Modules

Working in the Creative Industries

Creative Industries Infrastructure

Creative Industries infrastructure has given us the opportunity to explore the various commercial organisations within the music industry, sources of funding and advice, and examine how these agencies compliment each other. I have chosen to discuss Trade Organisations & Bodies as these are important for people starting up new businesses, such as a promotion company. I will also discuss Intellectual Property and Copyright, PRS licensing and networking.

Having co-founded the Events and Promotions company Sound Prophets this year, and this being my first experience starting a company up, we faced various challenges regarding the creation of a creative industry company. The Creative Industries Infrastructure module gave me the skills and knowledge to overcome these challenges.

Trade organisations & bodies:

These are Industry organisations specific or not to the music Industry that provide businesses with key information and updates , training and education programs, and lobby on behalf of the creative industries to influence government policy.

I personally used the trade bodies that are Creative Scotland and Business Gateway.

Creative Scotland is a good source of information and has a large amount of online resources such as the "Music Sector Review" report which takes in the full spectrum of Scotland’s music and the music sector - across genres, across commercial, cultural and educational spheres, live and recorded music, amateur and professional performers and organisations and from both Scottish and international perspectives. As an event promoter it helped me know and understand the state of the current market and therefore adapt to it and always be prepared for change.

Regarding Business Gateway which provides business advice and support for start-up and early stage growth companies, I attended their "Business Start-up Awareness Seminar" which helped me work on a business plan and strategy for my events company at it's early stages.

Intellectual property, Copyright and Collection societies:

In the music industry, revenue is largely connected with intellectual property, copyright and royalties. Given the complexity of administering royalty payments to copyright owners and artists, the UK (as many other countries) has a number of collecting societies, such as PRS that collect rights on behalf of their members and distribute payment accordingly. When putting on events, Copyright and Intellectual property potential issues can arise in various situations. An explanation of how it affected my events will be depicted in the Music Industry Law module description hereinbelow.

Networking:

Working in the music industry, is being part of a large community of people with different roles and skills who collaborate to create music for live performance, broadcast or recording. While the landscape of the music business is constantly changing, one thing remains the same and as the saying goes: "It's not about what you know or do, it's about who you know.". Though I believe it's not about who you know but about what you do with who you know, networking remains one of the keys to a successful music career.

I will myself be attending the 2014 International Music Summit (IMS) networking event in Ibiza from the 21st to the 23rd of May 2014.

Here is my report on the subject of networking at the IMS:

This module was designed to equip me with the skills necessary to enable me to enter into employment in the exciting industries that are the creative industries. In addition to practical and theoretical skills, I have had the unique opportunity to learn about the industry I plan to work in and to prepare myself for the world of work, focusing on my own career goals. In doing this, I have developed useful business skills. These skills included:

Networking skills that, as mentioned above, are quintessential to my successful carreer in the music Industry

The creation and importance of C.V.s and Business Cards as an individual and for my events company, to expose my skills and be reachable.

The different Business formations available to my company with their advantages and disadvantages: Sole trader, Partnership & Limited company. In the case of my company, my business partners and myself have decided to adopt the partnership formation, as it allows for more flexibility, the responsability and liability are shared, as well as the decision making, making it a simple way to form, manage and run a business.

The various opportunities for funding, from governement funding to private funding. I myself applied for the Student development fund offered by the University of Highlands and Islands' Trust to fund my delegate badge for the 2014 International Music Summit in Ibiza, and was succesfully granted £300.

All of these skills and knowledge will be valuable to employers, to myself and to my business.

Here are links to my C.V. and my business card:

Promotion being defined as the practice or process of stimulating demand for a service or product, in the music industry this includes five essential elements; Press, Radio, TV, New media and Merchandising. These are all an integral step in the business of sustaining a profitable musical career.

When looking at music promotions, the music industry has drastically evolved over the past decade. Traditional physical marketing outlets, while still important, have been augmented with a variety of new media and online-based marketing, sales, and distribution outlets, all of which require their own specific marketing approaches and strategies. New media has also definitely changed the way we communicate amongst each other. Social media for example has helped organisations and people cross geographical boundaries, with tools such as the internet which have enabled people to network, connect, share, build and maintain relationships. In regards to the music itself, the impact of new media is clear, artists are able to upload their music onto digital platforms such as YouTube or SoundCloud for no fee and this gives them the potential of a great reach. All these new tools and emerging technologies’ purpose help artists generate interest in their music, acquire new fans, and sell their music. Amongst New media tools, there are five types of tools to consider: websites, album distribution and licensing, social networks and tools, email and event management, and press release distribution.

