Why is Apple So Successful???

What is the reason Apple, Inc is doing so well with its latest products? The answer is having good product management. Steve Jobs was a very smart man and did a good job of running Apple Inc. He and his team had a great skill of strategic visioning and planning. From the Product Manager’s Field Guide there are five product management assets that if followed would lead to a successful product. The first asset is to “Drive business results.” In order for this asset to work one must not only oversee the product and make sure there is a successful launch but and offer great customer satisfaction. The second asset is “deliver results through people.” Product managers need to learn how to get positive results through other people. Word of mouth can make or break your product. The third is “ensure market-driven direction.” As a product manager you have to know what the customers want and understand their existing and future needs. Next is “guide product fit and function.” This is where product managers listen to customers concerns and opinions and use this to create a great product. Finally there is “manage multiple priorities.” This asset just bacsically states that as a product manager you must have the ability to multi task. Out of these product management assets three of them is what made Apple, Inc so successful with the releases of the Ipod, Iphone and its four generations, and the Ipad. Ensure Market driven direction, guide fit and function and drive business results. Apple does a great job of releasing things when the technology and timing is right. If the products were released before its time then it would fail. Steve Jobs was great at know what people wanted and when they were ready to accept it. In an interview he stated "It's really hard to design products by the focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know that they want until you show it to them." Business Week May 25 1998

The Road to Success:Artist Management

More than likely the road to success for most artists today involves an artist manager. Most artists don’t know where to start on the road to become a star. Here are a few examples of poor artist management and good artist management. To start off with the bad Creedendnce Clearwater Revival had a lack of good management. The manager of the bad was the lead singer John Fogerty. To have a band member, as a manager is a bad thing then it becomes overwhelming and the artist is wearing to many hats. It would have been good for the band if he had taking some courses in business. He led the band to their demise because of his poor decisions. He wanted things to go his way and his way only. They didn’t have a good deal with the record label they were under called Fantasy Records. Causing them to lose all they’re well earned money in some offshore tax shelter, and get lower royalty rates. Next is a good example of how a no name artist can become a star with proper management. A well-known Rap artist by the name of Wale is the perfect example. After he had a few successful mixtapes and singles under his belt that was getting radio play he got signed to a well know Dj by the name of Mark Ronson to Allido Records. In 2009 Wale signed to Roc Nation Management with Madonna, Rihanna, The Ting Tings, Ester Dean and many more. He would later sign a deal to join Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group in 2011. With a great management team to back him up he released a very successful album late 2011 called “Ambition”. Now Wale is featured on a lot of artist songs and has more a demand for his songs and shows. Having a good manager who knows the right people and what is best for the artist is the key to being the next big superstar. For all you upcoming artist and managers I recommend reading a great and informative book called "This Business of Artist Management" By: Xavier M. Frasconga, Jr. and H. Lee Hetherington.
            

Secrets to having a Successful Fashion Boutique

There are many secrets to having a successful fashion boutique. The first thing is that the prices have to be reasonable. The prices should always be reasonable but set at the right price so you not only break even but you make a profit from it. If you have items set at an attractive price then you would reach your target market and more.    People love to wear with the celebrities are wearing. Nine times out of ten the public can’t afford it or it is not accessible. By realizing that people care about accessibility and price you can then separate people from the problem. You also have to put into consideration the location of the business. If you put the business in the right spot then you will gain your target audience. Hopefully you won’t have any other competitors in the area. In order for any business to be successful you have to invest in marketing. Then you have to purchase the right inventory for the boutique. Finally hire the right staff. Make sure you are hiring people that know a lot about fashion. It would be a plus for them to already be in the industry. Now that you know the basics to starting a successful fashion boutique now you need to know how to properly negotiate with customers. When it comes to fashion and local boutiques even though you have a set price people are going to try to negotiate the price with you. Out of the five core concerns from Roger Fisher’s book Beyond Reason you can consider using status. When applying status to a negation with a customer you have to realize that hey feel they are of certain status and you should respect them and treat them as such. Another thing you should do is invent options for mutual gain. If you become successful at this then you and you customers will be happy. 

How long will Dance music last?

As you all know every artist is now trying to come out with dance music to appeal to the mainstream crowd. Most people think it is as phase and it will soon die down. Many artists have their main genre the came out with then they do a few pop/dance songs. For example Rihanna has a song named we Found Love it is a very up-tempo song with a lot of synthesizers in it as well. Rihanna main genre is R&B but all artists are doing what it takes to sell records and going mainstream. Another example is Chris Brown Turn Up the Music and Nicki Minaj “Starships”. Most people are saying that Nicki Minaj is a sell out and she should just stick with rapping. A couple of years ago reggae was the mainstream music that everybody was listening to and wanted to have in their mp3 players and radios. Only after about a year it died down and most artist were consider one hit wonders. What most artists are doing today is ver smart and its a skill you need to have in order to make money in the music industry as well as make a living and last in it. Today's artist have to make opportunity costs, which is the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Basically, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. The use their skills an make all type of genre music their original genre and do a little pop/dance just to get the crowd to buy their music.  Country is stated to be the most profitable genre in the music industry right now then Rock n Roll and after it would make sense to say Dance/pop. Dance and Pop is a genre that all crowds like no matter what the race is and it is something everyone can dance to. Pop is also well known and in demand around the world. 

