formerstudiofoo
New member
It might be interesting for 'starters' to tell them ways to get free good publicity for their studio.
In my studio days I used to setup projects to get the attention from recording artists. One project that worked really well was the following:
I started a bandcontest project which was focussed on highschool bands. They needed to come with selfmade song (no covers) and needed to be real highschool bands. Goal was to get 8 winning bands who all contributed 1 song on a CD. The winning bands got 2 days of recording/mixing in my studio in which we helped them with the composition and told them a lot about the business and musicrights etc. Sort of free education I guess. In the end we produced 1000 cd's, 800 to be given away to the bands (100 each) and the rest could be purchased for making price by the bands to be sold with a profit by themselves.
We had 2 problems...
1. the money. We were able to get sponsorship from the local businesscommunity, and made a deal with a record company (major discount on production costs.) The studiotime was an investment from our side.
2. How to reach the bands...we decided to write to all the musicteachers from the schools, who offcourse didn't respond at all because they, well are lazy. So we got it in the newspaper, the bands bugged their teachers about it who suddenly became enthousiast
In the end we got like 25 bands who signed up, major local and interlocal publicity, and it all ended with a big CD presentation (with all the bands performing on stage) to which bands and fans came with busloads. Again the venue was bigtime sponsored as was the PA system.
Why did we get sponsorship from local business? Well, simply because it was seen as a community project (which it basicly was) and the musiccompanies were interested in getting seen on such a project, and basicly it was good business for everybody. The venue had a fullloaded audience which resulted in a big profit on alcohol consumption
, the PA company had a good time with 8 new bands, which led to the bands actually hiring them for other gigs, and the record company got several bands out of this for multipling cd demo's.
So, how did we as a studio profit from this? Well, in the beginning we did not, it only costs us money as we had expected.
BUT, we realised from the start that 8 schoolband would become 80 bands within a few years. Students in their pubic days make a lot of fights, and all the bands splitted apart regarding severe personal dislikes etc
Teens, you gotta love them!
Within a couple of years those musicians went on to study, got jobs, made money but were still active as musicians. So the former 8 bands became a multiple of that, and all those musicians remembered the fun times we had in our studio. And they did not forget what we did for them in those days. So in the end we ended up with a lot of bands coming in, and maybe more important, telling other bands that we were THE studio in the neighbourhood to have a good time recording. We became the 'good guys.'
Hopes this helps you to inspire yourselve to get creative!
I've got more tips and stories that I will post here.
In my studio days I used to setup projects to get the attention from recording artists. One project that worked really well was the following:
I started a bandcontest project which was focussed on highschool bands. They needed to come with selfmade song (no covers) and needed to be real highschool bands. Goal was to get 8 winning bands who all contributed 1 song on a CD. The winning bands got 2 days of recording/mixing in my studio in which we helped them with the composition and told them a lot about the business and musicrights etc. Sort of free education I guess. In the end we produced 1000 cd's, 800 to be given away to the bands (100 each) and the rest could be purchased for making price by the bands to be sold with a profit by themselves.
We had 2 problems...
1. the money. We were able to get sponsorship from the local businesscommunity, and made a deal with a record company (major discount on production costs.) The studiotime was an investment from our side.
2. How to reach the bands...we decided to write to all the musicteachers from the schools, who offcourse didn't respond at all because they, well are lazy. So we got it in the newspaper, the bands bugged their teachers about it who suddenly became enthousiast
In the end we got like 25 bands who signed up, major local and interlocal publicity, and it all ended with a big CD presentation (with all the bands performing on stage) to which bands and fans came with busloads. Again the venue was bigtime sponsored as was the PA system.
Why did we get sponsorship from local business? Well, simply because it was seen as a community project (which it basicly was) and the musiccompanies were interested in getting seen on such a project, and basicly it was good business for everybody. The venue had a fullloaded audience which resulted in a big profit on alcohol consumption
, the PA company had a good time with 8 new bands, which led to the bands actually hiring them for other gigs, and the record company got several bands out of this for multipling cd demo's.So, how did we as a studio profit from this? Well, in the beginning we did not, it only costs us money as we had expected.
BUT, we realised from the start that 8 schoolband would become 80 bands within a few years. Students in their pubic days make a lot of fights, and all the bands splitted apart regarding severe personal dislikes etc
Teens, you gotta love them!Within a couple of years those musicians went on to study, got jobs, made money but were still active as musicians. So the former 8 bands became a multiple of that, and all those musicians remembered the fun times we had in our studio. And they did not forget what we did for them in those days. So in the end we ended up with a lot of bands coming in, and maybe more important, telling other bands that we were THE studio in the neighbourhood to have a good time recording. We became the 'good guys.'
Hopes this helps you to inspire yourselve to get creative!
I've got more tips and stories that I will post here.