Even Though, Sam Smith Reached Almost 63 Millions Views With This Song "Stay With Me", Hitting The Fourth

Amazing, the World of Artist Management

The world of artist management is amazing. It is like being in backstage in a beautiful theatre in New York watching the play of Macbeth. What is right behind the curtain is the most wonderful sight that a student might be able to watch and enjoy. This is exactly what happened with this class in Product and Artist Management. It is that opportunity to see closely how things are done in all the aspects involved in the promotion and making of an artist.

  In the light of that, we learn in the course how to plan, because “the difference between success and failure in the promotion of an artist is planning”. Consequently the plan cannot go forward if there is no “organization” to assemble all the necessary resources to achieve that particular plan designed for the artist.

Also, we need to lead and direct people towards the goal and use all those resources at hand to achieve their success.

  As the artist's manager, our responsibility is to get the artist to the top of his or her career. In order to do that, we need to follow the plan by controlling the whole process, such as time, people, resources and finances. It is important to do a reality check and see if everything is going according to the plan. If it is not, we need to make some decisions. Do we fire some employees and look for new people that can do the job or change the plan? Would it be worth it? Would it be better to find a new person? How that is going to help us to achieve success?

  All these lessons are learned from Paul Allen in his book “Artist Management for the Music Business” that covers all of the aspects in the promotion of an artist.

  Personally, I have already applied some of these lessons in real world. We started a project with a couple of friends, and most of those lessons have been applied into this project. We are going step by step, little by little trying to give some shape to this adventure to see it through and successful. For this reason, this project in particular plus the lessons from that book, open our eyes and provide us with the knowledge to deal with these cases at hand at the present time, and indeed will be of great help in the future.

I bet! if it is not happening right now. Always improving, aways creating lights in supposedly dark times for others.

ReThink Review: Fresh Off the Boat (eps. 1-4) - Thanks, Asian America Needed That

Leadership

Leadership is a very exciting course because it has taught me to see the groups’ perspective, and how perfectly communicating ideas may influence people to achieve the goals of the group or company. As Maxwell stated, “the three components of this triangle are communication, recognition, and influence. You start to communicate effectively. This leads to recognition and recognition in turn to influence.”

 Personally, I have always worked with groups and have agreed to work with them because it is necessary to go through the experience with them in order to win their heart and have a common ground that allows us to work together. At this point, I see two principles of Maxwell, the first one relates to the “Pareto Principle” which states, (referring to counseling) “20% of people take up to 80% of your time.” The second principle states, “The leader must develop trust with people” as Maxwell puts it. “The more people trust the leader, the more willing they will be to accept the leader’s proposal changes.”

 In addition, working with groups is all about ideas. It is about achieving each goal in life, as a supporting cast, and not a staff position working for a personal benefit. In that regard, I agree with Maxwell when he states, “Am I building people, or am I building my dream and using people to do it?” Maxwell says it pretty clear, “Manipulation is moving together for my advantage, and Motivation is moving together for mutual advantage.”

 Personally I like the Maxwell leadership style because it is positive, open, and democratic. The object of his leadership plan is to form an organization that believes in the benefit of every person in the group. Working with clear, defined, and objective rules in which we can all learn to work together for a better future within the company or society.

The Maxwell leadership style applies to my style of working with groups. Unconsciously, I have applied many of its concepts, not perfectly, but I have in some ways applied it to my style of work. I obviously have a lot to learn from Maxwell, but I believe I am striving to apply these concepts in my workplace, with coworkers, and in my family. 

For women of color, being marginalized, dismissed, and othered comes with the territory. Being involved in Mormon Feminism is often the same thing on a different day. We sigh deeply at the criticism and soldier on, doing what we must. We claim ourselves, we drive ourselves to succeed, and we derive our value from something greater than an institution.

Trine Thomas Nelson. Quote taken from Mormon Feminism, edited by Joanna Brooks, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Hannah Wheelwright. (via oupacademic)

What Is an Inciting Incident? Learn How to Write a Great One

Inciting incidents hook readers. They take stories in an entirely new direction or get the plot moving faster.

