Dawn Richard Soars With "Armor On"

Dawn Richard exploded onto the scene in 2004 when P. Diddy returned with the third season of Making The Band. Diddy was looking to form a girl group and Dawn made the cut. The group was formed and named Danity Kane. A native of New Orleans, Lousiana, Dawn had the undeniable talent and charisma of a star. But after just two albums, successful ones I might add, the group disbanded. Some members blamed her for the breakup because after they were disbanded she was the only group member to continue a working relationship with Diddy. Diddy even recruited Dawn to join a group that he was putting together called Dirty Money. That group consisted of Diddy, Dawn, and another female artist by name of Kaleena. The group released a pretty successful album and toured the world! But after the tour this group also disbanded. So, Dawn was not ready to give up. She asked to be released from her contract so she could start work on her solo career independently. This is when her true artistry and star power started to emerge. She was without a record label and was doing her music on her own terms and was being quite successful at it. She released an EP entitled Armor On earlier this year and it shot straight to number one on the Itunes R&B chart in just three hours. That’s a great feat to achieve and just goes to show when you stick to your guns and stay true to who you are you can achieve the unimaginable. With the success of Armor On Dawn has became kind of in demand and she went on a small tour of the U.S. and performed at small venues. The tour was successful and afterwards she went hard to work on her debut album, Goldenheart, as a solo artist. Still with no label backing Dawn was determined to get her music out there and was planning to release Goldenheart on October 16, 2012. The album was pushed back however and for a great reason. Dawn was able to secure a major distribution deal with Altavoz Distribution. That is a huge deal for an independent artist. Dawn will be able to have her music available to the buying public both physically and digitally while retaining most of the profit. Since she received this deal, Goldenheart,  was pushed back to January 15, 2013 so they could package the album correctly for the physical release. I’m so looking forward to Dawn's Goldenheart album because Dawn brings something fresh and new to the R&B scene and she stands out among the familiar!

photo credit: necolebitchie.com

Rihanna Remains "Unapologetic"

Rihanna has become a force to be reckoned with since her debut onto the music scene in 2005. Since then she has become a global superstar! She has platinum albums, sold out tours, countless endorsements, and a major social presence. With over sixty-two million fans on Facebook, over twenty-six million followers on Twitter, and Billboard's #1 top 40 pop song artist since 1992! She has all that and one still wonders how has she never achieved a number one album in her career? It is baffling to say the least! She has all these “fans” and her loyal fanbase that she calls the “Navy” but not enough of them go out to buy her album to secure her a number one album. So I wonder if they are more intrigued by Rihanna, the person, than Rihanna, the artist? Something that baffles me even more is that she is set to release her seventh studio album in seven years, Unapologetic, on November 19, 2012; the deluxe set of the album is selling at an astounding retail price of  $250. The deluxe set will feature things like a collectible vinyl record of remixes of her song “Diamonds” the first single off of the new album, a flash drive, and a handwritten book of lyrics and whatnot! I have no idea what her team was thinking when they came up with this! If she is not able to sell albums that are priced at $10, what makes them think someone is going to shell out a whole 250 bucks for a “deluxe” set? They really dropped the ball on this one and I hope they have not mass-produced this “deluxe” set because I really feel they will lose a lot of money if they do. I wonder what the distribution strategy for this will be like because I just do not see many people, if any, purchasing this “deluxe” set. I guess all will be revealed in the coming weeks and we will see if she scores her first number one album with Unapologetic! I know I will getting my copy because whether you like the girl or not there is no denying that she puts out good music and that’s what I’m here for!

photo credit: mtv.com

666: Liabilities

            Starting a business in the entertainment industry sounds like it would be a lot of fun. If there is a passion for it then eventually it will be fun and you will get to do what you love everyday. First though you have to really do your homework and find out what goes along with starting a business. It is grueling work and you definitely have to figure out the liability issues that come along with your business. That is exactly what I am going to talk about! I will discuss, with the review of several podcasts, liability issues in entertainment-based businesses. The first podcast I listened to was about copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is the violation of rights secured by a copyright. In this podcast the hosts talked about different cases dealing with copyright infringement. It focused on Republican presidential candidates unauthorized uses of copy written musical works in their campaign. This is a liability that would be associated with my business! I want to start an artist management company and I might have an artist whose musical works are infringed upon and will have to take the necessary steps to get that taken care of. In the case of the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich who was sued by Rude Music, Inc. for the use of the song, “Eye of the Tiger” during his campaign trail. Rude Music wanted the court to award actual and statutory damages. This podcast really solidified what I had already learned about copyright infringement in my current Advanced Entertainment Law class! Shout-out to Cassi!!! Whoop! Whoop!

            The second podcast I listened to dealt with trademark infringement. This podcast really outlined what trademark infringement is and how to deal with it. Trademark infringement is when somebody else is using a protected trademark without permission. Protected trademarks includes, but not limited to, names, logos, and slogans. The most typical form of trademark infringement, according to the podcast, is likelihood of confusion. When defining that it means the comparison of two trademarks that may be confusing to the public and figuring out which one was trademarked first. The other form of trademark infringement is dilution. Dilution is when someone infringes upon a famous trademark without the proper consent. Since my business WILL be a famous one (see what I did there J) then if I ever had to deal with trademark infringement it would fall under dilution.  This podcast gave great ways to handle trademark infringement which most of it I learned in class.

