In “The Deal” with Alex
Rodriguez, we saw a mutual benefit reached with his contract. Rodriguez initially signed a 10-year $252
million contract with the Texas Rangers in 2001. After two seasons, the Rangers told Rodriguez
he would have to take a pay cut in order to get better teammates. Rodriguez expressed his interest in a trade
to either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Rodriguez gained interest from watching a
playoff game between Boston and New York stating, “I want to be apart of this
rivalry.” Although Rodriguez was a short
stop, he agreed to play third base for the Yankees. The Yankees paid him $112 million for his remaining
$172 million contract, the Rangers agreed to pay the rest. What I learned from this negotiation always be
flexible while negotiating. Rodriguez
was the best player in the league at the time.
If he had been stubborn about his position, the deal would not have gone
through. I can use this early in my
career when looking to get my foot in the door.
On the Breakfast Club radio
interview, Tyga a rapper with Cashmoney records, talks about how he has
never received a check from the label but still fulfills the obligations of the
contract. He says that he only received
a signing bonus and the company has paid advertising fees but has not received
any money. Tyga says he approaches his
career as an independent artist, so he does not feel that the label is taking
advantage of him. This company has
gained a bad reputation of not paying artist.
This is an example of how companies in the industry are using dirty
tricks. This taught me to always read the details of contracts before signing
them. It is hard to believe that so many
artists are having the same problem with this label.
In VH1’s behind the scenes
about DMX, we see how position and interest made this deal come about. The label of course, was looking to sign the
next biggest artist, while DMX was an aspiring rapper looking for a deal. Irv Gotti, DMX friend stated that rap needed
the change and DMX was the change. DMX
rapped about real life situation, during a time when rap was flooded with
rappers talking about extravagant lifestyles. DMX provided what the label was looking for;
the label manager stated he was “sold” when he heard the hunger in DMX’s voice. DMX made a career of speaking his story,
which is what he always wanted to do. We
saw this in his content throughout his career.
DMX even stopped doing drugs because he felt that he was doing what he
loved. This is truly an example of position
and interest. This negotiation taught me that when both parties are on the same
page the deal is easy to negotiate.
