Artist Management/Manager and how important set up good entities and to not commingle funds,

Let me be honest and tell you that at one time I wanted to become an Artist Manager. It was imperative that I became something that took me out of my comfort zone. I wanted to test the waters, and truly see how my inner abilities to interact with others on a one on one bases. It takes a lot of hard work and true commitment when you have the title and are willing to take the role of building an Artist Management company. I have notice that there are roles and regulations when starting this type of company. One thing that I understand and I feel is very important when becoming an artist manager, you have to be very carful with choosing different types of "entities." A couple months back I ran into a lawyer that told me the importance of having certain different types of "entities." Having a "S.Corp" also known as an "S.Corportation" is much easier to manage. He also mentioned that the average commission base pay for a manager would be 15% to 20%. Most Artist Managers or Artist Management Companies can get funny or sneaky and try to take things off of the artists "net income" instead of there "gross income." One thing that I noticed that Artist Managers or the Artist Management company may do are, commingle funds. Those who do that are inner mixing that personal funds along with there business income. That can draw a lot of negative attention to the IRS and to your personal accountant. It is necessary to be very cautious and protective of what you put in and out when it comes to your income within the business you are running. I personally feel that whoever reads this may already know about the things that I mentioned, but I know there is someone out there that will read this blog and think twice about taking advantage of an artist when it comes to their income, or making sure not to commingle there funds!

The Model and Role "Model" Life

What makes a good model today? What kind of opportunities do they get that make them succeed? By being a model, is it fair to say they can live off of the income that they are currently receiving. These are frequently asked question's by people who are either prospective models and are inspired to become one from seeing other model's become successful. Or there are people who are simply just interested in asking a question that relates to the situation, just because they are curious. Personally, I feel that regardless of the job or career you are in, those questions are simply evolving into bigger and better "meanings." When an average person looks on T.V and says, "I want to be that type of person, when I grow up". Right then and there, they are looking at a "Model" also known as a "Role Model". Now we all know that being a "Model" and being a "Role Model" are two different things! But are they really? I would beg to differ because they both are both selling off their way to become better, inspirational, and leaders. One very inspirational individual that I feel fits the "Role Modeling" aspect of this blog would be Denzel Washington because he has the type of mindset that speaks out without words, meaning that his ability to perform not just in movies, but in colleges and outside of the acting era. He has the determination to never ever neither give in nor give up on something that he knows is right. He mentions that there is an old saying that states, "If you hang around the barbershop long enough you will eventually receive a haircut." This quote has a strong meaning because he did a speech that initialed the meaning of not "Falling Back On Anything, unless It's His Faith," if he was to fall he would want to fall forward, therefore he can see what he is hitting. That statement really spoke out in ways that made me personally feel better and more driven to never give in nor give up, because you never know when your break will come. Another individual that has the sense of achieving and being great would be, David Gandy, a male supermodel that has taken over the industry and has over came stereotypes. He has opened up the doors to those who have always wanted to do male modeling but were scared or intimated. He has completed an obstacle that most males would have struggled with. It is an honor to do have written a blog about theses two outstanding individuals because they have made such an impact in my life. 

Sources: 

http://www.gq.com/images/entertainment/2012/09/denzel-slideshow/denzel-cover-slideshow.jpg

http://www.i.thefashionisto.com/2012/7/david-gandy-august-man9.jpg

How To Become A Successful Artist Manager

I sometimes wonder how many people are truly interested in becoming a successful Artist Manager. There are plenty of artist managers such as Sean P. Daddy Combs and others that have successfully completed the ultimate goal of being a manager for an artist who has the gift and talent to become a great artist. Most people would say that by going to school and attending certain classes are the key to b becoming a successful manager. But say you don't have the funding to attend school, what do you do then? Well you can always have the pleasure to look into books or have the ability to self-study. If you don’t have the access to funding for college or university, another option is to purchase some of the various books available on the topic of how to become a music manager and/or studying much of the material available online in the form of blogs, articles, forum postings, newsletters, etc. You can also attend music business conferences and/or seminars in order to get valuable information from the various panelists and establish connections with attendees and sponsors. One important key that I feel maybe very important to becoming a successful artists manager would be to find an internship at Management Company, so that they could show you the guidelines. They could tell you that most managers earn 10 to 15% in commission. By reading the article that is listed above, you will get a better view on how becoming an artist manager is very tedious work, but also can be a very well paid and fun job! One more important fact about this job, you will also need to evaluate how much time you have available to devote to the task of music management since your (and your artists’) chances of success are directly related to how much quality time you put into the job. 

Getting Your "Work" Noticed In The Entertainment Industry and taking basic 101 steps

Rather its music, film work, or acting, people are determined to get their faces out there. The drive to pursue an acting gig in a movie, or to get signed to a major label company would be the absolute dream to have. Most people are hungry for success, and would do anything to become successful and to have that extra edge. If you were trying to become an actress, one of the major steps would be to attend a drama school. For example, the Actors Studio which is located in New York, New York can offer opportunities to as well it will look great on your resume. Most acting schools, put on performances in the public neighborhood just to get recognition and exposure. This would be just one of the ways to pursue a career in acting. When it comes to becoming a film director, it is a little different. Most people in the industry are looking for how you may assess your skills, how do you determine what valuable skills you did not know you had, and are you the right person for the job. Another thing that would be very crucial would be how well put your resume is and if you lied on it or not. When it comes to the music industry, it is very important to up hold a certain image. I came across and article that explained 3 important steps that would help guide you to signing with a record label company. The first step would be, to develop your image, the second step would be to develop your music, and the last would be to develop your following. In other words being able to distribute your talent by booking shows, marketing your shows using social networks, and most of all start looking for experienced managers. 

