The Lower Class Musician

Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by refe in STRATEGY

'Starving Artist' is not a job description.

'Starving Artist' is not a job description.

The Low Class Musician
Back in 1992, I told myself that I was going to make it in the music business no matter what. The thought of being a starving artist was romantic to me in many ways, because it looked glamorous on TV and the singer always seemed to get the girl in the end. But as I got older I started to feel like I was on a blind date. I was broke, sleeping on a twin box spring without a mattress, and spending what little money I had on fast food and Mary Jane. I was a low class musician.
I was not a low class musician for lack of musical ability — after all, I was one of five singers accepted into Mason Gross for Classical Voice that year. Rather, I was a low class musician because I couldn’t buy my way into the music business. My first label job in the A&R department of Universal Records paid a whopping $14k per year and did little to advance my career. I learned the hard way that there is a difference between what I wanted to do and what I had to do.
Over time, I found that cash flow is the amount of money you need to pay your bills before your next paycheck. It’s also one of the best indicators of which financial class one belongs to. Many people don’t even know how much they are spending month to month, let alone when they will see their next music industry check.
Below are four things you can do to stop living like a pauper today and raise your stake in life tomorrow.
Lower Your Overhead
Ian Rogers and Shamal Ranasinghe of Topspin Research refer to the middle class musician as “one that can operate on a lower volume, at a lower risk, but with higher profit margins”. I happen to agree that Rogers and Ranasinghe may have figured out that much. However, in order for you to gain access to the Topspin platform you must first take a college course [over $1K] and then split 60% of your overall profit between selected marketing and fulfillment companies. That sounds too much like a traditional record deal to me.
Instead, there are tons of low cost alternatives that can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together once you can see the bigger picture. I am an advocate of Live Music Machine for booking, Bandcamp for direct-to-fan sales and data capture, Fairtilizer for digital promos and Google Analytics to see who is clicking through your Word Press blog.
Learn to structure yourself like any other startup and formulate a strategy on paper that will sustain you for three to five years. You’ll soon find out that overspending on manufacturing, marketing, promotion and distribution is very difficult to recoup.
Adjust Your Expectations
For some of us, music is a hobby and that is okay. However, if you plan on feeding your children by touring the Chitlin’ circuit, that’s another thing entirely. When I realized that writing songs for Columbia Records and recording demos with The Fugees wasn’t going to sustain me forever, I had to get adjust my expectations. These gigs were few and far in between and often times didn’t pay half as much as you would expect them to.
I studied profitable ideas, people, and businesses to find a common denominator. I learned that nine out of ten successful startups had a business plan. Not just any old plan, but one that was standard across all industries. Financial planning, marketing, and the management of people and products/services cannot be done on the fly. If all you want is for people to hear your music that is fine. But again, you can’t necessarily expect to make a decent living.
Accelerate Your Learning
Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of business plans, yet no one in the music business seems to think they need one — until, of course, they run out of cash. I spent years in my local SBA in Newark, NJ looking at sample plans, meeting with retired CEOs of successful companies, and learning how basic businesses operate.
If you do the same you’ll realize that most startups have more similarities than you’d expect. However, it is important to point out that no two plans are alike. You will still need to write a plan specifically based around your music-related products and services. My first plan was a disaster. I asked my uncle for $75K with a promise to return 20% of the loan over the next five years. He had a good laugh over that one, but at least he knew I was serious about my dreams.
Diversify Your Product Offering
If you’re anything like me you already know what you are passionate about. You may already have a substantial amount of music-related product at your disposal, and you may even know a thing or two about the industry. But remember, just because you are musician doesn’t mean that CDs and digital downloads are the only thing you are allowed to sell. Don’t believe me? Ask music industry vet, David Sherbow. He’s fleshed out a long list of potential revenue streams for musicians at various levels. The concept of bundling CDs with digital downloads and merchandise is great, but will only work if you can sell enough of these things to stay afloat until your next release.
If you know now that you are in need of a middle class stimulus package, you need to start working on these four things early. Don’t wait until your album is finished before you begin to look for marketing dollars, or you’ll never find them. We have plenty more options then we had back in the 90’s so take advantage of this opportunity before it’s too late.
Kevin English is a product manager, business plan writer and consultant for various entertainment and technology companies. He blogs about the skills and strategies necessary to get the most of your musical career at http://eleetmusic.com or on Twitter @eleetmusic.

