Industry Liabilities

In this blog I have to discuss three different liabilities or one liability that has happened multiple times in my chosen industry.  Today I am choosing to do one liability that has happened multiple times Copyright infringement.

The first liability that I want to talk about is the copyright infringement case that I found with Waves Audio.  If you don’t know Waves Audio makes plug-ins and other software to help in the mixing and editing process of audio.  In this case two NYC studios are being sued over the use of cracked software.  One studio has already admitted to using cracked software and vowed to make sure that their studio would be 100% free of cracked software.  That studio is Quad Recording studio Inc.

            
The second studio in this liability case is going with the defense that they didn’t know that one or more of their employees, engineers, or contract workers were using cracked software.  But according to the Honorable James C. Francis IV, United Sates Magistrate Judge for the Southern Federal District Court of New York, instructed the Jury, “a person is liable for copyright infringement by another if the person has a financial interest and the right and ability to supervise the infringing activity, whether or not the person knew of the infringement.”  This statement by the judge goes to show that Skyline recording studios is still liable for their employees actions weather or not they knew they were using them or not.

Next up in the list of copyright infringement we have the case of “Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. UMG Recordings” in this case UMG Recordings used parts of the plaintiff’s song, but argued that the pieces were so small that it was to insignificant “and therefore unprotect able in the first place.”   The complaining party is George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” and the defending party Public Announcement’s “D.O.G. In Me” The musical pieces in question are the spoken word “bow” that periodically punctuates, the sound that is called “rhythmic” panting, and use of the phrase “Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea."

Upholding a jury’s finding of infringement, the appeals court applied the four determinants of “fair use” to the facts of this case and concluded the defendants’ use of the snippets from the existing George Clinton song did not constitute an “homage” that fell within the purview of “fair use.” So the defendant won the case on the use of fair act.  But later the ruling was appealed and the court found that it was not fair use at all and the defendant lost over all.

 The third copyright liability I want to talk about is Warner Music Group v. Fullscreen Inc.  Warner Music Group claims that Fullscreen was promoting music videos without paying royalties.  Fullscreen is a multichannel company that operates thousands of YouTube channels, with content that is comprised mainly of cover songs according to Warner Music Group.  A settlement was reached between both companies.  Fullscreen agreed that they will pay for licenses to show the videos and if not then they would have to remove the music videos for the licenses that they did not own to certain music videos.

With all three of these copyright infringement liabilities covered.  These give me a good idea of what not to do.  I learned that even though you have cracked software its probably best that you do not use any of it in the aspect of making money from someone else when you do not own the rights to use the software from a different company.  The other two liabilities have been covered multiple times throughout my undergraduate degree.  There is no real use of “fair us” when it comes to making money or content.  If you have to use someone else’s work in your own work but you didn’t pay that person for that piece or pieces then you will get sued for copyright infringement no matter the size of the audio file in question.  Last posting music videos, this article and lawsuit helped me understand that no matter what the content is you must have a license to use other peoples work on your own website or YouTube Channel.  As an Audio Production Studio all these different types of Copyright infringement liabilities can definitely happen and I will be on my best behavior when conducting business and training my employees not to do illegal activities that could hurt the company overall.

1 Million Cups Pitch Presentation Review

Acre is a concept home of the future.  It is a home with the function and technology.  This start up home company is looking for people to invest in this home.  It has everything from solar power everything to an automatic lawn mowing system.  It is the future of the American home, which are less cost efficient and more affordable then homes of today about 70% less over 30 years.  Now onward to the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation and give tips on how he could better his presentation.

Strengths:

Did well in the Q & A of his presentation.  Did know the technical aspect of his company and what they want to do.  Just had a vary difficult time presenting it.

Weaknesses:

There were several weaknesses that it really makes it hard to find the presenters and presentation strengths.  So clearly I am starting with weaknesses first.  When the presenter walked in he was brief about himself I really don’t know if he was the CEO or just someone on the team to pitch the idea.  Second the presentation was changed the day of or before the presentation.  Which gives me the idea they are settle changes.  He brought pages of notes and was reading either from them or the slides and I felt like he didn’t know his topic at all.  Which gets me thinking that the changes to his presentation were big changes.  Next the Words on the slide were nice and big bold letters.  But then one other word was vertical smaller and white lying on the red letters.  Not hard to see but hard to read.  I almost didn’t think the white word were part of the message.  There were massive amounts of information on pictorial slides.  A lot of distractions but the presenter was standing in the middle of the screen so he was also the center at the presentation.

Tips on how to better this presentation.  Practice, practice, practice, if he had been on top of this pitch the change would have been fixed and altered long before the pitch.  He was supper nervous I don’t count that against him as I get the same way.  Another thing he could do is bringing note cards instead of sheets of paper.  The lettering and words on his presentation could have been a bit better and no vertical words hanging on other words.  His business concept is actually great.  It is the house of the future.  One thing I would improve on is the technology part.  He went over concepts they want to do but as a consumer we also like to see concepts in action or have pictures of the concepts so that we have an idea of what exactly is supposed to happen with an automatic lawn mowing system.  All pictures and drawing of what the house will look like but not meat and potatoes on the concepts that’s what I would want to see implemented into this pitch.

