themasteryofmichael

[themasteryofmichael]

Final Project - Business Plan

Hello followers,

The 12thand final course for the Entertainment Business Masters Degree Program at Full Sail University was rightfully called “Final Project – Business Plan. The first week of this class was an extension of last month’s class but also introduced new information pertaining to the finishing of our program. In the first week we were able to finish our financial statement from last month to solidify our financial outlook for our businesses. We also created a one-minute pitch, also called an elevator pitch, recording that helped us open up to what might come across differently in text in our written elevator pitch. The second week was the biggest week for me, we created our executive summary for our business plans and put everything from last month and this month together into an actual, working business plan that can be sent or shown to potential investors or partners in our businesses. I have to admit that it was really neat being able to see the finished product of something that a month before, I had no idea how completing it was possible. The third week we turned our written business plan into a short (5-8 mins) video presentation, touching on the more important parts of what we do, why it matters, and what is in it for investors. Our professor Bill explained it as something that you would use in a face to face meeting with these investors, so we should be able to present this idea to people in a reasonable amount of time, so that they don’t have to thumb through a 20-30 page business plan. And finally, week four, this wraps up our mastery journey and it sure does give me a feeling of accomplishment. This week was simply made of us completing our websites, you can find mine here, https://mdcosme6.wixsite.com/mastermichael, and completing this Tumblr timeline for you as well as a peer discussion about what we plan to do in the futures as well as a short program reflection. I am glad we all made it and we get to walk across that stage new business minded men and women!

-Michael Cosme

[themasteryofmichael]

Business Plan Development

Hello followers,

The 11thcourse in the Entertainment Business Master’s of Science program at Full Sail is called Business Plan Development. At the beginning of the program I laid out a very vague description of what I planned to learn in this course saying that “I will create my own business plan using tools and knowledge I developed over the duration of the program.” As this is the truth, I learned a lot more than just creating a business plan. I learned what steps go into creating a successful business plan and why they matter to the business and potential investors, where they belong on the timeline of the business plan, and how to implement a creative elevator within the business plan at specific points. We also scratched the surface on a larger, more in depth budget than the pro forma spreadsheet that we were able to complete in the business finance course. This budget is for the first three years of the operation of our businesses and includes everything from monthly budgeting calculations to wages and payroll taxes in their own sense, not just wrapped up into one field. I’m not the best with numbers but the way that this new spreadsheet is laid out, I think I will be more comfortable learning how to use it, even just as a template. Next month we will finish the business plan in its entirety and will also finish the budget. I plan on using what I learned throughout this course in a professional sense when it comes to actually getting investors and a budget build for my company. I’m glad that we learned how to build our business plan because in the future, I can use it to help others create their own or at least give some insight. I’m excited to see where our next and final course brings us as masters and I want to thank Steve Burhoe, the instructor for this course, on his ability to educate us and help guide us to a successful future, in whatever field we land.

-Michael Cosme

[themasteryofmichael]

