Trending Music Technology

If you’ve been following me here on my blog, you’d remember that I’m a Full Sail University student.  My major is Entertainment Business.  This degree sets me up to work in several different professional entertainment fields like management, event planning, and artistry.  I choose to focus on the music side of things.  I would like to work in behind the scenes in management, event planning, and the creative side of songwriting.  All of these encompass my desire to help an artist develop to a budding star.

There are also some new trends in technology happening in the music industry today that I’d like to shed focus.  Some of these ways I’m just learning about myself.  The digital music era is upon us and to remain current we as entertainment graduates need to educate ourselves.

The first savvy technology trend most of us use now, which is being able to download music to our several devices.  But there’s this thing called icloud by Apple that allows you to link downloads together on your Apple devices.  This is probably what makes me love Apple.  Since I spend so much money on downloading music from itunes, I would really be upset if I couldn’t hear the same music between my iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro.  So giving customers convenience is really the drive for this product.

Speaking of the iPad, we have more and more apps that do everything you can think, even music production.  Owning the iPad for the last year, I have discovered various music production software apps that you can download like Logic, Garageband, and my latest find, impc.  The impc is a smaller version of the ‘motherboard’ MPC Studio.  Apps like this give people like me who may be technology challenged and easier way to make some incredible music.  It’s easy to use, portable and I make music right from my bedroom.  How convenient is that? 

Needless to say, there is so much more technology that we’ll keep discovering in this ever-changing business.  My advice is to try and stay current as much as possible by subscribing to the newsletters of reputable companies that sell these devices.  Good luck!

Alternative Funding For Your Dreams

Since I’ve been working on my business plan I’ve been working extremely hard on the intricate details needed to complete a business plan.  The bottom line is in all of our understanding, expertise, fire, and desire we still need funding for our ultimate dreams. 

Lets take a look at two funding resources from websites Association for Enterprise Opportunity and Opportunity Finance Network.  Both are alternative resources for funding for future entrepreneurs like myself, and my classmates at Full Sail University.

Association for Enterprise Opportunity and Opportunity Finance Network strives to develop more microbusiness around the U.S. while developing entrepreneur with the skills to start a business, fund a project, or gain a loan.  AEO focuses on the low-income and low-wealth as well.  Ultimately, both companies help those in need with a plan to get the resources that will help them be successful. The focus is being able to lend money to business that will service our underserved communities. OFN or Opportunity Finance Network has several different types of loans.  Two of them stuck out to me and that was the Participation Loan where the requirement has to benefit low-income and low-wealth communities.  Places like supermarkets, multi-family housing, and charter schools would be eligible.  The Health Financing loan allows you to create a business where healthy foods are not readily available.

For those of you contemplating becoming an entrepreneur, there was an interesting fact on AEO’s website that there are an average 85%microbusinesses across the U.S.  I checked out my state of Pennsylvania and it says as an African-American without owning a business my median net worth is $10,000, but as a business owner my net worth is $77,000.  So what do I have to lose…lol  I definitely have some work to do. AEO also offers financing and training for business owners and financial planners. 

The advantage is that there is money out there and for a good cause.  If you can get past the work that is required to get that funding, then I totally take my hat off to you.  I have very close friends who just opened a charter school in New Jersey and it was one of the most trying experiences they’ve ever had, but well worth it.  Now that they’re open they see the fruit of their labor.

Some of the disadvantages to this type of funding are that it has to benefit the low-income or low-wealth community.  Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen in my low-income community is that once someone tries to do something nice in this area.  The community doesn’t appreciate it and/or deface or rob the business.  This is not encouraging. But someone has to do it and has been doing it for years. So if that’s you, Go Get It in 2013.  Good Luck!

Evaluating Business Plans

As I approach the end of my degree program here at Full Sail University I’ve learned and am still learning how to develop my business plan.  Of course it has changed with every month I’ve had a chance to think about it, but now this is the real deal.  Things that stood out to me were the financial aspect of the plan.  It was very hard to imagine this part of my plan, so I will spend extra time focusing on getting it right.  Especially since money is not that easy to come by.

