The Future of the "Green Entertainment Industry"

In my last two posting I discussed preparing your business plan and seeking investors for your business. Well now that you have the investor and your business is up and coming, what does the future look like for the industry? The future of my business industry looks to be bright green!

The green industry is continuing to grow and adding the entertainment component will only help with this growth. With the help of social media the “green entertainment” industry is going to be the new source of entertainment. Social media is becoming bigger by the minute as a new tool for marketing, branding, and advertising for an event, a company, etc. Green awareness is continuing to grow as well, and what’s more green than using a paperless marketing and advertising tool most people are always using for personal use? This form of entertainment allows for entertainers to have another source to provide entertainment, and allows for companies or organizations to reach more people, save green, and be green.

Another reason I see the green entertainment industry growing is the youth. They are the most social media savvy, and social media it the easiest way to reach them. By using social media and entertainment as a tool of reaching them on important green issues, the youth are entertained and educated. As more green events come up with entertainers the youth will want to continue seeing their favorite entertainers, which will increase the demand for green entertainment. 

From the entertainment side a positive look is placed on the entertainer because they are green aware, which is positive for the youth. It also allows the entertainers to reach more people and to show their fans that they have a common interest.  Entertainment is not going anywhere, being green aware is becoming more common, and there are already entertainers speaking out for their favorite environmental issues. To me the combination of the three equals a growing industry.

Green Business Loans

My two previous blog postings have been directed at tips for writing your business plan. So now that the business plan is complete the next step is finding finances. When looking for funding for my business chose to look for specific funding for green businesses. In my search I found a good number of investors looking to fund new small businesses providing products or services to promote going green. The Initiative Foundation provides Green Business Loans that I found to be very good and if my business were based out of Minnesota I would qualify for. Whether in Minnesota or another state Foundations and Investors like this one have qualifications, and for green business loans the qualifications can be even more specific.

The Green Business Loans from the Initiative Foundation ranges from $50,000 to $250,000.  Some qualifications that give business eligibility are ventures that incorporate environmental responsibility in business operations, ventures that reduce current energy demands, and ventures that deliver a product or service associated with environmental preservation, conservation, protection, and mitigation or clean up. My business would be eligible because we offer services associated with environmental conservation and protection.

Another stipulation for investors is how the money is used. For the Green Business Loans the funds can be used for fixed assets, equipment, and product development. For someone seeking an investor it is important to pay attention to what the funds can be used for, along with the initial eligibility qualifications. As a stated earlier my business would not qualify because I am not located in Minnesota, but I chose to discuss this source of funding because it shows how investors are trying to help small business within their community. So now knowing about this foundation I can look for investors in San Diego that provide green business loans specifically for small businesses in San Diego. I am not an expert but I would suggest to anyone looking for investor funding to search for investors looking to fund specific small businesses or with multiple specific loan programs.

Resource:

http://www.ifound.org/business_greenloan.php

How my business plan has changed…

Week 4 of my Business Plan Development class, and based on what I have learned from the class and from reading about Mark Cuban and Marin Zwilling there are some things I had to reconsider when doing my business plan. The first thing I had to reconsider was the cost of my company’s services. Mark points out that investors need to see that you will be profitable within 90 days and at first this was not clear. By changing my prices but still offering the services at an affordable price, my projected income now reflects a profit. Along with changing the initial service price, I changed the price a little each year and increased the amount of services provided accordingly and this too helped to prove to investors that my company would give them a return on their investment.

A piece of advice Martin gives on not being negative in your business plan something that I thought about when doing the target market and competition sections of my business plan. Martin says not to talk about competitors or customers in areas the company can’t back up. Naturally when writing in these two sections I wanted to make the company stand out and show how many customers we would reach, but I had to remember Martin’s advice and take a step back.  First I had to really look and see who my target market was. Because my service could potentially be offered to any age group I had to think who would mostly likely be benefiting from my services. So with that in mind I took into consideration the fact that other companies or organizations would mostly use my service, and then think about their target market. After doing this I was able to come up with more clear and representative target market.  

Learning from the class, Mark, and Martin I think the target market, competition, and financial sections are most important in the business plan. To me these sections are most important if you are trying to gain investors. By making sure each of these sections are strong and truly show your company investors can see the full potential of your company. This shows what market is, who is already in the market, and the potential money you can make; which for an investor is most important. If there is no market, there is no competition, and there is no profit.

