Treating Your Band Like a Business:
Your music is your art. This article is not going to focus on the morality of commercializing your music, but rather to guide you along the way to your goal of creating income from your music! Think of the hours upon hours you have spent refining your musical talents. You deserve compensation for the work you've put into your craft and the first step you need to take is to start treating your band like a business! With the average career span for a band hovering around about seven years, the sooner you begin to view your music from the entrepreneurial perspective the better your chances of advancement will be. Treating your band as your business is not an overly difficult concept when approached with an open mind and a willingness to learn; in fact, you could be half way there already without even knowing it!
The next time you find yourself communicating on the behalf of your band take note of how you interact with those involved with your music. You should always treat those involved with your music like you treat people at your day job. Treat other musicians, bookers, club owners, etc. with the same respect and politeness as you would your co-workers. Organization, a cornerstone of any successful business, plays an invaluable role in the music industry. Are you keeping your phone book and contact information up-to-date? As your career advances some of this information will be irreplaceable so make sure to keep a back up of all your contacts information.
Do you have a bag full of could-be hit songs? It won't matter if nobody can find information about you or your music easily (especially online). We live in a digital age. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become a must-use outlet for promoting your music. If you're an overachiever consider setting up a profile for each major networking site, and automating your posts with software such as HootSuite to maximize your impact. Beyond social media sites it is also imperative that you set up a .com website. This website will serve as your "home base" allowing you to more easily sell your music using a completely customizable page. No matter what social networks may rise or fall in popularity your website will remain.
Have you taken the time to copyright your songs? Before you can license your music for use in film or TV you will have to prove that you're the copyright owner. The cost is only $35, and you can register as many works (songs) as you want at one time. You can check out our Phosphene Productions Copyright guide here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SOOFHpZic
If you plan on making money with your music you'll need somewhere to keep it (not under your mattress!) After opening a dedicated bank account for your band you should keep your earnings separate from your domestic finances. With a dedicated bank account you will also qualify to begin the process of registering your band as a business.
Is your band set up as a business? Setting up as an LLC is usually a good choice. A lawyer or accountant can help you with this, although it's not overly difficult to do yourself. Need new strings? Tax deductible. In ear monitors? Tax deductible. If you’re not doing this you’re leaving legitimate and legal money on the table.
The music business can be an expensive business to break into. If you’re serious about climbing the next rung up the ladder you're going to have to save every cent you’re able to and make some serious sacrifices for your art. As with any business you will make an investment in your project in both time and money. If you’re serious about taking your music past the bedroom and start making money you will have to invest in it, it’s as simple as that. Want to make money off of your music without investing in it? Sorry to say, it simply doesn't work like that. Eventually you will probably incur costs such as recording studio time, professional CD pressing, a .com website, promotion materials, instrument purchase and repair - the list goes on. Although finding the money to invest is easier for some than others, it will need to happen eventually. If you were going to open a grocery store, it would never occur to a sane businessman to try to grow all of your own produce or raise your own livestock to save money. The time investment required to do so would leave you with no time to run the store! You would get food from suppliers, freeing you up to focus on selling your products. A music career is no different from any other business and artists need to realize that if they want to be taken seriously.
Now I realize that with myself being an audio engineer, I may be a bit biased when it comes to investing in your band’s recordings. So rather than give you my opinion, here's what some other expert individuals from across the web have to say on the subject.
Shaun Letang from www.independentmusicadvice.com says the following on the subject:
"If you want people to start taking your music seriously, you will need to put good quality material out there. To record good quality material, you will need to spend money on studio time. While you can always go to a friends house because he has his own DIY ‘studio’, this isn’t recommended. Most likely the recording quality won’t be of the level needed, and will give a bad impression of you when you show people your recordings…But back to the point I’m trying to make. Don’t cut corners when it comes to making your music. There are ways to save money with some of the necessary expenses, but even then you will have to shell out some change."
Taken from the article Why you need to invest in your music career
Mike Venti from www.waywardmusician.com says the following:
"Even with the prevalence of home-based recording these days, sometimes there’s no substitute for the experience of recording in a professional studio, with an experienced engineer. A talented sound engineer can hear things in a track you can barely distinguish, and watching them work will only help to make you a better listener...When you’ve figured out your budget and narrowed down some studios in your area. It’s time to take a tour. Never book a studio without first going for a tour of it..."
Taken from the article Choosing a recording studio thats right for you
Dillon Roulet from http://www.musicthinktank.com/ has this to say:
" While the digital revolution has made it possible for recording technologies to be made available to the masses, there are so many reasons why producing a top notch album can only come from hours spent in the live room. Artists who take the studio experience seriously will find that the ritualistic nature of this process adds an enormous amount of non-tangible value to a record."
Taken from the article Religiously Recorded: Why The Studio Is Still Relevant
Let us take a moment now to discuss what I call your "league of heroes" or who you will need help from on your way to stardom! The first "hero" on your team (outside of your band members themselves) is the Band Manager. The Manager is arguably the most important person on your team, and usually will be responsible for the business/ administrative side of your musical career. It is said a good manager is worth their weight in gold. A good manager should be dependable, honest, knowledgeable about the music biz, and most of all be supportive of the act they are managing. Your manager should help set up and implement a long term strategy incorporating your business plan, your music’s branding, and goals. With a manager handling all the business aspects of your act, you can shift your focus towards performing. Another important tool in your music endeavors is the booking agent. The booking agent is who will get your band shows, negotiate terms with promoters, and find you better gig opportunities. If you have become frustrated booking shows or are planning a tour a booking agent can free up a lot of valuable time. Also promoters like to work with people they are familiar with, so a booking agent that has built a relationship with venues will usually mean more gigs! The next hero on your team is the publicist or PR firm. A good publicist will get you media attention no matter what level you’re at. This is the person who will get you featured in magazines, set up interviews, and get your music reviewed. I've heard many successful people in the biz say that dollar for dollar this is the best place you can spend your money if you want to expand your audience or generate buzz about your project. Good advertising is a time-tested strategy for selling products, and great publicity is your method of advertisement. Whenever you are dealing with contracts, whether it be the band’s royalty splits, or contracts between the band and any of your other heroes, this final hero will be lurking in the shadows waiting to spring into action! Often entertainment attorneys take on work by project so you can hire one only as needed. The attorney’s job is to protect you or your act, as well as making sure that any contracts between yourself and outside parties (i.e., manager, labels, etc.) are fair. Now this is not to say that your band cannot be successful without hiring any additional help, but at a certain stage in a successful band’s career they become necessary to keep from drowning yourself under the workload of your ever-expanding fan base... (To be continued in Treating Your Band As A Business Part 2: Promotion for Independent Musicians)
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