It’s the moment when Lucy discovers Narnia in the wardrobe or Gandalf introduces the thirteen dwarves to Bilbo.

Every great story has a fascinating inciting incident. Here are a few tips to come up with your own.

What Is an Inciting Incident?

An inciting incident is an event that causes chaos or change in the protagonist’s life. It kickstarts the story’s plot by compelling the protagonist forward. This can happen in the first chapter of a novel or the first few pages of a short story.

There are also three types of inciting incidents:

Coincidental: an event that’s unexpected or accidental. (Someone finds gold in their backyard or crashes their car into another vehicle and finds out their best friend was the other driver.)

Causal: an action or event the protagonist chooses to do. (Your protagonist files for divorce or gives in to their lifelong urge to start a restaurant.)

Off-page: an event that happens before the story starts or outside of the protagonist’s experience. (A country drops a bomb on the protagonist’s hometown while they’re at work one day or the protagonist’s best friend goes missing ten years before your story starts.)

Tips for Writing Inciting Plot Points

Now that you know the two types of inciting incidents, use these tips to create plot-activating moments that make your audience buckle in for a long night of reading.

1. Make the Protagonist’s World Flip

A great inciting incident causes a significant imbalance in your protagonist’s life. They should start making decisions or changes they wouldn’t have before as they respond to the incident. 

Consider the almost-car-crash in Twilight. Sure, you could argue that moving to Forks is the inciting incident for Bella. It’s definitely the first incident that gets the plot going, but the story only shifts into vampire mode when Edward saves her from getting hit in the school’s parking lot. She notices his insane strength and speed, so she starts questioning who he is.

The inhuman features that intrigue Bella also hook the reader. You keep reading to find out how she discovers he’s a vampire and when/how the big reveal happens.

Her discovery that vampires exist also changes how she interacts with and understands her world. It radically alters her life path, well before she gets to know his family or the other supernatural beings in Forks.

2. Keep the Magnitude a Mystery

Sometimes major life moments happen and we don’t realize how significant they are. You could bump into a person at the grocery store, only to recognize them at a farmer’s market a week later and start a conversation. That person might be your future romantic partner who changes your life, but you don’t realize that while you’re standing between shelves of pasta and spaghetti sauce.

Don’t be afraid of leaving your inciting incident a mystery to your protagonist. Moments of excitement or terror can be great for starting your plot, but sometimes a hint of mystery intrigues readers too.

3. Align the Incident With Your Theme

You might know what your character is going to experience on their journey to the plot resolution but have no idea what your inciting incident should be.

If you can’t think of something, consider your theme. What event or circumstance would start your protagonist on a learning journey that exemplifies your theme?

Let’s imagine a scenario where you’re writing a coming-of-age story. Ultimately, you want your protagonist to recognize they have no control over their lives and find security in the community they build around themselves.

To make that initial loss of control happen, you could pick an inciting incident like someone breaking into their home. During the robbery, the criminal accidentally sets the house on fire. Your protagonist’s family loses everything and has to start over.

This event would align with your protagonist’s inner conflict. Focusing on inner conflict can be another perspective if you’re unsure what your theme is.

Let’s say your protagonist wants to go to college to provide for their family, but they get kicked off of their soccer team for cheating on a test. A soccer scholarship is the only way they could to college, but that chance disappears forever. They have to make a series of choices after that to find a new way to pay for college, which is the rest of your plot.

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Inciting incidents are important, so try thinking about yours apart from your stories. When they carry thematic weight or flip your protagonist’s world upside down, you’ll know you’ve created an incident that will hook your readers.

Worldbuilding Questions: Other* Cultures - a handy list for writers with little time

(*not the main characters')

After my extensive [list of questions for towns and cities] for your main setting, there will also be many countries, regions and cultures mentioned in your project, that aren't central to the plot, that you don't have time to delve into detail about, but that still should feel 'real'.

