Interview With Lisa Goodwin

Lisa Godwin is a music industry veteran with a passion for hip-hop culture. After years spent at MTV Networks, Lisa recently started Agape Digital Media, where she is currently working to create the best possible career path for musicians and media personalities alike. She recently was a media partner for the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta, where she crafted some of the most innovative, talked about showcases of the entire week.




Recently I had the chance to speak with Lisa on a range of topics from her beginnings in the entertainment industry to her involvement in the A3C music festival. Checkout the interview below. 




How did you get your start in the music industry? 




I got my start in the music industry about 5 years ago when I first started working at MTV Networks.


Tell me more about what you do at Agape Digital Media?


Agape Digital Media is a full service, talent and brand management firm based in New York City. With forward thinking approaches, we develop strategies to maximize our client’s online visibility, connectivity, and awareness through structured brand partnerships, social media, and more. With our unique expertise and experience, developing our client’s career goals is our first priority.


How do you decide which artists to represent? 


I do not only represent artists, but also media personalities as well. I decide which clients to represent by usually having a genuine interest in that particular client's craft. 


What is your style when managing artists? 


I like to be involved on a holistic level with an overall experience with my clients from development to cultivating their overall brand. I love being hands on and having input in each project to exceed expectations.


What is your biggest challenge working in the music industry?


Gaining respect as a woman managing talent. Often times woman are overlooked in this industry and we have to be bold and make our presence known to let everyone know we mean business. 


Recently you were involved in the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta. How was your experience there?


A3C was an awesome experience. There were some great informative panels held during the festival and awesome showcases. I would definitely recommend any hip-hop artist to attend for the networking opportunities. 


You were able to put together some artist showcases for the festival.  How did you become a part of that? What was your role in the showcase?

I am connected to so many great artists, so I decided to have a platform where they could showcase their music. I reached out to A3C to become a media partner by producing an artist showcase and they loved my ideas and lineup and decided to bring Agape Digital Media on as a partner for producing a showcase. 

What advice would you share with someone looking to start a career within the music industry? 

The advice I would share with someone looking to start a career within in the music industry would be network like a professional! Build a strong rapport with the right people.

Beats By Carlyle

On Friday, Beats By Dre parent company Beats Electronics received a hefty investment in the amount of $500 million from Washington based private equity company Carlyle Group. This move will allow for the global expansion of both companies, as well as strengthen product development moving forward.

The $500 million investment brings Beats Electronics (co-founded by Dr. Dre and Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine) value to excess of $1 billion. The Carlyle Group currently stands as the second largest investment company in the world with over $180 billion in assets. The deal will be finalized by the end of the year. 

The deal is made in conjunction with Beats purchasing back 25% of the HTC Group’s stake in the company. Beats Electronics is currently looking to expand its senior management, which currently consists of Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and president Luke Wood.

With the success that Beats by Dre this move only positions the company to expand its reach and become more of a global brand. Beats currently owns more than half of the total market for headphones over $100 (56%), and at the end of last year released two new products; the Beats Pill, a wireless speaker with built in Beats by Dre speakers, and the executive headphones. 

With the new investment made by Carlyle and the search for more senior management, Beats by Dre is positioning itself to strengthen their control over the premium headphone market. The brand has exhibited consistency in its products since its early beginnings and the sky’s the limit for the next level of Beats by Dre products. Be on the lookout for another big year for the Beats by Dre brand coming in the next year. 

New Moguls

Recently highly acclaimed producer Salaam Remi agreed to a deal with Sony Music to house his new label imprint Louder Than Life. Back in November Sony Music named Remi Executive VP of A&R at Sony. Remi is the latest in a string of songwriters/producer who have stepped from out the studio to recruit new talent.

Naturally nowadays labels are turning to the talent to find the next best thing. The growth of business in the music industry (especially hip–hop/r&b) has made it a must for artist to think beyond being signed as an act only. When artist obtain a certain level of success it is common to see them develop his or her own brand or music imprint. This new generation of artist has grown to see the vets before them be music moguls as well as iconic music stars. Stars such as Master P, Jay- Z, and Sean “Diddy” Combs were able to develop artist underneath them, all the while creating the music you never went without hearing on the radio.

