Current and Future Trends

Jay Frank, an author of FutureHit.DNA & Hack Your HIT, shared a slideshow from a panel at New Music Seminar, which was titled “Breakthrough Trends in the Music Industry”. By looking through the presentation that was given by music industry professionals. The presentation offers an inside view, where these professionals offer there insight on were the industry is and where it is possibly heading. For this blog post, I just want to highlight some of the trends and ideas that were presented.

The main trend that was presented is the exchange in which albums sales have gotten lower, as singles have gone up. Today, digital singles are at an all time rise. An example of this is Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” which sold over 11 million units. In the U.S., digital singles are sales have dramatically risen. Digital singles’ sales include ringtone, subscription, digital album, digital tracks and royalties. In addition to this, the actually songs take much longer to break into mainstream than ever before. At the website, examples of these are presented.

Currently, the main challenge that investors and music executives are having is finding a way to economize from this trend. They can no longer rely on album sales to make a good profit from selling music; they have to depend on digitals and the Internet. In the future, they will have a way to gain a greater profit from this digital single shift in the music industry. There are many ways they can possibly do this. My guess on what could possibly happen is that music will be charged by a subscription or monthly fee, similar to cable. I guess we will see if music executives will find a way to economize from this trend, or maybe another trend will take over? It will be interesting to see what will in the next few years.

Reference:

Frank, J. FutureHit.DNA. “Breakthrough Trends in the Music Industry”. June, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.futurehitdna.com/breakthrough-trends-in-the-music-industry/. 

3 Questions to Ask Before Going on Tour

You have heard it several times already: the music industry is not the same as it was 30, 20 and even 10 years ago! Today, you have to be a successful indie artist, before one of the Big Three record labels even consider signing you. A great way to promote your music and yourself, and gain more fans is to go on tour. Here are 3 questions to considers before going on tour:

What I learned from the experts

On the last post I learned several key factors for when I create my business plan. From the experts that I researched, I learned the importance of demonstrating that my team and I are the best to run this type of business. This is for when problems arise, the investor will feel confident that my team and I can handle it. Another key fact I learned was demonstrating the competitive advantage our business has in the market and industry. This includes knowing my business’s barriers to entry, and having a realistic view on raising capital.

            I plan to incorporate these useful tips into my plan by making sure I have industry experts on my team. Having experienced people from the industry on my team that investors can trust will clear them from any doubts they may have. Problems are definitely to be expected when starting a business, but having the right people to manage, execute and solve the problems of a business gives an additional strength to any business. Also doing a thorough analysis on the market and industry is something else I plan to incorporate into my business plan. By doing this, I can forecasts problems as well as the financials of my plan.

            The section of my plan that I consider most important for the investor to read is the Management section. I want to make the investor feel confident with the team’s ability and potential to run such a business. Other sections that are important in the business plan are the Market Analysis and Industry Analysis. When creating a business plan, you can never research enough. Showing the investor that I am knowledgeable on these sections will prove that my team and I know what we’re doing. The advice from experts to create the business plan will help me a lot next month.

Experts Views on the Value of Business Plans

The first expert is Akira Hirai from Orange County, California. He is founder and CEO of Cayenne Consulting. He has over 20 years of experience entrepreneurship, management, business planning, financial analysis, software engineering, operations, and decision analysis (Caycon, 2013).

In his company’s blog, Hot Sauce! He writes the important questions that every business plan must answer. One questions that stood out to me was, “Why are you the best team to do this?” (Hirai, 2012). This is a very important question to answer in your business plan because you have to convince the investor that you are capable of handling the problems that will arise once the business starts making money. As Akira Hirai states, you have to make the investor trust in your team as well as your business before they give you their money (Hirai, 2012).

The next expert is Ellen Sandles, an executive director and founder of Tri-State private investors network, a private investor membership organization that serves the interests of private investors who wish to invest in early-stage opportunities. Her specialties include angel investing, venture capital, private equity and business plan analysis (LinkedIn, 2013).

            In her website, Angel Investing Funding, she gives ten tips to appeal to investors. One point she makes in the list is the importance of emphasizing your competitive advantage in your business plan. It is important to write a well “barriers to entry” for the investor. Another point she makes is having industry experience, either yourself or someone on your team. Showing that you know the industry, and have relevant experience in your plan is valuable to investors. Finally, another one of her tips is “You should recognize that raising capital takes time” (Angel Investing Funding, 2013). Raising money usually takes longer than you think.  Answering and handling questions objectively in your business plan is important to investors. The entire list is valuable so please look for the link in references, and check it out (Angel Investing Funding, 2013).

References:

Angel Investing Funding. 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.angelinvestorfunding.com

Angel Investing Funding. Ten Tips to Appeal to Angel Investors. 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.angelinvestorfunding.com/tentips.htm

Caycon. Consultant Akira Hirai. 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.caycon.com/consultant-Akira-Hirai.php

Hirai, A. Hot Sauce! Blog. Ten Questions Every Business Plan Must Answer. Aug 1, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.caycon.com/blog/page/3/

LinkedIn. Sandles Ellen. 2013http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandlesellen