Unprofessional people creating a bad example in the Entertainment Industry

This week has been very busy for myself and my Welsh Factor Team mates and this week we held the Cardiff Regional Welsh Factor at Cathays Conservative Club in the City on Wednesday.

Although there were 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd winners who were Morgan Wescott, Bekki Leigh Owen and Toriah McIlroy respectively, there were also allocations for fourteen other Contestants from this Regional Final that will qualify for the National Semi final of the Welsh Factor to be held on Wednesday 14^th November at the Three Saints Hotel in Llantrisant. From the National Semi Final, twelve contestants from various categories will qualify for a placement to go forward to the National Final in The New Gwyn Hall, Neath on Wednesday 20^th February 2013 where the overall winner will win a one Album deal with Music Wales and a Management Contract with GTMP Entertainment Group. This will be the first time that a Welsh Record Label has joined forces with an Entertainment Agency to help launch a career for a Welsh Artiste, one who would have been discovered from a Talent Competition.

Since we launched the Welsh Factor project four years ago we were the only professionally organised Talent Competition in Wales, which provides monetary prizes, development programmes and employment as part of our “Prizes”.

Over the last few years we have noticed a number of “Talent Shows” crop up around South Wales that have been organised by previous contestants who jump on the “Bandwagon” and have launched their own “Talent Show” which we feel is a breach of copyright law and the theft of our “intellectual property”. What needs to be asked is, “What are these people actually offering potential contestants?” Let’s have a look at some hard facts:

The Organisers of these new Talent Shows all have one thing in common, they either competed in the Competition themselves, never got placed in any of the Regional finals of the Welsh Factor or they have been dismissed from the Team due to bullying Contestants. There are other reasons for defections such as conspiracy to undermine a business and we are presently seeking legal advice on this matter at present.

The Welsh Factor project is creating a “new” structure within the Entertainment Industry and what was the norm twenty years ago, doesn’t work in today’s economic climate. There are many of the “dated” Artistes who cannot see or discern the present climate and we see them as doing great damage by offering their advice to new vulnerable people coming into the business. We ask anyone receiving advice from such people to enquire the following:

How long have they been in this business?

What have they achieved during that time?

What have they earned in the business apart from their Fees?

The answers will tell you everything you need to know!

Next question, “Do you as a contestant or promising Artiste want to be in the same position in your career as they at present given the information from these questions?”

These other people offer similar prizes on their competition which is a copycat version of the way we have set up ours, but on a degrading scale, such us lack of prize money on the night or in one case writing in their “terms and conditions” that if they fail to generate the prize money they will not be able to pay it out in full!”

They promise contestants a prize of recording an album and when some have expected to turn up at a professional recording studio on the arranged day, have discovered it is just in someone’s house in their living room!

Promised Photo Shoots and Portfolio to start your career has ended up with some just having a Photo Shoot in their Local Park by the organiser with a sub standard camera.

Some Competitions don’t even offer prize money, just gifts at the end of the show, such as a music stand! You have to see this to believe it, you can’t make it up! What exactly is this going to benefit a potential contestant if they don’t even play an instrument? It’s like giving them a set of car keys without giving them the car!!! They even have the audacity to advertise that they gave you the tools of the trade to start a career in the “business”!

It has taken the Welsh Factor quite a while to bring sponsors on board and select a professional panel of judges which have the knowledge and experience between them so they can advise the contestants who wish to work in areas such as TV, Singing Coaches, Business people, Music Production and Performance Teachers. We take great pride in our work and it is disappointing when you see “unprofessionals” making a mockery of this business and jumping on the “bandwagon” but it is clear that the Welsh Factor has set the standard which no other Competition has achieved to date. There are new innovations in the pipeline and we look forward to presenting these in the near future.

(10 Hours)

 

Making changes to the Entertainment Industry for the future – Part 2

Setting up a structure for Promotion:

Apart from traditional events which are not available in abundance there is a NEW idea to market extra events if organised in a sound structural manner. The project will be called the “Audience development structure” which will recruit “Audience development officers”. A Promotion Company can be set up with a view to creating events and selling tickets. It is easy to put a show together, find a venue and book a date for the event. What is very difficult to achieve however is the sales of tickets in order to ensure the project is successful!

The High Street is full of retailers who have shops and want to sell their wares to the general public in order to make a living. The Manufacturer, who makes the products, relies on the High Street retailers to sell its wares in order to keep the factory in business. So it follows that if the High Street system is the way forward for Manufactures then this system can be the way forward for the Entertainment Industry. In this scenario, the Manufacturer is the Promoter and the retailers take on a different name such as the “Audience Development Officer!”

The Audience Development Officer

These are in effect, people who sell tickets for the show that has been organised by the Promoter. The High Street retailer will make a profit on each sale they make to the general public and this will range from 10% to 40% so in the case of the “Audience Development Office” the mark up will be 20% as a means of reward or profit.

Recruitment:

Recruiting “Audience Development Officer” will be the next step and vocation of the Promoter. The Show is booked, the date set and all that is needed now is the sale of tickets to ensure the project makes a profit. Places to recruit ADO’s (short for Audience Development Officers) are in work places where numbers of people are employed in offices, departments, clubs, associations and charities where a nominated person can sell tickets to friends and family and make a living from such an activity. This will in itself create a new industry where people can benefit to the mutual cause of all concerned.

Promoting:

The Promoter, once he has appointed the ADO’s, can now prepare the advertising publicity and set up a ticket facility whereby they can be sold. It is very important that tickets are supplied to the ADO’s as they will find it easier to sell something that is physical and tangible that people can identify with in exchange for their cash. This module of business can benefit the Entertainment Industry and Promoters alike, all it requires is the will and energy to make it work. Once a figure of ten ADO’s has been achieved and they become pro active the demand for shows by Promoters will increase and each ADO, once they taste the feel of money they have earned will want to duplicate the success.

Next…. Employing Marketing Ideas….