NationStates Jolt Archive

My new-esque boyfriend and myself have both been saving money for the same apparent goal for most of our lives, and have decided, simply for the somewhat lighter monetary burden, to go ahead and combine forces so it'll happen within, say, five years rather than ten. He's in corporate development and I've got background in law (as well as like, seventeen corporate lawyers in my family) so the last thing I'm worried about is getting screwed on contracts, but here it is.

We want to focus more on the arts in our city. Kansas City's pretty well known for the visual arts (theatre and museums, mostly), but in terms of music and movies, there's shit for resources. What we want to do is, after significant investment (which we're already looking into), start a recording business and within a few years, depending on financial backing and whether or not we can get with one of the Filmmakers Guilds in the city, probably an independent film studio space as well.

I'm honestly not terribly concerned about whether or not it flops -- he's got a couple million to fall back on, plus his dad, one of the bigger corporate *ahem* whores *ahem* in the city will possibly be giving us small nudges here and there, and I've still got my inheritence invested in case my life goes to shit, so that's not my worry. What I'm worried about is.....well, making the big step from independent musician to being in charge of the recording space.....that's a jump. I was just wondering if anybody either (a) had experience and could give me some starting advice, or (b) could just.....give me some starting advice. Much as it seems we've got a long time to plan for this, it's most likely going to creep up very suddenly one day, and catch me with my pants down, so to speak....

Wow, someone else from KC. That shocks, surprises and delights me in about equal portions.

Good luck with this. KC has a great music scene, but you're right in that it's pretty scattered and delocalized and unsupported. Most of the recording that goes on seems to happen in people's basements and such. There's an emergent film scene here also, but it seems like a lot more is going on in Lawrence at the moment.

Anyway, kick ass, take names, sorry I don't have any real advice for you, but I'll eagerly await whatever happens.

Simonist']My new-esque boyfriend and myself have both been saving money for the same apparent goal for most of our lives, and have decided, simply for the somewhat lighter monetary burden, to go ahead and combine forces so it'll happen within, say, five years rather than ten. He's in corporate development and I've got background in law (as well as like, seventeen corporate lawyers in my family) so the last thing I'm worried about is getting screwed on contracts, but here it is.

We want to focus more on the arts in our city. Kansas City's pretty well known for the visual arts (theatre and museums, mostly), but in terms of music and movies, there's shit for resources. What we want to do is, after significant investment (which we're already looking into), start a recording business and within a few years, depending on financial backing and whether or not we can get with one of the Filmmakers Guilds in the city, probably an independent film studio space as well.

I'm honestly not terribly concerned about whether or not it flops -- he's got a couple million to fall back on, plus his dad, one of the bigger corporate *ahem* whores *ahem* in the city will possibly be giving us small nudges here and there, and I've still got my inheritence invested in case my life goes to shit, so that's not my worry. What I'm worried about is.....well, making the big step from independent musician to being in charge of the recording space.....that's a jump. I was just wondering if anybody either (a) had experience and could give me some starting advice, or (b) could just.....give me some starting advice. Much as it seems we've got a long time to plan for this, it's most likely going to creep up very suddenly one day, and catch me with my pants down, so to speak....

Well I'm a 24 year old Research Technician, so I have no clue how to successfully run a business. Only advice I can think of is to take it one step at a time, and make sure the thing floats before you add more weight to it. Also be mercilessly opportunistic, and steer clear of being acquired by one of the mega-businesses.

I'm sure that sounds childish but it's all the advice I can muster.

Well I'm a 24 year old Research Technician, so I have no clue how to successfully run a business. Only advice I can think of is to take it one step at a time, and make sure the thing floats before you add more weight to it. Also be mercilessly opportunistic, and steer clear of being acquired by one of the mega-businesses.

I'm sure that sounds childish but it's all the advice I can muster.
Haha, thanks anyway, it's better than my parents could muster. They gave me a slightly skeptical look (we're not used to anybody in the family who makes more than about $80K a year independently, least of all before 35) and said "Yeah, em.....don't go broke. And you can't move back in if you do."

Simonist']My new-esque boyfriend and myself have both been saving money for the same apparent goal for most of our lives, and have decided, simply for the somewhat lighter monetary burden, to go ahead and combine forces so it'll happen within, say, five years rather than ten. He's in corporate development and I've got background in law (as well as like, seventeen corporate lawyers in my family) so the last thing I'm worried about is getting screwed on contracts, but here it is.

We want to focus more on the arts in our city. Kansas City's pretty well known for the visual arts (theatre and museums, mostly), but in terms of music and movies, there's shit for resources. What we want to do is, after significant investment (which we're already looking into), start a recording business and within a few years, depending on financial backing and whether or not we can get with one of the Filmmakers Guilds in the city, probably an independent film studio space as well.

