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- Jun 17, 2009
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OK, haven't been here for a while after my recent venture failed. It started off being VERY exciting opportunity but was a total nerve wrecker and clusterfuck..But I think it was great experience. I hope I will learn from this a lot. Maybe this will be interesting to people here.
How to find resources when you have none and keep going
Got a story to tell you. I’d like to tell you what happened when we started a Record Label. And if you haven’t heard, people really think Music business is bad. We had some resources, no experience and lots of hunger for success. Let’s get into it!
How it started
Me and few buddies decided to start a record label on a party basically. One of us was to make music, other one was to manage artists and organize gigs and other stuff and I was supposed to be business/marketing guy. We just needed to find a few singers to start. We had grand vision of having 3 artists, doing music for them, getting gigs and if we keep costs to a minimum we could make some money off of merchandise and gigs.
Well that wasn’t easy. We met couple of artists, few showed up late, few showed up fine first time but would follow up weak and drop the ball. Damn.. We had a rule that if someone is late to a meeting it’s a sign he isn’t serious. And it’s a pretty good rule. If you won’t show up to a meet with people who want to invest money in your dream, you’re not worth it.
And then we found one, lots of talent, he even had a record contract before, as he started rapping at 16. ‘’WOW!!!’’ we thought, we got lucky. So we started going to studio and making songs (or should I say struggling to finish the first song!)
Shit happens
Our partner that was supposed to make melodies for us, was talented but wasn’t completely ready for it. He made songs but we had no chance of making even a slight change to it where necessary and we needed that badly! So we had to start making a song from the scratch! And first lesson came in for us: if you have a lot of opinions getting to one exact is tough. People would add a sound to the song and then wouldn’t want to get it out (emotional attachment to it wouldn’t let it). That would get in a way of finishing and would cause stress between team members.
We struggled with the first song, save up money for studio session, come in, then argue a bit, then start from scratch again. In the mean time we went into panic mode a bit and had to buy few songs from another producer and not our partner. That’s cost us only about 6000 euro.. which we didn’t have!!!
How we solved the problem? Negotiated a lower price and delayed payment. Because if you have stuff that people like (doesn’t matter what product, music, film, useful invention) they will route for you. People want to help! We were able to negotiate partial payment at first paying 4000 euros at first and then 2000 euros more after couple of months (we would let the producer keep the songs we bought as a sign that we won’t run with his stuff unpaid).
So as we were recording and working on the song, there were mood swings, there was stress and frustration that we can’t finish such a simple thing fast.
That lead my partner to make a decision and leave the project. The manager felt it was better for him to concentrate fully on his studies and leave, saving money for other stuff. As we were friends we saw that it really was a good decision for him. No bad blood, but it left us with only one guy who works and can pay recording bills (me!)…
We kept going…
Even more shit happens
And then as we released couple of older songs the guy had we started thinking we would be fine. We were buying and testing some internet radio play time, seeing how people react to songs and what they like/dislike (split testing should happen in real life too!!). We also had to start paying our engineers at the studio for their time since they were putting a lot into our song too and they deserved it. Well, perfectly fine, we will make it, just a bit slower, we though…
And then I was fired form my job… Which left us no financial resources. I spent my last money on last studio session and we made a new song. Now were left with no money for studio time, engineers, merchandise, CD printing, marketing, etc.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
We had to look for other options. So we started bartering. Which is what all small businesses should do to keep the costs minimal. We should have done it from the start too. We went to talk with one professional studio about partnering up with us and giving us free studio time in exchange for producing credit, maybe revenue share. And that insulted them a bit. WHUPS! Didn’t mean that to happen. Then we talked with another artist who had a home studio, in exchange we would let him co-create songs with us, give him credit on producing (if the song goes big, your name gets good recognition in the local music scene so it is important), we would also try and find him a few singers for his own projects and introduce him to our friends that might help him. And he agreed. Which was a relief.
Another example of bartering is us trying to get a video shot with a semi-profesional guy. He usually charges 300 euros for shooting it. We don’t have it.. What we can offer is giving him a free night out in a good club with us and a free song made from our partner (the guy shooting videos is also a rapper so that is relevant to him).
Big lesson for me here was that you have to create a network of people. An incubator for growth were people in the same business (doing same stuff like singing or different stuff like shooting videos) collaborate to help each other out. Exchanging things like that can help anyone get to next level. And it’s possible to do in lots of industries not only music. Just need some creativity. Maybe you started a business and know that your strong point is accounting, then you meet a guy who has started different business but his accounting skills suck and he could give you something in exchange for your accounting skills.. Another example here would be me starting another project that could be a money maker for us and then put the money into music. I started a website in fitness niche where business model is simple I got a good partner and it’s low barrier for entry. It will take time to work, but might work faster than music stuff and that would allow us to get some needed financing.
