Marketing the Ideal Artist

As an entertainment business student, I have learned some basic information about the financial costs of promoting, branding and advertising the ideal independent artist.

 In the music business world of today, there are several ways in which an individual can market himself or herself. Rather you are a singer or a rapper; you will be faced with financial costs affiliated with marketing and promotion. There are several ways in which unsigned musical artists can market themselves into the music industry. Internet marketing, social media marketing, and blogging are the most effective ways of marketing and promoting oneself as an independent artist.  However, social media networking is the best way to promote one’s music and build a lucrative fan base. Face book, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace are social networking sites that will assist independent artists in marketing themselves into the music business industry.

Face book contains phenomenal applications when it comes to spreading the word quickly about upcoming events such as talent showcases, live venues, and tours. Face book also provides an event page that is helpful to artists who desire to network with other unsigned artists who are promoting themselves as well. The tag feature on Face book allows you to tag your friends and family who are following your page. Moreover, potential artists and fans that want to collaborate with you can follow you on Twitter, and subscribe to your videos on YouTube as well. One of the pros of Internet marketing includes the fact that you can market yourself as an independent artist at no expense. On the other hand, artists who are signed to major recording contracts have limited input on the marketing and promotional tactics of the music business.

Independent artists run into financial obligations that can be detrimental to their career because they aren't financially stable enough to cover the cost of professional music production and promotional fees. However, a signed artist has an Artist Relations manager who is an experienced enough to handle the promotional aspects of marketing and advertising. If you become a signed artist, your image is somewhat fabricated on a contractual basis because you have to follow certain rules and regulations when a company begins to brand you as a signed artist. On the other hand, if you are an independent artist you can market your self-image the way in which you prefer. In conclusion those were some of the pros and cons of marketing and promoting unsigned independent artist, versus an artist who has a contract with a major record deal. Here is a very helpful link that will explain some of the basics to marketing and promoting yourself as an independent artist.

 http://www.squidoo.com/ArtistInternetMarketing#

RIAA: Jammie Thomas snubbed our settlement “Overture”

 In my industry of choice, I have made myself aware of some of legal issues that exist in the realm of the entertainment business.  The music entertainment industry of today is faced with legal issues that include cases of music copyright lawsuits, and file sharing. File sharing has stricken the laws and continues to  make a negative impact on the legal aspects of music industry. Moreover, in the music industry today a lot of illegal situations occur that leads to a person being criminally prosecuted, sued and held willfully responsible for the severity of their misconduct. Piracy and copyright issues occur more frequently now than any other legal misconduct issues.

I read some interesting articles from www.riaa.com , (Recording Industry Association of America) and I found a particular article about a woman from Minneapolis, Minnesota named as Jammie Thomas-Rasset who was prosecuted on several different criminal charges including file-sharing on peer-to-peer network KaZaA. Furthermore, the offender Jammie Thomas was sued for $1.9 million by music labels. She was held liable to pay 80,000 for each of the 24 songs that she was ultimately found guilty of illegally sharing. The court opposed her to pay just $222,000, which was a step backward following her first trial. She was found guilty of willful copyright infringement and ordered by a judge to pay an additional $1.9 million during this particular trial.

However, there is a chance that she could walk away from the nearly $2 million damage award by declaring bankruptcy, legal experts have said. The interesting twist to the story is that she would have to prevail another trial in bankruptcy court. In contrast, the justice system is going to have to prove that she had malicious intent, or meant to cause harm, when she illegally shared files. The legal system will be faced with a more legal -based challenged situation if they decided take the trial to bankruptcy court in order to ultimately make her pay for her actions which is often difficult to do. It consists of issuing a subpoena to a criminal trail, and trying to convince a bankruptcy judge not to allow her to wipe out her debt.

Situations like these become very detrimental to the character of potential candidates who want to pursue a career or want to establish ownership of an entertainment company one day. As the music industry’s legal system crime rates increase,  laws will become stricter by the criminal justice system. This creates more legal constraints on the future population of business entrepreneurs who have less knowledge about the legal aspects and dilemma’s that comes along with being a C.E.O, Singer, Rapper, or songwriter. In conclusion the only way to keep our businesses out of legal situations is by educating oneself about the laws of music production and keeping yourself updated about the entertainment industry’s news of today. By doing so you will become less prone or subject to committing illegal acts, and facing severe situations that results in your company’s action's leading to illegal misconduct.  Self-Awareness is the key to gaining knowledge of the subject of law pertaining to the music industry. If you plan to become an entertainment professional, please become aware of the legal issues leading to prosecution of defender’s in a court of law. Continue to “research” and "increase" your knowledge of legal constraits, terminology and criminal sanctions that govern the entertainment industry of today. For more information go to www.riaa.com and research articles pertaining to criminal misconduct associated within the entertainment business.