Artist & Product Management

Alrighty, people… Just finished up “Artist and Product Management” for my Entertainment Business Master’s. And, shocker, I didn’t actually die of boredom. Turns out, learning how the sausage gets made in this industry is kinda… necessary.

So, what did I actually get out of this? Here’s the breakdown, no BS:

• Branding (or, “Who the Hell Am I, Anyway?”): This ain’t just about slapping a logo on something. It’s about figuring out your whole deal. What are you about? What makes you different? What’s your story? It’s like therapy, but for your business. And you ask yourself the hard questions.
• Strategy (aka, “Plans Are Useless, But Planning is Essential”): Yeah, yeah, I know. Long-term goals, blah blah blah. But seriously, you gotta have some kind of roadmap, even if it gets blown to hell five minutes after you make it. This part was all about making those roadmaps… and learning how to fix ’em when they explode.
• Money & Law (aka, “The Fun Stuff… Not”): Contracts. Budgets. Copyright. All the stuff that makes you want to crawl under a rock. But, you know, kinda important if you don’t want to end up broke and sued.
• Running the Show (aka, “Operations”): This is the behind-the-scenes magic (or, more often, controlled chaos). Making sure everything runs smoothly, whether it’s a game release, a film set, or a concert. Basically, herding cats… but the cats are on fire.
• Leading the Pack (aka, “Talent Management”): Dealing with creative types? Yeah, that’s a whole different ballgame. This part was about how to motivate, inspire, and (hopefully) not get murdered by your team of artists/developers/writers.
• Product Life (aka, “From Zero to… Something”): Taking an idea and turning it into a real, live thing. That whole process, from the first spark to the (hopefully successful) launch. It’s a rollercoaster, people.
• Marketing (aka, “Begging for Attention… Nicely”): How do you get people to actually care about your stuff? That’s the million-dollar question. We talked about everything from old-school PR to the wild west of social media.
• Getting it Out There (aka, “Distribution”): Streaming, downloads, physical copies… the options are endless, and it’s all a bit of a headache. But you gotta figure it out.
• Numbers, Numbers, Numbers (aka, “Data Analysis”): Turns out, knowing who is buying/listening/watching your stuff is kinda important. This was all about using data to make smart decisions (instead of just, you know, guessing).
• Making Bank (aka, “Monetization”): The ultimate goal, right? How do you actually get paid for all this hard work? We looked at all the different ways to make money in this crazy industry.
• Working Together (Aka, “Teamwork”) Knowing all the parts, is important to creating anything.

The “Conscious” Thing (Yeah, I Know)

And then there was this whole “conscious content” thing, courtesy of our professor’s label. Look, I’m not gonna lie, I rolled my eyes at first. But it’s basically about making stuff that, you know, matters. Stuff with a message, a purpose.

Made me think, though. What am I trying to say? What’s the point of all this? Am I adding anything of value, or just contributing to the endless stream of… stuff? And I started to look at all the things I have done, and what they mean. It’s a question I’m still kicking around.

So, Yeah…

Artist & Product Management. Done. Survived. Learned a few things. Still figuring it all out. But hey, at least now I have a slightly better chance of not screwing it all up completely. And I’ll keep you all posted on the journey, because, why not.

– Me