Latin Artists doing it all! : Performances, Producers, Directors, and Project Managers

(From left to right: Nova, Jory, Nengo Flow, Moises)

One word that I remember from my project management class at Temple University is delegation. My teacher always said in class: “Learn how to delegate”.  I guess is not that simple if universities spend time teaching this complicated process. Now that I am running my own business (www.latinnoize.com) interviewing artists, dj’s, and producers I am noticing an increase in the involvement of Latin artists to more than just write lyrics.  Could be that current changes in the entertainment industry are forcing Latin artist to do it all or current economic conditions is forcing them to reduce personnel to increase revenue.  One thing is clear to me. Latin artists are doing it all, ignoring important factors like: planning, budgeting, execution, and project control to achieve customer satisfaction.

I’m going to give you one example.

Moises is a local Philadelphia Latin Urban artist (rapper) that is producing an event for July 8, 2011 for his birthday. He wants to bring a puertorican known artist to Philadelphia. I’m going to breakdown each task to understand what he is doing to complete the event.

Planning,

 Moises knows the owner of a local club named “Praga”. He is also the DJ there. He ask a month ago (May) the owner for the July 8 to bring a well-known artist from Puerto Rico. The owner granted Moises request. Moises then call another rapper “Nova” in Puerto Rico who can book the artist for him. I worked with Moises before and I know he do not write stuff down. Moises then also called another friend that do graphic design work to do the promotional material like: flyers, posters, and stickers. I think Moises doing a good job on planning the event. What I think he missed was a detail plan with deadline for the task he delegated to his friends.

Budgeting,

Here is where Moises inexperience is starting to complicate things. Moises did not make an overall cost of the event. He did not create possible earnings projection base on the capacity of the venue or money that could be raise by sponsors. Moises do not have the money to pay for all necessary promotional materials or the money to pay the artist fee. To pay for the plane tickets, Moises is going to use some of his savings. I don’t think Moises knows the importance of budgeting. This is critical because budgeting the event properly can help you decide if it is worth executing the plan.

Execution,

To executing the plan with out money, Moises is relying on exchanges. Moises is also well-known producer [Moises is a rapper, a producer, and a DJ]. He had made beats for well-known artists within the Latin urban industry. He will produce a song for the performing artist that is coming from Puerto Rico in exchange for the performance at his birthday party. When I spoke to Moises he was confident that he has everything under control.

Project Control,

Moises is in full control of the project because he is doing everything. He spoke directly to the graphic designer, the artist who will perform, the club owner, the sponsors, and others who will have a direct effect on the event. Moises do not have a team that could help you putting this event together. Knowing Moises, he probably did not ask anyone for help.

Customer Satisfaction,

All the effort that Moises is placing to create this event will pay off if two things happen. One, enough people go to the event and pay at the door to cover for the cost of the venue and the cost of his personal work and time. Two, if the people who attend the event are satisfy. I will know that the day after of the event. I will post that information then… about the outcome of the event. Stay tune!!!!

This example is to show what Latin artist are doing to raise funds to pay for the music careers. Like Moises Latin artist are doing everything without the help of experienced people on this areas (planning, budgeting, execution, project managers) to increase the possibilities for a successful outcome.

Based on this example the current economic conditions force Moises to prepare and execute the task for this event by him self and explain why more Latin artist are more involve in their careers. I spoke to Moises about this task and what he can improve for a future event. He response was: “Ed, I don’t know how to do all that”(referring to planning, budgeting, execution). What he do not realize is that he knows a lot about it!!.