Keys to Negotiating (Interview with C.C. Council)

      Over this past weekend I had the pleasure of of interviewing my mentor Mr. Carl Council, best known to most as just C.C. I asked C.C. to be my business mentor during the summer of this year because of his success in multiple entrepreneurial business ventures. C.C. is the owner of C.C. Smokehouse Grilling services, has created his own

barbecue sauce selling in Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs, is an A&R scout for Sony’s Blackberry division, and managed several gospel artists. C.C. was kind enough to not only grant me an interview on the topic of negotiation, but advise me on managing music artists.  

     When asked the first question of this interview, how do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating, C.C. provided a profound answer that actually spans broader than just tactics of negotiating. C.C.’s response for separating the people from the problem was a simultaneously simple and not so simple, “learn to discern people” (Council, C. (2014, October 4). Personal interview).  This is a simple answer, but the skill of discernment can take many years to develop unless one is being lead by God. This answer is also one that provokes thought; some may wonder ‘how does being able to discern people impact negotiation and allow one to separate the person from the problem?’ I understood C.C.’s meaning to be, discernment is a secret weapon when negotiating; having that ability will allow a person to sense the motives, mindset, and heart of the opposing party and apply a humanistic perspective to the negotiations, thus allowing one to separate any problems from the people involved.  C.C.’s advice for new negotiators in the music industry was again simple yet profound, “believe in your artist whole-heartedly because your artist is your product” and “don’t gamble, don’t put in any more than what you are able to give away”(Council, C. (2014, October 4). Personal interview). 

      C.C. offered many great pieces of advice in response to my second question, how do you handle positional bargaining tactics.  The first of his answers focuses on the preparation for negotiation, “build your product” to give yourself leverage. Second, “don’t try to compete,” because competing with others will cause you to lose focus. Third, in negotiations “start high” so you have room to give. Fourth, but  an answer C.C. noted as most important, “use networking and build relationships within the industry”. C.C. shared with me in elaboration of this point that even negotiations can be impacted by the relationships you develop. Lastly, C.C. provided an example of how knowing your interests (or bottom line) and the interest of the opposing party can help in negotiating to a mutual benefit; he shared that if a major label offers the artist any amount less than $3 per album sold will not allow the artists or manager any revenue (Council, C. (2014, October 4). Personal interview). 

      I am so grateful to C.C. for sparing the time for this interview and all of the information he provided. I am especially appreciative to have him as my mentor. I hope with his guidance and insight I am able to make him, as well as many others, proud and make a positive difference in the lives of those who are also pursuing their dreams within the music industry. 

Brand Audit Presentation

Let Your Voice Be Heard

The growth of hip-hop culture has a substantial impact on the financial development of communities and cities throughout the nation. One of the most recent areas to flourish and become nationally and internationally accepted as a place of relevance in the hip-hop community is Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta was the first widely recognized city to give the South a voice in the world of hip-hop. 

On September 2nd of this year, VH1 aired the documentary ‘ATL: The Untold Story of Atlanta’s Rise in the Rap Game’. This documentary begins by establishing the link between Civil Rights movements of the South and how that era and experience developed the mentality and views of the people of Atlanta. A story is told of the tragic serial killing of youth in Atlanta during the early 1980’s; youth who performed outside a well-known, local jewelry store were being targeted and killed. After the capture of the man responsible for the heinous crimes, Atlanta’s first rap artist, Mojo, emerged. The documentary goes on to mention the rapid production of music artists after L. A. Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds established the first major recording label in Atlanta, LaFace Records. Although many successful and talented music artist, the likes of TLC, Usher Raymond, Arrested Development, Kriss Kross, and countless others were bringing awareness to Atlanta, it’s identity and voice was still not being recognized within the hip-hop community. The pivotal point for the city commonly known now as The “A”, came from an award acceptance speech from, then, new hip-hop group member Andre 3000 of Outkast. The simple sentence of Andre’s speech, “…the South got something to say,” created a swelling of pride for citizens of Atlanta and the rest, as they say, was history. 