Resources:

·      http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

·      http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-02-10/tech/30004645_1_business-plan-funding-entrepreneurs

·      http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2011/02/04/ten-top-investor-turnoffs-around-business-plans/

Writing a successful business plan

If you are thinking of starting your own business then you know you must have a business plan and that business plan needs to be able to show investors why they should invest in you. So if you are like me and would like some sound advice on how to make sure you business plan is the best and gives you the best results, here is some advice from two experts on writing a business plan.  The first expert is Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, successful businessman, and billionaire entrepreneur. Mark’s best area of business is in Internet business. One key piece of advice Mark gives about writing your business plan is to ask yourself, is there an actual need for the product or service. Asking this question is so important because if your service or product is not one that is needed, then investors will not see the need invest their money into a business that will not give them a good return on investment. Mark has recently started a new platform for entrepreneurs to seek funding from him for their own business. He gives the entrepreneurs 12 rules if they want to receive funding from him, and one that stands out to me is the rule that the business plan must show that it will be profitable within 90 days. This too shows the investor that the business will bring in income and they will receive money back on their investment. Mark has confirmed to receive money; you must show that you will bring in money.

Martin Zwilling is the second expert I researched. Martin Zwilling is the CEO and Founder of Startup Professional, Inc. He has been published in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Business Insider writing about business plans, so I would say he knows what he is talking about and the business world agrees. Zwilling gives me a different look with regards to my business plan has he explains what turns off investors. This is equally important because by knowing what not to do you know more on what to do. He gives 10 things that turn of investors in his Forbes article and one that stuck out to me was “don’t be negative”. Zwilling explains not to talk about your competitors or customers in areas you can’t back up. If you are making a statement about your competitors and customers it should be supported by third-party data. I found this to be key, because it is easy to think and speak about competitors and customers from our own point of view, which is probably in favor of our business. By having third party data it shows investors that we have proof, like having creditable sources in a research paper.

Both Mark Cuban and Martin Zwilling have great tips on how to have a successful business plan. I will be using what I learned from each of them in creating my business plan. If you are planning on starting your own business, I suggest taking a look at the articles each of them have done on business plans.

Resources: 

  http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

  

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-02-10/tech/30004645_1_business-plan-funding entrepreneurs

http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2011/02/04/ten-top-investor-turnoffs-around-business-plans/ 

     

Green Marketing aka Digital Marketing

This word “green” is being used more and more these days with people becoming more aware of the environmental issues taking place globally. When you hear the word now, you think environmentally friendly or something having to deal with being environmentally conscious. My focus is on “green” entertainment and while the industry is definitely new and growing, there is an area used in the entertainment industry that has been “green” since its existence. I am talking about digital marketing (green marketing), more specifically social media marketing. 

The introduction of social media marketing put a new spin on marketing, allowing for even more targeted audiences and not to mention reaching a larger audience at little to no cost. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn seem to be the most popular out now and if you have all three not only is your target market that much larger, but the types of people you are reaching is different within the three.  Another plus with using social media marketing are the different types of marketing you able to do. With each of the three social media sites listed you are able to market on your home page and provide links to other pages to help market. For example DigitalLA is an entertainment organization that I think does a good job utilizing social media marking. They have the three main social media sites, but each one seems to be used for different purposes. Facebook is used to announce an event, post pictures from an event, provide a link to an event homepage, and give status updates on an event. Twitter is used to follow an event as it is taking place as a kind of live interview, tweeting attendee questions and responses. LinkedIn is used for more of a networking tool. DigitalLA can use LinkedIn to market to other organization or people who would like to collaborate on an event or hire them to do it event for them. Although DigitalLA’s homepage could use some work, they have the right idea on using social media marketing.  To see more about DigitalLA and how they are utilizing social media marketing visit http://digitalla.net/. 

Jazz It Up with social media marketing

Yesterday, Saturday September 3^rd the Trinity House, a local transitional house for homeless women and children hosted their first “Jazz It Up Concert”. The concert was to help bring awareness and raise money for the homeless women and children in San Diego. My wife’s company was hire to work with the Trinity House on the concert so I was able to enjoy the concert. The concert was a big success and their digital marketing had something to do with that.