This is a guest post by entertainment business consultant Kevin English.

Back in 1992, I told myself that I was going to make it in the music business no matter what. The thought of being a starving artist was romantic to me in many ways, because it looked glamorous on TV and the singer always seemed to get the girl in the end. But as I got older I started to feel like I was on a blind date. I was broke, sleeping on a twin box spring without a mattress, and spending what little money I had on fast food and Mary Jane. I was a lower class musician.

I was not a lower class musician for lack of musical ability — after all, I was one of five singers accepted into Mason Gross for Classical Voice that year. Rather, I was a lower class musician because I couldn’t buy my way into the music business. My first label job in the A&R department of Universal Records paid a whopping $14k per year and did little to advance my career. I learned the hard way that there is a difference between what I wanted to do and what I had to do.

Over time, I found that cash flow is the amount of money you need to pay your bills before your next paycheck. It’s also one of the best indicators of which financial class one belongs to. Many people don’t even know how much they are spending month to month, let alone when they will see their next music industry check.

Below are four things you can do to stop living like a pauper today and raise your stake in life tomorrow.

Lower Your Overhead

Ian Rogers and Shamal Ranasinghe of Topspin refer to the middle class musician as “one that can operate on a lower volume, at a lower risk, but with higher profit margins”. I happen to agree that Rogers and Ranasinghe may have figured out that much. However, in order for you to gain access to the Topspin platform you must first take a college course [over $1K] and then split 60% of your overall profit between selected marketing and fulfillment companies. That sounds too much like a traditional record deal to me.

Instead, there are tons of low cost alternatives that can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together once you can see the bigger picture. I am an advocate of Live Music Machine for booking, Bandcamp for direct-to-fan sales and data capture, Fairtilizer for digital promos and Google Analytics to see who is clicking through your WordPress blog.

Learn to structure yourself like any other startup and formulate a strategy on paper that will sustain you for three to five years. You’ll soon find out that overspending on manufacturing, marketing, promotion and distribution is very difficult to recoup.

Adjust Your Expectations

For some of us, music is a hobby and that is okay. However, if you plan on feeding your children by touring the Chitlin’ circuit, that’s another thing entirely. When I realized that writing songs for Columbia Records and recording demos with The Fugees wasn’t going to sustain me forever, I had to adjust my expectations. These gigs were few and far in between and often times didn’t pay half as much as you would expect them to.

I studied profitable ideas, people, and businesses to find a common denominator. I learned that nine out of ten successful startups had a business plan. Not just any old plan, but one that was standard across all industries. Financial planning, marketing, and the management of people and products/services cannot be done on the fly. If all you want is for people to hear your music that is fine. But again, you can’t necessarily expect to make a decent living.

Accelerate Your Learning

Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of business plans, yet no one in the music business seems to think they need one — until, of course, they run out of cash. I spent years in my local SBA in Newark, NJ looking at sample plans, meeting with retired CEOs of successful companies, and learning how basic businesses operate.

If you do the same you’ll realize that most startups have more similarities than you’d expect. However, it is important to point out that no two plans are alike. You will still need to write a plan specifically based around your music-related products and services. My first plan was a disaster. I asked my uncle for $75K with a promise to return 20% of the loan over the next five years. He had a good laugh over that one, but at least he knew I was serious about my dreams.

Diversify Your Product Offering

If you’re anything like me you already know what you are passionate about. You may already have a substantial amount of music-related product at your disposal, and you may even know a thing or two about the industry. But remember, just because you are musician doesn’t mean that CDs and digital downloads are the only thing you are allowed to sell. Don’t believe me? Ask music industry vet, David Sherbow. He’s fleshed out a long list of potential revenue streams for musicians at various levels. The concept of bundling CDs with digital downloads and merchandise is great, but will only work if you can sell enough of these things to stay afloat until your next release.

If you know now that you are in need of a middle class stimulus package, you need to start working on these four things early. Don’t wait until your album is finished before you begin to look for marketing dollars, or you’ll never find them. We have plenty more options then we had back in the 90’s so take advantage of this opportunity before it’s too late.