Fast forward to now: in January of 2012, superstar singer/songwriter Ne-Yo was named senior VP of A&R at Motown Records. He also agreed to partner with Motown to house his own label imprint Compound Entertainment.

In November of 2012, singer/songwriter The Dream was named executive VP of A&R at Def Jam Records. The Dream also partnered with Def Jam to house his label imprint Radio Killa.

Now Salaam Remi has been the latest to be partnered as his own label head as well as VP for talent development along the whole Sony family of music. Remi has worked extensively with Amy Winehouse, along with Nas, and as of recent Miguel.

Now that the labels have entrusted these artist to build their rosters of talent will these previously successful singer/songwriters be good evaluators of talent? Time will tell, but one thing can’t be denied: This is the generation of the music mogul.

New Rules:No Rules

Last week Jay-Z shook up the music industry once again when he announced he would be dropping a new album July 4^th entitled Magna Carta Holy Grail. The album will be the 12^th from the Brooklyn rapper. Jay-Z has transcended from music superstar to successful businessman. In announcing the album a little over two weeks before its release, the artist formerly known as Shawn Carter has adopted a strategy of new rules: no rules.

Jay-Z partnered with Samsung earlier this month in a deal reportedly set to earn Jay-Z $20 million. The parameters of the deals were unclear, but the signs of something bigger brewing were certainly present. The announcement of the new album came at halftime of the NBA Finals this past Sunday. The announcement came in the form of 3-minute Samsung commercial featuring producers Timbaland, Pharell Williams, Rick Rubin, and Swizz Beatz.

To add to the release of the new album, Samsung sweetens the deal for a million of its users. Samsung will giveaway a million digital copies of the album away free via the Google play app. It has been reported that Samsung paid Jay-Z $5 per album that is given away for free. With the stir of Jay-Z selling a million albums before it is even released, rumors swirled of the album going platinum in an unprecedented way,

With swirls of the album going platinum so fast emerging, a spokesperson from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) confirmed that albums are only eligible for RIAA certification 30 days after release. Billboard also reached out to explain that albums bought in bulk are not counted.

Jay-Z seems to be getting a kick out of the confusion amongst the masses. On June 17^th Jay-Z tweeted “ If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesn’t report it, did it happen? Ha. ‪#newrules ‪#magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII”

With the sudden announcements Jay-Z has turned the marketing strategies of releasing music upside down. With Jay-Z’s every moved watched he continues to push the envelope and use his business acumens to achieve success within the music industry. There is no song on the radio, no press tour to fill us in on what the album is about. We get information in doses, leaving us in anticipation for the next thing. Jay-Z even recently sent fans on a scavenger hunt to reveal the tracklist of the upcoming album. An act that can only be orchestrated by an artist such as Shawn Carter. 

The Spirit Of Competition

The hip-hop culture has long been driven by the lifestyle of the urban inner cities and the competition of sport.  Measuring success in hip-hop is vastly subjective. You could simply look at album sales as the barometer, but the culture and the sport of hip-hop has advanced far beyond just album sales. Yet and still we checkout the Billboard charts every Tuesday to check for which artist sold the most that week. In hip-hop going head to head, and releasing albums on the same day is the closet you will get to a Sunday during the football season. 

This past week was arguably the biggest weak in hip-hop so far in 2013. Superstar Kanye West released his seventh studio album entitled Yeezus, rising star J. Cole released his second album Born Sinner, and independent star Mac Miller released his second album Watching Movies With The Sound Off. Each artist has achieved levels of success within the music industry and as they prepared for their released dates each artist took a vastly different approach in their marketing campaign. 

Kanye West, always known for his ability to command the spotlight took control of Twitter on May 2nd when he simply tweeted "June 18th.  After confirmation of the tweet being the release date of his new album, Kanye then took it up a notch and simulcast the release of his music video for the song "New Slaves" in 66 locations across the globe. Kanye also garnered attention for the artwork (or lack thereof) for Yeezus. With announcement of the album coming only a month and a half before its release, and a marketing campaign that lacked a lead single from the album, Kanye pushed the limit of simplicity with his moves. 