Facebook was a major part for the “Jazz It Up Concert” digital marketing. Facebook gave the event a large target market and cost them nothing in marketing. Each of the members working on the event used their personal and business Facebook pages to help market the event. They simple placed the “Jazz It Up Concert” flyer as their profile picture and this provided details on the concert and a link to the concert website with more details.  With each of the 10 business/organizations working on the concert having over 500 friends on both their personal and business profiles reaching at least 3,000 potential customers. The concert brought in 300 people from social media marketing alone. At first this might not seem like much but with the concert bringing in 500 people with an estimated 700 people total.  With a majority of the total ticket sales coming from free marketing I would say the marketing did its job.

Other than the social media marketing success another area to look at was the SEO from the “Jazz It Up Concert” website. I searched Google for the concert and my results came back with the smooth jazz calendar being the first website from the search.  With the top search result being the calendar of the local jazz radio station helping with marketing. Another point with regards to SEO is when I started to type the concert title the first suggestion in the Google search box was Jazz It Up San Diego. This is another top search result using the concert title as keywords, which benefits the result optimization, and makes it easier for potential customers to find information on the concert.  Overall I would say the digital marketing for the concert did its job. You can read more about he concert at http://thetrinityhouse.org/JazzItUp/

"Go Forth Music"

Yesterday I received an email from a friend in New York who studied entertainment law and had recently partnered in started a new LLC. Her email asked me to vote and comment on a panel discussion she and her partner are trying to have at an upcoming conference. The panel discussion they want to have is centered on a new demographic of artists, “Music Middle Class”. When I saw this new demographic I thought about my friend 3D and how he could be placed into this demographic. Music Middle Class is defined as musicians that fall between “superstar” and “starving artist” status, make a steady income, and maintain a level of control over their careers. As I read more about what she and her partner were doing, I began to think about how many artists or artist managers out there who would find this new demographic a helpful selling point? I am sure there are more than one might think, and just I was thinking this my friend and her business partner have thought of this and provided a solution, “Go Forth Music”.

“Go Forth Music is an artist services firm dedicated to providing quality strategies and support services to musicians and music industry entrepreneurs” (goforthmusic.com).  As I looked at the site I thought to myself, this is exactly what new artist needs and what a valuable source this is. The services offered are the exact services in which most new artist need the most help with or do not have the time to deal with. Along with offering services such as website design and planning an album release, the site also offers artist professional mixes and press kit examples.

For me the press kit examples are key! Having recently done a press kit, I know how valuable they are for an artist, which I think most already know but knowing what goes into the press kit is even more important. By providing this example Go Forth Music has given artist and mangers a reliable and valuable tool to use as a guideline. I can honestly say if I did not have press kit example to follow when I did my press kit, I would not have known where to start.

The last thing I thought was very cool about the site and services was that they are coming from two people who have worked in the industry and have the educational background in the industry. This helps a new artist and managers feel comfortable using the information provided because the source is reliable. Overall the message and feel I take from Go Forth Music is that they are there for the artist and that’s most important whether you are artist yourself or managing an artist.

I will be using Go Forth Music for some consulting and working with my artists. To checkout the website and learn more about Go Forth Music please visit http://goforthmusic.com/

"Ready As Now"

This week I was introduced to a new song from local hip-hop/rap artist and friend, 3D. I am helping 3D with some guidance on his musical career so when he has a new song he ask me to listen and tell him the best place to introduce his new music. 3D’s new song is titled “Ready as Now” and compared to his later works the track introduces a new 3D that is definitely ready to take his musical career to the next level. The title itself gives the impression 3D is ready!

So after listening to the song I thought wow this song is READY AS NOW and where can we get distribute this song to get the most airplay out of it and push his career. The song can definitely be played in the club atmosphere, but it is not a song to be played on the radio. The radio version would need too many edits and I think would take away from the song and lyrical content, so with that in mind I thought of other outlets. I sent the song to some friends in California and New York who are also in the music industry and they suggested using the song in local strip clubs.

At first I thought wow the strip club, but then I thought about the words in the song and it actually makes perfect sense. After thinking about how opportune this song could be to introduce to that scene I begin thinking about how beneficial this could be to 3D’s start up. I thought about how the DJ’s in the strip clubs also DJ at the other clubs in San Diego and if they see how much hype it gets then they will give the song play when they are DJing in other clubs. Along with DJ’s promoting the song at different clubs, the people at the strip club hear the song; ask who the artist is, and then look 3D up on YouTube. Once they view his YouTube page they can hear other songs and are able to purchase his music through iTunes.

