Contracts - Are they worth signing?

Now many of us are aware of the lengthy and sometimes unfair contracts that music acts are signed to by record labels but nobody has really thought about contracts on the X-Factor. On the show each finalist is tied down to a contract which states that they can’t release any music until after the winner has released there’s and that they will have to take part in the X-Factor tour among countless other things I’m sure.

Scott allegedly wants out of his contract so that he can start releasing music now and not be restrained by the terms of releasing music on his contract. He obviously believes that his best chance of chart success is getting something out now before the X-Factor buzz dies down. If successful he would set a president and it would get other acts wanting to do the same so I a sure if he did attempt this it would be unsuccessful.

Ok the X-Factor contract may be restrictive but without it Scott wouldn’t have gotten on TV and had all the media buzz behind him so even if he does have to wait he still has a higher chance of success than if he hadn’t been on the show. The X-Factor tour is also great PR as he gets to perform to thousands of people up and down the country at the same getting paid a nice amount for doing so which without his contract he wouldn’t get the chance to do.

I think if this story is true then it is just another attempt to get media hype for being the first person to try this. I’m sure if Scott was still on the show he wouldn’t want to be released from his contract. Personally I think it is worth signing a contract like that for the opportunities that show can supply but it does bring back in to the spotlight the importance of reading a contract and thinking about the outcomes before signing one.

In this week’s topic of the week we want to know if you think contracts are unfair on the talent? Are the big record labels and TV shows wrong to tie people in to contracts> We want to know your thoughts. And you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=598


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

TV, Internet and the 21st Century

This week I want to talk about an email I got this week from some of the guys working on the E4 series Skins telling me about competitions they are running for young people to get their music featured on the show and to secure speaking roles. This got me thinking for my blog this week.

I think its great how TV companies are integrating their services with an online arm and they are using their online side of the organisation to encourage members of the public to get involved and create media. The internet has made it so quick and easy for young people to create recordings of their music and videos of their acting or producing which is encouraging more young people to try their hand at these things and enter competitions like this. Back many years ago people would have to make a tape of themselves and then send it off to an address to enter competitions like this which would put many people off who had the talent and ability to do win competitions like these.

Many shows have asked for people to upload videos for competitions for acting roles but not many have offered the chance for young musicians to have their music featured on a show. This is ingenious because now young people will get the chance to have their music featured on a show which is popular with young people and a series which will be repeated, available online and possibly on DVD which is a great advert for their music.

The TV companies also get rewards for running competitions like this as they get free promotion and encourage their fanbase and potential audience members to interact with the show and feel more a part of the show. Not only this but music rights for TV programmes can be an expensive business so to get hold of music which isn’t from a major label or music company is a lot better for the producers financially as they have to pay through the nose to use music from established stars on their show.

I think we will see more competitions and opportunities like this in the near future as it is a win / win situation for all involved.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Still lots to be achieved

As the year draws closer to its end, thoughts turn to Christmas and as the nights start to draw in it can be a time that many people start to take their foot off the pedal and get caught up in the season. It is so, so easy just to let these last couple of months go to waste and to relax but this week I want to use this chance to encourage you to get the most out of the end of the year.

You may have achieved some great things this year. You may have achieved more than you expected or wanted to achieve. If this is the case you can’t afford to get complacent just because you have achieved this year it doesn’t mean that there isn’t any more for you to achieve this year. Now is the time to press on and to not settle for what you have already achieved now is the time to find out what you really can achieve this year.

On the other hand you may not have achieved what you wanted to and what you wanted to achieve may seem impossible to achieve by the end of the year. If this is the case you need to reset your goals and end this year on a high by getting as much achieved as possible so that this year isn’t a waste. You need to learn from this year and use these next two months to put you in a better place to achieve your goals and targets for next year.

Try not to get distracted by things happening around you and don’t get sucked in to that attitude of just looking forward to Christmas. Your Christmas is going to be so much better and come a lot quicker if you are busy over the next couple of months achieving more great things. Let Christmas be a time where you can look back and honestly say hand on heart that you achieved the most that you possibly could with the year, that feeling is the greatest Christmas present you can give yourself this year.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you are trying to achieve before the end of the year and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which you can find by clicking the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=588

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

You never know where it might lead

I want to draw on a personal experience for this week’s blog which is all about making steps to change your life.

In life there are so many opportunities available to us and around us that we don’t take up because they may not be quite what we are looking for, not a big enough or important enough opportunity in our eyes. By doing this and not taking opportunities like this we never know where they might have lead.

Last month I started as a volunteer commentator for the SoccerSight programme ran by the Royal National Institute for the Blind. This involves providing a live audio description for football fans who are visually impaired and that attend live football matches. I found out about this through my local club Plymouth Argyle. I sent off an application form, went all the way to Swindon for a training day and got selected. Now if I hadn’t found out about this opportunity and followed it up I wouldn’t have got the opportunity.

So there is me having the time of my life commentating on Argyle games completely happy and content to do this forever more not wanting or expecting more and then all of a sudden I get the chance to go to Wembley. Wembley is one of the most significant sporting venues in the world and at the end of the month I have been invited to assist with the commentary for my second favourite sport American Football as the NFL comes to the UK. This opportunity all came about through my involvement with SoccerSight and if it hadn’t been for that this opportunity would have never come up.

