Insight from B. Brown (BREG)
The article below is a very interesting piece about Jay Z and his mindset. He is no doubt one of the greatest rappers ever, but more importantly, he is becoming one of the greatest American businessmen ever!
I would like all of my aspiring Artists and Business people to read the article below to get a good idea on how we may want to build our portfolios and choose or not choose to be a part of and/or attached to certain companies, products and projects.
Each one of us is an entity, and we must protect and grow our entities properly.
I have a lot of respect for Jay Z, and I wish him continued success!
One Love!
By Daniel Gross | Daily Ticker – Fri, Mar 25, 2011 5:38 PM EDT
This is a superstar economy, in which A-listers live large while minor leaguers struggle. Hedge fund managers like John Paulson may rack up big returns, CEOs like Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman, Sachs bag huge compensation packages, and all-star baseball players like Alex Rodriguez ink nine-figure contracts. But few of them can match the combination of fame, public acclaim and monetary value that Shawn Corey Carter has racked up.
Who?
Amid the carnage of the music industry in the past decade, Jay-Z has managed to parlay artistic success into financial fortune valued at up to $450 million, according to Forbes. Jay-Z's many business successes (and few failures) are described in a new book by Forbes writer Zack O'Malley Greenburg, entitled Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office.
In 2010 alone, he earned $63 million, more than all but seven CEOs of public companies, writes Greenburg. While the money came primarily from touring, Jay-Z has a business interests ranging from music to nightclubs, from restaurants to apparel, from sneakers to a chunk of the New Jersey Nets. As Greenburg and I discuss in the video, the Brooklyn native, who spent a chunk of his teens selling drugs before devoting himself full time to rap, has "a unique ability to set trends and profit from them, almost to an astronomical level."
Early on, Jay-Z displayed an acumen for business. In 1994, unable to find a company to produce his debut records, Jay-Z, Damon Dash and a silent partner founded their own label, Roc-A-Fella Records. And when a distributor agreed to take on the album, he negotiated a deal to retain ownership of the master recordings.
In the late 1990s, he discovered that sales of Iceberg apparel rose after he began including references to them in his songs. But when he went to Iceberg and asked for an endorsement deal, the company demurred. Instead, he started his own apparel company, Rocawear. In 2006, Rocawwear was sold to a brand licensing company for $204 million.
There's been much more: a line of sneakers for Reebok, the 40/40 nightclub chain, an ad for Hewlett-Packard, and an interest in the hot New York City gastro pub, The Spotted Pig.
Jay-Z's career and business interests are vivid testimony to the mainstreaming of hip-hop culture. Deals come his way in part because he is, simply put, much cooler and culturally relevant than older guys in suits. It's not simply that he can attract a crowd, but that he lends a kind of legitimacy to all sorts of ventures — including the efforts to build a huge arena/ development to house the New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn. The New Jersey Nets, as Greenburg notes, had long been a second-tier team in the NBA, and an afterthought in New York. Facing political obstacles and community opposition, Nets owner Bruce Ratner offered Jay-Z a small ownership stake in exchange for becoming one of the public faces of the project. Another potential bonus: the other owners thought Jay-Z could help attract top talent like LeBron James to the Nets.
That hasn't quite worked out. And, of course, as is the case with most serial entrepreneurs, Jay-Z has had his share of business setbacks. He spent a fair amount of time last decade working on a Jay-Z Jeep, which fell apart due to issues at Chrysler. A GMC Yukon painted Jay-Z blue never got beyond the concept car stage. As Greenburg notes, the singer makes a strong effort not to highlight failures. "He doesn't want to be seen as anything other than victorious." Greenburg adds: "Even Jay-Z fails, but that doesn't make him any less of a businessman."
So what's next? Despite all his operations, music and performing remain at the core of his business, and of his brand. And here he faces something of a challenge. In rock and pop, it's not uncommon for groups and singers to fill big arenas well into their 60s — the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, even Neil Diamond (who is now 70!). But hip-hop is a much younger genre, and Jay-Z is already 41. "He's the first guy who is going to be out there and seeing what the market is for aging rappers," said Greenburg. "But if he wants to tour all the time like the Stones do, he could certainly do that."
Jay-Z has succeeded in part because of a tough-minded mentality that make him insist that he own a part of any operations he's involved with. And that explains in part why he and his team didn't cooperate with this book. When he signed his book contract, Greenburg went to Jay-Z's team, sought interviews, and explained the book as a business success story that "would put him up in the pantheon with Warren Buffett and Steve jobs." Came the response: "What's in it for us?" He didn't want to help with the production of a book that he wouldn't partially own. Besides, he was working on his own book. When it was published last November Decoded debuted as #3 on the New York Times best-seller list.
Daniel Gross is economics editor at Yahoo! Finance
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Can You Believe These Superstars Were Once Rejected By 'American Idol'?
Insight from: B. Brown (BREG)
As an Artist, you encounter plenty of up's and down's, but the key is not to give up and let a disappointing experience destroy your drive. You must regroup by honestly looking at your most recent performance and do everything in your power to improve from that situation. That's how you get better and secure the next opportunity that arises!
Check-out what these former American Idol hopefuls that did not make it on Idol, but became stars on other shows and in other ways.
*By Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo! Music | Friday, February 25, 2011)
These familiar faces didn't make the "Idol" cut.
The "American Idol" top 24 have been announced, and along with the expected ringers there are quite a few surprise omissions: Chris Medina, John Wayne Schulz, Jerome Bell, Carson Higgins, and Jacee Badeaux, to name but five. I'm sure they're feeling pretty rejected, and dejected, right now, as they watch their peers move on to the live "Idol" stage while they pack their bags and Greyhound-bus it back to the small towns from whence they came. But they shouldn't sulk. They should realize that quite a few talented singers were turned away by "Idol," but went on to bigger and better things.
