirm the performance as scheduled. Rollens is reported to have called a prayer circle minutes before the stage collapsed therefore saving the lives of the band members and crew. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, the performers had the final say on whether to cancel the show due to the weather conditions. Sugarland was named alongside the producers, stage riggers and the Indiana State Fair Commission (ISFC) among others. In December 2011, the state of Indiana settled their lawsuit with 63 of the 65 victims who held the state liable. Two years after the tragedy, the company that insured the band’s musical equipment filed a new lawsuit. After extensive depositions, the trial date was set for February 2014 and Jeniffer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland still denied any responsibility for the incident. According to their attorney, the band was not made aware of the option to delay the show and should not have been held accountable for not refusing to perform. As per the ISFC’s emergency management plan and the artists’ contract, the commission had sole responsibility for alerting individuals and postponing, evacuating or cancelling an event. In light of these documents, Sugarland should not be held liable for the incident.

BMI sues Bar for $1.5M

A cover band performance at “69 Taps at Medina”, a bar in Cleveland has led to the lawsuit in which Broadcast Music, Inc. is seeking a $1.5M in damages. BMI alleged willful copyright infringement for each work, listing ten songs that were performed by the band. In addition, BMI requested an injunction that barred the establishment from playing live music. Nine other music companies that own the musical composition copyrights joined the suit. A license from BMI would provide an establishment such as this legal permission to perform over 8.5 million works that they hold the rights to.

Since BMI maintains that they reached out severally to try and license the business, I believe 69 Taps at Medina had the opportunity to avoid the lawsuit and failed to take it.

As a precaution in my business, I would ensure I had the required documents including contracts and licenses and seek legal advice to avoid such legal ramifications. In addition to this it is important to be well versed with the laws and regulations of the states of proposed venues.

Networking at the FMF

In April 2014, I got a chance to work at the Florida Music Festival as a volunteer. I had been looking forward to meeting the bands as well as the industry professionals who were going to be present. For the most part, I was at the sign-in table where they all came to pick up their credentials. This was a great opportunity because I met a lot of credible professionals in the music industry as well as upcoming musicians who are well on their way to becoming great household names. On the first day, I shadowed a stage manager at The Social, to learn what it takes to stage manage. In addition to this serving as a learning opportunity, I really enjoyed interacting with the different people.

I have been able to evaluate my experience and believe that this was a great networking opportunity, which I took advantage of and created lasting contacts in the business. My ultimate dream is to run concerts and festivals and as much as I was at the bottom of the food chain in this instance, I realized it takes confidence and desire to reach this dream. I met some of the people who were in charge of the event and working closely with them, on what some would consider mundane tasks, gave me the opportunity to observe and ask questions about their actual positions and how they would handle different things.

I also realize that staging the festival in the downtown Orlando area brought a lot of attention to the businesses that partnered with the event organizers. It was interesting to see how all the stakeholders are brought together by an elaborate event to achieve some business goals.  

Although this was unpaid gig, I believe it was well worth it because I was able to watch over fifty bands in the span of three days. I got to meet other students with similar dreams who I believe will be exceptional assets in the industry's future. I also met the lead singer of a great band from Cape Coral. By talking to the artist, I was able to see his desire and commitment to his art. I have been following Supros and watching their music and believe they have a lot of great potential in the industry.

Through this experience and the connections I made with the organizers, I was rewarded with Universal Orlando passes. Being a newbie in Orlando, this was a dream come true. From this I realized that there are other ways of going around appreciating those who you work with in the industry. By working on the connections you have, you can make your other connections want to keep working with you.  It all takes a bit of creativity.

Essential Negotiation Strategies

Margaret Neale is an Adams Distinguished Professor of Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In her presentation, Getting What You Want, she explains different ways of approaching negotiations and states three things that are important to know before heading into a negotiation. The first thing is knowing your alternative, which gives you better negotiating power as you know you have the best alternative if a deal isn’t made. Secondly, you should know your reservation point. She further explains this as the point where you are indifferent, where a yes is as good as a no, the point where you can say yes or use the alternative.

Lastly, what you hope to achieve out of a negotiation. In order to get more of what you want, you should assess the benefits vs. costs, know your interests and the other side’s interests, ask and share unique information, and bundle your proposals.

One interesting aspect I learned was how to package, therefore, avoiding an issue-by-issue negotiation where you either win or lose. By packaging, and using if-then statements, you can trade among the issues on the table.

Negotiation is not an adversarial process. Rather, to get what you want, you should approach it as a problem solving process.

She further gives women tips on how to handle negotiations by considering why they are asking, how they ask and for whom they are asking. Being able to say no to a bad deal is also very important. You will never know if you can get a better deal unless you are willing to walk away. Her presentation is important to me, as a woman interested in the entertainment industry, because she affirms that negotiating is vital and doing it right ensures you get what you want. 

Brian Tracy is a motivational speaker and an author whose focus is on personal and business success. In this video, he explains a few tactics and strategies to use when negotiating. An interesting fact that I learned from the onset is that everything is negotiable and preparation is 80% of success. That means everyone negotiates, the difference is whether you are good or bad at it and you should know what to improve on.

It is also important to note that one should negotiate based on their contribution. For example, when asking for better pay, you should demonstrate why it is beneficial to the organization.

In the entertainment industry especially, being able to negotiate a good deal is vital for the success of every client, where, in a good deal, everyone wins. Being able to come up with creative solutions is very important.

Interestingly enough, the person who is most emotionally involved has the least power. Negotiating power is exhibited by expertise, knowledge, relationship, reward and loss, investment in time.

Shawn Casemore is a leader in operational excellence. For over two decades, his business helps organizations focus on business improvements strategy, leadership and team development. In this presentation, Shawn explains how the results of negotiations rely on your ability to influence and persuade others.

He further explains how the art of language is essential to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial.
In the entertainment industry, knowing when and how to express yourself is a great strategy that always makes a lot of difference in the negotiation process. According to Shawn, it is necessary to understand the art of language to build credibility, to strategize on language and the timing.

The idea that objections in negotiations demonstrate the interests of a group is perhaps the most interesting fact I learned from this presentation. They are a clear indication that you are reaching an agreement and may be used to gauge where the process is heading.

These three videos are very informative and the approach can be applied to any industry or sector.