So my message this week is to try something new and get involved with something as you never know where it may lead. My story is just one example but it doesn’t have to be like that it could just be that in trying something new you find a new passion or direction for your life or it may be that the experience of the opportunity can give you a chance to do something else that you wouldn’t have had without that experience. Always go in to everything you do by putting 100% in and always keep yourself open to any and all opportunities as you never know where something might take you.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pay it Forward

Many years ago the Pay it Forward movement began. Pay it Forward was an idea to change the world which started from one person doing a random act of kindness for someone and then getting the person who has received the kindness to go and do the same for someone else. The movement got that big that there was an even a Hollywood film made about it starring Kevin Spacey.

The principal for the idea is so good as it is an idea which is so simple, requires no money and actively involves people in helping to change the world. The only problem is that this system depends to society reacting to it and the person receiving the act of kindness to then go and pass it on in a way which will get the person they pass it on to, to pass it forward again.

However I think it is a great concept and one which can be used to help change the world for young people. It’s like if we could get one young person to go and inspire / motivate another young person and get that young person to do it to someone else then schools, youth groups and so on would better places with less bullying and students supporting each other.

All of us should always be looking for ways in which we can pay it forward. It just may be that you start a chain that makes real difference in this world. If at first you don’t succeed try again, even if the person you are passing it forward to doesn’t pass it on again at least you have done something nice for one person and you never know that person in years time may remember it and do something nice for someone else.

So why not start a Pay it Forward movement in your own school or local community, see what differences you can make.

This week our topic of the week is all about Paying it Forward and you can join in the discussion by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=579

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Delivering on Talent

In this week’s blog I want to talk about a situation every young person wanting to achieve something with their life will experience the moment they have to deliver on their talent. Whether it is a trial, an audition, an exam or a job interview everyone will have a situation where the time for talking and practising is over and where they have to show they are better than all the competition.

I got thinking about this subject this week because X-Factor is starting to reach the business end and because last weekend the football team I help coach kicked off their league campaign.

In X-factor before the weekend they had whittled it down from the first auditions and now all the hopefuls had one more chance to sing one more song and based on those couple of minutes would learn if they were going through to the next round. They had all been put their because the judges thought they had talent but if they didn’t deliver in those few minutes then it was all for nothing. Not giving a good performance wouldn’t mean they didn’t have talent but it would mean they hadn’t delivered on their talent. Being on TV in a situation like that the nation judges you at home on if they think you are good or not they don’t take in to account if you are having a bad day or if that song wasn’t suited to you as they don’t really know how talented you are or could be as they only see you for those brief minutes.

Now delivering on talent is a lot different in competitive sports especially team sports. In this situation delivering on your talent depends on a lot of factors including the opposition, your team mates, your tactics etc. As coaches we believe our team is good but it’s not until others see your performances and see your results that they will judge where you stand. It’s like we took our team to a tournament which was for children in the age group above our team but we wanted to test them. In that tournament we didn’t get any points and looking at the results some people would say they weren’t talented but the experience we got from that tournament helped us to win our first game of the season 2 – 0.

When trying to work out if someone is talented or not you can’t judge them on one performance or a few minutes. Talent is relative as just because you are the best at something in your local area it doesn’t necessarily mean you are better than somebody from another county as the competition in that area may be a lot higher. So if you are in a football team and you finish second in a very competitive league you may be better than a team that wins the league at an easier standard of football.

So just remember success isn’t always based on talent but you can use your talent to achieve great things. Like talent success is relative, if you want to achieve great things and push your talent to the furthest is can go you have to challenge yourself as winning a football match against a team which aren’t anywhere near as good as your team it doesn’t teach you anything or help improve your game but losing to a better team can help teach you things that will make you a better player and a better team.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Noel's HQ

Now one of the main vocal points behind Talented Young People is our desire to see a better world for our youngsters to live in and to create a world of more fulfilled young people who have dreams and ambitions that they are working hard to fulfill. So Noel's HQ really struck a chord with us as the majority of the programme was highlighting how everybody can make their own positive difference to the world whilst highlighting people that already were which is what we are all about.

In a year in which we have seen a huge rise in the reports of teenage crime in newspapers and in a year which has seen the launch of the Talented Young People – Youth Manifesto, we believe there has never been a more important time than today to make the big and small changes the world needs.

We need more celebrities and people in power using their positions to help make this a more positive world to live in and it is great to see Noel Edmonds devoting his time to the cause. His TV show showed you how much difference you could make in ninety minutes. After the show had finished he had managed to sign up thousands of viewers to become organ donors as well as getting people to email in with offers of support in goods, services and time for people that were trying to change the world.

We need to fight on all fronts for this world whether it be TV, Radio, Internet or Press. We need to fight to reach people wherever they may be if we are going to change the world and make it a positive place for young people to live in.

I hope there are more programmes like this on TV but more importantly I hope shows like this encourage people to actually do something as it is the people on the ground who can make the real and big changes.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com