Tag Archives: Social Media

The Effects Of Internet, Technology And Social Media On The Music Industry

The Effects of the Internet, Technology and Social Media has had on the Music Industry

As social networking and technology evolve, more people are online adding more challenges for the music industry.  Has social networking become a problem for the music industry?

It can be hard for the recording industry to make money because so much of the music is readily available online free of charge. However, this doesn’t put the record label out of business; readjustments and strategic planning with marketing must be made in order to make money and become of value to the artists and the industry as a whole.

Bands and Artists are finding new ways to stay relevant and to make money. They seem to be doing just fine because they are keeping up with technology and social media, which is valuable tool and much more affordable, especially for new artists. Social media had made it possible to create, promote and sell in the comfort of your home.

As I watch Tour Manager, Andre Washington setup, he says “Artist’s still make a major part of their money touring and states that technology will never replace the love of music and the human connection artist’s makes with their fans during live performances”.

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Photo compliments of Andre Washington (C) 2013

Today, online skills should automatically become a part of every artist requirements for the industry.   It allows artists to become closer to their art because they’re not tied to what the record labels would normally do to create a product.  Just as YouTube has made people famous without a label, success is still at your reach while simply working in the comfort of your own home.

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(c) 2013 Photo by D. Garvin

According to Wade Jones, CEO/Co-Founder of Peach City Records, he stated that being a newly formed label, social media help to make the journey exciting. “To have the opportunity to get my artists exposed to a wider audience on a very low budget would not have been possible just a few years ago.”

Digitization of content has become inevitable in this age of technology. From the creation of music to the consumption of music, it all demonstrates how it has become digitized. Take IPOD’s, smart phones and tablets for example, and even apps created for these devices, they’re all the creation of digital technology.

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(c) 2013 Photo by D. Garvin

According to Pandodaily,  “popular digital music services have been criticized for not paying enough in royalties to the rights holders.  It escalated into a debate with Congress in the form of the Internet Radio Fairness Act, a bill that aims to change the way royalty rates are set.”

Because the labels and digital music are helping each other today, digital music sales have gone up drastically.   Services like Song Kick and bands in town are platforms that bring people to shows, which is how most artists make their revenues.  Technology has definitely shifted the control of the record label to the control of the artists.

Social media had made it possible to bring all sides together, and allow more freedom for artist’s creativity.  But, don’t get it twisted, record labels are still needed and used today because someone has to do all the legwork.  In the end it’s a lot of work, and the coming together of the old and the new as a team can be very profitable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Release Forms, Photos & Videos for Any Occasion: Know When to Protect Yourself

Everyone Loves Taking Photos & Videos for Just About Any Occasion:  How Do You Know When You’ve Crossed the Line of Hobby to Offender of the Law

Know How to Protect Yourself

In today’s world, people will whip out a camera, cellphone and even the tablet to capture the moment on video and photograph for just about any reason.  Whether it’s for work as a photographer, filmmaker, Journalism, or for just plain ole fun, once it’s upload to YouTube and/or your social networking page and any other public site; shooter beware!  It’s not like the times of old when things were much simpler and internet was not hugely popular.  Although there were always laws in place to protect people’s privacy or legal rights to prevent unlawful display of a person’s image in the professional world, those of you who do it for fun today take heed, the same rules may apply to you once you decide to cross the line of fun and into the realm of use for commercial and profit.

In film production, to protect yourself legally you should began researching and preparing all of the necessary waiver/release forms to collect any signature connected to your production.  Particularly for each identifiable actor and/or product such as logos and photos that you plan to have publicized that belongs to another.  There are a variety of release forms for a variety of situations such as location, property, talent, private events, interviews, underage children and more that involves commercial purposes.  If you’re a film student the rules still apply because you can also be sued for displaying work online, that’s why you should always protect yourself by getting release signed up front

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Chris Donati Reviews a Release Form and Contract Before Signing. (c) 2013 Photo by D. Garvin

For instance, former film student Anthony Barr explains his issues with an actor after shooting his student film.  According to Barr, after the short film was shot the actor was disappointed in the way he was edited in the film and thought that film was not good enough to be published online and that no one would take him seriously after seeing the finished product.