A strip club theme song will not be the song 3D introduces to radio and mainstream to launch his career, but it will be the song that will help him get more of a buzz and help him when he does burst into mainstream. 3D and I are going to start contacting local strip club DJ’s and getting them the song this week. We will have to come up with a distribution plan focusing on the right strip clubs to connect with and maybe some club DJ’s we are already connected with. Again 3D is “Ready as Now”.

To listen to the song checkout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9UbZsRLo-8

Attorney Rachel Young Interview

This week I had the pleasure to interview attorney Rachel Young and learn more about being an attorney, working with an attorney, and an overall better understanding of contracts. Rachel currently has her own law office, located in San Diego, CA, which handles legal matters ranging from Family Law to Entertainment Contract Negotiations, which is the precise area she will be able to help my business with.  She has been practicing for about 8-9 years and from the looks of things she is doing very well. I asked Rachel some questions during our interview and two questions that gave me some great feedback for my own business when creating a contract; what are some key elements to making the contract good? And secondly, has she dealt with liability issues before?

When creating a contract Rachel pointed out everything that we want to go into the contract should be written and discussed by both parties before initial negotiations begin. She said this would be important for my business so we are sure to provide our clients a clear and precise vision of the services we will be providing them. Rachel explained to me about a simple case she had in which an event planning company was hired to provide a DJ for a family reunion. The event planning company hired the DJ and the day of the reunion the DJ was present but did not perform to the family’s expectations. Rachel explained to me that because the event planning company was only hired to provide the family with a DJ and this was the only service in the contract the event planning company was not held liable for the faulty performance of the DJ. Although this did not look great for the company, the liability fell solely on the DJ and his pay had to be renegotiated based on his actual performance. In the end it was good the event planning company specifically said in the contract what service they would provide and moving forward they would include in their contracts what would happen in case of situation like this, or they would only refer services to clients and require a finders fee.

This example Rachel told me about was the perfect example of a situation I might encounter with my business, so I now know how I can avoid a potential situation like this, and if it does happen how to handle it appropriately. Rachel’s suggestion of only doing the referring and charging a finder’s fee was a great suggestion that I had not thought about, which will open up more service opportunities for my business.

At the end of our interview I ask Rachel if she would consider doing consulting with my business on our client contracts and replied, “yes of course, but then I will have to charge you for my services and recommendations”.  To which I replied, “ yes of course, just don’t hurt my pockets too much”. We both laughed at the comments and ended the interview laughing. If you are in San Diego and need an attorney I would suggest hiring Attorney Rachel Young. 

Green Controversy aka Green Entertainment

“Going Green” is a huge controversy in and of itself, so naturally within the green the industry there is major debate and controversy on current policy. The controversy is seen here in the states with oil companies and environmental groups, but the United States it’s the only country having its own green controversy. I’ve read 3 different articles about current green controversy and they all seem to lead back to one source, the government. I personally think although the government may be moving toward a greener US and world, they have their own agendas will continue to move at a pace that is conducive to that agenda but still keeps the people thinking they will change. There is hope though; two of the three articles I read do demonstrate the government pushing for a greener world.

The first article comes from Anusha Subramanian in Business Today. The article discusses how the Indian Cabinet recently had a reshuffle and former minister of state for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, is now in charge of rural development but received a promotion in Cabinet rank. The article basically shows how Jairam who was know for being very adamant on environmental policy change in the Indian government has set a high bar for the minister of state for environment and forest. Although he no longer has the say he used in those terms, all the commotion he has caused did its job in the end. The people are now more aware and educated on green and the new minister will have to follow suit and keep the people happy but not the fellow government, or keep the government happy and risk upsetting the people.  I personally think the new minister will play her cards in a moderate manner and keep both sides happy, implementing green policy that will keep the governments green spending lower and the people green movement pushing forward.

