"There’s not a better time than now," said Steve Stoute, the founder and chief executive of Translation Consultation and Brand Imaging. Stoute works closely with entertainers and athletes, including Jay-Z and LeBron James, to help Fortune 500 corporations extend the companies’ marketing reach. He has written a book, "The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy." He thinks that players — like many star actors — should have been negotiating for equity stakes a long time ago.#equitybaseddeal