For this use (or, really, in general, if you don't have much time to worldbuild before you start your first draft), I prepared a list with 10 very rough, basic questions to make your world feel alive:

What is their most important export good or economy?

What was the most important event in their recent history, and how long ago did it happen?

What do people from that place wear and how do they style? Are they distinguishable in a crowd?

What is their language, and is it understandable for your narrator? Do they have an accent?

What are they famous for? (People from there, their humor, their food, their skills at something...)?

Are or were they at war / at the brink of war with other people; esp. with those at the center of your story?

What is their most important difference to your "main" / narrator's culture? (Religion, society, economy...?)

Are representatives of that culture seen often in your setting?

What is something outsiders say about them?

What do they say about themselves?

I recommend thinking about these for your side character's home cultures, as well as for your setting's most important regions and neighboring countries. Five or so might even be enough, just as a handy ressource to make your setting feel alive and real.

the elusive 7 act Structure

Capitulo 7: Las historias se repiten

Por ahora nadie los ve, pero acaban de destruir el satélite Juno que gira alrededor de Jupiter, y van camino a la Tierra con una flotilla de 16000 naves espaciales, 3 mil submarinos camuflageados dentro de cohetes y cuyo propósito es entrar en las aguas de la Tierra, traen también 40 mil tanques de guerra, apostados en las plataformas de asteroides, y escondidos como los caballos de Troya bajo las rocas, con tecnología láser para apostar una flotilla en la exosfera y a la órden de mando, todos los sátelites de la Tierra caerían como moscas con aerosol en el espacio, que construyeron en sus galaxias, sin la mirada terrestre que tenían travez de sus satellites desparramados travez de las galaxias.

*Cuánto falta para llegar, pregunta Volka, el capitán de la nave, y de la tripulación mientras mira las estrellas que pasan a su alrededor, y la estela de nubes que sus naves dejan al pasar las velocidades del tiempo varias veces, y cuyo fenómeno puede ser observado en la Tierra como una nube de gases tóxicos porque aún las distancias no son lo suficientes para distinguir verdaderamente los objetos en la lejanía, y el satélite que tenìa la posibilidad de observarlo todo, en esa distancia, acaba de ser destruido.

“Quince días” expresa el Almirante tras checar los instrumentos de Registro que indicaban 787,000,000 kilómetros para llegar a la Tierra.

Digámelo en horas Almirante, expresó Volka tras sentir un cosquilleo en su piel por la misión que está por completar, y tratando de acortar los tiempos y tener ideas de la proximidad de su misión.

360 horas terrestres, agregò el Almirante Irko, dos semanas, Comandante.

Y Volka sonrió y movió sus labios en señal de satisfacción, sintiendo esa agrado de las misiones cuando están a punto de empezar. Volteó a su alrededor de su ventana de oficial de mando, con su cobertura de 180 grados, y miró la inmensidad de su flotilla como mares vastos cuyas olas pasan y retoman y bañan todo lo que existe a su paso. Millas y millas alrededor de naves que parecían como abejas que se acercan a un panal, excepto, que en este caso, la miel era a la Tierra que pretenden conquistar, si todo salía como lo previsto, porque tratar con el genéro humano es siempre tratar con los impredescible cuando se mira empujado entre la espada y la pared.

Volka había nacido en Jupiter. Sus tatarabuelos habían sido inmigrantes de las regiones de Kasgar China, y el país, en una de sus innumerables expediciones espaciales, decide enviar parte de su población rebelde a una colonia alejada para conquistar el planeta, y procesar todos sus elementos provenientes de Siankiang. 