This said, tough a lot of these new promotional platforms and media have arisen over the past years, press remains one of the most powerful promotional tools for an artist, newspapers remaining the second most-trusted form of promotion after word of mouth, and magazines also still powerful at a respectable 4th place.

Having an events company comes attached with the promotion as it is an integrant part of the marketing mix of any event business. We came to use a variety of promotional tools, such as:

Posters
Flyers
Stickers
Social media (Facebook, Twitter)
Promotional video clips
Sattelite promotional events
Press releases
Mixes

Here are examples of a Press release and a poster used for one of my Beat Breakers Hip-Hop Night:

The music industry has undergone extreme changes over the past few years, many of which have opened the doors for developing bands and artists. The Music Industry Marketing module provided me with the foundation and essential skills of music marketing, which is the base for anyone looking to succeed and thrive in this new music business.

Marketing involves satisfying customer needs or desires. To study marketing, I ﬁrst had to understand the notions of product and consumer. The goal of marketing in any industry, is to understand the consumer’s needs, and develop products or services to satisfy those needs. These products/services must then be priced effectively, made available in the right marketplaces, and the customer must then be informed, motivated, and reminded of this product/service. This is called the marketing mix.

The skills I acquired understood:

The concept of marketing as it applies to music, the use and importance of an appropriate marketing mix.

The effects of political, economic, sociological and technological elements on the music industry.

The elements of a music industry marketing strategy

In my area of the music business, running an events company, before I could involve and supply consumers with a unique event, I first had to define a target market and research if there was a market for my events and then produce a marketing mix and strategy accordingly. To understand the direct and indirect factors that can effect a music industry business, I undertook a PEST analysis on French rap and rappers from it's beggining.

Here is my company's marketing strategy for it's Hip- Hop event Beat Breakers:

Here I will be looking at seven different modules I have undertaken whilst studying HNC Music Business and will be researching them into more detail in relation to my chosen area, live events and promotions. These modules include: Creative Industries Infrastructure / Working in the Creative Industries / Music Industry Promotions / Music Law / Music Industry Marketing / Music Industry Management / Music Industry ICT & Finance.

It also contains the pieces of work, which for each module I consider are on the highest level, and which I believe showcase in the best of ways my abilities. Their purpose is to show evidence of what I have learnt about the music industry, as well as, in a way, advertise me to potential employers.

Music Law

Music Industry Management

The Music Law module introduced us to the framework of law as it applies within the music industry.

Over the course of the semest we examined the types of contractual relationships between parties, clauses found within these agreements and the principles of protection of intellectual property within the music industry.

Though the knowledge of contractual agreements and clauses will be of great use in the future, in the case of my company this year I have not yet been brought to writing, signing, breaching or enforcing any contract of any sort yet. On the other hand, the knowledge of the principles of intellectual property protection was of great use in relation to our events.

Here is how:

Our D.J. set covering copyrighted music we had to make sure the venues our events took place in had a PRS license.

Having various artists perform at our events we could have a copyright issue if they performed licensed songs for which they didn’t own the copyright. This said, each performer ended up performing original material, making a license unnecessary.

Regarding our own original material (logos, posters, mixes) we made sure we sent each piece of content to each other by e-mail to put a date on it, as a precaution for further copyright issues.

Management, whether in the music industry or any industry, is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management understands planning, organising, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization to accomplish a goal.

The Music Industry Management module brought me knowledge on the basic theories of management as they relate to the music industry. It provided me with an introduction to the elements of the management function, different leadership styles, motivational theories and an introduction to the skills necessary for effective negotiation.

As important as leadership skills are, my company Sound Prophets' business formation being a partnership, I didn't really get the chance to apply them extensively. This said the knowledge and use of negotiation skills turned out very usefull as I, over the course of the year, was in contact with various venues and artists regarding my events and therefore often was led to negotiate.

Here is one of my written reports regarding a negotiation scenario between an artist manager and a label, which shows which negotiation approach and techniques I would choose and use:

Music Industry ICT & Finance

The Music Industry ICT & Finance module gave me an understanding of accounting and e-business strategies as applied to the music industry. This was done by providing me with the skills required to prepare basic financial and management accounting reports (spread sheets, budget sheets, cash flow sheets).

This module provided me with the skills, knowledge and understanding to interpret and use financial information for decision making, which I could effectevily use towards my events company. These included:

The preparation of basic financial accounting information
The preparation of basic management accounting information.
The use of break-even analysis to show the effect on profits of changing prices

As the saying goes: "It takes money to make money", this said hardly having any start-up capital and hardly having any expenses as of my events company, I didn't use these skills so much this year though they will definitely come to be crucial.

Here is an example of one of my budget sheets and cash flow sheet that could be used for a record label: