ABOUT ME
I am a Marine Veteran with a Bachelor's Degree in Recording Arts and I am also enrolled in the Entertainment Business Masters Program in Full Sail University, FL
I am an aspiring Singer-Songwriter that goes by the name of "musiKel" and most of my work can be found on my website at musiKelvin.com
During my junior year in High School 2003, I heard about a school in Orlando, FL. named Full Sail University. I was told that this school offers real world education emphasizing in hands-on training in a recording studio environment. Least to say, I was very interested and immediately called the school to schedule a visit in an open house tour of the campus. After that tour, I was determined to attend the school but I was faced with financial decisions that I was not ready to tackle. I joined the United States Marine Corps instead and spent almost nine years of my adult life immediately after High School in 2004. I must say that I definitely enjoyed the experience and learned to develop valuable skills to help me plan out my future. When I left the military, I settled down with a girl who I intended to marry in Fredericksburg, VA but this did not go as planned. I had to leave in abrupt way and packed my two door Honda filled to the ceiling and started my drive back to Florida where my closest families reside. This spontaneous departure was the hardest drive I have ever done because I truly planned out my next moves in what I was going to do with my life during that trip. With no music playing on my radio, I drove straight to Orlando making very little stops for restrooms breaks, once I got there I went straight to Full Sail Admissions and enrolled in the next class available in the Recording Arts program. I rented a very cheap apartment, got a dog, and started classes.
Intention Statement
My intentions in the Entertainment Business Masters Program are to broaden my knowledge within the music industry in hopes of finding a suitable job where I can apply my skills that I learned both from the military and my time at Full Sail University. I specifically want to learn how to build and manage a company that will focus on providing help to various artists in promoting their art. Whether an artists needs marketing, branding, or scheduling events. I want to build a respectable management team that will focus entirely on the artists progress.
Inspirational
The Book Alchemist by Paulo Coelho for me is one of the most inspiring books I have read. I read this book at least once a year to remind me how to stay sharp and focused on my goals and dreams.
LEADERSHIP STYLE:
All throughout my professional career, I have always embraced the leadership style of serving people. I have been met with so many different obstacles in many different occasions but I can always assure myself that in the end, my leadership style was always focused on the needs of others. Some would argue that individuals must take care of themselves before trying to take care of others but I have adjusted this view for my own benefit. Instead of focusing on my personal growth excessively, I find it more rewarding and helpful to work in an environment of encouragement. (Maxwell, 2018) I find that giving more opportunities for my co-workers to grow only helps my team to increase efficiency and productivity as well as building a good rapport with my coworkers, which ultimately brings great morale within our community that produces great quality and service because we are embracing the idea of serving one another.
In my opinion, the most important part of this leadership style is the process of always staying humble within your position. My experiences have shown me that the effects of entitlement in a leadership position can be very distracting in measuring your own success when an individual forgets to measure the values that other individuals have added on to them. I always approach growth within my personal career by looking at what I have done for other people. I am selfless when it comes to leadership. I have realized from past experiences that I want to focus on serving others because it ultimately leads to building a stronger character of my self. I find valuable information from my experiences in helping and working with other people and I find it much harder to adjust to certain circumstances when I do not engage in the ideas of others in solving problems. I do not let my ego or experiences guide me through the process of solving issues because issues are always changing. I always engaged in activities that help me evaluate my standing within a group. I always ask myself “How will I know that I am serving people well?” (Maxwell, 2018)
As I continue in this journey of becoming a successful leader, I always keep myself grounded by always reevaluating my actions and how others might view my leadership style. Many times in my professional career that I have felt so stagnant in my life because I was not afforded the room to grow within my position and this caused so much misery. Figuring out my next goals in life have become so hard to achieve simply because I felt that I was replaceable in my position. Learning from these experiences, I learned to create a leadership style that focuses on helping others to achieve their highest dreams and goals in life. In turn, I was able to observe individuals progress in their careers that ultimately helped my team morale and productivity. I look at a leadership position not as a tool that gives out the work for others to do but instead, I look at it as a tool that helps other finish their work with help from the experiences that I share.