J. Cole, the 28-year-old Roc Nation artist shook up things when he announced his album would be pushed up a week to compete directly with Kanye West. A student of the game, Cole explained his reasoning for the release date move up saying " I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It'd be like, 'Oh and J. Cole dropped too, a week later.' Nah. I'm going to go see him on that date. He's the greatest. So it's like, I'm a competitor by nature so it was instant, it wasn't even a thought”. Cole also released a Born Sinner series of vlogs leading up to the release of his album. The vlogs included commentary from Kendrick Lamar to his mother Kay Cole. He is currently in the midst of a 10 city "Dollar & a Dream" promo tour. Each cities venue will be kept private until the day of the show, with show admittance only costing $1. Cole really made sure to appeal to the emotions of his fan base with his marketing strategy.

Mac Miller, made waves with his independent album debuting at #1 on the Billboard charts in 2011. The 21 year old from Pittsburgh has amassed a tremendous independent following. Miller capitalized off his success with the premier of his MTV reality show "Mac Miller and The Most Dope Family" in February. Mac Miller has used the show as a major vessel to garner attention towards the album as the show follows Mac and his crew adjusting to life in Los Angeles. Mac Miller constantly grows his fan base through grassroots of shows within the college market as well. 

Three different artist, three different marketing strategies, three different levels of success. The competition of hip-hop forces me to tell you that it's projected for Kanye West to debut with the highest selling week, with a reported 380,000 units sold. J. Cole is projected to sell around 300,000 and independent artist Mac Miller is projected to sell roughly 100,000, no small feat for an independent artist. 

As hip-hop evolves we are seeing that the marketing of projects vastly differ in style. In the 90's and even early to mid 2000's most artist would follow the same media path and release a pattern of music to drum up support for their music. Now artist are using approaches that fit to their specific niche. Whether thru projecting videos across the world or starring in your own reality show, hip-hop music continues to grow as a culture. 

Interview With Shanay Ball

I had the pleasure of having a sit down with entertainment lawyer from Philadelphia Shanay Ball.

Shanay has a background in pharmaceutical product development from West Chester University. She has a law degree with a concentration in Intellectual Property law from Drexel University. Shanay works for Johnson Matthey Inc. as associate counsel. She has been there for 3 years and primarily does contract, patent, trademark and licensing work. Her entertainment clients are private clients but the type of work she does includes: contracts, trademarks and licensing with the addition of copyright work. Shanay did not figure she would be practicing in entertainment law until she was in law school.

Checkout my interview with Shanay as we discuss various topics concerning entertainment law.

What made you want to get into entertainment law?

I love the entertainment business...I would have been an entertainer myself, except I didn't stick to my piano or voice lessons as a child. All jokes aside, my intellectual property classes got me through law school; they helped me to find an area of law I liked and could see myself practicing.

Explain your role and in what capacity do you assist entertainers/entertainment companies build their brands legally?

As pertains to entertainment, I primarily do contract, copyright and trademark work.

What are some important things that entertainers should be doing to make sure they are covering themselves legally?

Be wary of signing a contract given to you. More often than not, that contract will be in favor of the party who wrote it, not you. Also, know what you are signing. Don't be afraid to negotiate and don't be afraid to walk away. Lastly, be sure to legally protect what it yours.

What is the best part about practicing entertainment law?

There is a broad range of issues from contract drafting and negotiation, trademarks, copyrights, licensing, etc. Never a dull moment. 

What’s the worst part about practicing entertainment law?

It's difficult to come into a situation later or at the end and have to try to make the best out of a bad deal. 

Tell me some common mistakes entertainers make in regards to liabilities

1. Infringement of others' intellectual property

2. Breaching contracts - many violate the terms of their agreement because they do not know what is in the agreement they sign. 

At what point should an entertainer seek out an entertainment lawyer?

At the very beginning, especially before you negotiate and/or sign anything.

How important to you is social media in developing a legal career? Have social networks helped you in your career?

It is very important for visibility as a solo attorney or an attorney working for a firm. It is a good way to generate business. I haven't used social media much to promote my legal career - I work full time as in-house counsel for a corporation and the extra business I have outside of that keeps me beyond busy. If I ever decide to have my own firm, I would use social networking. 

What's some advice that you would give to anyone looking to break into the music entertainment industry?

Network and make connections. Like any other business, who you know can be very valuable. Also, make the investment to have an attorney involved early on in the process - it can save a lot of time and money in the future. It also makes sure you have someone with your best interests involved to get you the best results possible.