Ready To Negotiate?

Here we have snippets of an interview conducted with Nigel Angus, Founder and CEO of RD Entertainment as well as the Founder and CEO of Limelight Music Publishing.  I am happy to share that through the power of Full Sail Universities Entertainment Business Masters Degree Program which required an interview of this type; a strategic partnership has emerged with Nigel Angus and has allowed me to become Limelight Music Publishing's Co-Founder.

The video you are about to view contains a brief introduction to the vast discipline of negotiation followed by three of Nigel's negotiation tactics.

Digital Media a Demise??

The following Fox Business News video was viewed by our class today:
Mottola: Digital Media Has Changed Music Industry


My comments below concerning the context of this video are below:

Alot of what he says makes sense from a Monday

morning quarterback type of aspect but I will tell 

him like I tell alot of DJ's who complain about  

someone who is able to get a laptop and some Serato, 

Torq, Vestax, Itch, Traxktor or other DJ software 

and some music and call themselves a DJ:

 

You cannot expect the times or technology to remain 

the same so that it can fit a mold that you like and 

can enjoy the benefits of.  Technology does change, 

times do change so what you have to do is be that 

much more better at your craft; have that much more 

respect for being a DJ and delivering music to a 

consumer so that the difference between the quality 

of what you do and the quality of what someone who 

just bought a laptop and some software is clearly 

evident.

 

There is much more demand for music than there are 

enough DJ's to fill it; this has created the 

environment where media had to go digital and an 

environment where someone off the street can buy the 

necessary equipment and call themselves a DJ.  The 

consumers change in habit with regards to 

consumption of music has demanded this so you cannot 

fault a person who wants to do their part in helping 

to fill this demand.

 

This same sentiment is applied to Digital Media; and 

it is also digital media that has made the above 

ability for someone to buy a laptop and some 

software and call themselves a DJ possible.

 

Consumers are tired of buying an album to only find 

one to maybe two good songs on it (especially after 

waiting months for the albums release after multiple 

single creeps to the market and delays of the albums 

release); its easy for record labels to cry foul 

when they feel that a quality product has been put 

on the store shelves for consumers to enjoy; but the 

consumer has responded by changing their purchasing 

habits.

 

What has to be done is stop blaming technology and 

actually blame the record labels for not paying 

proper attention to nor listening to what the 

consumer had to say about the product they were 

selling when it came to recorded music through 

proper strategic planning and alignment of the 

latest advances in music technology with the record 

labels goals and objectives.

 

The Beatles understood; that is why it took so long 

for Apple iTunes to get their catalog to sell in a 

digital format.

 

You have to now begin understanding 

and maintaining proper control over your product as 

a musician and as a record label you have to 

strategically plan out what you are going to do to 

make the Digital Media phenomena work for you and 

your investors while giving proper attention to the 

artists on your roster.

 

Ticket Sales! Ticket Sales!

I am and have been a frequent concert goer for the past seven years; during this time I have watched the convenience fee charged by Ticketmaster jump from $2 to well in the $6 to $7 dollar range for just one ticket.  I purposefully stayed away from attending certain shows due to the fact that after buying two tickets and then adding on the price of the convenience fee for each ticket the total came to well over a hundred dollars.

With that kind of money I can go on a date that includes dinner and a movie as compared to just going to see live entertainment; these are two different aspects of entertainment but with salaries not increasing with the rate of inflation, and the majority of the consumer market across all units (White and all other races, Asian, Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino), showing an 18.4% expenditure alone just for utilities as part of overall household expenses (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008), it’s very easy to see why this summer’s concert tours numbers are very low.

In addition, other factors such as: if the artists or groups preforming have been here before; if they have been here before does the quality of their show warrant paying money to see them again?; is the ticket price higher or lower since they were last here?; If this is a new artist or group performing how much is their ticket price compared to others that have been here in the past?; Is the artist or group performing popular enough to warrant buying a ticket to the show?

Many other questions come up when making the decision to buy a ticket to a show such as: does the venue provide an atmosphere conducive to enjoying a show?; Does the venue have good sound?; Will the show start on time?; Is the artist or group going to even show up?; Will I have to pay to park at or near the venue?

As a frequent concert goer I have asked myself many of the above questions before considering whether or not to purchase a ticket for a show.

Consumers have spoken; they will take their business elsewhere as evidenced in a recent article from Rolling Stone magazine entitled: “Concert Business Collapses as Fans Flee”, Steve Knopper delivers some heavy and sobering news; Attendance at North American Shows dropped 24.4 percent with sales down 26 percent with the number of concerts staged dropping by 16 percent. 

In a great example of the obvious disconnect between what an Artists perception is and what the business perception shows to be true, Christina Aguilera cancelled a 20-Show Tour (Officially) due to scheduling conflicts with her movie “Burlesque”; Industry and business perception shows that this cancellation took place due to a lack of recent hits and too-high ticket prices.

As you read the above data you can clearly see whose perception is jaded and misguided.

Jamel L. Raines, MBA

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008). Consumer Expenditure Survey Anthology, 2008. Retrieved: January 8, 2011. From: http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxanthol08.htm

Knopper, S. (January 20, 2011). Concert Biz Collapses as Fans Flee. Rolling Stone Magazine. Issue 1122.