Project and Team Management is the third class in my journey at Full Sail University. Finishing off the year of 2020 and into the year 2021, I can honestly say that this class was much tougher than the first two. Although I say this, I am very excited of all the tools and knowledge that this class gave me. Project and Team Management covered in detail the process of putting together a project plan and how to properly present your ideas to stakeholders. This was a very exciting project to take on because I was able to role-play some ideas about projects that I actually want to finish for my own personal growth in my career.
Logo vs. Brand
What’s the difference?
With all the resources we currently have, it only takes a small amount of time to design a logo that best describes you or your company. We can pay for services in creating our personal logo and there are even services to manage our personal websites.
Creating a logo is only a part in the process of identifying your Brand. Think of your Logo as your outfit and think of your Brand likes it is your personality.
Learning about Brand Foundations, I was able to understand the importance of having a distinct brand or what it means to have a brand that customers can easily identify and make relation with. The strength in focusing on branding foundations helps customers and companies reach their target audience. Understanding the appeal of your brand and most importantly, how consumers understand your brand is the first steps in Brand Foundations.
“A Logo is your outfit, think of your Brand like it is your personality”
-musiKel
Once you have a clear grasp of what your brand will stand for, you will then need to plan a Brand Strategy. A brand strategy is having a plan of how a company can execute its brand to the market. The strategy needs to address the ideal audience a company is trying to reach. It also needs to identify locations of where the brand will be advertised. Effectively creating a strategy can help a company reach its mission and have a clear understanding of tasks at hand.
The best part in all of this process is the Brand Storytelling. In this part, I learned that it is very important to be able to completely understand the emotions behind your brand. Understanding these emotions and using it to connect to its consumers can have a huge impact on consumer relations and customer satisfaction. Brand Storytelling addresses questions that consumers might have for your company and your brand. Identifying these answers helps the consumer have a complete understanding of what your brand is about. I learned that I am a Caregiver archetype, which is a personality trait that differentiate the type of service I want to bring to my consumers. I realized that I have a knack for helping people and with music, this is what I hope to do for the rest of my life. Help people communicate through music.
For this month in Full Sail, I got to learn about DIGITAL MARKETING!!!!
I got to enjoy looking at what my actual dream could look like within the social media sites. This class definitely elevated my motivation to keep up with my dreams. Understanding about SEO's and KEYWORD TAIL PHRASES!!! haha! this stuff is awesome!
To understand this month fully, Dr. Spellman was just hands down, the most communicative Professor i have ever had. It was a very special month for me to finally get back to doing something i like doing.
Negotiation & Deal Making
From the title of this class alone, I knew I was going to be challenged in very specific ways during this course in my journey at Full Sail University. I knew absolutely nothing about Negotiation or Deal Making, therefore, I said… “Let’s Go!”
Having to understand what “Bargaining Position vs Underlying Interests” was definitely a “Life-Knowledge” I will forever carry with me. I learned that in negotiations, Bargaining Positions are the…
DEMANDS (cannot TOUCH) in a negotiation
and Underlying Interests are the…
TANGIBLE (CAN TOUCH) in a negotiation.
Understanding this distinct difference when it comes to Negotiation definitely opened my eyes to my future negotiations and how I am going to approach it as a “Quiet Supporter”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ecounsman/negotiation-communication-style-2jirw
(to find out what kind of negotiator you might be)
My Original Goals for this class…
Is to understand entertainment business contracts to adjust my future from better planning. I noticed that this class is very “heavy” on doing actual research on subject you speak upon.
I want to learn to be better in Negotiation. I want to better in Deal-Making.
I have improved in this class through…
1. Learning about my Negotiation Communication Style. I learned that I was a “Quiet Supporter” meaning…
Take this quiz and you might understand.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ecounsman/negotiation-communication-style-2jirw
“In order to have a successful negotiation, negotiators need to understand how they communicate. There are four communication styles. Each style of communication has certain strengths and weaknesses. Also, conflict often develops between negotiators with different communication styles because there is a lack of understanding of the other style. This quiz will help you identify your communication style, which can help you learn how to better communicate in a negotiation.”