Digital Leadership Portfolio

The music industry is always is an ever-changing machine. One of the more notable changes in the industry in 2018 is the rise of the level of interaction between musicians and their fans. With the use of Apple Music and Spotify, there is no way to receive constructive, quality feedback, other than a star-based review. Today, a number of musicians have taken up podcasting or blogging in order to connect with their fans on a more personal level. These outlets paired with their various social media accounts gives direct access to the musicians for the fans. This creates a number of opportunities to increase revenue because fans feel more connected to the artist and wouldn’t necessarily mind taking part in their journey. A big must for the musicians to keep in mind is to actually connect back to the fans that reach out to you. Doing this will have a positive effect on the fans because receiving a direct reply on a suggestion or comment that you left creates a sense of verification for that fan. (https://volareo.live/blog/3-biggest-music-industry-trends-2018/) Another big step in 2018 was Apple Music and the high resolution service that they offer to their subscribers. With this change, there was no change in the pricing for Apple Music which is never a bad thing. Apple Music was the only streaming service at the beginning of 2018 that offered hi-res streaming, but that is how Apple works, taking big steps before the competition. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2017/12/30/music-predictions-2018/ - 4115119b3f1b) Live music is continuing to grow because artists have started to realize that there is a larger profit margin in going on tour compared to simply relying on the miniscule royalty rates that all of the streaming services out there offer. The expected amount for growth in the live music industry in 2019 is over $11 billion which is $2 billion more than the $9 billion five years ago in 2014. Comparatively, the music streaming industry was valued at only $3.6 billion in 2015. The use of major record labels is starting to decline because of the amount of potential exposure that touring offers. In reality this process is fairly simple, in the words of Jerry Duplessis, “build yourself, get on the internet, and go on tour.” He said to avoid any sort of major label that may come up and offer a deal. For the tech savvy and / or augmented reality (AR) fans, the last few years has shown that seeing a past entertainer live on stage isn’t really too hard to grasp. Coachella 2012 was a ground-breaking event when the legendary 2Pac could be seen on stage years after his passing, this was 6 years ago, imagine what the next two years can offer. (https://medium.com/@AlexMoskov/4-huge-trends-in-the-music-industry-for-2016-2017-63b6924f4c2e) In a statistical sense, there has been a bit of a change in most popular genre since 2012. In 2017, 9 of the top 10 most popular artists are hip hop artists compared to 2012 where 7 of the top 10 were pop artists. Mobile music is taking charge in the past couple of years as well. YouTube was listed at the top of the popular mobile music / video applications chart coming in at over 63 percent. Apple Music is second to YouTube by a large number coming in at slightly less than 28.5 percent. Sadly, out of all of the leading content distribution platforms, YouTube is the lowest paying. More on the statistical side of things, 84 percent of audiophiles within the 12-24 age range listened to their music on YouTube. In reference to the hip hop monopoly, most of the music within this 84 percent was hip hop. (http://blog.discmakers.com/2018/01/music-trends-in-2018/) Let’s take a step back a couple of decades and remember the great boy bands, N’sync, The Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, etc. Well today, we can expect to get a mall sense of nostalgia because boy bands are making a comeback and are coming back strong. A few years later came The Jonas Brothers and One Direction and 2019 will bring on even more, the man who found the groups Hanson and The Jonas Brothers, Steve Greenberg had this to say, “There is always space for a new boy band.” We all know that Justin Timberlake has gone his own way, but this past year has been amazing for him and his following. He is gifted in the acting and music departments and has done so much and plans to do more. (https://www.mondotunes.com/blog/music-trends-2018-artists-know/) For the baby boomer generation, the hipsters and millennials get to enjoy pure music the same way you all did, just a little bit farther down the road. Yes, I’m talking about old familiar, vinyl. In 2016, the sale of vinyl records contributed to 6.5 percent of total album sales, then reached 8.5 percent of total sales in 2017 according to Nielsen Music. This may seem small but over the last 12 years, the sale of vinyl has been on a steady incline and reaches a milestone every year. An example of just how popular vinyl is getting, the 50thanniversary of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sold 72,000 vinyl copies, whereas Divide by Ed Sheeran was actually released in 2017 and sold 62,000 copies on vinyl. This gives a minute reflection on what type of listeners are purchasing vinyl albums, I’m sure that there are music lovers in the US and beyond that listen to both Ed Sheeran and The Beatles, but I believe that the  majority of fans of one or the other, don’t listen to both artists. (https://trackrecord.net/vinyl-sales-hit-a-record-high-in-2017-is-the-trend-hel-1821769488) With these differing trends in the music industry, from musician based interaction to most popular genre to vinyl record sales over the last few years. I am excited to see what other major changes and developments are in store for the next 5 to 10 years. Today, I consider myself to be an outsider in the music industry as a whole, yet I would like to be able to see these changes from a different perspective one day, maybe as an indirect or even direct party in the changes to come. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and give this a read.

-Michael Cosme

References

Admin. (2018, June 29). The 3 biggest music industry trends of 2018 identifiable after SXSW. Retrieved from https://volareo.live/blog/3-biggest-music-industry-trends-2018/

Hatschek, K. (2018, April 2). Music Trends in 2018: Hip hop, streaming, and concerts | Disc Makers Blog. Retrieved from http://blog.discmakers.com/2018/01/music-trends-in-2018/

MondoTunes. (2018, January 10). Music Trends in 2018: What Artists Should Know - MondoTunes Blog. Retrieved from https://www.mondotunes.com/blog/music-trends-2018-artists-know/

Moskov, A. (2016, March 7). 4 HUGE Trends in the Music Industry for 2018/2019 ? Alex Moskov ? Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@AlexMoskov/4-huge-trends-in-the-music-industry-for-2016-2017-63b6924f4c2e

Owsinski, B. (2017, December 30). 7 Music Business Predictions For 2018. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2017/12/30/music-predictions-2018/#4115119b3f1b

