Selling Out in the Music Biz: How are you spending your money?

[TheRecProducer]

Here are my questions?
1. How much money have you spent on gear?
2. How much money have you spent on studio time?
3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?
4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?

I am currently writing a new book. It is a follow up to my first book, “Big Time Techniques for the Small Time Record Producer”. Initially, I did not intend to write a second book. I wrote Big Time Techniques because it addressed serious issues and misconceptions that were, and still are, plaguing the independent music community. I support the composer, musician and engineer, not the executive. I personally despise the corporatization of music, and I am disgusted by some of the corporate recording industry’s practices. I released Big Time Techniques hoping that it would inspire a more informed independent community that would then be equipped to give the majors some competition. After reading the hundreds of responses from readers of Big Time Techniques, I see that there is serious need to address the issues of capital, finances, and budgeting in the recording process.

I am co-authoring the new book with a personal friend. He is incredibly successful and brilliant when it comes to business and personal finance. Together, we are developing methods for obtaining capital, managing a recording budget, and our specialty, maximizing returns. It may take a few months, but I’ll let you all know when it gets released.

 

[Chili]

Sure, I'll play along...

1. How much money have you spent on gear?

More than my wife needs to know about - about $3000 (not including instruments)

2. How much money have you spent on studio time?

$0 All done at home.

3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?

I had one cd mastered from a pro, one done by me and the next one I will probably ship out to a pro.

4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?

No return on investments (if you consider that a barrier)

 

[Seidy]

1. ~5600€
2. 0
3. Budget is low, so I'll try to record myself or ask for friends to play.
4. That's harder question than it seems. Maybe I understand the question wrong, but are there more financial barriers besides not enough money?

 

[Armistice]

1. ~$20,000 AUD (things were pretty damn expensive here for the longest time...don't spend much anymore, have most things I need. That's recording gear only, don't start me on instruments! ... probably double that since I got my first axe)
2. $2,000 over the years, to little advantage
3. Not lately - I'd consider getting any further albums mastered by a pro. First one was, sort of, second and third I did myself
4. None really, music is what I do in life when I'm not working at the day job, it's not my career, and so spending the amount I've spent on what's essentially a hobby over the time I've been doing it doesn't work out much, really. Pretty good ROI I reckon.

 

[Justsomeguy]

1. about £3000 (like many, not including instruments)
2. £300 (did two demos with my last band, in the end we recorded it all ourselves as the results were.... well, less than great)
3. a handful of times when i've got musicians in to work with a particular artist. however, most of these people are friends who were happy to work at "mates rates"
4. lack of initial finances & limited return on investments. starting from the ground up has been very difficult due to the cost of the gear i needed and then wanted. like many (i'm guessing) i started with a very VERY budget setup and have begged, saved, borrowed, saved, and reinvested along the way to improve my gear over the years. However, the internet has made life slightly easier as 1) there is more access to real reviews, making choosing appropriate equipment within a set budget much easier and 2) access to a larger range of products meaning you're not just tied to big brand/what is available from the local music store

 

[TAGG's]

Best money spent is on software!



Sub on Youtube 4 Beat Contest, Tutorials & Hit Radio Beats
TAGG's 2012

 

[guitaristic]

Here are my questions?
1. How much money have you spent on gear?
2. How much money have you spent on studio time?
3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?
4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?

1) About $3,600 on gear...not counting instruments

2) $0. Never even set foot in one.

3) Nope

4) I'd say the biggest barrier for me was raising funds for some of my larger purchases...once I started to buy any higher-level gear (for me, like anything over $700) it became a lot harder to budget funds toward it while still maintaining my meager college lifestyle lol.


Good luck with your book!

 

[PDP]

1) 10,000.00 over time
2) about 3000.00 all spent in the 1980's
3) Sort of, sometimes I barter with players, occasionally I have paid cash for real pros.
4) I like ear candy production, so I'm always wishing I could afford better gear.

That was fun.

 

[TheRecProducer]

Without using the calculator, these are my estimates...

1. $70,000.
2. $300.
3. $2000.
4. Seidy, not enough money is always a factor I suppose, but the cause of the problem can be many things. For example, here is a financial issue that I have currently...

Starting out, I had to enter into some partnership agreements to get more than half of that 70,000. Now that I am making money with my business, I want to buy out my partners so I can keep it all. I have cast to put back into the business. Do I spend the cash on a new project that could incerase the income even more, or do I spend it buying out my partners? To quote Kelly Bundy, "The mind boggles." Still, in a way you are right, Seidy. If I could buy out the partners and produce the next record at the same time, I would.

 

[Track Rat]

Not including instruments, I've probably got about $20,000 into the studio. Not all at once but over a period of time. The sad thing is I couldn't sell my gear and get back a tenth of that.
Money spent at other commercial studios, around $3500. Which is what got me into setting up my own place.
I've never hired studio musicians at my place. I've had clients who have recorded here that have but that was between them.
The barriers I've hit are there's not enough money in music to make a decent living. At least not in my experience.

 

[Bristol Posse]

1. How much money have you spent on gear?

in terms of what is actually in my studio now and not including all the buying and selling on Ebay around $12000 over the last four years

2. How much money have you spent on studio time?

zero personally although I have been in the studio on someone else's time several years ago

3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?

I have had a few songs mastered over the years, maybe $400 total

4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?

No financial barriers, I'm not in it as my primary income source which is a good thing since I make very little from music (maybe a few hundred a year). Biggest barrier for me is time to record and mix. my output is down to about three to four of my own songs a year worth recording by the time I've written them, tweaked them, played them out live to see if they work and people like them, to then record and mix. Plus of course I have a day job to fund it all

 

[Melvin McSnatch]

Here are my questions?
1. How much money have you spent on gear?
2. How much money have you spent on studio time?
3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?
4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?

1. A lot of my gear is used or accumulated over the years and includes a couple gifts. But even on a shoestring budget, I'm well over $2,500 without instruments or computer.

2. $0. I was bit with the DIY recording bug early. Growing up, my dad recorded his own music with a 4-track tape recorder and the earliest versions of Cakewalk. So it has just always been part of my ethos that one should write and record one's own music.

3. No.

4. When you exist at the lowest commercial level possible you basically reinvest everything back into your stuff. And buying stuff means you need to buy more stuff for the stuff you bought. Also, having more stuff enables you to use more different stuff with your existing stuff. So in the end, you're just working for more stuff that you can use to earn more stuff. (It's a lame answer I know, but I'm going through a stuff overload this week. Ever feel like you're just chasing your tail?)

 

[somegeezer]

1. How much money have you spent on gear?
Just on the stuff I use to actually record, probably about £1500. Including instruments and such too, I'd say around £4000-5000 at least so far.

2. How much money have you spent on studio time?
None. Always recorded with good friends usually. Now with my own gear, I don't even have to do that.

3. Do you ever hire professionals (musicians, mix engineers, mastering engineers, etc.)?
Never have, but doesn't mean I never will. A proper master is always good for something you plan to make some money on. I can generally get other musicians for nothing, or just play them myself, assuming I don't use anything too out of the ordinary for me.

4. What are some financial barriers that you have encountered as you have been pursuing your music career?
Not actually having any money to do a lot of it. Travelling is generally where the most of my money will go. If I can't afford to get somewhere, where I'll need to go to record something specific, it will generally hold off any project until I do. Thankfully a lot of places I move between are only a few hours walking max generally. I could get to the other side of the city in 2/2.5 hours on a normal day. But that means at least a 4 hour journey there and back, just to do something I'll probably take an hour or 2 to get done.