No Longer Resting In Peace

Over the last few years we have seen a new trend being added to the entertainment world, especially in live show productions. I am all for new, exciting, and entertaining things but some things need to be left alone out of respect for the artist life and legacy. There is something just wrong with watching a hologram of an artist. It is cool that we have the technology to do it, but it seems wrong to be playing with the dead. A tribute show, with other artist singing the classic hits use to be the norm for showing our respects, but now we have hologram shows mix in with live performers. Will this become a great, good, bad or should have never happen thing? Time will tell and for now we have to deal with the fact that the money that will be drawn in will be great and maybe the motive.

It has been recently announced that they will being doing a Whitney Houston hologram next year in 2016. Not sure how it is going to turn out and I hope it is a success for those who will watch it, but it has been two years in the making and I think a little too early, like a joke about death right after someone dies; the emotions are still a little high. Especially in this case giving her daughter just passed away this year too. Maybe they should skip Whitney and do Luther Vandross.

There are mix feeling about the use of holograms at music events. Everyone was over the top excited about a Tupac hologram with Snoop Dogg at Coachella Festival back in 2012 but fans felt the Michael Jackson hologram at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014 was cool but a bit creepy and I have to agree it was weird watching it. I guess certain artist are better to watch alive than dead.

You Can Plan or Not Plan, But It’s Still A Business

Well peeps!!!! You know I am back with other blog post and at this rate I might consider becoming a professional blogger…….Sike!!!! Blogging is not my style, but this month blog post is on Business Plan Experts. I never knew they had such a profession, but I should have known there is such a thing. You can turn anything into a professional gig in this world. Now let us get down to blogging. First up is Steve Gedeon or Dr. Gedeon.

Steve Gedeon is an entrepreneurship educator at Ryerson University with over 100 articles publishes, reports and patents. Steve has also won the President’s Award of Teaching Excellence. In this 2011 video on YouTube, Steve Gedeon puts emphasis on these key points that investors look for in a business plan. The Executive Summary, Management Team, stating that most investors will take the “A” team with a “B” plan over the “B” team with an “A” plan. Follow by the Overall Business Idea and last but not least, the never forgotten part, the grand finale……the Financials. These points determine the strength of a business plan and possibly the success rate. I will take all of the points mention into consideration when I write my business plan. They are all equally important and cannot be over looked; a professional spoke them on. Next up is Chuck Blakeman.

Chuck Blakeman is an author, speaker, and founder of the Crankset Group. He has been featured and quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine and CNNMoney.com. He speaks yearly with over 100+ workshops around the world. Chuck believes business plans are a thing of the past. He writes, “Why Business Plans Are a Business Disease” on his website. Chuck feels business plans are killing businesses. “The industrial era is over and that pre-planning mindset that came with it is stopping us from being creative,” as stated by Chuck.  I know first hand that when I am doing a lot of pre-planning for something like a road-trip, a lot of times the trip is not fun; because I spent a lot of time planning for something to go wrong. Massive pre-planning like you see in three to five year business plans is a business disease as said by Chuck. Just plan as you move forward. Something’s that Chuck mentions as profitable points to help when talking to investors are how fast can you make money, what is the lifetime goals and your business maturity date. These key considerations are self-explanatory. The lifetime goals will be the one I will focus on, it speaks on keeping my business in business over time. You have to plan for the future but live in the moment.

Is the Music Industry Bad or Just Hip Hop/Rap?

This is a question I have asked myself a lot over the years in my short life on this planet. We all love the Music Industry to some extent. It puts a smile on our faces or help guides us through some tuff times or even help us express ourselves in varies ways. The Music Industry spreads love, anger, hate, positivity, and gives people a voice that normally would not say anything.  These are just some of the wonders of the Music Industry that demands so much of our personal world, but there is a dark side. A very dark side of the Music Industry, I would go as far as to call it an outlawed stepchild or political scapegoat. I am talking about the culture of Hip Hop.

Now, it is not a secret what race dominates this genre of music and made it what it is today, as we know it. If you do not know because you were too busy doing great things, let me tell you, it is African-Americans. Over the years in this country every time something major goes bad or dramatically wrong involving African-Americans, Hip Hop culture and Rap music gets under attack and is blamed for the majority of the problems.

Could this be an accurate assumption about Hip Hop and Rap? Why the other genres of music do not come into question?  Are they not to blame for the negative actions or problems of its predominate listeners?

Let me point out a few differences in views or choice words when talking about African-American music vs. Caucasian music. Bill O’Reilly tends to blame Hip Hop and Rap music for almost everything that goes wrong in this country, like the Decline in Christianity in America is because of Hip Hop. Geraldo Rivera said Hip Hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years. Here is a video of him speaking with the Huffington Post earlier this year. Then you have Dylann Roof in recent news.

                                                                                                ("Dylann Roof," Dylann Roof)

No musical genre was to blame in this nations most recent serial shooting in Charleston, South Carolina by Dylann Roof. His mental health came into question, but he is also Caucasian; Is it really the music to blame or is there a different sub-conscience meaning to all this? Please!!!!! Educate Me. 

Turn Up the Radio

Radio, such a beautiful medium in which we consume music for our entertainment pleasures in our downtime from life. The enjoyment of sitting there around the radio in a peaceful state of mind listening to the news, shows, and music with our love ones is a feeling like no other, There is no better feeling. Those days are gone, and the word radio in itself will soon become just a placeholder to describe the source in which sound is coming from.

Radio is not dead; it is just getting a make over like any other form of entertainment. Yes, we are no longer sitting around the radio like in the 1930’s, but that is because radio is not playing the music the fans want to hear. Being force to listen to certain songs is a dead art form, now it is more of a we want to hear this and you have to play it relationship between the fans and the radio stations. According to an article on Billboard.com, radio is competing with listener’s iPods now. Listeners now have options to whom they want to hear, when they want to hear them, and for how long.

This phenomenon is even changing what is being considered a song for radio in today’s music industry. Songs that are gaining popularity on sites like Youtube and Soundcloud would normally not be in consideration for airtime, but to keep ratings and sponsors these songs are being force on the commercial radio industry. This is giving more artist a chance to be on radio and giving the fan what they want to hear.

Now with all this going on in the radio world and with more and more people spending more time using their phones for listening devices instead of talking devices, internet radio is the new cash cow. Advertising companies is looking to capitalize on individuals more in the future. With Internet radio looking to make a more personal experience for the listener, advertising companies is looking to ride this wave into the future as told in an article on Forbes.com. If you are not a big fan of advertising ads directed towards you, then you are not going to like what is to come in the future, because they are coming for you and radio is their approach.