Is Givenchy's fame craze over?

Compared to all the other blogs this one will gear more towards the fashion side of things. There is a huge craze going on with all the celebrities about a specific clothing line called Givenchy. They are a French based clothing line that has all departments covered when it comes to fashion such as jewelry, shoes, handbags, perfume, cologne and cosmetics. In today's fashion you will see almost every celebrity wearing this particular brand. Hubert De Givenchy is the creator of the Givenchy brand. He was born into wealth and had a great passion for fashion. In his past he has worked with some of the top designers of today such as Christian Dior Lucien Lelong and many more. In 1952 he opened the House of Givenchy. He gained popularity but helping Hollywood movie stars. In 1988 he sold his business to Moet Hennessey- Louis Vuitton due to finical reasons. There clothing style is very unique and different from all the others. In 1993 the company achieved a total sales worth of $176 million. Now you can only imagine what it is making today in sales. The spring/Summer collection just dropped and all the fashionable celebrities are all over it. The Givenchy Birds of Paradise Gabardine Blazer is one of the new clothing from this season’s line has a price tag of $4,350. Most of the hip-hop rappers and singers are seen wearing the clothes. The material looks so simple but yet unique at the same time. The question of the day is why do they set the prices so high with crew neck t-shirts running for $785? The next question is will Givenchy stay popular or is their time almost over with? One would think if they made the prices more reasonable and the availability better the company’s income form sales revenue would sky rocket. 

Understand a Ted Talk: The Power of Power of the Pentatonic Scale

For the Ted Talk I decided to go with a man by the name of Bobby McFerrin. In his Ted Talk he was using the audience to demonstrate the power of the brain with the Pentatonic scale in music.  The Pentatonic Scale is made of two scales the Major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scale. The major scale consist of the 1^st, 2nd, 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th notes of a major scale. The Minor Scale consist of the same five notes of a Major pentatonic scales but it’s Tonic. Bobby is known as the world’s best-known vocal innovators and improvisers according to TED.COM. His credits are well known and have sold more than 20 million copies. For example Don’t Worry Be Happy, and collabs with yo-yo ma, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, The Vienna Philharmonic, and many more. His inspired the audience by including them and not just telling them about how our brains are weird when it comes to the Pentatonic Scale, but also showing them. He shows them by making them sing along as he moved around the stage. He overcame the diversity by not singling anyone out. He first built trust with the audience by first showing them what he was doing by first standing in a spot and humming a note from the scale. Then he moved to the left and it was perceived as him moving up on the pentatonic scale so the note would get higher in pitch. Then when he moved to the right it was perceived that he was going down on the scale so his pitch would get lower. Then once he explained it to the audience and as he moved left to right he allowed them to hum the scale as he sung a melody. Bobby definitely gave the audience a deeper understanding of how our brains function and allow us to finish a pentatonic scale.

Recording Industry Association of America

     As you all know that the Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA is a trade organization that helps promote the creative and financial problems of the major music companies.  The RIAA helps protect intellectual property and the First Amendment rights of artist and music labels. According to the RIAA its members create, manufacture, and distribute about 85 percent of all the legit-recorded music that is produced and sold in the United States. The RIAA is the organization that hands out the certificates for Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum and Diamond Sales. The RIAA collect and compiles information on both shipment and buying trends of the recorded music in the United States.

The RIAA main goal is to help the major labels artist the acknowledgment and money they deserve. On of the ways they do that is by keeping track of intellectual property. Intellectual property is basically creations of the mind, such as artistic works, symbols, inventions, literary works, names, images, and designs that are used in commerce. They also pursue in filling suits against people who participate in peer-to-peer file sharing. They are basically the major record labels backbone and helps out with the things the labels don’t usually have time for or won’t do.   

The RIAA is very important to the music industry without them it wouldn’t be any say so when it comes to illegally downloading music. They play a big role in the artist or producers would not have a voice. In a sense the RIAA acts like a lawyer the help go after the people who refuse to pay for individual songs or albums. The association also in a sense helps award the artist on their accomplishments with their record sales, by giving them certificates for the number units they sold on the album. They provide people to access two years shipment data for free. They recently created a new shipment subscription service the gives an interactive database where users can view, compare, and export historical year-end U.S. shipment stats that can date all the way back to 1973.