            The last and final podcast I listened to discussed artist contracts. Now, this is a heavy subject and a lot goes into any business contract. As a manager I want to get the best deal for my potential client and myself. The speaker Daniel Friedman also talked what he called an upstream provision in a recording agreement. What this entails is that independent labels that are subsidiaries of major labels can have their artist be pulled from their label to the major label per a predetermined agreement. That was something that I had never heard of before and just goes to show you that you really have to be on top of everything! You cannot let anything slip through the cracks. With that type of agreement you have to make sure that you have some type of liability clause set in to cover your artist. I could go on and on about the subject of liabilities but I think I will end it here! I hope that you who are reading this learned something or at least enjoyed reading it!

WHAT!?!? I'M BEING SUED!?!?

So, as well all know getting into the entertainment business leaves you open to many liabilities. You have such liabilities as breach of contract, copyright infringement, not having a written contract in place and so on. I want to get in the business of music artist management and decided to look up liabilities associated with the business. In recent months, rapper/singer Drake found his current management team being sued by his former manager, James “Jas” Prince for unpaid royalties. Jas has been credited with discovering Drake. Situations like these happen more often than not. Someone discovers someone else and becomes responsible for the deal that will ultimately catapult him or her into superstardom. The problem with that is the person who does the discovering doesn’t have the necessary documentation to prove that they are entitled to compensation for their actions. That’s why you cannot just trust someone’s word you have to get everything in writing so when problems like that arise it can be taken care of accordingly.

Another situation that arose around November of 2011 was Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and other members of the band had a lawsuit filed against them by Halford’s longtime manager, John Baxter. Baxter is alleging fraud, breach of contract and intentional interference with contractual relations. He was asking for around $50 million in damages. Baxter has been Halford’s manager since 1982. That’s almost three decades and one has to wonder what happened that made them get to this point. Maybe it had something to do with Baxter being fired in August of 2011. It would be sad for Baxter to sue his friend because of bitterness because obviously he enjoyed the benefits of being Halford’s manager otherwise he wouldn’t have stayed on as his manager for almost 30 years. Baxter is suing for failure to pay commissions, salary, and expenses dating all the way back to 1992. Now it seems a little strange that he waited until being fired that he would sue for compensation from 20 years ago. I’m not saying he’s falsifying information but it just doesn’t add up to me.

            Now, it’s sad when parties fight over an artist’s estate after they pass away. That is the case with Michael Jackson and his estate and Jackson’s former manager. As usual they are fighting over money. If they had fought this hard for Michael when he was alive maybe they would have had the chance to save his life. The lawsuit was filed in February of 2012. Michael has been gone from this Earth for 3 years and his team is still fighting over his money. I can’t fathom the stress and turmoil that it is putting on his family, who are dealing with their own drama, which is whole other story entirely. I just hope they get it together so Michael can rest in peace and his family can have some peace.

Product Stars

It is synonymous nowadays to see every celebrity imaginable endorsing either someone else’s product or a product of their own. I mean, who can blame them with the current state of the music industry selling albums just isn’t enough anymore. You have celebrities endorsing everything from water to nail polish to shoes. It’s a great way for celebrities to expand not only their brand but also their revenue. Celebrities are paid big bucks to endorse a company’s product. Nicki Minaj signed a seven-figure deal to become the face of a new Pepsi beverage called “Pop”. You can read more about that here and also watch the commercial via YouTube. You have to wear many hats within the industry today because just being an artist who just makes music just isn’t the trend anymore. It takes so much more to sustain credibility in this industry. Take for instance, Alicia Keys, she is coming out with a new album in November and she has inked a deal with Reebok. She designed several different pairs of shoes for them and starred in a commercial featuring her saying the lyrics to her new song, Girl On Fire. Peep the commercial here! That was a very strategic move by her and her team to get people interested in her upcoming project. When you turn on the television you see so many celebrities endorsing so many different products. There is serious money to be made in doing so. The companies that these celebrities endorse are so smart and really handles their product management well because they know with big time names attached to their brand people are going to buy it. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved. Even if the product doesn’t do so well the celebrity still gets paid unless otherwise stated in their contract. Look at Jennifer Hudson; you can’t turn on the television without seeing one of her Weight Watchers commercials. I know you’re probably as sick of seeing them as I am but the girl is getting serious bread from that and Weight Watchers must be contributing from it very well because Jennifer stays on our TV screens. You can’t be mad at a sister for getting her money and looking good while doing it. Although, I believe she has undergone other procedures to get rid of the weight but that’s just between you and I. On the same note though, endorsements are a way for celebrities to make major money and the key is to strike while you’re hot. These three women I mentioned are making themselves into brands and diving into opportunities outside of music. But to be fair if it wasn’t for them being the huge music stars that they are the doors for endorsements to open probably never would have happened. So, to aspiring artists out there who want to become music superstars think outside the music and come up with a plan to turn yourself into a brand! It’s the best way to sustain longevity in this business!