Negotiation Techniques

I have watched and reviewed three videos that relate to the negotiation process. They all talk about what to expect in a negotiation and how to approach each obstacle. Each has it’s own methods and ways of going about a negotiation. I have also learned something new from each video I have watched. 

The first video was a podcast by The Voluntary Life titled: “Entrepreneurship - Part 7: Negotiation.” One thing to always remember is to make sure everything is documented incase of miscommunication. Also, be explicit about your way of business. In the podcast, the speaker talks about “Getting to Yes” by Fisher and Ury. This is a book that my Entertainment Business Negotiation class is focused on. One thing I agreed strongly with in this podcast is how price has a small part in negotiation and it is easy to get caught in the price. This speaker was very helpful in explaining the Better Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). He explains that it is the alternative solution incase the negotiation fails. This is how you base whether or not the deals that are being made meet your needs. Also, know your counterparts BATNA this way you can figure out how far they are willing to go in the negotiation. This gives you the upper hand. The speaker then moves into how to deal with haggling and positional bargaining by using objective criteria. This gives the negotiation a center point to base the agreement around. This helps create faster solutions.  It also helps create mutual benefits and ends the negotiation in a win-win situation. This is the only way to have a solid negotiation that lasts in the long run. This also helps avoid disputes and going to court.

  

The second video that I watched was by Margaret Neale from Stanford business called: “Negotiation: Getting What You Want.” She talks about how she will teach others how to understand negotiation, rather than give a step-by-step method that could fail at some point. She states that negotiating should not be adversarial, but should be about problem solving. Margaret has four steps for negotiation: assess, prepare, ask and package. The first step is where I believe the BATNA comes into play. One has to weigh out the benefits and the costs of the negotiation. When one has a BATNA, he or she can compare the offer being presented to the alternative choice without the negotiation. Second, one has to prepare for the negotiation by knowing his or her interests are and what are the interests of the other negotiator. Third is to ask questions. This is the point of a negotiation. Swapping information and coming to agreements is what happens in negotiating, otherwise no one would need to negotiate. The last step is to package issue together instead of negotiating issue by issue. This way, things go smoother and people get more of what they want without fighting for it. This is what I have taken from the video to learn from. I feel this can make things much simpler and can be used in every situation.

The last video I watched was a presentation by William Ury called: “Negotiating for Sustainable Agreements.” Ury speaks about how negotiation is used all the time, whether we realize it or not. It is something we are born to do. As we age, negotiation takes more and more of our time. He also offers four tools to avoid confrontation. One tool I really took from this video is to never engage with a person in a highly emotional state. It will get the negotiation nowhere and cause conflicts. It is better to wait until the person calms down. Conversely, think before you speak. Try to see things from a different perspective before something is said that will be regretful. The second tool Ury spoke about was the ability to listen. He explains that negotiation is about listening and respect. Allow the person to know there is an understanding and care for one another. Without respect, there can be no agreement. The third tool is the to reframe. There should be more than just listening, but also focus. The focus of the negotiation should be around each other’s interests, this way everyone gets what they want out of the deal being made. Questions have to be asked to get to solutions and problem solving. The last tool mentioned is bridging. This is basically a method to make things easier when negotiating. Start the conversation on the other side of the negotiation and work your way to your side of the negotiation. This will make it easier for the other side to see things the way you see them. It also help establish a mutual understanding. These are some steps that will stick with me when negotiating.

Starting a Studio

Many people are trying to get their names written in lights. Whether it is from performing music to producing music, everyone is trying to find his or her way into the industry. Thirty-eight billion dollars is how much the music industry generates each year around the world. The United States makes up for one-third of the worlds music income. First thing that is always thought of is getting to the big labels, but what if one has no way of getting there? The next thing that is thought of is trying the indie labels. They are the middlemen of the music industry, introducing the artists to the world of fame and fortune. Some want to become one of these middlemen, such as myself, but how many are successful and what are the costs for starting this business? Is this a business someone should risk starting?

Recently, many people have been going to school for recording and mixing. This puts the ones without schooling at a disadvantage. No matter the knowledge gained prior to owning a studio, one still has to take into effect that a studio is a business and businesses take money and time. The startup cost of a studio, even an at home studio, can be between ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars. The equipment can take time and money to gather. Depending on the selection of consoles, microphones, instruments, cables, and computers/software, expenses can cost anywhere from fifty thousand to two-hundred fifty thousand dollars. Of course these expenses are paid for when bought, unlike the bills and rent payments, which occur monthly.

