Licensing | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

When you are thinking about launching a business, it is very easy to get swept away in the excitement of it. But you also have to think about the practical implications which are involved as well. And one of the main ones is obtaining licenses, which are designed to protect those in the industry, as well as customers.

Business Licensing You can either apply for these yourself or else head to a specialist firm such as Cornerstone Support Debt Collection Licensing. Some industries are more complicated than others and require multiple licenses. It is these that we will be discussing here in this blog post so that you are aware that you will have to jump through many hoops to get your business off the ground.

Gambling

One of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, gambling is banned in some states in the US. You are typically going to be subject to some regulatory bodies along the way. Usually, the process of obtaining a license is quite invasive and requires scrutiny of your background and personal details. And since these rules and regulations are likely to change, you need to keep up with what is expected of you.

Alcohol

Alcohol is another industry which is heavily regulated, and any business which is involved in the sale, manufacture or importation of alcoholic products must obtain the relevant licenses. And even if you are going to be running a business which involves alcohol in an indirect way such as running a restaurant, you are still going to require the relevant liquor licenses. Be warned that licenses can be quite costly depending on where you are located.

Beauty

Any type of spa or salon which you run is going to require certain occupational licenses. This is mainly down to complying with sanitation and health requirements to make sure that your business is fit for operating.

Food

The food sector is another which tends to be highly regulated – largely down to sanitary concerns and the risk of disease spreading. Just a few of the type of licenses which you are likely to require include food manager certification, food handler permits, inspection certificates etc. All of these must be obtained before the moment that you start to serve your patrons.

Broadcasting

Broadcasting companies must operate in the public interest, meaning that they can’t infringe on certain rights, health, finances etc. Be warned that the application process is often long and expensive in this particular field.

No matter what business sector you are operating in, you are going to require appropriate licenses. However, there are just a few which need more than others. If you are applying in any one of these fields, you need to make sure that you are fully compliant to avoid any legal headaches further down the line.

Taylor Swift continues to impress me as someone who combines both class and business savvy. She’s not someone who falls off the deep end with over-the-top sexuality as Madonna, Britney Spears, or Miley Cyrus. They all started marketing to the tweens and then tried to stay in the limelight by reinventing themselves by going more over-the-top and outrageous.

Taylor has taken a different approach to stay relevant. And her marketing methods and the integrity that goes with that is incredible to see in someone still early in her career.

Check out a prior post about Taylor Swift

Currently there are a couple of things bumping around the music world about the intellectual property side of things.

The first is that Taylor is opting out of Apple’s new streaming service (Apple Music).

Taylor Swift vs Apple

Now Apple takes a solid approach to launching a new service. Three months free trial. That is nothing new in marketing. However, the wrinkle is they’re not going to pay the artists during the free trial. And that is what Taylor is addressing.

Taylor isn’t doing this for her business (she makes her money from live shows and other licensing avenues). But for the up and coming artist, and the other artists without a solid platform to address it, she’s taking on the giant with her slingshot.

Now could Apple still pay the artists? If they looked at the lifetime value of a customer and saw that they could recoup artist licensing costs quickly, it would still make sense from a business perspective. They could also announce their 3 month free trial AND also say they’re going to pay the licensing fees to the artists GRATIS (on the purchaser’s behalf). It would be like a furniture store paying the sales tax.

That would be great marketing and taking a leadership role in the music industry rather than being a company the artists are railing against (publicly or privately).

And Taylor makes that case in her letter to Apple.

Will they make that change and pay the artists? Who knows. Will the New Apple, in the post-Steve-Jobs era step up to the challenge and continue to be an innovator? Or will they go in the direction of Microsoft and be roadblocks to innovation and enlightenment?

Okay, now here’s the other story.

Taylor Swift is now trademarking song phrases. She had trademarked her name for many situations but now she’s trademarking phrases like:

“Party Like It’s 1989”
“This Sick Beat”
“Cause We Never Go Out Of Style”
“Could Show You Incredible Things”
“Nice to Meet You. Where You Been?”

Now there has been controversy about whether she can trademark these things, particularly something like the “Nice to Meet You. Where You Been?” phrase since it seems like a normal greeting. Check out the article below that walks through the issues and how they believe she’s able to get the trademark.

Taylor Swift Trademark Story

The thing I like about these stories is it shows the incredible creativity that Taylor brings to the music industry. And also an understanding of how to get the most out of your talent and celebrity status…to the her benefit and those of her fans and industry.

What could you be doing to advance your business’ causes and increasing your impact on your customers’ lives? Are you doing everything you can?