Turner, D. (2018, January 4). Vinyl Sales Hit a Record High in 2017. Is the Trend Helping the Industry? Retrieved from https://trackrecord.net/vinyl-sales-hit-a-record-high-in-2017-is-the-trend-hel-1821769488

[themasteryofmichael]

Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

Hello followers,

The 10thmonth in the Entertainment Business Masters of Science program at Full Sail University is Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution. This class was a lot more than I expected and originally planned for on the first month of the program but in a positive way. The small amount of research that I did beforehand resulted in forethought of learning distribution models and issues surrounding piracy and the DRM or digital rights movement. This wasn’t the case at all. In fact, I learned how to professionally research and reach out to perspective agents within the entertainment field so that they can shop your work for distribution and the right channels to go through in order to do this effectively. I learned how to formulate a professional query letter that will be sent to the agents of your choice to perform the tasks I just mentioned. I learned what an unsolicited submission was and why it is important to never submit unsolicited content to publishers or distributors. The text book for this class was very well written by our actual instructor, she lays out everything from contacting an agent to joining PRO’s and getting your work from a thought to fully copyrighted and published. The book has no short cuts, she goes in to very fine details on what needs to happen when for every aspect of the publishing and distribution process as a whole, whether you are designing a game, writing a book, writing a plot or story line for film or TV, or are a musician or band. Looking forward, I can use this class, the text book, and what I learned, to my advantage in the entertainment industry in any way I may need to. I now know what to do and say in order to obtain an agent, I know what the agent does on my behalf to get my content to where it needs to be on a national and even global level, how much these services may cost ant what to expect in return. All in all I am glad that I learned more than I thought I was going to because looking back, if I only learned what I wrote in month one, I wouldn’t really have learned anything of value. I am excited to advance to my next class and see how I can tie what I learned these last 10 months into what I learn there.

-Michael Cosme

[themasteryofmichael]

Advanced Entertainment Law

Hello followers, The ninth course that I took for the Entertainment Business Masters of Science program at Full Sail was advanced entertainment law. At the beginning of the entire degree program I looked forward to this class because I figured that I would learn about legal contracts, how to protect intellectual property, and how entertainment law works in the industry. I am pleased to say that I learned that and much more. The research paper that we were assigned for the end of week 4 was very eye opening. We had to do case research on a case that has to do with legal liabilities in the entertainment industry and how that liability would come into play with our individual business plans. I found a case that had to do with copyright infringement and jukeboxes from the early 90's. I learned a lot of valuable information from just that case but the other assignments and lessons, as well as the go to sessions proved to teach me even more. My course instructor is an active member of the Florida BAR and is a practicing entertainment lawyer so she was able to teach our class based on her in depth knowledge of how the law works in our specific and very relevant professional field. We also got to do what was called an IP audit, which was done in an effort to identify what kind of IP, or intellectual property, would apply to our future business and how to register them, in addition to what would be covered. In week three we went through how to complete a registration form for our business and honestly, that was a huge help moving forward, because now I know how to do it. This class was another heavy hitter with the information that we learned but it is so very important when you get down to operating a legal business. I can't wait to see what next month brings. -Michael Cosme

[themasteryofmichael]

Product and Artist Management

Hello followers,

The eighth course in the Entertainment Business Master of Science program at Full Sail is product and artist management. At the beginning of the course, our instructor explained that this course is a two in one deal, which can be assumed by the name. The first week of class was titled ‘show business’ and we were introduced to a concept found in many advanced degrees that is called an asynchronous lecture. The basics of this is to watch a lengthy lecture, not lengthy in a negative way, full of pertinent information and from that lecture we were to write an essay. We also had the opportunity to choose a notable artist manager and rate them based on research that we conducted. The second week was my favorite in the course, it was titled ‘artist management.’ In week 2 our major assignment was to complete a comparison of two major artist management companies’ history, roster and other major milestones, then choose one of the two that we would rather work for and why. We also got to create an infographic, which was a gist of the company we chose to work for in graphic form. The third week was a week for creativity, titled ’product management’. We were asked to create two or three additional products that weren’t the usual hats, shirts, hoodies, or coffee cups, for an artist to sell from a number of platforms. I chose to go with the reggae band OZona and thought up to sell a can koozie, lanyard, and cell phone case. The fourth and final week called ‘pricing and sales’ brought another asynchronous assignment, the video was made available in week 3, and our final assignment was to discuss “best practices” for pricing and sales and submit our asynchronous essay. Overall, this class was the most time consuming, even though there was no APA paper to write, I learned a lot of information and my professor was extremely knowledgeable, she came from a hefty background in tv and has lived all across the United States. I can’t really believe that were now 2/3 of the way through the program, but I’m ready to take on the next class which is Law and get even closer to being able to wear my “Straight Outta Grad School shirt.”