Estas oleadas de humanos en el planeta, a la par de una multitud de científicos, hicieron posible la conquista del planeta Júpiter, porque transportaron hidrógeno, que sustraían de ahí con enormes y gigantes aspiradores y después los procesaban en recipientes de kilómetros y kilómetros para distribuir alrededor de la galaxia, y por el cual obtenían tremendas ganancias de un planeta que daba a borbotones el especial líquido. Pero la vida ahí era inhumana, trabajando tres cuartos del día y sólo unas horas de descanso. Por sistemas de gobierno, eso era apropiado para mantener la mente ocupada en seguir un procedimiento, una producción que rendía frutos en oro al gobierno, por lo cual los sistemas de producción eran aberrantes y extenuares y parecieran los sistemas de esclavos en las antigüas colonias afroamericanas de los 1800’s. 

Volka sabía lo que era el trabajo extenuante. Lo había vivido, por eso se juró a sí mismo ante su tatara-abuelo que liberaría a su pueblo de las extenuares ligaduras con un sistema que les comprimía el alma, y empezó a introducirse en el terreno militar, y poco a poco asciende tras llegar a ser lo que era hoy: General de 5 estrellas con una misión que el país afitrión pensó que realizaraía para ellos, excepto que la mente del general estaba en su pueblo y su sacrificio, y hubo rebelión en sus mandos que Volka manejó con destreza para que coroneles, lugartenientes, cabos, soldados le siguieran y ahí estaban hoy. 

El almirante Irko, su viejo amigo tambien lo sabía. Sabia que estaba precisamente en ese momento histórico donde empujaba por un cambio, o las repeticiones de los mismos sistemas, en círculos viciosos, dejarían donde mismo. Era tiempo de un cambio, por eso estaba ahí.

Todas las historias de las civilizaciones empiezan así. 

Las civilizaciones tienen sus etapas de grandezas o infortunio dependiendo de las decisiones que toman y cómo entrelazan y resuelven las grandes riesgos de su crecimiento. Su grandeza o decadencia, estará en la medida que resuelvan los problemas ingentes que los agobian. 

Si algo enseńan las antigüas civilizaciones de la otrora Tierra en sus inicios, era como el del Imperio Romano o el de Grecia, o el Imperio Francés o Español o Americano o Británico, es que los grandes movimientos radicales en el interior de sus filas, crearán los semilleros de buenas frutas que los harán crecer o perderse, en una ley del péndulo que solamente vira de izquierdas a derechas atraves de la humanidad y alrededor de los tiempos.

La vida en Karkamistán no era diferente, ni la de sus hombres, por lo que parecía ya venir a una cultura atrayente, con una metrópoli que la vida le había dado todo, y todo estaba a sus pies: tecnologìa, recursos humanos, tierras, aguas, innovaciones que están a la luz de otros, y esos otros desean poseer lo mismo en otras tierras y lugares lejanos.

La naturaleza humana, sigue presentándose igual atravez de todas las historias antigüas, contemporáneas o futuras…. La ley del péndulo invariable, reconocible atravez del tiempo, donde existen seres humanos dignos de encomienda por las labores y trabajos que realizan, y como todas las historias, los humanos siembran o destruyen sus propias ecologías con sus planteamientos, con sus direcciones, con sus actuaciones.  

Porque aqui ya estaba la trama y era, una vez más, si la historia de la humanidad podría generar nuevos sistemas para su propia sobrevivencia, e inclusión de nuevas culturas sin dejar cortaduras en la piel de los nuevas generaciones que están por venir. 

Así pues, este era el momento, era el momento de la historia, y las historias estaban hechas de grandes hombres y grandes civilizaciones.  A donde iría la humanidad estaba por verse, porque dependería de su talento, de su entrega, de su capacidad para proteger la vida, pero también de pelearla por sobrevivencia, no por dominio, y era ahi donde quizás, se pudiera ganar la Guerra que se venia, no por una cuestión de dominio, sino mas bien de sobrevivencia, porque ya la cuestión no era el promulgar edictos buenos o malos, leyes que promuevan bienestar o edictos que afecten a poblaciones, sino más bien, se trata de la vida de las personas en un tiempo determinado, con una causa, con una vision de vida. 

Y las respuestas a todas esas preguntas estaban por venir, porque apenas habían destruído el satélite Juno, gravitando atravez deJupiter.