The second article is about our own President Obama continuing to step up to green plate. The article comes Vincent Reitano with GREEN and SAVE Staff. Vincent’s article discusses how President Obama revisited LED lighting manufacture plant. This simple visit I big for the green movement, if President Obama approves of LED lighting then it must be worth the switch, well that’s what I like to think the way people preserved this visit. Even if Americans did not see it this way, it still shows that our nation’s leader is supporting the green movement and job creation. With the current state of the economy creating jobs is a necessary and arguable going green is a necessary, so put the two together and you have a formula to help kick start the economy. I guess the controversy still remains on whether need to focus our efforts on alternative sources of energy or stick with good old oil and fossil fuels? A better question and argument create more jobs or keep the same old jobs and economy?

Lastly I read on article with pointed out the Green Cities in the US and Canada written by Kaid Benfield via NRDC.org. This article shows my point of how the government can seem to be into the green movement but some of what they present just doesn’t add up in favor of the movement. The article discusses the top 5 cities in Co2, Energy, Waste, Buildings, Air, Water, Environmental Governance. Unfortunately as stated in the article not all of these categories results were comprised with one set standard, but some results were quantitative, qualitative, and subjective. The main point that stuck out to me with this article is the fact the Los Angeles is in the top five cities for air quality, CO2, and waste. I could see if the article is pointing out the top five cities with the worst in the categories.  The waste category may be something Los Angeles is doing well compared to other states, but air quality and CO2 emissions not at all. Everyone knows there is still a thick a layer of smog around the city and it is know for having some of the worst traffic in the US. If you have traffic that means there a lot of cars on the road which means more CO2 being emitted into the air, making the air quality worse. Also, Los Angeles will be shutting down one of it major freeways this week for expansion construction and that means more cars and more CO2. Kaid stated city rankings of any sort raise as many questions as they answer, and I would have to completely agree. Los Angeles being in the top five cities for Air Quality raises enough question itself.

All in all the article were very informative with regards to what’s happening in the green industry, or as I like to call it green entertainment. I have listed the discussed article links below, view them and get your dose of green entertainment; it will open your eyes to being green conscious.

http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/cabinet-reshuffle-jairam-ramesh/1/16963.html

http://www.greenandsave.com/green_news/green-politics/president-obama-revisits-led-technology-cree-8384

http://www.greenandsave.com/green_news/green-lifestyle/green-cities-us-canada-kind-conclusion-co2-energy-waste-buildings-air-wat

"Heartless" the Dia Frampton version...you be the judge

This weekend I was talking with some friends and one friend asked if I had heard of Dia Frampton? I replied no, and asked who she was. My friend informed me she was a contestant on NBC’s The Voice, a singing contest show. I had never heard of the show or her, but that wasn’t a surprise because I rarely watch shows like this because there is so many on now. Nonetheless I asked more about Dia and my friend informed me that she did a remake to Kanye West’s song “Heartless” only unlike Kanye who rapped the song, Dia sang the song. I thought interesting I need to hear this! I am Kanye fan and a huge fan of that particular song. So thanks to YouTube my friend played the song for us, and WOW Dia did and amazing job, so much that I had to blog about it!

After hearing Dia I thought it was a little ironic that a young lady did this remake; it made me think about Taylor Swift. Although the two do not have the same voice or style I thought it was almost like karma for Kanye that a young lady like Dia would do this remake and actually sound amazing! Kanye took Taylor’s shine when she won her award, and now one of his best songs has a remake not done by him that is getting shine.  After chuckling to myself about the karma, I thought if I was Kanye’s manager I would get Dia to collaborate with Kanye at his next performance on this song. It would be a performance to remember for those in the audience especially for those who have not heard Dia sing on the track. The performance would definitely help Kanye’s image as being a “jerk” and maybe even gain him some new fans, not that he has a shortage of those. The YouTube video for Dia’s version already has 370,915 views and it’s only been on YouTube since June 7^th. 

Even if the two don’t collaborate lyrically Dia plays the piano while singing the song so Kanye could have her doing the live instrumental for the song while he raps. The next time Kanye has a small intimate show he needs to have Dia as a surprise guest artist on that song. All I’m saying is one of the two’s manager needs to set it up for the two to do something because it would sound great and be a hit!  

