Hey - I'm new to futureproducers, so, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jon. I hold an Associate's Degree in Commercial Music - specifically, Recording. My background in music is lengthy, deep and wide. I've done everything from Orchestral trumpeting, barbershop quartet, composer/arranger to metal band vocalist - even church choir. I spent 3 semesters beyond Junior College working on a Bachelor's in Music, but decided the cost of another year-plus at University would not prove cost-effective. Now, earning that AA meant many classes away from the Studio-classroom - Electronics, Songwriting, MIDI, Music Business, etc. However, the one thing overlooked was the simple basic how-does-it-really-happen of making a living as a mix engineer- tracking, or producing. And, yes, I had to take a semester of Small Business, but that class was not aimed toward the Music Industry. So, my question - Let's say I would like my business card to read "Jon's Music Productions" Great. Now, do I set myself up as an LLC, or what? How should I accept payments? Do I open an account in the name of JMP and get myself one of those "Square" things and just take debit cards? Then, how do I render my product? Do I take all the track/mix/production files and transfer them onto a flash drive and hand it to the client? What about bookkeeping? These questions, and others like it are the info I need before I launch. Any help/direction, or mentoring would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
How should I operate? Business nuts & bolts.
- Thread starter Jonny9
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What services are you selling, what is your target market, and how you market to that target (all part of a business plan) are far more important than how to accept debit cards. Do you have a studio (and gear)? Do you have experience as a recording engineer? Do you have a client list? Need more details to understand your goals. Setting up an LLC, accepting credit, business banking - that's the easy part.
And btw, welcome to the forums
And btw, welcome to the forums
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ponkapog Thank you for responding.
To answer your questions - [hold on] No, I do not have a studio. No, I do not have any gear. Aside from the many - and various - projects required in school, I have very little experience as an engineer. The studio & gear aspect will change within the next year. I have financial obligations which must be dealt with before going on any more bouts of spending. That's just a fact. However, as said, these are soon to come to close, freeing up some income for a modest production facility - home-based, of course. As to market - here is my plan. I live in a city abounding in live entertainment. Between the clubs, casinos, churches, karaoke bars, and coffee shops, I'll be searching for those artists - lone vocalists or singer-songwriters - that have a dream of recording their music and releasing an album. To help them achieve this, I will work with them on material, songwriting, and arrangements. I'll be using a combination of keyboards and other programmed instruments along with hiring local musicians to lay the tracks for each song as the client can afford to cover for these things and meet my fees. I am not particularly genre-centric in philosophy. I only wish to make music made well. I hope this helps you help me. Take care.
What services are you selling, what is your target market, and how you market to that target (all part of a business plan) are far more important than how to accept debit cards. Do you have a studio (and gear)? Do you have experience as a recording engineer? Do you have a client list? Need more details to understand your goals. Setting up an LLC, accepting credit, business banking - that's the easy part.
And btw, welcome to the forums
To answer your questions - [hold on] No, I do not have a studio. No, I do not have any gear. Aside from the many - and various - projects required in school, I have very little experience as an engineer. The studio & gear aspect will change within the next year. I have financial obligations which must be dealt with before going on any more bouts of spending. That's just a fact. However, as said, these are soon to come to close, freeing up some income for a modest production facility - home-based, of course. As to market - here is my plan. I live in a city abounding in live entertainment. Between the clubs, casinos, churches, karaoke bars, and coffee shops, I'll be searching for those artists - lone vocalists or singer-songwriters - that have a dream of recording their music and releasing an album. To help them achieve this, I will work with them on material, songwriting, and arrangements. I'll be using a combination of keyboards and other programmed instruments along with hiring local musicians to lay the tracks for each song as the client can afford to cover for these things and meet my fees. I am not particularly genre-centric in philosophy. I only wish to make music made well. I hope this helps you help me. Take care.
I was hoping someone else would come along and give you the bad news.... ah, well. Here's the deal - there are no recording engineer jobs. Studios are closing left and right, and even engineers with 25 years experience can't find a job - and if they do, it's for shit pay. Everybody wants to do it themselves now (just like you), and coupled with the fact that artists can no longer generate any meaningful revenue, this is not a good time to get into the music business. On the other hand...