Outkast gave the South a valid presence and identity that was recognized, accepted, and respected by people in other key regions within the hip-hop community. That acceptance and respect brought already established and aspiring rappers to Atlanta. With those in pursuit of making music in Atlanta also came the businesses, business owners, workers, and those who just wanted to be in the mix of the “next big thing”; Atlanta began to grow during the decade hip-hop was introduced. In 1980 Atlanta was ranked 16th in the nation based on population, by 1990 it was at number 12, and 11th by year 2000. Atlanta’s popularity and population has been growing ever since and with this form of growth comes financial growth. This is the type of growth I want to see and aid in for my second home state, North Carolina. North Carolina stand up and be heard!

Ask and It Shall be Given Unto You

Amanda Palmer is not a motivational speaker, but her speech The Art of Asking is beyond inspiring, it was down right moving. Amanda is a member of a grunge/cabaret band and blogger who started out working on public streets as a human statue called The 8' Bride. She started this particular speech with a brief background story of her experience as a human statue; this introduction actually moved me to a tear or two. Palmer explains that after a person dropped some money into her hat or can she would hand them a flower and give a prolonged gaze that expressed gratitude and acknowledgment of truly seeing the person. As a former worker in the behavioral and mental health industry, I was touched because there are so so many people in this world who do not feel "seen" and just a little acknowledgment could make a world of difference in their lives. Amanda uses this story as a prelude and foundation of her main point to engage the audience. She clearly does not take herself too seriously and gets a few chuckles from the crowd throughout her speech.
The experiences that Amanda shares throughout her speech reveal her humanistic, trusting, giving and caring nature; she is an artist with a heart for people. She tells of stories of trusting her fans, even to the extent of literally exposing all of herself (naked body) to them to be written on as their human canvas. The trade off for making herself so vulnerable to her fans is a connection that allows her to ask of them for things she or her band needs, from something as small as a Nettie Pot to a place to sleep. The beautiful part of the connection she builds through her vulnerability to ask these kinds of things of her fans is, in turn, it allows her fans to feel, and in some cases, be a part of her life. Palmer's actions actually prove that if you give of yourself freely people will willingly give back instead of having to be made to, which is the entire point of her speech.
Amanda's acts of kindness and trust can be difficult for many to comprehend and/or do. She had to overcome her own doubts and fears as the human statue, which developed the courage and humility she implements when asking for help from fans.  Making yourself vulnerable in that manner can be risky, but taking such risks is what got her a crowd funding donation of over one million dollars when she only asked for one hundred thousand; and that million came from a total of fewer donors than her bands first record with a major label sold right after release. Amanda Palmer's speech encouraged me to continue to have a heart for people, even in the music business. She also inspired me to  be fearless enough take the risk of asking for help when I need it. Amanda Palmer would make an awesome motivational speaker.

Is Nikki Minaj a Hater?

If you caught this year’s BET Awards show you may also have some questions in regards to the motivation behind Nikki Minaj’s statement that suggested at least one of her fellow nominees does not write her own lyrics. If you didn’t happen to catch the show yet, Nikki ever so casually mentioned (dripping with sarcasm) in her Best Female Hip-Hop Artist Award acceptance speech, “when you hear Nikki Minaj spit, Nikki Minaj wrote it”. It was assumed by myself as well as other viewers I spoke with that Nikki was tossing that bit of “shade” at up and coming female hip-hop artist Iggy Azalea since Iggy was the only other artist in the category who has made a relevant impact in sales and on the charts. I also made that assumption because of Nikki’s posing as if for selfies when the camera panned her way during Iggy’s performance. It appears as though Iggy is taking the highroad to Nikki’s comment or maybe does not feel a retort is necessary since she is listed as a writer on all the songs on her debut album The New Classic. 