Chris, John, Jerome, Jacee, et al: If you're feeling low, read about the following "Idol" also-rans and realize that your respective musical journeys are far from over.
Hillary Scott:
The stunning Lady Antebellum frontwoman auditioned not once but twice for "Idol," and never even made it past the preliminary rounds, never even sang for Simon Cowell and the other judges. "I never got to see them. I literally performed for the production assistants and the interns, and I just didn't make it," she recently told Entertainment Tonight. No worries. Hillary simply formed Lady Antebellum instead, and went on to win five Grammys this year, including Record AND Song Of The Year. No Idol has ever done that!
Colbie Caillat:
This plucky songstress also auditioned unsuccessfully for "Idol" twice, and on her second try she even warbled her own original ditty, "Bubbly." ("I was shy. I was nervous. I didn't look the greatest. I wasn't ready for it yet. I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no," she later told USA Today.) I guess Colbie had reason to be glad. Not only did "Bubbly" eventually become a massive international hit for her, without "Idol's" help, but it's since been covered by various other "Idol" hopefuls, like Casey James, Katie Stevens, Katelyn Epperly, and Anne Marie Boskovich. Apparently Colbie wasn't too bitter to grant the show rights!
Amber Riley:
The "Glee" diva auditioned for "Idol" at age 17, but she too didn't even make it past the producers. But obviously, the singer also known as Mercedes Jones made it onto the Fox Network anyway. (And one of her biggest standout solo performances on "Glee" was "And I Am Telling You," a song famously performed by Idols like Jennifer Hudson and LaKisha Jones.) "You know what? I still work on Fox and I get paid! Thank you, 'American Idol,'" Amber recently gloated to Access Hollywood. You go, girl.
Robyn Troup:
Robyn is the least-known name on this list, but she actually made it the farthest, getting all the way to Hollywood Week in 2006. She was cut during the second group round, but she performed on the Grammys only a few weeks after her elimination aired, when she won Yahoo! Music's own "My Grammy Moment" talent search and got to duet on the live awards telecast with none other than Justin Timberlake. (And Jennifer Hudson introduced her!) Since then, Robyn has recorded with Santana, and is now prepping her debut album for the Emblem Music Group, a record label helmed by David Cook/Taylor Hicks producer Matt Serletic.
As an Artist, you encounter plenty of up's and down's, but the key is not to give up and let a disappointing experience destroy your drive. You must regroup by honestly looking at your most recent performance and do everything in your power to improve from that situation. That's how you get better and secure the next opportunity that arises!
Check-out what these former American Idol hopefuls that did not make it on Idol, but became stars on other shows and in other ways.
*By Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo! Music | Friday, February 25, 2011)
These familiar faces didn't make the "Idol" cut.
The "American Idol" top 24 have been announced, and along with the expected ringers there are quite a few surprise omissions: Chris Medina, John Wayne Schulz, Jerome Bell, Carson Higgins, and Jacee Badeaux, to name but five. I'm sure they're feeling pretty rejected, and dejected, right now, as they watch their peers move on to the live "Idol" stage while they pack their bags and Greyhound-bus it back to the small towns from whence they came. But they shouldn't sulk. They should realize that quite a few talented singers were turned away by "Idol," but went on to bigger and better things.
Chris, John, Jerome, Jacee, et al: If you're feeling low, read about the following "Idol" also-rans and realize that your respective musical journeys are far from over.
Hillary Scott:
The stunning Lady Antebellum frontwoman auditioned not once but twice for "Idol," and never even made it past the preliminary rounds, never even sang for Simon Cowell and the other judges. "I never got to see them. I literally performed for the production assistants and the interns, and I just didn't make it," she recently told Entertainment Tonight. No worries. Hillary simply formed Lady Antebellum instead, and went on to win five Grammys this year, including Record AND Song Of The Year. No Idol has ever done that!
Colbie Caillat:
This plucky songstress also auditioned unsuccessfully for "Idol" twice, and on her second try she even warbled her own original ditty, "Bubbly." ("I was shy. I was nervous. I didn't look the greatest. I wasn't ready for it yet. I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no," she later told USA Today.) I guess Colbie had reason to be glad. Not only did "Bubbly" eventually become a massive international hit for her, without "Idol's" help, but it's since been covered by various other "Idol" hopefuls, like Casey James, Katie Stevens, Katelyn Epperly, and Anne Marie Boskovich. Apparently Colbie wasn't too bitter to grant the show rights!
Amber Riley:
The "Glee" diva auditioned for "Idol" at age 17, but she too didn't even make it past the producers. But obviously, the singer also known as Mercedes Jones made it onto the Fox Network anyway. (And one of her biggest standout solo performances on "Glee" was "And I Am Telling You," a song famously performed by Idols like Jennifer Hudson and LaKisha Jones.) "You know what? I still work on Fox and I get paid! Thank you, 'American Idol,'" Amber recently gloated to Access Hollywood. You go, girl.
Robyn Troup:
Robyn is the least-known name on this list, but she actually made it the farthest, getting all the way to Hollywood Week in 2006. She was cut during the second group round, but she performed on the Grammys only a few weeks after her elimination aired, when she won Yahoo! Music's own "My Grammy Moment" talent search and got to duet on the live awards telecast with none other than Justin Timberlake. (And Jennifer Hudson introduced her!) Since then, Robyn has recorded with Santana, and is now prepping her debut album for the Emblem Music Group, a record label helmed by David Cook/Taylor Hicks producer Matt Serletic.
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