Kevin English

Kevin English

Kevin English is a product manager, business plan writer and consultant for various entertainment and technology companies. He blogs about the skills and strategies necessary to get the most of your musical career at http://eleetmusic.com or on Twitter @eleetmusic.

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21 Responses to “The Lower Class Musician”

  1. Looking to get gigs « 3ReV talks shit

    16. Feb, 2010

    [...] How serendipitous that this commentary from Kevin English came across my Twitter feeds, The Lower Class Musician and his blog http://eleetmusic.com. Lots of great info there about treating your music as business [...]

  2. Mario Mendoza

    16. Feb, 2010

    Great list of topics to focus on, Kevin. I like how the focus here is really on your business plan, and how each plan is different.

    Brings me back to the business school days of doing endless case studies and SWOT’s, breaking down operations. Build out your plan, critiquing what went well and what didn’t with specifics. Discover opportunities with analysis and implementing specific ideas with action. Test what works for you and be creative.

    Adjusting your expectations hits home. There is value to a well thought out business plan: if you are part of a band or group, it lets everyone know what the current and future plans are for the group. It’s great having your plan defined before it is implemented later and causes disagreement with your partners because it’s not agreed upon or follows a different vision. Chalked up to experience.

    Accelerate your learning is on the top of my list. I enjoy reading blogs like yours and like this where musicians can brainstorm and debate different mixtures to their success. I enjoy hearing your insight from your experience on all levels in this music industry. Look forward to reading more about your business planning tips.

    • Kevin English

      16. Feb, 2010

      Hey Mario. Thanks for reading!

      I agree, having a well defined business plan will benefit any group because it forces each individual to know their role and how it effects everyone else in the group.

      As you stated above, knowing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business [and other business for that matter] leaves a very clear picture of what it will take to succeed.

      Often times people don’t plan, because they are afraid to see their business fail prior to implementation.

      I’d rather know what lays ahead and prepare contingencies for any unexpected occurrences.

  3. Suzanne Lainson

    16. Feb, 2010

    It’s interesting that this post came up today because I also posted something on the realities of music and paying bills.

    http://brandsplusmusic.blogspot.com/2010/02/five-degrees-of-separation-in-music.html

    While people keep saying there are so many opportunities in music now, most of them don’t acknowledge how many musicians are simultaneously trying to make it.

    As for creating a business plan, I think it is an excellent idea and forces bands to look at how much they have to bring in each month to survive and to give some thought to where that is going to come from (CD sales, ticket sales, merchandise, other).

    • Kevin English

      16. Feb, 2010

      Hi Suzanne. It’s true. Opportunities are effected by the size of the market and the amount of competing products.

      Everyone can make music now. Look at how Rock Band has made the average game an “expert” musician.

      Business plans put all of the relevant info on the table and allows for you create strategies to beat the odds.

      Excellent post our your blog as well. Thanks for sharing!

  4. ian c rogers

    16. Feb, 2010

    Hi Kevin,

    Great post.

    I like all the companies you mentioned, too.

    Apologies if Topspin seems like too much of a closed door still. It’s true we aren’t for everyone. The sweet spot for us is people who can make $5000/year or more direct-to-fan.

    I want to correct your statement above, though:

    1) You don’t need to take the Berklee course to get access to Topspin. Any one of our partners can give you access from the very small (Parker at Wrvrywhr.com) to the very large (Universal Music). Spending money at Berklee is one way, but Topspin makes $0 from that class, you’re paying for the class, not Topspin. All we are trying to do is keep people from walking in the front door and failing with our tools. If they have either training or a trained partner they tend to perform orders of magnitudes better. It is our goal to make the software easier and easier to have success with as well as spread the information covered in the training far and wide at as low a cost as possible.

    2) For most of our artists Topspin takes an effective 15% of retail (compared to iTunes 30%, for example). Hopefully no one thinks we should be giving away our tools for free or putting ads next to your music — we have families to feed, too and would love it if we could do that by building tools for this industry. If you sell $5000 worth of stuff we make approx $750. I just want to be 100% clear that Topspin’s model is NOT to pocket 60% of your take. If you’re working with other folks who have costs or take a % that’s your call and we aren’t benefiting from that.