But if Iggy Azalea wrote on all her songs then who was Minaj’s jab being aimed at? Eve is listed as a writer on all the tracks on her most recent album Lip Lock and the same goes for Angel Haze on her album Dirty Gold.   Charlie Baltimore may have been added  as a nominee just to round out the category because she has not had an album to release since 1999, so it’s safe to say she was not the intended target of Minaj’s statement. Could it be that Nikki Minaj is just hating on Iggy’s success since her debut album is the highest charting female rap album since Nikki’s album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded? 

Whatever Minaj’s motive, my professional advice to Nikki is don’t hate, collaborate. Seeing as how the female presence in hip-hop is not strong because of there being so few female hip-hop artists, those few could strengthen that presence by working together the way the men do instead of being catty, jealous, and petty. Females demonstrating unity within the hip-hop arena would show the world that as individual artists the ladies are just as committed to and serious about the business of music as well as women’s position in hip-hop being a permanent. So to all the ladies of hip-hop I leave this thought: if you can collaborate with the men on songs then why can you not with your fellow comrades who are fighting the same battles as you in this male dominated industry? 

R&B Song Lyrics: Has the Envelope Been Pushed Off the Table Yet?

As anyone who knows me or has read any of my blogs can clearly tell, I am a fan and lover of music, especially good music, so it is disheartening to have to point out the downward direction a lot of today’s R&B song lyrics has taken. Of course music is a form of expression that allows us an avenue to exercise our first amendment right of free speech, but I fear that “shock value” is playing much more of a role in R&B song lyrics today than free expression. During the era of artists like Marvin Gaye and The Isley Brother, R&B music had soul and was at its best. There was no need to distinguish the type of R&B the song portrayed by issuing sub-categories such as neo-soul; it was just good music. During their prime, songs like Sexual Healing, Between the Sheets, and Tonight Is The Night were ballads that “pushed the envelope”, but still maintained some sense of romanticism. Though these song lyrics directly spoke of sex and/or were suggestive, they used no foul language or explicitness. Today, however, it is not uncommon to see R&B covers with the Parental Advisory label stamped on them. Artist like Tre Songz and Bruno Mars are pushing the envelope even further putting curses to melody in songs like Na Na and Gorilla. Personally, I would like to see music take a retrospective U-turn because I’m afraid of what the next generation of R&B song writers will do or say to incorporate shock value. If the envelop is indeed still on the table what will melodic vulgarities sound like when that envelop hits the floor?!

Album Releases: To Party or Not to Party, That is the Question

As an aspiring artist manager the matter of planning an album release party is a very real and relevant topic. Album release parties are always a celebration for the artists and those who aided in the overall production of the album, but they also serve as a useful marketing tool for promoting the album. For those artists who are already established and have the finances themselves or the financial backing of a major label that can provide promotional and marketing teams, album release parties may be viewed as just another party. Nikki Minaj was denied entry to her own album release party because the club had reached capacity by the time her and her entourage showed up at 3:30 a.m.3  Had the party been used for marketing I’m sure she would have tried to be there much earlier, at least I’d like to think so. For an up-and-coming artist, the album release party is definitely a source for marketing their music, therefore, the outcome of the party is vital. Unfortunately as parties go, there can always be factors not planned for such as tragic shooting of seven people at the album release party of Nino, Lil’ Mouse, and King Samson in Chicago.4 The most innovative marketing tactic in music history was pulled off by none other than Beyonce when she released her self titled fifth album on December 13, 2013; No album release party, no commercials, no promotions of any kind just the one word announcement “Surprise!” posted on Instagram. Through this new marketing technique of keeping the secret “in the bag”, once released the secret spread like wildfire and within hours sales of the album showed proof of such. Beyonce Knowles proved that party or no party, if you have acquired the fan base the music will sell itself.

3. International Business, T. (2012, November 23). Nicki Minaj Denied Entry To Own Album Release Party. International Business Times.

4. International Business, T. (2013, March 21). 7 Shot In Chicago Club After Fight Breaks Out During Album Release Party. International Business Times.