Behind the Curtain of the Entertainment Media CompaniessteemCreated with Sketch.

in #story8 years ago (edited)


Content Makers job isn't as glamourous as one would think despite how well their content is doing.  Content makers or creators are paid a salary (very rarely do any of them have a deal that includes percentages or shares) and sign all their rights away.   Even if their work is good they might not always get rewarded.  If they retaliate their salary gets lowered but they still have to stay on board.  Why?  Because they signed a contract honoring a certain number of years to the particular show but no mention of a fix salary or increase.  These companies have iron-clad contracts and honest people are sometimes too eager and happy just to have a job that the idea of reading the contract thoroughly wasn't something that seem important at the time.   

Kid actors are exploited.  They don't care about the kids well being.  They are looking at numbers and statistics.  If the kid is doing well, they will put them into anything.  Child labor laws?  Everyone turns a blind eye.  Why?  Because most people are too scared to say anything, it's hard to prove (no time clock or watch monitor), and the parents themselves are too hungry to say anything...and if they do, their kid gets axed.  
Also creating live-action content with kids is pretty cheap.  So their salaries aren't as high as one would think but their face and image is used everywhere.  No only that, but some don't even own their own names because they sign a contract stating that their name is a branding they no longer own.

No one wants to speak up because the industry is small and you can get blacklisted very easily.  When you work for any entertainment company, everyone knows everyone.  It's easy to get blacklisted and everyone is scared of it.  It's like going to elementary school and no one wants to mess with the Bully.  They know he's there and what he is doing is wrong but they can't say anything.  Why is it hard to stand up to the Bully?  Well imagine that this Bully has a lot of disposable money and he has the money and time to draw it out to where you will die your slow death before anything hurts him.  

Musicians have to sign multiple albums with a company (ones they haven't even written yet!) to get signed.  Some Signed Artist are Signed to Simple Remove Competition.  The business of music is dirty and heartbreaking.  I haven't met a musician that hasn't felt screwed from the contract they signed.  It all comes down to business and the company they sign with ends up owning part of their career at some point.  If the band makes another album and it's not approved, it doesn't count towards the number of albums.  Sometimes, an artist is really talented, but they get signed in order to take away competition from an already popular artist.  Another dirty secret of the industry.  The contract states they can't go anywhere musically for a specific number of years.  The artist basically is stuck in limbo with high hopes to find out that they've been screwed.  By that time, it's too late and the chances of them making in their career is over.

So how do we beat the system?  Well the world is already changing that with the internet.  Entertainment Media Companies are afraid of self-made people because they don't have control over them.  Being self-made means you own 100% of all that you create and no one can take it from you.  

Check out this post by @fyrstikken in "Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie gain millions of new subscribers as media failed to sell him out as a Nazi"

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Thank you for these insights, confirms definitely what i have seen from the inside or heard from people inside or close to insiders... What we need IMHO is something like soundcloud or spotify based on steem (although how to deal with copyrights in such an environment is a big question here...)

Self-starting artists, writers, musicians, etc are becoming more prevalent. These companies are still in control in many ways but I think at some point it will turn around into a more even playing field. The more awareness of these inner workings will create different paths to reach the end goal.