I'm honestly not terribly concerned about whether or not it flops -- he's got a couple million to fall back on, plus his dad, one of the bigger corporate *ahem* whores *ahem* in the city will possibly be giving us small nudges here and there, and I've still got my inheritence invested in case my life goes to shit, so that's not my worry. What I'm worried about is.....well, making the big step from independent musician to being in charge of the recording space.....that's a jump. I was just wondering if anybody either (a) had experience and could give me some starting advice, or (b) could just.....give me some starting advice. Much as it seems we've got a long time to plan for this, it's most likely going to creep up very suddenly one day, and catch me with my pants down, so to speak....

Here are my suggestions:

1. You need to learn the ropes first. How you go about doing this is up to you. The typical way is through internships. The only alternative to skipping this step is to hire someone very familiar with this type of enterprise and give them incentives for your success (make them a partner or at least give them some stock in the company).

2. This is more of a personal advice, not one based on experience or research. But in today's world what we are seeing is the death throes of the music industry. People no longer buy CDs like they used to, they would rather steal them off the internet. Therefore, make sure your goals arent monetary because chances are you will be disappointed. If you are doing this mostly for fun and you accept the fact that you may lose money on it every single year, then go for it. If you think this is going to be a good business, you better do a lot of research to make sure Im wrong about this because the way I see it, there hasnt been a worse time in modern history to start out in the music industry.

Go talk with a therapist or someone more professional than people online.

Go talk with a therapist or someone more professional than people online.
How the hell is a therapist going to POSSIBLY help in this situation? How about you READ what people write, you slimy git, and don't presume to make the jump in 'logic' that therapy is in any way related. I mean, unless YOU know of a career therapist who can tell me what's the best way to jump from music to film. No? Good. Shut the hell up.

And LazyHippies, yeah, we've already considered the downloading issue, but it's more of a small-level recording studio for the local artists who just want X amount of CDs to sell at their concerts. That's really more of a move to establish business credibility before we jump at the Indie Filmmakers and say "Wanna hook up?" But thanks for your advice.

If you don't want to hire a manager (but I recommend you do) maybe there are courses on business management close to where you live, and there must be books that are more on the specific type of business you're looking into.

Getting a mentor, someone who already knows his or her way around this type of business, is also useful.

A good accountant is indispensable, they can help you with putting together a sound business plan.

Realize what you're strengths are and play to them. Get people who can do those things you're not good at.

Network. Human relationships are the most important resource for any business.

.....

1. You need to learn the ropes first. How you go about doing this is up to you. The typical way is through internships. The only alternative to skipping this step is to hire someone very familiar with this type of enterprise and give them incentives for your success (make them a partner or at least give them some stock in the company).

<snip>
This is good advice, but I'd go further. If you're unfamiliar with the business, you're going to need someone good at what they do and you're going to need to trust their judgement. Barring lucky accidents, that implies mutual respect so you have to provide them with a reason to respect you and for wanting to work with you. Part of that will be financial, but I'd suggest you put in your dues and put in some serious ground level work in the area you're interested in if you don't want to get ripped off.

Bear in mind that that arts professionals have more often than not had to fight pretty hard to make their work pay a living wage, and don't have a lot of time for people who think they can simply buy their way in. (No matter how widely they smile when you show them your cheque book. ;) )

My wife runs a successful independant arts production company, which she started without any great background in the field. A very large part of the reason for its success is that she employed a terrific, and well-known, curator as a more-or-less equal partner a few years back. But he wouldn't have come to work for her in the first place, or stayed with her, if he didn't respect (a) her professionalism, and (b) her achievements to date (from scratch).

Well from what you guys have said so far it seems like we should be fine during the hard part, unless there just turns out to be absolutely no market for these services in KC. And who knows, maybe that's why there isn't anything like this available.

White Hats -- I appreciate the advice on the art end, but like I said, I'm an independent musician before I'm a trust fund kid. The entire reason I probably never had the urge to blow my family's money is because I wanted to find a way to better my community. I think this could be a start.

By all means, if you all think of anything else....do tell. I'm yet young, and love the learning experience.

Advice: start small.

The problem with setting up a recording space these days is that you have to realise the incredible leaps that cheaply and commonly available digital recording technology has made in current years. It used to be a case that if someone wanted a band recorded then they would need to hire out an entire recording studio and stick with it until all the work was done. Now it is often the case that band will just go into a studio to record drum tracks and possibly some guide tracks, and then go home and do the actual work in their bedrooms with their own computers.

Other advice for starting up this kind of thing: it is likely going to take a long time to get used to the setup and room acoustics - when I was involved in this kind of thing the first couple of months work for people was all done for free as we could not guarantee the quality of the end product at that point, and so people coming in were basically opportunities for us to learn, rather than to make a profit or to produce finished recordings.

Simonist']....

White Hats -- I appreciate the advice on the art end, but like I said, I'm an independent musician before I'm a trust fund kid. The entire reason I probably never had the urge to blow my family's money is because I wanted to find a way to better my community. I think this could be a start.

...
Fair enough. I was picking up on your OP, where you mentioned the leap from being an independent musician to running a recording space. When you make the transition from artist to professional production, it's no longer just about the art. Hence my wife and her curator need each other's (complementary) skills.