In my original Mastery Journal Timeline post,
I stated that my original goal for the Negotiation and Deal-Making course was:
“To make sure that both artist and publisher are satisfied with the financial
outcome of a contract. To avoid litigation from the onset.” To accomplish this,
I would utilize the following tactics:
1.
Understand the Artist’s motivation: monetary or
artistic?
2.
Protect those artists with extreme talent but
minimal business experience.
3.
Continue to pursue a “deal” for my own company
and learn from that experience.
The focus of the course is the concept of principled negotiation, developed by
three professors at the Harvard Negotiation Project, and outlined in the book
“Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.” (Fisher, Ury, & Patton,
2011). To summarize, in a principled negotiation, a wise, efficient, amicable
agreement is reached by focusing on the merits of a situation, rather than on
positional bargaining or inflexible bottom-line stances.
The book gives a detailed list of steps for reaching that
desired agreement. Related to my stated tactics for the course, here are a few
of the most relevant:
1.
“Focus on interests, not positions.” If I am to
understand a particular artist’s motivation, than I must understand his or her
underlying interests. Why is the
artist pursuing a publishing agreement? Our instructor cautioned us not to make
assumptions about the answer like “because he wants to be rich,” or “because
she wants to be famous.” It could very well be that the artist is pursuing a
publishing deal because he or she wants to utilize music as a platform to raise
awareness for a particular cause. As a negotiator, you would never know that
unless you ask, and you might very well lose the deal if you do not appeal to
that interest.
2.
“Insist on using objective criteria.” If my
stated tactic is to protect talented artists with minimal business experience,
the best way to do that is to use objective criteria – relevant data. Some
artists might be so passionate about their underlying interests, or their
cause, that they would throw caution to the wind in pursuit of a deal and
accept a sub-par agreement. If you were the publisher, you might initially
think that makes a better deal for you. However, in the end, you will probably
be viewed as an unscrupulous negotiator that preys on the inexperienced. Your
reputation will decline, and your business will suffer.
3.
“Separate the people from the problem.” My third
stated tactic is an all-encompassing one, and is difficult to address as my
business model evolves over the course of this MSEB program. Initially, I
thought it would be rational to combine both my interests as an artist with my
interests as a publisher / producer. However, a former client of mine said this
to me recently: “You will not be a successful producer until you can separate
yourself from your client’s music.” As much as I hate to admit it, he was
right.
As a producer, I get aggravated
when an artist who has “written” a song cannot play it from start to finish, or
for that matter has not even completed the song before the recording process
begins. That is simply laziness and lack of rehearsal, and as an artist, I
would never put a producer in that position. In fact, I would be embarrassed if
I did. In “separating the people from
the problem,” the negotiator has to include him or herself as one of those
people. That leads me to my final point.
The second of the three texts included in this course,
“Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate,” goes into detail about how to
apply emotions during the negotiation process. (Fisher & Shapiro, 2005).
The central theme is that every person that negotiates has five core concerns. To
help me memorize them, I created the acronym AAASR, representing: appreciation,
affiliation, autonomy, status, and role.
During the negotiation process, it is critical to understand
the other party’s five core concerns and how you might address them in order to
achieve mutual benefit. However, here is the kicker: you also have to understand yours.
The entire negotiation process can be boiled down to a
quadrant: Do both parties understand what they need tangibly and emotionally to establish a mutually
beneficial agreement?
|
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
Yes
|
Good Deal
|
Bad Deal
|
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No
|
Bad Deal
|
Bad Deal
|
References
Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement
Without Giving In. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Fisher, R. & Shapiro, D.L. (2005). Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate. New York, NY:
Penguin Books.