During my next two blogs I will be evaluating two experts on the ‘value of business plans’.  I will discuss the ideas of Kevin Gieger and Daymond John.  Kevin Gieger is film producer, computer animator and CG supervisor for Disney. He discusses that it’s important to have a unifying creative plan, it should be organized and this is what should be pitched to potential investors.  He also believes that its important to development your own company.  Concerning film, this could serve as a production for all the entities or an umbrella as a LLC (Limited Liability Company). He has a great video series on indie film business plans that goes through more detail.  This is very interesting and helpful.

Daymond John is the founder and creator of FUBU and one of the entrepreneurial gurus on the hit series Shark Tank. John talks about the mistakes he made in his early years of opening his company and says he wished he paid more attention to his financials.  He found himself buying expensive watches because someone told him “jewelry was an investment”, but realized how they depreciated over time.  I was excited to see that John’s Business plan essentials were very similar to ours that we’re learning this week. He just provided more detail in the financials like balance sheets, income and cash flow statements.  Although, we did have to add some financialsJ

Hopefully, you and I will learn a lot together from these experts.  Stay tuned.

Producer Tracks

Producer Tracks

So you wanna be a producer? Do you think you have that song that's gonna change your life! That's how it happened for producer of the song "Power", by Kanye West says his friend told him that was about to happen to him. The rest was history. I've always wondered if I had what it takes to become a producer.  I mean I always heard the music in my head, it should be easy right? Wrong?  Anyone who thinks that producing tracks is so easy is crazy, in my opinion.  As a songwriter, I'm always looking for tracks that move me.  Whether its a melodic ballad that moves me to write a worship song to God or a song that's rocking so I can work out to it.  Either way, the song, lyrics, and melody have to become one.  I'm partial to making sure the music is great and then I can write for days.

I checked out a few videos on YouTube of some up and coming producers showing us how they go through the process of making tracks.  I checked out this one girl that goes by the name IZ, put up a few videos that showcases her skills, she says she gets from her mother.  Check her video! She goes piece by piece how she develops her song.  It's pretty good too.  It shows how she is able to mimic what the typical industry standard 'pop' song sounds like today.

As far as known producers go, I was able to find this video where Kanye West was on 60 Minutes making a track.  Check Kanye's track! Within minutes this song was almost finished.  It was pretty funny to watch the interviewer try to vibe with him.  But if you like hip-hop, you felt the vibe Kanye was getting at with that beat.

When producing a track, one can not just be concerned with what the music is doing, but how its being presented.  When the vocals are added to that music, it becomes apart of the track also.  Teddy Riley from famed 90s group GuY speaks in this video about various sounds he used to create Michael Jacksons's JAM and She's Drive's Me Wild.  It's a great video, with great info. In the video Riley is talking about how since Jackson's death, some of the remaining songs had to be edited with a software called Melodyne to correct Michael Jackson's pitch. Ultimately, its up to the producer to create the sound that he or she wants.  They set the tone and feel of how a song will be presented.  Hopefully, I'll be able to create my sound that people will love.

Song Submission Opportunities

Currently, I'm working diligently to get a few placements in preparation for this next year.  It seems like I'm chasing my tail sometimes, but I just can't stop doing what I'm so passionate  about.  Writing songs for a movie soundtrack has always been a dream of mine.  The only thing that was stopping me was not knowing anyone who was doing it or knew about it themselves.  Keeping that in mind, I read an article that was very informative about how to submit songs for a movie soundtrack. Some of the suggestions include networking to get close to music supervisors and giving them some copy written music that could be potentially placed on a soundtrack.

One of the things I always try to do when I can is network. When this opportunity fell in my lap that’s exactly how it  happen.  I was speaking with a colleague about doing some work together and they called me later that week to submit some music for the soundtrack.  Now, of course in this business I realize that there are no guarantees, but I'm truly taking full of advantage of this opportunity. 

The first thing I did was read the plot and timeline of the whole project.  This information came on onesheet and had everything I needed to know like the plot, the characters, the book this movie would be based on and the projected timeline of when the music project should be started and the dates for the projected release for the movie and soundtrack.  This is a link for an example of a one sheet. http://onesheet.com. 

This is the most excited part where I get a chance to seek out the producers I want to work with and create some music that’s inspiring.  I'll let you know later how things work out, but no matter the outcome, its one of my favorite experiences during this journey.