    Our reason for throttling how many people are using Topspin is to build a better product and provide better service to artists who can generate reasonable revenue. There are hundreds of thousands of artists on services like Tunecore and Reverb Nation and while that is great for them it presents a whole different set of challenges than the ones we’d like to pursue. Our fundamental belief is in the middle class artist who can earn between $5000 and $500,000/year on our platform. We believe there are a large number of those folks but tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands. We are trying to build the absolute best product in the universe for them. But I appreciate that a) we aren’t there yet and b) that’s a hard thing to explain to the market. I’m doing my best.

    I hope that helps. Thanks for furthering the conversation.

    ian

    • Kevin English

      17. Feb, 2010

      Hi Ian. Thanks for reading!

      The Topspin Model that I was referring to has been charted out in the Berklee course as follows:

      Direct-to-Fan Deal: http://bit.ly/arUFUH

      Can you explain how Topspin determines which artists you charge 15% as opposed to the 20% depicted in the chart above?

      Also, are these the same marketing (20%) and fulfillment (20%) companies that have the ability to grant artist access to the Topspin platform without having to take the college course?

      Best,
      Kevin

  5. Brian Hazard

    17. Feb, 2010

    Great article Kevin! I think most musicians, myself included, should keep their day jobs. :)

    • Kevin English

      17. Feb, 2010

      Hey Brian,

      I agree. There is nothing wrong with having a day job. Especially if it’s as fancy as yours ;-)

      Its not impossible to making a living in the music business, but very difficult in this climate. You already know this, so I’ll stop preaching to the choir.

      Hope the family is well. Thanks for stopping by!

      Best,
      Kevin

  6. Ian - Make It In Music

    24. Feb, 2010

    Kevin

    Interesting post and nice to see Ian Rogers giving more insight into the model that Topspin offers.

    I am actually on the Berklee course at the moment and am very impressed with how the tools combine the attraction of attention and the funnelised sale of diversified products. It seems that all artists must now offer a range of products centred around their music, given that the choice of whether their music is primarily free or not has been taken away from them by the free market.

    I am implementing the Topspin tools for one artist at the moment and can’t wait to see how it turns out. I’m OK with the 20% deal – if it works as well as I hope it will.

    I’ll be posting info and case study details on my music industry blog as we go along. Nothing much to report yet as the new website of the artist we are starting with isn’t even live yet!

    For now, and although it’s somewhat off topic I recently wrote a short post that all musicians – lower, middle or upper class – need to realise if they are to succeed.

    It’s called ‘All you Need to know about the Music Business’

    • Kevin English

      24. Feb, 2010

      Hey Ian. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my post.

      I’d be very interested to see your case study using the Topspin platform once the class is finished.

      Insightful post on your blog btw. I’m not sure that it’s all you need to know…but I completely agree with your points about work ethic.

      The music business is the hardest job I’ve ever had, I guess that’s why I keep coming back for more.

      Best of luck in everything you do!

      Kevin English

  7. Brian Franke

    26. Feb, 2010

    Hey Kevin,

    I completely agree that doing a business plan is necessary. Before you do one though, it helps for an artist to have a vision and goals in mind that they can then measure (analytics). I think a lot of artists don’t do one because it takes a lot of time and honestly the plan is almost like you’re trying to predict the future.

    I’ve also found it hard when trying to develop budgets how much things are. For example, I outsourced the creation of my press kit but I had no clue what the norm was–I didn’t want to be ripped off and also didn’t want a crappy press kit. I got some quotes and went for the best bang for the buck, but it’s things like these big costs in my business plan that come up that I’m unsure about.

    Are there any resources besides the Music Thank Tank one you highly recommend on developing a business plan?

    Thanks man!

    Brian Franke
    Singer/Songwriter
    http://www.brianfranke.com
    @bfrankemusic (Twitter)

    • Kevin English

      26. Feb, 2010

      Hi Brian,

      Thanks for stopping by!

      You are absolutely right when you say that biz plans are like predicting the future. Business owners are used to projecting their costs and sales for periods of 3 to 5 years in advance. Artists should too.

      Its difficult when you are first starting out, because you don’t have anything to compare it to. That being said, give yourself an obtainable goal and shoot for that.