Business Plan Interview Involving Entertainment Industry Guidelines

Those who provide valuable information, are true individuals who are determined to succeed in certain areas of work. Rather it is an actor, actress, athlete, model, attorney or even a musician. People are blinded sided by the negativity and disrespected slander towards people who are trying to make a living. In other words, it is not invisible to the naked eye that people in the entertainment world try to pursue others into doing something that could hurt them in the long run or possible screw them over on a business plan involving their career. So, I took the time to reach out to an attorney by the name of Skinner Louis and I asked to give me positive feedback and I asked him a series of question revolving around artist mangers. I wanted to know the in's and out's of what legal steps I needed to be aware of or perform when managing an artist. Mr. Louis started of by telling me that its important how you structure your business. He mention's that the structure of business will represent what type of legal entity you as an artist manager will be in. Mr Louis then states that you have to then understand the rules and regulations you have to follow in the state that you are building your business in. An example he gave was, how in certain states that have entrainment law's like Los Angles and New York, because they have so much entrainment going on this those states that are listed. Mr Louis really emphasized the fact that I need to look at where I want to have my artist management company located and follow the rules and regulations that were given for that state that are followed in that state. I then asked him how he would view the outlook of managing a  certain target audience and I was able to give hime my age range of the individuals I would want to manage which was 16 to 21. He explains that between the ages of 16-18 they would need to be accompanied by there parents because they have not reached the meaning of "age of majority," unless they have a legal form that says they are emancipated and have been on there on since they were 16. After 18 years of age it is automatically legal for individuals to sign contracts to be managed. He mentions that I have to take in the fact that I am not just managing their child, but the parent as well. Even though the parent has signed the contract saying that it is ok for me to mange their child, If I try to do something that would benefit the artist, but the parent does not like the idea, I have to consider the fact that it is important that I satisfy both parties. Its important that you do not what to mess up the flow of the business, says Skinner Louis. Skinner then goes into detail about what I need to do when I actually go into my day to day artist management. He tells me that its important that you come up with an agreement that shows what I will do for them, and the responsibilities I look forward to in return from my artist. Mr Louis explains that a lot of people confuse themselves with the words "net" and "gross." He explains how "gross" can mean you are getting the full amount of what they made before any expenses are taking out, and "net" means you are getting a certain percentage after they paid everything. He then explains that the average percentage that would be taken out for an artist manager is 10 to 20% from their "net" income, and not there "gross" income. My Louis eventually goes into detail about "relationship" and how it is key to a successful career. The strongest advice he gave me was that, as an artist manager on a legal term you want to pick the best entity that will allow you to keep the most profits. He recommended two types of entities which were, S.Corporation also known as a S.Corp or S.Corp LLC. He mentions that there are two types of levels which are, the "legal" level and the "tax" level. The tax level represents how you pay the federal government, which also revolves around the term "property gain tax". The S.Corp designation means that you are able to pay yourself a reasonable salary and that any remaining money from the company that you get, you can take out as a dividend. Mr Louis would then refer back to the S.Corp LLC, and tell me that he feels that it is a lot easier to manage and not as intensive when it comes to forms that individuals have to fill out. The very last category he touched on was bank accounts. It is very crucial that you keep your business money and personal money separate. When you start to commingle funds with other activities that have nothing to do with your business, you then start to lose what is called you "corporate protection." In other words people will start to look at your alter ego, and judge you based off of your irresponsibilities to keep your personal funds separate from your funds with the company or business that you have. The first time you start using business money for personal things, you lose liability. Its very important that you keep things separate so if someone was to try and sue me, they would sue the company and not me personally. Skinner Louis concluded this interview by telling me that it comes down to your skills to really understand the entertainment industry to provide the best value to your client which would be my artist.

Industry Problems

It has been brought to my attention that even throughout your career, there are various reasoning for certain individuals to pursue a lawsuit against you, or having items stolen from you that could later on affect your career. A perfect example of that would be the incident between artist and producer Ryan Leslie and one of his employees that stole his laptop back in October of 2010. Mr. Leslie made the offer that if the individual would return his laptop he would offer a million dollars just to return his belongings back to Ryan Leslie. Ryan would eventually receive his laptop, however he would not hold up his end of the bargain by giving the 1 million to the individual who gave back the laptop. So in retaliation, "The German finder Armin Augstein has sued in hopes of getting what was rightfully promised." As I continued to look up industry liabilities I came across two more articles that dealt with artist that deal with loss revenues due to illegal file sharing and new way music being distributed online.  One example I came across was that on October 30th 2012 an author by the name of Ben Sisario discussed some issue about Eminem's  problems about some digital royalties in a lawsuit. The case was entitled F.B.T. Productions v. Aftermath Records. This was a group of producers who sued a subsidiary of Universal Music Group because they were feeling that they were not getting the right amount of royalties that was supposed to be given to them from iTunes and possibly other stores that were digitally included in the entertainment industry. Also, according too an article from NYTimes.com, Chuck D from the music group known as "Public Enemy” also took part in filing a lawsuit against Universal Music over digital royalties. His argument was that Universal had been miscalculating Public Enemies royalties for digital downloads such as MP3 and ring tones. It is stated that artist are due to receive 10 to 20 percent of royalties in record sales.