Barr explains all of the hard work that went into it and disagreed.  After having several back and forth conversations about it, Barr felt that it was good and ignored his request because everyone else was satisfied and he decided to upload it anyway.

When the actor/friend found out that the movie went up, he called the school to complain and insisted that it be taken down.  Barr stated, he never thought it was that serious until the media department explained that the actor was in the right, he never signed a release form.  Barr says “it’s my own fault, I learned the hard way to always get a release form signed no matter who it is, especially friends.”  I’ll never let my guards down again!

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Donati Grabs pen in agreement to sign contract

A release form is like a contract, which is a written agreement between two parties for the purpose of protecting yourself from any future lawsuits that may include, claiming invasion of privacy or perhaps for money or profit.   However, laws differ depending on the jurisdiction and the state you live in when it pertains to the use of an individual’s image.

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The Release Form is Signed

Understanding the law and the business side of online marketing, will save you money, time and protect you from a whole lot of future legal woes down the line.

 

 

 

How Much Privacy Do You Really Have on Your Public Sites?

Are You Apart of the Social Networking Scene? Your Private Settings Are Not So Private Anymore

Companies are making social networking sites a first step to pre-screening before hiring.  They’re checking your conversation, photos and anything else that will give insight into your character.  Your personal Facebook Page is not so personal anymore; people are actually fired over Facebook Postings.

According to NBC 4 New York, Twitter was asked by a judge to surrender an Occupy Wall Street protestors tweets.  “We are disappointed in the judge’s decision and are considering our options,” a Twitter spokeswoman said Monday.”  “Twitter’s Terms of Service have long made it absolutely clear that its users own their content.”

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Occupy Wall Street Protestors (c) 2013 Photo by Copyright Associated Press/NBC New York

Social media has become bigger than the federal government and more people are tracking you more often than you think.  So, If you put all of your information including posts, photos, videos, resumes and what have you on the World Wide Web, It’s there for the world’s picking and it will be your own fault.  Whether it’s on one of your many social networking sites or email, you should expect to be a potential victim of hacking, researched or investigated.  You can have a life changing experience simply by having your alone hacked.

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Is your securtiy at risk? (c) 2013 Photo by D. Garvin

 How can you protect yourselves and your personal information from being invaded from privacy and internet fraud?  What about when companies tell you to go online to apply for jobs? How safe are you with these companies? Craigslist has become another popular site for job searches, but you never know what you may get when not dealing with a company’s direct website.  Extra precautions should always be taken when dealing with a third party.

That’s exactly what happened to Sonia Roe, a customer service Rep in the Atlanta area.   While searching for work on Craigslist, she applied for a position using her home address and email not thinking much of it because she linked to the company’s site and it all looked legitimate.  However, a Few weeks later she received a $1600 money order, in which case she assumed it was from another organization who she expected to receive support from for her education.

Roe says, “So, I deposited the money order, and all of a sudden my account was in the negative.”  After reporting to the fraud department, she discovers that her personal information had been collected after applying for the online position.  “Luckily I called the fraud department because they traced the numbers on the money order right back to the man who sent it.”  “Apparently he has had a history of fraudulent money orders”.  There are actually hacking classes, software and an operating system created, which makes it so much easier for hackers today.  An Operating System called Kali Linux built into computers used to do a penetration testing is given away for free hoping that the big companies will bite and take the hacking classes offered by them, which is said to be a $4000 class for these companies.

Information is being hacked every six seconds and you must learn ways to protect yourself.  Here is a link that can give you a few tips to protect yourself.  Other privacy issue the citizens of the United States have to be concerned with today is the idea of the government’s National Security Agency (NSA) tracking and collecting our phone calls, monitoring the numbers we call and the duration of the call.  However, the president suggests that they’re not monitoring the content of the call, but the goal is to gather and enter the information into a government database allowing it to sit unless otherwise needed for criminal investigation.

This act is turning talks towards the idea of revisiting the 4th amendment, which is the part of the bill that guards against unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, since that law was put in place before internet and social media existed.  The NSA and FBI are tapping directly into servers of web companies.