-Michael Cosme

[themasteryofmichael]

Negotiation and Deal Making

Hello followers, The seventh course in the Entertainment Business Masters of Science program at Full Sail University is Negotiation and deal making. Today marks the last day of the class and to say that I learned a lot would be an understatement. When the class first started I took a quick look at the work that was to be completed this month and at that point I knew that this was going to be a information filled class. The first week we were able to analyze a mock negotiation between a filmmaker and a tennis player and we had to identify certain parts in the video based on the hot words and phrases we learned in class. The second week we had the opportunity to either conduct a negotiation with a classmate, or follow along with an AI negotiation, the point of this was to end with the best outcome possible for both parties and take a look back on how we got to the end result that we did. The third week we got to choose one out of twenty famous negotiations to do a video analysis on and got to touch on specific keywords and how they were specifically relevant to the negotiation. This fourth and final week we wrote an apa paper on what alternative dispute resolution (ADR) was and what part it plays in the entertainment business and how it can be used to resolve a conflict between parties. Every week throughout this class I learned something new, in business as a whole, not just the entertainment business there will be negotiations everywhere you go. If you don't understand the science behind it or how to negotiate professionally and effectively, this can pose a big issue for whoever you're negotiating for. This class has helped me prepare and understand the ins and outs of negotiation and deal making and I am excited to be able ti use it in the future.

[themasteryofmichael]

Digital Marketing

Hello followers, My sixth course in the Entertainment Business Masters program at Full Sail was "Digital Marketing." My original goals for the course, before it started was to "learn marketing skills and conduct research on digital marketing in order to understand correct digital marketing skills and practices." This goal was made based on a broad view of the course description found by doing some simple research, but for the most part, it held true to what I did learn in the class. In the typical Full Sail style, I learned a large amount of information in a short period of time helped by breaking everything down to smaller assignments that lead to bringing everything together to make sense. The first week I was able to give an overview of my future company, create a business concept and develop a target audience as well as conduct some research on competitors in my area. The second week I was tasked with creating a marketing campaign objective, identify different channels used for various marketing strategies and I got to create some advertisement mock ups that I can later use in practice alongside my marketing efforts. The third week I was able to calculate a year long marketing budget using a pairing of research and information from last months entertainment business finance class, I identified Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each channel of marketing that I plan to use, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Radio, and after all of that I was able to expression I can analytically measure the individual success of each of the four channels that will be used for marketing. My last week I brought all three parts together into one fluid marketing plan and created a presentation that can be presented in the future to potential investors of my company. My next class is Negotiating and Deal Making, personally, I like to negotiate so hopefully I can bring some prior life experience with me into this class and use it to help me find success as the course goes on.

[themasteryofmichael]

Entertainment Business Finance

Hello followers,

My fifth course in the Entertainment Business Master’s program at Full Sail was "Entertainment Business Finance." At the start of the course, I knew I was going to learn large scale financial principles in relation to a business but the different formulas that were at the start of the course were very interesting. We learned about the time value of money and how to calculate the present and future value of money and an annuity. Our discussion posts were very engaging for all of us as students as we had to post once a week and reply to our peers with our little slice of insight to possibly help them with their ideas. We had the opportunity to update or create a professional Resume on top of getting at least two professional letters of recommendation from past employers, coworkers, or leaders. I was fortunate enough to have two very quick responses when I reached out to my network. Our capstone assignment was called a Pro Forma Financial Statement which was delivered in two parts, an excellent spreadsheet, which was the majority of the assignment, and a word document answering some very specific questions. The assignment was used to have us as young entrepreneurs formulate a financial breakdown to calculate profit and loss, startup capital, loan information, interest payments etc., for a full 12 months after we open the doors to our various businesses. According to our instructor, this spreadsheet will be used in one of our last classes in the program and is very important. I personally have a budget for my household and using the resources and knowledge that I gained from this course, the current budget will be replaced using some of the ideas and lessons that I learned from the class. I look forward to my next month in the program, and, there’s only one week until spring break!!!