Obviously, some people are making a living at this. If you feel that this is what you must do with your life, give it a go (and I'll pretend it might work). From your post, will assume Vegas as a hypothetical base. Three primary areas to start with:
Business plan - Again, just assumptions from your post. What you want to do sounds like music production, possibly with engineering services (or perhaps a label). You need to determine the cost of startup, what you are charging, what services you are offering, marketing plan, profit margins, etc (even if only for your own use). Here's an example.
Networking - get out there. Assuming Vegas, there are many small clubs and shows, with things going on every night. Go watch, introduce yourself to the performers and promoters, try to figure out how what you can offer will benefit their careers - and let them know you care.
Branding - determine a catchy name that is not in use (by a company or web domain), register the domain and create Facebook, twitter, etc accounts. Don't worry about content yet, you just want to make sure you're set up for social media marketing.
The way I see it, your best bet is to present yourself as a producer - assist with composition and recording services, marketing, and distribution. Since all artists are by definition starving, though, be realistic in your revenue projections. Here's an example, using Vegas again. Digital Insight Recording is a pro studio, with hundreds of thousands of gear and properly treated recording space. And yet, you can rent studio space for $50/hour, engineer included. Pretty hard to compete when all you have is your home studio (and let's be real - certainly can't track multiple live musicians at home).
So, just throwing stuff at the wall - check out the scene for what you can add, do the business plan, figure out your business name and do the preliminary social media setup. Using Vegas as an example - you can set up an LLC online, only costs $75 bucks ($500 here in MA), and with the resulting docs you can set up a business account at any bank (deposit a few hundred bucks, call it a loan to the company, and immediately start writing off anything that could be an expense). Don't worry about credit yet - you can always quickly set up with paypal, but there are less expensive options. And maybe partner with Digital Insight - see if they'll give you a discount for bringing in artists.
Full disclosure - I've started a couple of (successful) businesses, but not in music. Wish you best of luck, and will help if I can.
Obviously, some people are making a living at this. If you feel that this is what you must do with your life, give it a go (and I'll pretend it might work). From your post, will assume Vegas as a hypothetical base. Three primary areas to start with:
Business plan - Again, just assumptions from your post. What you want to do sounds like music production, possibly with engineering services (or perhaps a label). You need to determine the cost of startup, what you are charging, what services you are offering, marketing plan, profit margins, etc (even if only for your own use). Here's an example.
Networking - get out there. Assuming Vegas, there are many small clubs and shows, with things going on every night. Go watch, introduce yourself to the performers and promoters, try to figure out how what you can offer will benefit their careers - and let them know you care.
Branding - determine a catchy name that is not in use (by a company or web domain), register the domain and create Facebook, twitter, etc accounts. Don't worry about content yet, you just want to make sure you're set up for social media marketing.
The way I see it, your best bet is to present yourself as a producer - assist with composition and recording services, marketing, and distribution. Since all artists are by definition starving, though, be realistic in your revenue projections. Here's an example, using Vegas again. Digital Insight Recording is a pro studio, with hundreds of thousands of gear and properly treated recording space. And yet, you can rent studio space for $50/hour, engineer included. Pretty hard to compete when all you have is your home studio (and let's be real - certainly can't track multiple live musicians at home).
So, just throwing stuff at the wall - check out the scene for what you can add, do the business plan, figure out your business name and do the preliminary social media setup. Using Vegas as an example - you can set up an LLC online, only costs $75 bucks ($500 here in MA), and with the resulting docs you can set up a business account at any bank (deposit a few hundred bucks, call it a loan to the company, and immediately start writing off anything that could be an expense). Don't worry about credit yet - you can always quickly set up with paypal, but there are less expensive options. And maybe partner with Digital Insight - see if they'll give you a discount for bringing in artists.
Full disclosure - I've started a couple of (successful) businesses, but not in music. Wish you best of luck, and will help if I can.
Inspirmentalist
Inspirmentalist
this is very sound advice. i'm actually a freelance engineer when i'm not working full-time in tech support. this is very insightful. thanks man.