LRM Studio Productions

Plan Your Project

Think of your project as a business venture.

Making the most of your time in the studio.

Protect yourself and your music!

The Business Plan

It may help to think of your recording project as a business venture. The recording session has a cost, measured in time and money, but it also has benefits. The benefits are derived from what you do with your recording after the session is done.

For example, an established, independent artist may spend several thousand dollars recording an album. As with any venture of this size, they will draw up a business plan, both to attract investors, and to keep themselves on track, should they be investing the money themselves.

A business plan may contain the following details:

· The nature of the project

· The goals and objectives of the project

· Tasks necessary to attain those goals and objectives

· The product that will be manufactured and sold

· Details of the production and manufacturing costs

· Identification of the market

· Strategy for selling and marketing

· Why this strategy will work

· Breakdown of costs for marketing and promotion

· Evidence that the market is interested

· Cash flow projections

· Profit and loss statements

· Balance sheets

This may sound complicated, but it's really just common sense. It's important that you (and your investor) be really clear on the realities and possibilities for your project.

There are many excellent books on drawing up business plans, and almost anyone who's been through the process of building or running a small business should be able to help you. In the case of this particular artist, they may determine that they need to sell 3,000 CDs at a profit of $10 apiece, to recoup their initial investment.

Their business plan will outline how the initial $30,000 is going to be spent, and their plan for how to sell 3,000 CD's at retail outlets, concerts, over the internet etc. to recover that investment. The band may have other sources of income, as well as other expenses, and these may also taken into account in the business plan.

Your goal may not be to sell 3,000 CDs. Your objective may be to land a record deal. In this case you may attract an investor who put up the money in exchange for a percentage of the royalties on the album. The details of the business plan will be different, but the fundamentals remain the same.

If you have any questions about business plans, and how to recoup your recording costs, contact us, and we'll be glad to share some of the strategies that have worked for other artists.

Preparing For Your Recording Session

Coming in to a professional recording studio to work on an album or demo is always an exciting prospect. However, you can make the most of your time in the studio by following a few simple guidelines:

· Pick your songs well in advance. Choose songs in a variety of tempos, textures and key signatures

· Make sure the songs and parts are well rehearsed

· Record your rehearsal sessions so that you can listen back for awkward spots in the songs

· Make sure your instruments are in good condition. The better they sound, the better they'll sound on tape

· Most pop/rock recordings are recorded with a click track. Ensure that your drummer is comfortable playing the material to a click track or metronome

· If you're going to have "guest" players, make sure they're prepared well in advance. Have them practice with you so that you know how well their parts are going to fit in.

· Work with your engineer or producer to create a plan for the sessions, so that you know which parts and which songs are going to be recorded when.

· Remember to relax, have fun and take breaks. Music is supposed to be fun!

Copyright Resources

· How to copyright a song

· BMI

· ASCAP

Important Notice: LRM Studio Productions can take no responsibility for the ownership of any material that is produced in our studio other than what is written by the owners of the studio, themselves. The responsibility of securing copyrights for original music produced in our studio as well as mechanical licenses for other people's music is the sole responsibility of the client.

For information on how to protect yourself and your music as well as how to legally use other people's music, please refer to the information below.

BMI
BMI is a music performing rights organization and company that represents songwriters even if they also happen to be recording artists. They also collect money from people who use music in the course of their business and then pays that money to the writers and publishers of the songs they use.

· BMI

· New York
320 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019-3790
(212) 586-2000

· Los Angeles
8730 Sunset Blvd. 3rd Flr West
West Hollywood, CA 90069-2211
(310) 659-9109

· Nashville
10 Music Square East
Nashville, TN 37203-4399
(615) 401-2000

· Miami
5201 Blue Lagoon Drive Suite 310
Miami, FL 33126
(305) 266-3636

ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a membership association of over 80,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. ASCAP's function is to protect the rights of its members by licensing and paying royalties for the public performances of their copyrighted works.

· New York
One Lincoln Plaza
New York, NY 10023
(212) 621-6000
http://www.ascap.com/ascap.html