[themasteryofmichael]

Business Storytelling & Brand Development

At the beginning of the Business Storytelling and Brand Development course I found myself eager to get to understand the real meaning of a brand. Ive heard the term before but never had to rely on a brand to attract an audience so my goal was to intake and retain as much information as I needed to to get a real understanding. I started with my personal brand and created a website that shows who I am, what my accomplishments are and what I believe in as it relates to me, the professional. I learned that the site is an inside look at my professional life. From there I learned more about the importance of creating a brand for my business and how that works the same way as a personal brand, just on a larger, more corporate level. I took a lot of interest in researching the brands of big names like Apple and Google as well as other smaller unknown business because thats the category that I fall into. Due to the class material, instructor feedback ,and some outside research on my own time, I now know that in most cases the success of a business can be tied to that businesses brand. The importance of having a strong personal brand and a strong business brand is key to the overall successes you have as an entrepreneur. If someone researches your business and that brings them to research you as the owner, it is imperative that the sense they get from your business brand matches that of your personal brand. In my final week I was able to bring all of my learning together to create a creative brand strategy which rolled all of what I learned throughout the course into one seamless foundation that I can build on in the future in order to really put my love for entertaining into action.

[themasteryofmichael]

Hello everyone, at the start of the PTM course, I was kind of confused, I won't lie. It seem as if the class was just thrown together to have the students rush to gather their mindset on what project they wanted to either finish or start, but after reading through some of the assignments, I realized that I was completely wrong. Dr. Frederick was very well spoken in his GoToTrainings and answered questions before they came up and even answered questions that you didn't know you had, for me at least. He battled through the flu in week 3 and still had all of our assignments graded on time and left constructive feedback, not just, "good job, you completed this assignment." I really did learn about myself in his course, for one, I learned that any idea you may have can come to fruition, so long as you put an actual plan together to do so. My Backyard Indie Concert Tour idea was honestly pretty far fetched at the start, but following the assignments along with feedback from my fellow classmates I quickly realized that maybe this idea isn't so crazy. I stuck to the rubric when double-checking my work for the first time in a while and that proved to help me when it came to my final grade for my individual assignments. Personally, Feel like I did my best in this course. It wasn't until the middle of week two that I realized that I was changing as a person and not only as a student. Even where I work I would start looking at things in a more professional business way compared to the normal way I used to take everything in before this class. Im excited for the future learning that has to be done here at FullSail, hopefully I can put what I learned in the PTM class to work in my future classes.

[themasteryofmichael]

Leadership

As a leader, I want to have a mix between Greene’s style and Maxwell’s style. Personally, I feel that I would be a successful leader using a 60/40 mix with 60% of Greene and 40% of Maxwell. In Greene’s book The 48 Laws of Power, he writes about specific laws to follow in keeping with being a successful leader. During my time in the military I had a select few leaders that I can say I look up to. The ones I do had many traits that were close in relationship to the way Greene writes in the book. Learning to keep people dependent on you is a key to having a higher level of morale in the military. If your subordinates feel like they don’t need you then why are you there in the first place? Working on the hearts and minds of others is helpful too. I personally have a keen sense for empathizing with those around me. I can take in what they’re saying and offer an unbiased solution because I understand how important it is to listen to listen, not listen to respond. Maxwell is also successful in his leadership style because he takes an in-depth path to coming to an end point. For me, this can be used positively in some situations, but in the past in my few leadership roles that I’ve had, I have found that I get a better response with the Greene style of more upfront and down to business than the Maxwell methodology tactic so to speak. In reading the Maxwell chapters I can say that I learned a lot more when It comes to specific situations coming to fruition as a whole compared to Greene and his one way for each problem or situation that may arise. I’m excited to read both of these books from front to back, and they already have a space on my professional bookshelf.

[themasteryofmichael]

If this isn't the truth!!! I graduated HS with a 2.4 GPA and now Im on track to getting a masters degree. Its all on what you want and how hard you'll push for it .

Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/nikos_kazantzakis_120259?src=t_motivational

[themasteryofmichael]

This speaks volumes to me, in the past it  seemed easier to quit when I got tired. Patience and drive makes you realize the journey is worth it . Learn to rest, not quit.

Retrieved from http://www.simplebeautifullife.net/inspirational-quotes/

[themasteryofmichael]

Michael Cosme - Mastery Journey Timeline

[themasteryofmichael]

Sometimes, when you create your own obstacles, it’s easier to push through when you dig down deep and find your motivation from within. Shut out everything around you and finish the task at hand.

The Death Crawl scene from Facing the Giants [Video file]. (2012, November 30). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sUKoKQlEC4

[themasteryofmichael]

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