Negotiation and deal making are essential business skills that enable entertainment business professionals to grow companies, establish a strong business presence, and enhance product development.
I chose to interview Producer/A&R/Operations Manager Yazid Britt. Yazid is the Operations Manager for Midi Mafia, a hip-hop and R&B production duo located in Los Angeles, California.
Q: How do you become Midi Mafia’s Operations Manager?
A: I started off as an intern, just doing their social media, after awhile I noticed certain things that needed to be done and I would get it done. So I became a web designer, graphic artist, video editor, motion graphics, whatever they needed. Because of everything I knew from working on my own at Hampton with Blake Kelly, they trusted me to get it done.
Q: What are your duties as Operations Manager?
A: I handle Administrative duties, handle all contracts, negotiating, scheduling meetings. I do so many different things it is hard to describe all that I do.
Q: What kind of negotiating that you do?
A: Production and Licensing Agreements between the publisher, label, and music library. If there are no publishing, the production fees are a lot higher because there is no back end pay. Just basically a lot of negotiating the Production fee based upon, if there are going to publishing, and how much publishing there is going to be.
Q: What role does emotions play in negotiations?
A: People are very emotional. I use all kinds of negotiation techniques, Affiliation, Status, Role, Leverage and Power, BATNA. In negotiations is about offering something that is beneficial. Find your strengths and weaknesses are to barter your position. I believe that honesty is key. I am very blatant, this is business, and it is nothing personal.
Q: Do you think your education at Hampton prepared you for negotiating?
A: I learned a lot of things as I went, a lot of things I started seeing over and over again. It would have been cool to have negotiations in class to at least get an understanding of what to expect. But no class can ever prepare you for real-life contracts.