If you want to checkout more on Dia Frampton follow this link http://www.nbc.com/the-voice/artists/dia-frampton/ and to hear her YouTube click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA03weV4hd8&NR=1  

Mopeds+Entertainers=Entertaining Green Transportation

For the latest in “green” entertainment I read greenandsave.com, which gives the latest in all of “green”. I mainly focus on the entertainment, but today my focus was switched to the moped ad at the top of the site. Oddly enough it makes perfect sense to have mopeds on a site promoting “green”. Like a lot of people now days, I too am looking at alternative modes of transportation and San Diego is a perfect city to cruise around on a moped. After my initial thought about cruising around on my moped I began to think about how entertainers could help push the promotions of mopeds, which would help promote a “green” lifestyle. How could this work I thought?

A moped is probably not the first type of vehicle you would think of for say a commercial, but why not there are motorcycle commercials.  When thinking about a commercial, it would not be a traditional one, but then again a moped is not a traditional means of transportation either. So for a non-traditional commercial I would use “unique” person from the entertainment industry. When I say unique I mean someone who is versatile and can reach all audiences. The mopeds shown would have to be just as unique too and a variety would have to be shown too. There are already many different body types for mopeds and one style that personally captures my eye is the sport motorcycle body style. This style catches my eye because I want the moped for its fuel efficiency but I want the style body to fit my personality. If I think this way I am sure others think this way too and if you add say a music artist to the equation you give some people even more reason to make the moped purchase. So how would this advertisement look?

For argument sake, I will use Lil Wayne as the entertainer. The moped company could have Lil Wayne ride their new motorcycle style body moped and they post the video on their website and youtube. By doing this, the company would not have to pay as much for a commercial solely for this style body, but a video clip on the site should work just the same. My thinking is the video being on youtube could give Lil Wayne fans a look at a possible alternative means of transportation that is “cool” enough for Lil Wayne so it has to be “cool” enough for them. Even if the viewer or fan is not worried so much about Lil Wayne, they still have been introduced to the company’s mopeds. The video on the website gives shoppers a video to see how the moped runs but again plays into buyers fascination with the entertainers. In the end Lil Wayne gets a cool new “toy” and some extra publicity, and the moped company gets an entertainer endorsing their product at a cost less than what they would have had to pay…Green Entertainment at its best.

To view the sport motorcycle body style moped checkout http://www.countrymotorsports.com/inc/sdetail/special__cms_150cc_hornet_sr_2_motorcycle_scooter_for_sale/34589/34598

3D Negotiating

Today I spoke with music artist 3D (Darris Simmons) of Muda Land Records. 3D has been with Muda-Land Records for 2 years now. He is originally from St. Louis and has lived in San Diego for 5 years where he officially launched his rap career. 3D has a nice buzz in the San Diego music scene, opening up for artist like Twister, and even being a judge for local rap competitions. Although not yet the multi million dollar artist, 3D is well on his way, but once he makes it there it will be pivotal that he negotiates a contract that is most beneficial to him. But what about his current contract with Muda-Land Records, how was that negotiated and settled upon? I asked 3D this question during our interview.

3D told me his current contract with Muda-Land was a 5 year contract that will expire in 2014, but the specifics to the contract were interesting.  3D states, unfortunately he did not take negotiating and deal making before he signed the contract with his manager. His manager could have benefited from the class too. Unfortunately 3D only has the rights to his original music and has limits to which producers he can make music with in San Diego. But on the positive side the new producers 3D has found are not included in the original contract and because he has the rights his music he is able to make new music that is his own.  Although this could potentially make his manager upset and feel betrayed, 3D has only recently chosen to seek out new producers, as his manager is not doing so. He said, “ I am the artist and my manger is supposed to be putting me in contact with the producers, but when he is not doing his role I have to push my career forward even though that is not my role”. 3D understands his role but it seems like his manager might need to reevaluate his role as manager. The last topic I spoke with 3D about was paying his manager and royalties.

Thankfully this part of the interview seemed more positive for 3D. From the conversation I learned 3D is not paying his manager on a monthly basis but his manager does provide him with information on events that are happening, and 3D does the footwork for ticket sells. At first it may seem a little unfair, but as a new artist in the industry doing his own footwork put a face to the artist and music that may not be seen other wise. As for his manager’s royalties he did manage to negotiate 70% of performance sells to himself and 30% to his manager. I’d say that this an even trade for doing footwork. Overall the interview with 3D was good and it was really good to hear from a new artist that understands some but wants to learn more of negotiating contracts, and even though things are not always in his favor he still remains humble. A humble artist will go a long ways, stay humble 3D and before you sign that multi-million dollar contract, read over some negotiating and deal-making literature…especially the “game theory” we discussed.

