What's the Deal? I have no experience.
Hey, Music Money Makers! So I hear you want to start a record label but have no experience.
In a world where you have no experience running a record label, You’ve got to get artists to trust you. Now how are you going to do that? You lack skill. Even though I've got you covered with some of these skills, you’re going to need some more.
You may feel a bit small as you should but that's okay because everybody has to suck at some point. However, as long as you understand that everything starts small from an embryonic stage then you won't have any problems with hustling up on those skills to get to the money.
I can testify!
I understand your position because at one point I too lacked experience in what I was going to do for my artists and publishing clients. The thing is when running my publishing company, I’m still learning every day! Guess what, the people that are writing the agreements for those big corporations don't know the results of what they are creating either it’s all one big experiment.
It wasn’t until I started my boutique publishing company that I realized what I was doing and it has provided me with a solution to help you out. I want a full-service publishing company and sync is a huge part. However, I'm really good at publishing administration and I suck at synchronization which is why I’m hiring a buddy of mine to help me do the work.
A few callers have expressed to me what they were doing and it has come across my youtube feed as well and today we're going to get into it.
Now let’s talk about how you're going to do this!
Services
You have to start with a service first when you have no experience. This helps you gain credentials. You have to figure out what service you will offer the artist and what the exchange rate for the service will be. Either a fixed price or percentage rate with or without a term.
After you figure that out you can break things down into four areas.
Category 1: Distribution and Administration
Distribution is tough because most artists can just use Tunecore or DistroKid and they’ll be fine. However, if you have access to credible artists and deep pockets to have a Distro Direct account, or a Merlin account then offering better and faster distribution services to your clients will be key here.
Category 2: Project Management/A&R
Project management is an overlooked and undervalued category. In the beginning, Artists need help but they don't necessarily need a manager, They just need to get things set up and going I.E. my 60 Day record label executive edition. They need to get their albums completed and distributed. They need a taskmaster with connections to make the best album possible and this is where you step in to offer them:
Better producers
Better songwriters
Better engineers
Better Album Art Creation all one phone call away!
Business establishment services that you learned via my 60 Day record label system
Social media setup and visual branding
Think everything an artist would need to look like and sound like a million bucks and you have immediate access to all of it in your phone and computer
Category 3: Marketing & Planning
Determining their market and everything they can do in it to take it over and expand their footprint. This is easier said than done but it's still a service that artists need and will continually need. If you can do this you’ve got yourself an artist for life!
Category 4: Music Promotion
Whereas you may not do marketing you may do great street team promotions and online promotions. This generates money for the artist. All you have to do is partner with the other three categories that I just mentioned to form your main label components. Though it's probably not the first service an artist will need, this will be the quickest way to find qualified artists for your new record label.
You’ll see when you offer services, an Artist will be more likely to stick around for round two and you my friend will have a record label in the making!
Educated yourself on everything that revolves around that particular service. Educate yourself on what it takes to be the best in that area. Dominate the position in your mind and then you can begin to dominate in the physical
Going to seminars and conferences
Courses
Books
Use these 3 options to find knowledge in the areas of business that are related to those areas so you can set yourself apart from the pack!
You don't necessarily need a college classroom to get this done!
Sell that service to the artist. Here’s the hard part, you’ve got to sell your service to an artist when they feel that they have everything they need already via the internet which is just other people offering services. You have to beat the competition by adding value.
Tell them how you can beat the competitors with your added value
Make doing business with you simple.
Don't take too much in the beginning just because you’re hungry, eat some appetizers first.
Partner with the other players on the field to create the conglomerate that you envisioned from the beginning. A record label takes a team and you’re going to build it with one strong suit at a time.
You may have mastered one of the four areas we just talked about
Distribution
Marketing
Promotion
Project management
But you’re going to need partners in the other three areas to make your label flourish!
But wait…! What about…?
How long will this take? The reality is it will take some time to perfect your skill in a particular category and develop your sales pitch.
What if the artists say no? Artists are going to turn you down but you will find that there is a certain caliber of artists that need your services because artists will always need help. Once you find that sweet spot you’re in there.
Why can't I do it all myself as a one-stop shop? Truth is you can't do it all yourself but you can be a one-stop shop with a team of service providers.
You've got work to do!
For any of these artists’ services, you will need an LLC and as a distributor/admin service, you will need all your collection accounts. I've got you covered with the 60-Day Record Label Executive Edition
Outside of that start educating yourself asap on your desired category. When you’re ready to take it up a notch we’ll meet again on a call via zoom.
What the end of the tunnel looks like
What's going to happen is you will find the artist who wants to be successful by putting their money and effort where their mouth is.
You’ll have more qualified artists.
Your label won't be so overwhelming to build and you will be able to build it faster due to the fact that you will know how to hire out your work.
What is the opposition?
If you try to do it all in the beginning by yourself you will fail! Ask me how I know!
You got this!
If you were stressed about how your record label was going to be success full before this video, You should now be able to clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel because you broke everything down into departments based on your skill set!
If you make music you should make money
Music Money Makers I see you next time!
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Video Copyright © 2022 Casey Graham (www.musicmoneymakeover.com)
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