Negotiation and Deal making interview with Robert Haney

Robert is a Video/Producer II with Spectrum Reach. He is also an Independent film/documentary producer who has to negotiate contracts with all his new clients and past clients. In todays interview I talked with Robert about his negotiation and deal making tactics and even asked for tips for new comers into the business of negotiations and deal making.  I just asked a few simple questions and Robert responded well with great information. 

First question I asked Robert: How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?

First, I don't apply for anything I know I can't do, or feel I would struggle with.  So when I go in to an interview, I am confident and know what I'm worth.  If it is more than what they want to pay, I point out the local market wages/salaries.  I may go so far as to point out competitor rates (if they are higher).  I always ask about where I would be starting and where I could expect to be in 3 years.  In other words, I want growth potential and promotional opportunity.  If possible, I try to meet others I would be working with to "meet the group and make a good example," but the truth is, I'm sizing myself up against the competition (because everyone competes in this industry even if they are on the same team).  I want to know if I am better or worse.  If I am worse, I will figure out why and see if it is something I can work on.  Try and be funny, but not hilarious.  Show you are friendly.  Other than that, I will answer their questions.  Try and keep it short while maintaining a good confident tone.  Also, dress for the position you want.  Unless the position requires you to film horses in a marsh (which I've done).  Don't go to the interview in knee-high rubber boots and mosquito mask.  

Second question: Have you ever used dirty tricks in a negotiation to get your way? Or been in a situation where the other party has used dirty tricks against you? How did you over come the dirty trick? 

No.  Yes.  I don't let them know it is illegal what they just said, but I may divulge information about what they ask as long as I don't feel like it was threatening.  Like, I was asked by Charter how my family living conditions were.  This was an illegal question and I could have pointed that out.  But I answered it anyway because 2 of the 3 interviewers had lots of family, so I pointed out we do many things, planned trips to vacation, are trying to buy a home and feel this job would be a nice fit for me.  I observed them to influence my answer and twisted it into a positive spin on why they should hire me.  I want a house; therefore I would be committed to this job if they hired me.  

Third question: Can you give me an example of how you worked towards a mutual benefit in which you were negotiating a deal?

Mutual benefits often don't include money.  So what I would use as this example is when I was hired to film an event for a local guy, but the event was in Ensenada, Mexico.  He didn't want to pay for high-end production.  And truthfully, to film what he wanted would have cost nearly $15,000.  So I pointed out the errors in his expectation and came up with a deal.  He buys several GoPros.  Because the event was covering automotive, the industry frequently sacrifices quality for action.  So the value of this production could drop without compromising demand and expectation.  I then said I would bring my own equipment, however, I need all my expenses paid.  I don't have to make a check, but because I'd be working without insurances, I need all my housing, food, and travel paid for.  They agreed to both.  The last was a bit harder to convince.  My third rule was, everything I film is my footage and I will retain full rights to it.  Even if it is on their equipment.  I will give them all the footage and they can do what they want with it as long as it doesn't conflict with my endeavors.  Additionally, I am allowed to do whatever I want with it.  I ended up using the footage for a mini-documentary, and scheduled 2 sit down sessions with the client, himself.  This concluded negotiations and the project went off without a hitch. 

Fourth question: Do you usually have a BATNA (backup plan) going into negotiations? 

Not really.  If I don't get hired, don't like the people, people don't like me, or some other issue, I remember, "There will always be another opportunity."  If the interview starts heading down hill then I will end it on my own terms and leave.  

Fifth question: How do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating?  What tips do you have for new comers who are trying to do this?

Contracts.  Tips?  YOUR OWN Contracts.  If you need to hire an attorney to make a perfect contract that can apply to your entire client base, do so.  The money will be worth spending and you will have ease of mind knowing that as long as you have a signature, any legal actions will be that much harder for your client to argue.  And in Vegas, this was a huge problem.  I've actually had to threaten court with people because they used my footage without my permission or tried to take ownership over my content.  This happens way more often then it should.

Who doesn't love dinosaurs?

We are all fascinated with dinosaurs at some point in our lives. Or like just a few wish you could grow up to be a t-rex or velociraptor.  Since the first Jurassic Park movie came out, it was the talk of the classroom for many days.  Kids talking about how cool the dinosaurs looked and to be honest at that time pretty life like and scary.   But did you ever stop to think how they make those dinosaurs come to life?  Because last I checked there are no actual real life recordings of dinosaurs.  As sound designer and  Sound Supervisor at Lucas Sound. Al Nelson puts it: "We don't have a whole lot of raw recordings of dinosaurs."

So with the new movie release Jurassic World came new bigger and scarier dinosaurs.  But how did the get those raws in? How did they get the sound design for the velociraptors?   I’ll tell you the secret.  It’s magic with a touch of brilliance.  In this youtube video you can see how they came up with some raws and movements of the dinosaurs.

Awesome right? But wait a minute that was the sound design for the new dinosaurs but what about the T-Rex I’m pretty sure her roar has been updated.  So lets look into what it was then compared to now.  Reading in the article you will never guess how the dinosaur’s sounds in Jurassic Park were made. Your right after reading the article I didn’t see the key sound was from Gary Rydstorm’s dog and the holly crap shivering roar elements are from a baby elephant! Dog and elephant there you go I would of never guessed.  So the next question I’m curious about is did they change the T-rex roar or did they keep it the same?  In the video Making of the sound of Jurassic World.  The T-Rex is a legendary sound and they didn’t want to change anything with the T-rex.