To check out more of 3D and his music go to Muda-landrecords.com 

San Diego at Powershift 2011

Powershift 2011 kicks off today, bringing 10,000 people to Washington, DC to discuss, learn, and lobby for “green” and energy issues happening in the US. My students and I have traveled from San Diego to present Climate Change Research at the conference.  Our presence is important for many reasons, but for the sake of my business it is important because my students will be the few if not only high school aged students in attendance. As high school students attending and presenting my students are setting a new standard for the 10,000 college and post college attendees, and also blazing the trail for other high school students around the country. Our attendance also helps justify the need to engage and educate the youth on the environmental issues that our currently happening; the youth wants to do their part too and we need to help them.

This year’s Powershift brings speeches from former Vice President Al Gore, Van Jones, and current EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson…Why is it important to have such people speaking at a conference, is it like they are preaching to the choir? Well yes and no, speaking to choir yes, but they are also connecting with the choir on a personal level and showing them that not just the “average Joe” is trying to educate and bring awareness to these issues. Along with these speakers we will hear from Kal Penn, Kumar from the Harold & Kumar Movies. Which brings me to my next point, using the entertainment industry to educate and entertain our youth.

At Powershift 2009 “The Roots” rocked out with Powershift attendees in the name of being and going green. The concerts was filled and everyone from the older attendees to my students at that time rocked out with them and enjoyed the concert, but also became more educated and pumped up on being and going green. Powershift already has the right idea using entertainers to strengthen the numbers of attendance to such a controversial, yet important issue of going green. More often than not the youth need know that what they are doing is considered “cool” so what better way than to use the entertainers they see as “cool”.  I’ m excited to see who is lined up to perform this year, but I am sure whoever it is will reach those who already sure of their “green” advocacy to those who are just beginning to explore “green”, and I’m sure some new “green” advocates will be added to this list.

For more information on Powershift 2011 check out the official site here http://www.powershift2011.org/ and see for yourself how you can be educated and entertained at the same time. 

Sony Promotes Green Awareness

This weekend I received an email form Sony about an upcoming Social Media Camp they are hosting here in San Diego. My first thought was this would definitely be something for me attend to learn more about Social Media for my personal reason and knowledge for my current and future job. Working with the youth knowing as much as I can about Social Media will only make my job easier and help me to build a stronger relationship with them.  Learning more about Social Media will also help me with my recruitment for future students, and marketing and advertising for my program. This is especially important because my job is with a non profit organization and finding free to minimal cost ways of marketing is a huge plus and this money can be spent on program improvements. Most importantly Social Media provides a "green" marketing source, which is the main focus of my program.

As I kept reading the email, it said the camp would take place at Sony Electronic’s magnificent LEED certified building and this really wowed me and got my brain thinking; Sony has LEED certified building! LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. I had no idea Sony was doing their part to be more “green” and definitely didn’t know they had LEED build.  So now my brain went from just learning about Social Media to learning about Social Media and Sony’s LEED certified building.  Once I know the details to Sony’s LEED building then I can tell my students about it and potentially have a field trip to the building for 1^st hand knowledge and experience. The students will be able to see how a brand such as Sony can be green and for the environment, yet still be one of the top brand names in each of its industry types. As my students are already green conscious this can also give them ideas on green jobs that are not necessarily in the sciences but in technology, media, marketing, etc. I now have a major Brand to use an example for my personal business, educating the youth on green awareness through the entertainment industry.

I know can’t wait even more for this camp and I will am sure it will be a valuable learning experience. For more details on the camp checkout http://socialmediaclub.org/event/social-media-camp-san-diego 

Green Education & Entertainment

The Green industry is a growing one because of that this allows for many different new areas of the industry are always coming up. My brand industry focus is on education and entertainment.  While green education is a little more common, more specifically in schools, after school programs, and environmental agencies, green entertainment is not is not. But what is green entertainment exactly? For me this form entertainment is both educating and entertaining while focusing on being green. For example a concert to raise money for a specific environmental issue, this educates on the issue and the musicians entertain.  As far as I knew there was not a specific term or category for this type of entertainment, Green Entertainment.  

