In my Negotiation and Deal Making course
I learn the importance and different aspects of deal- making and negotiation. The
best way to understand what you may encounter through negotiation and deal
making is to encounter or discuss the situations that others who are in the
entertainment business may go through. I choose to analyze the founder of this
grass roots independent label that I will be interning at to gain more
experience in the entertainment industry. The three areas that we discussed in
our interview about different situations she may encounter when in the process
of negotiation and deal making was positional bargaining, objective criteria
and mutual benefit.
When I asked about situations that
you may encounter where positional bargaining was displayed, she replied that there
are many times where you will come across artist who will not sign off on
certain parts o their contract unless they get what they want. There will be
many artists that want money in advance which is one of the popular positional
bargaining that she encounters. She handles this situation by offering free
stylist for performance the artist may have, free studio time or free marketing
and promotion.
Objective Criteria is somehow
always displayed when making deals and negotiations through out the
entertainment business. I asked what are some examples of objective criteria
that you use to get artist to sign to your label. I was told that previous
artist contracts and research about the artist and the currency value of their previous
projects (mixtapes, albums and singles).
Mutual Benefit was another
component in deal making and negotiation that my interviewee stated that she
encounters often when getting artist trying to sign to an independent label. My interviewee explained that mutual benefit
is sometimes hard to complete because every party wants their needs meet through
the deal or negotiation. Since the label is grass roots and up and coming its
hard to promise everything that the artist wants. In order to get the artist to
sign and for the artist to receive a decent salary and get at least 75% of their
wants she often have to go through investors and third parties to get the
artist to sign.
Overall, I learned from my interview
that deal- making and negotiation is not easy. I learned that there will be
several people that will tell you no, but the key is to somehow make the artist
say yes. I learned that you have to use your best strengths and do your
research about each artist you try to sign so that your bringing the right
artist to your label. Based on the interview positional bargaining, objective
criteria and mutual benefit are common situations you will encounter.