The other thing that people forget to recognize when opening a studio is the artist. They are the source of the revenue for the business. Without them, there wouldn’t be a studio in existence. People have to think of the payment of the artist, their royalties, their advances (if any), etc. These prices could pile up quickly and cause a business to lose money instead of gain money. Every artist wants to see their name in lights and the studio owner is in charge of making this happen. More people need to think rationally and look at the numbers before jumping in over their heads. Is this a business you would risk starting?

Is Streaming Music Digitally Hurting Or Helping The Music Industry?

Artists, Songwriters, and Labels all had a great fear in online streaming of music. The RIAA already deal with piracy of music on the Internet, which is the consumption of music on the Internet without legal rights or payment. Now with online radio/libraries such as Pandora, Spotify and Deezer, people don’t have to steal music anymore, but rather just look the song up and listen to it, even on demand. Just like the old threat of YouTube, users are allowed access to some of the biggest libraries at no cost. Even though obtaining revenue from online streaming can seem smaller than obtaining the revenue from buying songs, it can actually benefit the industry more than expected.

The biggest fear was that people would not buy the music if they could access the music for free online. Why would someone pay for music when he or she doesn’t have to pay? What was a fear to begin with turned out to be a silver lining in the digital music movement. With each music video played on YouTube and each song played on Spotify or any other online radio, royalties are paid. Something like Spotify, a loophole to piracy, turned out to be one of the biggest sources of revenue for labels.

Soon, iTunes will fall into the game with their release of iTunes Radio upon their release of iOS 7 this fall. This allows people to create a radio station just like Pandora with the same algorithmic learning. The only difference is the direct connection with the number one digital music store, iTunes Store. Each song that plays lasts for the whole duration of the song and allows the listener to purchase the song from the store. Each song that plays and each advertisement that plays will generate revenue. In addition, listeners will have a chance to discover new songs and are given the options to download the music directly to their phone, which adds more revenue. If they thought that was all, apps like Spotify and Pandora allow for ad free subscriptions for a small monthly fee.

Piracy may have scared the Music Industry away from digital music in the beginning, but now piracy has been turned into somewhat of a business. Everything is being paid for, but consumers do not have to buy anything. Everything is free, unless the consumer decides otherwise. It seems as if streaming music digitally is actually helping the Music Industry. What do you think? Is streaming hurting or helping?

RIAA

The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of America. They help to protect the intellectual property of artists and labels as well as music regulations and policies. Not only that, but they perform research on the industry, technology, and consumers. The RIAA is also the award announcers of gold, platinum, multi platinum, and diamond records. Everything to do with music and the distribution of music has to go through the RIAA.

They provide the knowledge artist’s and studios need to know when recording music, as well as the knowledge for a consumer when purchasing music. They create and uphold the laws of ownership for music and handle any music piracy. Their main goal is to make sure artists and labels get what they deserve and no one steals from them.

Currently they are trying to slow down the ad revenue of any site affiliated with music infringement or piracy. They are hoping the movement will make an impact to show that stealing is bad, but making money off of stolen music is even worse. Most people do not realize how bad it hurts the label and artist. They are just trying to make a safe market for the artists, labels and consumers. Everyone that helped make even one song possible should be able to be compensated for his or her work. From the engineers, to the songwriters, when music is stolen, many of these people lose their jobs. 70,000 jobs a year and 12.5 billion dollars lost annually is a lot of money. Piracy should and will be stopped. What is your opinion on the RIAA and piracy of music?

Music: The Universal Medicine

Being a person that surrounded his life with music, I found one speaker particularly interesting. His name is Robert Gupta, and he helps and studies people with mental and emotional illnesses by using the influence of music. This is not normally my inspiration of choice considering I am an engineer and hopefully a future studio owner. Something about his speech really grabbed my attention. He reminded me why I love music so much and why I want to be a part of the music industry.
     Gupta tells the audience of his times with music and his work with ill people. He states that music lights up the brain unlike any other thing in the world. He also states, music can completely rewire the brain and almost make it anew. From patents with brain damage from something physical, to people with autism or schizophrenic patients, music helps each in a different way. Not only does music make people calm down, but it also clears the minds of any and everyone. Someone who can’t stop shaking could finally sit still by the trance of music. A person that can no longer speak because of brain damage can suddenly sing lyrics to songs like there is nothing wrong. Amazing things can be done with music. This was a big informative speech, which taught me things I did not know.
     He used a reference to the movie “The Soloist” to make his point. Instead of discussing the movie however, he talked about working with Nathanial Ayers from which the movie was based upon. He is a schizophrenic musician that studied at Julliard. His illness got in the way of his studies and he ended up on the streets. Gupta played for him and with him after meeting him. Everything changed about Ayers right down to the hardness of his eyes. Music changed Ayers to the point where he almost seemed like he had no illness at all. Even if the music was just a catalyst to the medication Ayers was taking, it still made a huge effect, all from the sound of one instrument. No chemicals or treatments were required, only music.
     As stated before, Gupta reminded me why I surround myself with a life full of music. Music has the power to change people, even in conditions one wouldn’t believe. Gupta might not be an inspiration for where I am trying to go, but he is an inspiration to who I am as a person of music. Because of this man, I will make sure I inquire his thinking into my own work. Knowing that music can help people in ways I never imagined helps me make sure I follow my dreams to own my own studio. All of my future work will be created, mixed, and produced with the best of my abilities, and will be a work that will hopefully help someone one day. With this knowledge, I want to make sure I help and make an impact to those who need it.