That was until I came across greenandsave.com, which “strives to inform the public about eco-conscious living, environmental matters, world issues, energy efficiency, green innovations, health issues, and more.” Under green entertainment you have the following categories: sports, green people, education, and green news. Sports, green people, and education are exactly what I was looking for. The information in each of these categories is a valuable part of how I will work with the green entertainment industry. Its good see I am not the only person thinking this way.

Green and Save has adds from business and schools that are related to “green”.  I find this to be a “no brainer” if you will but, more specifically the type of ads they have is important.  For education the site has an ad for a Master in Global Environmental Change. This shows me they are trying to appeal to people with their Bachelor’s and thinking of their Master’s in something “green”. It also shows me Green and Save knows who their target market is and more importantly who is most likely to be their target audience.

The sites, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and YouTube are social media networks in which

Green and Save is a member of. Using social media networks to help build and strengthen your brand name is something I will do with my own brand. This is also free marketing and advertising which allows you potentially reach everyone in the world who is also a member of the networks.  Now anyone can be global, so our issues can be heard globally other than from the news perspective, allowing for potential global help, well I like to think so. Even if social media networks don’t ignite a global shift in going green, the potential for such unity is there and for that simple reason you almost have to be a member of some social media network to strengthen your brand name and keep up with industry.

Green and Save ‘s marketing and social media network teams have done their job, I am going follow them on their social media networks and increase my knowledge in Green Entertainment.

Checkout Green and Save for yourself @ http://www.greenandsave.com/news

Ken Robinson: Our Current Education System

I watched to a blog video on TED.com by Ken Robinson about education paradigms and he answered questions I personally had about our Education system in the United States. Ken Robinson discussed how our education system is essentially keeping our children’s education potential to a minimum.  The main points I took from the video were the current education system is outdated, and the topic of “divergent thinking”.

Ken points out how the current education system is failing our children and is based on separating each child and prejudging their educational capacity. For this reason the smart are getting smarter, while the others are staying at the same level or falling behind. A study was done asking kindergartners how many uses for a paper clip they could think of.  98% gave 200 or more uses putting them at genius intellectual level. The study continued retesting every 5 years until they were 15, and every 5 years the number scoring 200 decreased. Ken says this digression is because age 15 most of us have some type of formal education, which teaches there is one answer and one answer only.  Which brings me to my next point of “divergent thinking”.

“Divergent thinking is not the same thing as creative thinking” Ken states. Divergent thinking is seeing many answers to a solution and many different solutions that may work. Ken discusses how divergent thinking is good and many children think this way but are essential told not to think this way.  Instead they are told again there is one answer and one answer only. Divergent thinking is necessary to keep up with world and economy today, but because children are being program to only think of one answer they are not using their creative like they should be.

Being a director of an education program this subject matter is very important to me, and how Ken broke down the current education system made sense to me because I can relate to what he was saying.  I have students that go to Creative Arts Schools and students that attend traditional schools, and those at the creative arts schools tend to use more divergent thinking when it comes to problem solving. I am not an expert nor have I done a study, but after watching the video a lot of the different ways my students problem solve made more sense to me. Encouraging “divergent thinking” is a positive move in changing and potentially bettering our current education system.

Watch the full video at

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html 

Walk the Watershed 2011

Walk the Watershed 2011 took place yesterday at Swan Canyon, part of the Pueblo Watershed in San Diego, Ca. Students from the Elementary Institute of Science, Ocean Discovery, and Outside the Lens lead the community on tours through Swan Canyon explaining what a watershed is and the importance of keeping our watersheds healthy. So what is a watershed? A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place, for Swan Canyon going into the San Day Bay and Pacific Ocean. After students lead the tours, students and community members participated in watershed restoration, removing non-native plants, planting native plants, and removing trash from the Canyon. Canyon trails were made to help with soil erosion and over a thousand pounds of trash was removed from the Canyon. At the end of the restoration everyone enjoyed food and word from the neighboring district councilman, Councilman Tony Young. 

This is the third year the event has taken place and each year the numbers attending rises and the watershed continues to prosper in health. This year we noticed an increase in youth participants, which was reassuring that some of our efforts to educate and get the youth more involved with their environment is working. As I continue to partner on the event I hope to continue to see the youth evolvement grow as well as the Canyons health. To find out more about the event you can visit sdcoastkeeper.org.