      Its also a good rule of thumb to revisit your plan every so often to see if the goals you thought were obtainable, still are and why?

      You’re point about analytics is key. One could write a plan in theory and end up with a stack of useless papers at the end. Simple, actionable and measurable goals are the only way to see true results.

      Although I haven’t tried it out for myself, Dave Kusek’s – “Music Power Network” seems to be a good option with built in business planners.

      See http://bit.ly/apyFNY

      If you have any additional questions or concerns about writing your first plan, feel free to contact me directly.

      Best of Luck,

      Kevin English
      eleetmusic[at]gmail[dot]com
      (347) 688-5383

  8. Brian Franke

    26. Feb, 2010

    Thanks for the quick reply Kevin! I’m actually on MPN but haven’t used his tool yet. I looked at it and saw I needed to do a lot but understand better what goes in each piece.

    I developed a strategic plan for myself recently which has several goal areas, action items, start and deadline dates, and resources to help me get there. But doing the cost portion as it comes up. I’m just starting looking into avenues for marketing/promotion, revenue, and growing my fan base. Launched my official website 2 months ago to make a bigger push and check out my analytics on that weekly. Reviewing, revisiting, and rewriting the plan is essential–I agree.

    Anyway, I’m still in the “learning and educating myself phase”. One resource I am checking out that is supposed to be very comprehensive is an e-book written by Marcus Johnson (Three Keys Music) and Bryan Callhoun (Soundexchange) called “Music Business Toolbox” (http://www.musicbusinesstoolbox.com/). I’m taking seminars with Marcus Johnson and he’s an incredible help.

    I can send you my strategic plan if that’s cool–another set of eyes to look at it doesn’t hurt. Thanks man.

    Brian Franke
    Singer/Songwriter
    http://www.brianfranke.com
    @bfrankemusic

    • Kevin English

      26. Feb, 2010

      Yes, please send it over. We can take a look at it together.

      I love to help people who are already helping themselves.

      Looking forward to working on this with you!

      Cheers!

      Kevin

  9. Plan for Success | Future Of Music

    05. Mar, 2010

    [...] came across this great guest post by Kevin English on Creative Deconstruction that talks about the “Lower Class Musician” and suggestions for how to lift yourself [...]

  10. The Question of the Decade « eleetmusic – Direction in music, marketing and business

    11. Mar, 2010

    [...] In an attempt to curb some of these strikes against recording artists today, I suggest that we lower our overhead, adjust our expectations, accelerate our learning and diversify our product offering. All of which should be outlined in a good old fashion business plan. I speak more in depth about this in a recent post on Creative Deconstruction. [...]

  11. Brian John Mitchell

    14. Mar, 2010

    It’s interesting to me not only how few musicians & bands have a business plan, but also labels. You can argue that music is an artistic endeavor & should have the business end out of it, but labels are businesses no matter how big or small. While my business model at Silber Records has needed to shift fairly drastically over the past 15 years, it is necessary to have organized goals. Most importantly skipped by a lot of people starting labels is the ability to do accounting (& seemingly even counting). You need to be able to tell if a release makes or loses money or you’re not helping the artists on the label – you’re coddling them at best & ripping them off at worst.

    hrt
    Brian John Mitchell

    • Kevin English

      14. Mar, 2010

      Hi Brian. Thanks for stopping by!

      It’s true. Labels are notorious for not thinking things through. The problem lies with the very nature of music making. Its an emotional response that generally edges the business aspect out of the picture. For musicians, balancing a check book seems to take away from their creative juices. However, there would be a lot fewer struggling artists out there if they bit the bullet and focused on financials on a regular basis.

      Great stuff on your label. Keep up the good work!

      Best,

      Kevin

  12. Lee

    27. Apr, 2010

    [...] came across this great guest post by Kevin English on Creative Deconstruction that talks about the “Lower Class Musician” and suggestions for how to lift yourself [...]

  13. Rick

    27. Apr, 2010

    [...] In an attempt to curb some of these strikes against recording artists today, I suggest that we lower our overhead, adjust our expectations, accelerate our learning and diversify our product offering. All of which should be outlined in a good old fashion business plan. I speak more in depth about this in a recent post on Creative Deconstruction. [...]