#beatznetwork

[beatznetwork]

View this post on Instagram

#Wait4Who #iamteambleach #beatznetwork #HMVO2

[beatznetwork]

Entertainment Business: Program Reflection

Mastery

There couldn’t have been a better choice to begin a masters program off with then a course on mastery. The literary work Mastery, by American author Robert Greene, was the best choice of text to study. I was always taught in order to be a great leader, you have to have been a great follower. Mastery went deep into analyzing the life of some of the world’s greatest historical figures like Charles Darwin, Einstein, and Mozart.

Mastery gave me examples of pathways to success through the lives of some of the greatest people in history. Those examples gave me reason to question and analyze myself. This course also gave me something that will stick with me through life, a pathway to power.  This pathway opened my eyes to ways to discipline the way I think and ways to handle different type of people in the world. I’ve learned my strengths as well as my weaknesses in order master oneself.  

Executive Leadership

This course gave me the qualities I would need in order to be an executive in the entertainment business industry. It gave me the break down of different leadership styles allowing me to better understand the style of leadership that I have. It assisted me with decision-making skills, and how to manage people to achieve a business goal.

The key to executive leadership is not having just one style of leadership. You have to understand that not all situations call for the same leadership style.  Deprnding on the phase the business is in will depend on the style needed. In the beginning phase the authoritative is called for due to the lack of knowledge of the job the employees may have. This style should sometime change and if not, you could find the morale of your employees decreasing. Participative is my favorite and allows employees to feel important due to you taking their opinions in consideration, and implementing them. The delegative style takes some of the responsibility off the leader and puts some on the employees, who are now knowledgeable enough to carry out task responsibly. Knowing when to apply each style is very important.

Project & Team Management

Project and team management is very important in any field that a student may pursue. This course focuses on creating a project management plan, correctly ordering tasks, and understanding and considering all factors that contribute to a successful project. It also focuses on factors of team management and creating a productive team.

In order to carry out a successful project, two of the most important things is knowing your team and time management. Assignments like the team building activity, and the project timeline activity was very essential to our growth. The team building activity improved your skills on creating a project, discovering the talents & skills of each team member, and assigning those team members to a certain task to complete the project successfully. The timeline activity introduced us to different time management tools to be sure we stayed on time with each phase of our project, and within our budget.

Business Storytelling and Brand Development

Brand development has always been one of my interests. With this course I gained the knowledge of different brand development strategies, and also how to use storytelling principles to strengthen a business and deliver a superior customer experience.

During this course I was able to complete a brand audit, which helped me develop my own personal brand identity. Studying the uniqueness of some our most popular brand logos has helped me open my mind when comes to creating a logo from a company. One of my favorites is Amazon.com’s logo with the arrow leading from a to z or how Nike is known for some of the best shoes, but commercials never focus on the product itself.  I never really paid it any of these things any mind, since this course I can’t look at the world the same.

Entertainment Business Finance

This may have been one of the best classes I’ve had this year. We focused on the financial decisions and issues facing the entertainment industry professional. Evaluating entertainment business opportunities, and learning how to raise money to fund an entertainment company or a project was very vital to my career. During this course I developed financial projections that included startup funds and pro forma income statements.

Reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki was the best thing that I could have ever experienced financially. Rich Dad Poor Dad helped me with my personal financing and taught me the difference between an asset and a liability. I have to say before taking this course my decision making when it came to financing was not really up to par. I feel every person in what ever industry it may be needs a course that combines financial decision making, financial planning, capital management, operations expense management and personal finance to be successful.

Negotiation and Deal Making

 In order to enhance a company’s product development, establish a strong business presence, and successfully grow a company, negotiation and deal making skills are very important. This course not only taught me better negotiation skills, but it taught me how to prepare for a negotiation. It involved studying deal memos and contracts.

The best part of this class was role-playing with other classmates. This gave you an opportunity to have a real world experience negotiating. There were two things that helped me become a better negotiator; knowing how to separate the people, and using objective criteria. Autonomy, appreciation, affiliation, role, and their status are five core concerns that drive emotions during negotiations. I had to learn how to put myself in the others position. Also having objective criteria can result in a negotiation being fair. It gives reason to the other party of why you’ve set the standards the way you did.

Product and Artist Management

This course focused on management issues and scenarios that applied to artist management. It helped with problem solving and ways to resolve different issues in artist management. Not only did it teach us how to analyze the artist, but it also required the student to do a SWOT analysis on them as the manager.

Analyzing the artist and yourself, allows you to turn each one of you all’s weaknesses into strengths. I definitely have a new way of presenting a new product now. I’ve learned that people are more motivated about why you do something, rather than what you actually do. Approaching the consumer from the inside out resonates with them faster. If you can touch a person’s feelings, and help them understand why you do what you do, the feelings just may be mutual.

 Advanced Entertainment Law

This was a very important class to me. It was important because I’m a producer and sometimes I produce tracks that may contain samples in them. Advanced Entertainment Law focused on entertainment contracts and intellectual property protection. To enhance our knowledge of this we studied case studies, lectures, how the digital revolution impacted the entertainment industry. We the opportunity to focus on entertainment law in our own field, and different trends has affected the structure of contracts.

During this course we studied different cases like the Pharrell Williams Blurred Lines case. Cases like this make question the meaning of creativity and originality. I’ve never thought of domain names having anything to do with intellectual property, until I read the Panavision v. Toeppen case. Just these two cases alone show you how important it is to protect your investment. Although this country was built of the enhancement of others ideas, we have to be very careful about given credit when it’s due.  

Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

In this course we focused on issues currently affecting media publishing and distribution. We studied the traditional publishing and distribution model, as well as today’s digital models. Things like piracy; social media, digital rights, management and legislation were discussed and studied. Learning how to build a press kit, and a distribution plan was the most important parts of this class to me.

I’ve learned different strategies for protecting and monetizing my company’s creative content. Due to the new forms of distribution, you are finding more and more artist who is independent. There are no longer walls between artist and their fan base. The opportunity to reach a global audience is now in the hands of the artists.

 Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing focused on the development of effective marketing plans. This course consisted of hands-on assignments, case analysis, and current industry research. We studied how to synchronize marketing initiatives across online as well as offline channels, and between desktop and mobile audiences.

Marketing in this age has to be more creative than ever though. You have to realize that every fan you gain is different, and can be grouped into its own segment. Once you realize each segment, you can attack them from that angle. Although we are in a digital age, we must not forget about our traditional ways of marketing. If you can master the art of mixing the two, the sky is the limit.

Business Plan Development

This is the course I was waiting on from the start. Every successful business has to have a plan. The best thing about this course is that it gives you the opportunity to build the plan for your business, and have it reviewed and critiqued. This course carries you step by step through each phase of your business plan.

I’ve always known that having a business plan was the most important part of your business. Now I realize that the plan will allow you to see whether your idea will succeed or fail. During this course we were able to complete an analysis of our chosen industry, and the financials for our business. Those aspects of the class were very important to me. 

Final Project: Business Plan

 This class was definitely the test. The final project test the skills learned from each course that was taken the entire program. It consisted of the completion of a written business plan, as well as a business plan presentation. This class was is important to every student, but especially the students who are thinking of starting their own business after graduation.

I truly believe the course before prepared me for this course. It’s like the program was built for the student to succeed. Out of the schools I’ve attended, Full Sail is the only one that actually made me feel like I was going to succeed no matter what. This program has allowed me to build the foundation for my career, and gave me a real world experience.