Vocal Correction

How many singers in the music industry can maintain perfect pitch through a whole recording session? Odds are, most probably can’t. Because of this issue, something had to be created to solve that this issue. That is why vocal correction software was created.

Vocal correction is used in most modern music. From the biggest Pop stars, to the new coming Indie artist, almost everyone’s vocals have to be fixed. To fix the vocals, a mixing engineer needs a plugin to do the corrections. Two big vocal correction plugins are Autotune and Melodyne. Each do the same thing, just in different ways.

Autotune is the most known vocal correction plugin. Most believe this plugin to be the easiest. It has many different options on time correction and manipulation. Also, it has pitch correction to fix flat and/or sharp notes while singing. This is definitely an easy to use plugin for anything vocal. This is widely used by anyone from amateurs to professionals. Autotune gives the user an option of what kind of vocal or instrument (not a wide selection) to alter. It gives an easy way to correct pitch by allowing the user to select the key of the song instead of fixing spots individually. The option is still open to fix things with more detail, but this is for advanced users. It is a great plugin with an easy to handle layout. This is a great vocal correction plugin to start with for novice mixing engineers.

Even though Melodyne is not widely heard, people in the music industry definitely know what it is and how to use it. Melodyne is a little more detailed than Autotune. Melodyne plays the music into the plugin and then it analyzes the sound file. When vocals are analyzed, the plug in places each part of words and phrases on their pitch selection. From here, the user can manipulate the sound file just about any way possible. From vibrato to timing, Melodyne edits it all. It is a visible platform and everything is organized. All the editing is easy to do; just choose the tool preferred, click, and drag in the direction desired. Melodyne is not a hard plugin to learn how to use, but it can be confusing for the new mixers out in the industry.

There are many great software and plugins to edit vocals. Two of the best and wide known is Melodyne and Autotune. Even though they may work in similarities, one could feel better to use to the user than another. It all depends on the user. Which one would you choose?

Pro Tools Software

Making music can be intimidating to most people, but they still want to do it. Of course someone can learn to do or play something musical, but to record and mix the music is a whole other ball game. A great program to use is Pro Tools. It is very clean software and everything is organized. This is the first place someone should start if recording and mixing by his or her selves.

When recording, the set up of the session is easy. When the program is started it asks the user about the session he or she wants to start. This includes the time code, bit depth, I/O Settings, and the Audio File Type. New tracks were always easy to start and name with the shortcut command-shift-n. The action prompts the user to choose how many tracks, what type of tracks, and how many outputs. Different tracks, such as aux tracks, are used for different reasons. The Aux track is used more for allowing artist to hear his or her self or to allow a different perspective of listening in the studio. The Audio tracks are mostly to record on. These tracks hold the music and play back the music. MIDI tracks are used if a midi keyboard is connected to the computer and can be recorded in live time. Recording is easy with a full sized keyboard. Just hit the number 3 on the numerical pad of the keyboard.

If  mixing on Pro Tools from a Pro Tools recorded session, all of the session settings will be pre set. There are many shortcuts to make mixing easier too such as, copy (Cmd – C), paste (Cmd – V), trim, separate, consolidate, duplicate, mute (Cmd – M), etc. Different tracks are used a little differently in mixing. The Aux track is used more for effects or filters. This would be Time-based effects, such as reverb or delay. Audio tracks are used to playback the recorded material. Dynamic effects can be placed directly on these tracks, such as compressors or equalizers.

            Recording and mixing owns own music can be difficult. If one sits down and takes the time to learn about a program, it makes things a lot easier. Just from the amount of shortcuts and ease of setup, Pro Tools is very suitable software to use.