So to end this, you get resources if you ask (some will say yes, some will say no, accept it), if you have good product, if you have talent and can barter it. Learn your strong points and leverage it! Then it’s possible to overcome shit that happens to you..
Cheers
How to find resources when you have none and keep going
Got a story to tell you. I’d like to tell you what happened when we started a Record Label. And if you haven’t heard, people really think Music business is bad. We had some resources, no experience and lots of hunger for success. Let’s get into it!
How it started
Me and few buddies decided to start a record label on a party basically. One of us was to make music, other one was to manage artists and organize gigs and other stuff and I was supposed to be business/marketing guy. We just needed to find a few singers to start. We had grand vision of having 3 artists, doing music for them, getting gigs and if we keep costs to a minimum we could make some money off of merchandise and gigs.
Well that wasn’t easy. We met couple of artists, few showed up late, few showed up fine first time but would follow up weak and drop the ball. Damn.. We had a rule that if someone is late to a meeting it’s a sign he isn’t serious. And it’s a pretty good rule. If you won’t show up to a meet with people who want to invest money in your dream, you’re not worth it.
And then we found one, lots of talent, he even had a record contract before, as he started rapping at 16. ‘’WOW!!!’’ we thought, we got lucky. So we started going to studio and making songs (or should I say struggling to finish the first song!)
Shit happens
Our partner that was supposed to make melodies for us, was talented but wasn’t completely ready for it. He made songs but we had no chance of making even a slight change to it where necessary and we needed that badly! So we had to start making a song from the scratch! And first lesson came in for us: if you have a lot of opinions getting to one exact is tough. People would add a sound to the song and then wouldn’t want to get it out (emotional attachment to it wouldn’t let it). That would get in a way of finishing and would cause stress between team members.
We struggled with the first song, save up money for studio session, come in, then argue a bit, then start from scratch again. In the mean time we went into panic mode a bit and had to buy few songs from another producer and not our partner. That’s cost us only about 6000 euro.. which we didn’t have!!!
How we solved the problem? Negotiated a lower price and delayed payment. Because if you have stuff that people like (doesn’t matter what product, music, film, useful invention) they will route for you. People want to help! We were able to negotiate partial payment at first paying 4000 euros at first and then 2000 euros more after couple of months (we would let the producer keep the songs we bought as a sign that we won’t run with his stuff unpaid).
So as we were recording and working on the song, there were mood swings, there was stress and frustration that we can’t finish such a simple thing fast.
That lead my partner to make a decision and leave the project. The manager felt it was better for him to concentrate fully on his studies and leave, saving money for other stuff. As we were friends we saw that it really was a good decision for him. No bad blood, but it left us with only one guy who works and can pay recording bills (me!)…
We kept going…
Even more shit happens
And then as we released couple of older songs the guy had we started thinking we would be fine. We were buying and testing some internet radio play time, seeing how people react to songs and what they like/dislike (split testing should happen in real life too!!). We also had to start paying our engineers at the studio for their time since they were putting a lot into our song too and they deserved it. Well, perfectly fine, we will make it, just a bit slower, we though…
And then I was fired form my job… Which left us no financial resources. I spent my last money on last studio session and we made a new song. Now were left with no money for studio time, engineers, merchandise, CD printing, marketing, etc.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
We had to look for other options. So we started bartering. Which is what all small businesses should do to keep the costs minimal. We should have done it from the start too. We went to talk with one professional studio about partnering up with us and giving us free studio time in exchange for producing credit, maybe revenue share. And that insulted them a bit. WHUPS! Didn’t mean that to happen. Then we talked with another artist who had a home studio, in exchange we would let him co-create songs with us, give him credit on producing (if the song goes big, your name gets good recognition in the local music scene so it is important), we would also try and find him a few singers for his own projects and introduce him to our friends that might help him. And he agreed. Which was a relief.
Another example of bartering is us trying to get a video shot with a semi-profesional guy. He usually charges 300 euros for shooting it. We don’t have it.. What we can offer is giving him a free night out in a good club with us and a free song made from our partner (the guy shooting videos is also a rapper so that is relevant to him).
Big lesson for me here was that you have to create a network of people. An incubator for growth were people in the same business (doing same stuff like singing or different stuff like shooting videos) collaborate to help each other out. Exchanging things like that can help anyone get to next level. And it’s possible to do in lots of industries not only music. Just need some creativity. Maybe you started a business and know that your strong point is accounting, then you meet a guy who has started different business but his accounting skills suck and he could give you something in exchange for your accounting skills.. Another example here would be me starting another project that could be a money maker for us and then put the money into music. I started a website in fitness niche where business model is simple I got a good partner and it’s low barrier for entry. It will take time to work, but might work faster than music stuff and that would allow us to get some needed financing.
So to end this, you get resources if you ask (some will say yes, some will say no, accept it), if you have good product, if you have talent and can barter it. Learn your strong points and leverage it! Then it’s possible to overcome shit that happens to you..
Cheers
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