2. Learning about how important research is, prior to going into a negotiation. This class reminded me of the attention to details that I learned in the Marines, and how this related to preparing for an actual Professional Negotiation.
This class will help me in the future by…
Preparing me for negotiation experiences I will go through when signing Contracts or Hand-Shaking certain deals. The reading material for this class was very fun and easy to read. Fun being that what I was reading became very beneficial to my future plans on making my business plans come true or come through.
PRODUCT & ARTIST MANAGEMENT
In this month for Product and Artist Management, I was surprised on the number of responsibilities that an Artist Manager has. I was very interested in learning the different genres an Artist Manager could base their careers on and how they are unique in its own ways. I also understood the importance of having an entrepreneurial mindset about the business and creative processes on both the Manager’s and Artist’s side in order to have a mutual relationship between them. Lastly, I understood that the roles of the Artist Manager are to promote the Artist and find its target audience, find prospective clients, connect with sponsors, and refining the Artists craft.
As a recording artist myself, understanding the music business has its Pros and Cons that comes with getting in the actual music business industry. It is a very large corporation that consists different types of management, level of skills, and networking capabilities. To approach the music industry and how to manage your creative skills through the business requires a certain dedication to a certain craft.
This is the reason why I would choose to work for CSM Music Group. The company focuses on music. As a recording artist, I want Music to be the dedication to its certain craft. If I personally were to make business decisions, I want my group of peers to be music oriented with their decisions.
Jonnetta Patton is the mother of World-Famous R&B Singer Usher Raymond IV. For this assignment I want to focus my case study of Ms. Patton and her professional relationship with her son Usher. I am going to show in my ratings chart how I rate each one of her qualities to be considered for this assignment. Let me start by giving you a quick background of what I have researched and studied about the business relationships that unfolded between a mother and her
Product Management is different beast on its own. Understanding “Narrowcasting”, “Psychographics” “Contouring Content” and “Content Appeal” and define its meaning and how it helps a Product Manager to stay relevant and of interest to its product consumers was definitely a treat for me to learn.
Through this class, I know I have gotten a clearer grasp on the importance of the deep researching of social and commerce data. Understanding the steps and where to look for this information are valuable tools; I will forever carry with me within my entertainment business career.
For this month in my Full Sail Masters Degree Journey
This class dug deep into very exciting and interesting topics for my future plans with
musiKels, LLC
This class engaged my deepest thoughts about the actual law proceedings about the entertainment industry and how I can properly prepare the foundations of my business through specific court studies.
I finally got to learn how to legally obtain a copyright for music works and how I can obtain one for myself
Trademarks and music contract familiarization within the entertainment industry was also a very intense and interesting topic during this month but what’s more important are the knowledge I earned from learning strategic business protection and expert knowledge in protecting myself from legal liabilities.
No one wants to get sued just from being artsy
Needless to say this class was packed with very interesting subjects to learn and Ms. Cassandra Willard kept our class very engaged during all of our discussion posts.
Ms. Willard kept the whole class very informative, very engaging, and she replied to my emails, so fast, even on the Super Bowl Weekend on Feb 12, 2022…GO L.A. !!!
ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTION
At Month-10 at my Full Sail University journey…
I am slowly getting anxious towards graduation but the information that I have learned from this class truly excited the artist in me.
From the title of the class alone, I was intrigued if I was going to learn about the in-depth process of getting my creative content out in the music world and oh boy was I in for a treat!
I have always enjoyed the learning process each professor implemented at Full Sail University but for this month I was truly surprised on how organize the materials and resources was provided to me by Ms. Kimberly Craft. Ms. Craft wrote the class COURSE BOOK and it was full of relevant information.
I say relevant because to truly understand the amount of knowledge passed on to students at this university is almost alarming. As students we have to learn so much in so little time but the way Ms. Craft provided details and guidance truly made this class exciting but more importantly informative.
I got to write a “Query Letter” to a music agent. Least to say, I approached the assignment with the creative content I already have and now I get to learn about the actual process of making this happen. I will finally get to learn how to properly look for an agent and more importantly WHY I need one.
I need one because as an aspiring songwriter, one must understand what the meaning of “Unsolicited Works”
No matter how much an artist thinks that their creative work will change the world, an artist will need an agent to “solicit” their work.
This is because there are a lot of aspiring musicians, authors, gamers, filmmakers, etc…
That means lots of creative content to sort through.
Any artist will have to be considered distinctively in order to weigh the exchange of services within the music industry.
It needs to have a solid organization process to consider the benefits or profits between an artist and the distribution world.
I got to learn about Licensing and Distribution.
Now it’s time to learn about earning some profits from the knowledge I have!
But “what are you talking about musiKels?”
Let me explain…
This is what’s called an Electronic Press Kit, it showcases the idea that I have as a musician for my upcoming projects. This is needed by an agent or publisher to showcase your creative content in a meaningful way.
Feel free to check out my Electronic Press Kit @ https://www.powerpresskits.com/PPKs/indexC.aspx?PPK=17919
But why depend on others to publish my own creative content right?
Ha! Welp, I got to learn about Self-Publishing as well.
Now I am equipped with knowledge on how to publish my music onto Print On-Demand Aggregators.
“Whatchu talkin bout Willis?”
Print On-Demand websites are called aggregators. In the past, artist that wants to distribute their creative content had to be created by an actual press machine, whether if its for making books, newspapers, cd’s, and film reels but the digital age has helped a lot of artist to have the ability to reproduce their creative content in a much faster and easier way.
Learning about websites like CDBaby and TuneCore, I was able to decide what is best for my interest as a songwriter. How much should I pay, or which service should I use?
If you want answers to these questions, please stay tuned @ http://www.musikelvin.com/
For more exciting and relevant information.
BUSINESS PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Having a goal towards a journey is paramount.
A lot of my family and friends have asked me the question…
“What is your original goal for this course?”
For the month of Business Plan Development, my goals were simple…
I was very intrigued of my class this month because it challenged me in many ways to truly apply what I have learned during the master’s program.
I slowly understood the importance of my previous class in preparing for my assignments and to re-capture my truest intent on what I wanted to achieve from day one.
In the class I learned about the importance of a Business Plan,
“sounds so basic, I know! But listen…”
A dream without a plan is just a dream.
Understanding the importance of the foundation that goes in planning and putting together a business plan is a lot more serious than a dream.
It takes serious planning.
Understanding what a 1-Minute Pitch means in the business industry, will solidify your foundations on how to properly present your business ideas to anyone.
Emphasizing on your company description and company mission is just a starter for any entrepreneurs looking to make an impact within the industry and one has to understand the importance of knowing how to team and how your leadership will reflect your business throughout.
his course have taught me the importance of understanding why my ideas are different from others through “Differentiation Exercises” that dives in to your ideas of how an entrepreneur plans on how to differentiate themselves from the competitors.
I also polished my skills in reading my FINANCIAL STATEMENTS!
This class really challenged me to understand every angle into my business plan but more importantly, prepared me for future business endeavors.
This class have taught me how to properly apply the materials learned in the course by expanding my interest on how to truly make my dreams happen.
I have one more class to tackle…
BUSINESS PLAN
Putting everything into place from day one of this very inspiring journey at Full Sail University, I am overwhelmed of excitement knowing that I can finally put in to practice all that I have learned from the course.
For the last month here in Full Sail University, we learned the importance of a thorough and well-thought-out business plan. Our instructor dove deep into my financial assessments, important topics of a business plan, and the final touches into being able to present your business plan through various opportunities.
Learning about Pro Forma Financial Statements gave me the knowledge to understand certain terms mostly used in the business-financing world. Understanding cost of goods, net revenue, and business taxes gave me confidence in understanding financial statements within a business.
Understanding the importance of a successful writing and presentation of a complete business plan will something I will forever polish but thanks to this class, I am very confident that I can finalize a business plan and present it to an investor.
I am very excited to try out the things that I have learned through this program and this final class definitely challenged me in gathering all the materials and ideas from my past courses and put them all neatly together where I feel confident presenting my business ideas in a well-thought-out manner.
