Progress Thread: Gymjunkie's Ventures

[Gymjunkie]

OK, today I start a thread to keep progress on my ventures. Currently it's a Music Label at the very beginning and a weight training weekly newsletter at Weight Training Weekly - best advice from around the Web about Weight Training, Weight Training routines, Nutrition and Motivation

WTW is on the shelf a lil' because we have just started promoting our artist's songs on Facebook and launched his site. Goal is to get to 1000 now. Started with 31, now at 34 (lol... but that was hour of work only..) so only 966 fans left to go! Good thing is there is one amazing song and it can become a hit one day. Big one. It's up to me and a friend to make it happen.
That's it for now.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Things between two possible girls to sing for us didn't work out. Now we got one more girl left. We need to get 3 singers/rappers. Looks like we will have to use our connections and friends to the limit..

And if we get things together I have found out that I got friend to make a video clip (pretty sure he'd agree), also someone to organize events and it looks like that using connections we could make some things happen! Still, we have LOADS to do..

 

[Gymjunkie]

Alright, we got two singers and possibly third (two guys are like duo of rappers or something).
Both seem to be eager to start their music careers with us. I haven't met them yet, but my partner likes them.

We are gonna go to the studio at the start of February to make 3 songs for each artist and then start promoting them (my job, all eyes on me!!!). This will be an investment of about 300 euro probably. Maybe more and if the songs we get will get to be popular on Facebook and Youtube when given away for free then we will continue with more budget and even sign contracts.

In the mean time we launched Mixtape for our producer but it isn't succeeding because it wasn't well prepared and we need to work on the strategy for our producer. Mainly he has to make a decision whether he wants to publicly know or just stay in the background. After this we will have easier time deciding on what to do next.

In conclusion, project seems to be going well. We are going forward, maybe not as fast as I'd want but it's good. We are close to getting songs to promote. That will be a breaking point for us.

 

[dkt91]

That one sounds really interesting - gonna follow this thread

Good luck!

 

[Gymjunkie]

My partner at music label is too slow. He keeps our pace down and isn't focused enough. Still very young and his mind is into girls and parties lil more than needed for this biz to work. Me and a music producer are actually thinking of letting him go. It would suck cuz we are all good friends and like each other's company. I hope he makes up his mind and we can work all together.. Still, I can't waste my life and time, I gotta businesses to build, goals to achieve and things to learn!

Just like in these lyrics:

I realize life is short so I'm markin the day
Now it's full speed ahead, I'll rest when I'm dead
And I could give a F*ck what the next man said
I live how I wanna live
Buy what I wanna buy
Do what I wanna do
Try What I wanna try
Fear nothin, take chances
Not afraid to fail, always makin advances
So when I ride on the Grim Reaper Highway
No regrets bitch, I did it my way

 

[MikeC]

I'll probably be following this thread. I'm in a band myself, and we've been working on some marketing lately. Maybe I can learn something.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

I'll probably be following this thread. I'm in a band myself, and we've been working on some marketing lately. Maybe I can learn something.

Hey, if you want someone to brainstorm with, my PM inbox is always open man! Lemme know what you guys have done and imagine doing! Maybe I will be able to help ya out!

 

[Gymjunkie]

Alright, we have met two guys who will be our rap duo and we liked them. We seem to understand each other and head in the same direction. They also seem to be action takers on their own so that is great, that's people we want. We are looking for the studio now, hopefully it's still free and can book it for friday and then spend whole day making at least 6 songs and doing video and interviews!

Our producer also started experimenting with two different music genres and seems we could still catch a trend in music that is going now. If we do, that's a big big plus!

 

[Gymjunkie]

Alright, a lil setback but we couldn't book a studio for some time soon. Only in a month's time So March 6th is the first day at the studio and by then we will have to came up with contract draft, terms and another singer at least. Maybe two depending on how it goes with our girl we 'have' now..

 

[taichijedi]

What about software for the computer like Fruity Loops or Record Producer? I understand that you wouldn't be able to get the studio quality, but it would get some tracks cut so that you had a little something to put out there like a teaser. Plus, it would give you a chance to workout everything with your artists so that when you step into the studio its gametime. Nothing sucks up money like renting studio time to work out the kinks!!

I will definitely be following this thread! I want to see you make it with this!!

 

[Guest3722A]

Pro Tools Recording Studio - PC, Mac

 

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[Gymjunkie]

What about software for the computer like Fruity Loops or Record Producer? I understand that you wouldn't be able to get the studio quality, but it would get some tracks cut so that you had a little something to put out there like a teaser. Plus, it would give you a chance to workout everything with your artists so that when you step into the studio its gametime. Nothing sucks up money like renting studio time to work out the kinks!!

I will definitely be following this thread! I want to see you make it with this!!

Our producer from who we get beats for songs uses Fruity Loops already but we need a good microphone and acoustics to get good vocals. That's why we want studio.

We got a good deal for it and in the future we should get discounts there too so it looks optimistic. Although yeah, doing everything at home is an option. If something else happens than we will have to do it that way

Thanx for help man!

 

[taichijedi]

Although yeah, doing everything at home is an option. If something else happens than we will have to do it that way

I'm not suggesting that you have to do everything at home or top quality for this part. You have about a month until studio time becomes available, so I was merely suggesting that you can do things at home (or a garage, think Hustle & Flow) where the producer and the artists work out the timings, levels, etc. while you're waiting. That way when you get in there, its all business. Think of it like scrimmages before the big game. Everything winds up tight in the studio and it keeps your artist sharp and helps them develop.

Great work on getting the reduced rate on the studio time, that will definitely help! It sounds like you definitely have your eye on the ball! Keep hustling!!

 

[Gymjunkie]

I'm not suggesting that you have to do everything at home or top quality for this part. You have about a month until studio time becomes available, so I was merely suggesting that you can do things at home (or a garage, think Hustle & Flow) where the producer and the artists work out the timings, levels, etc. while you're waiting. That way when you get in there, its all business. Think of it like scrimmages before the big game. Everything winds up tight in the studio and it keeps your artist sharp and helps them develop.

Great work on getting the reduced rate on the studio time, that will definitely help! It sounds like you definitely have your eye on the ball! Keep hustling!!

Cheers man, good idea definitely! I will organize it in coming weeks! The producer who is the guy I joined to help originally is losing motivation and is down now but hopefully he will be ok. This should help.

 

[Gymjunkie]

We have reached a boiling point. A crisis actually. We have to meet and decide on business model and structure because we didn't communicate clearly about it at the start and it is a confusing one. Esp. to us young guys, new at business and music industry. We may actually go separate ways after the meeting and it wouldn't be bad really. As long as friendship stays well, no problems.

Now my job is to draw a good plan and structure for two companies to partner up on and if all the sides involved agree then we proceed, if not we move on to different things. It sucks but it's another lesson I have learned. When you work in teams you need to communicate very well and that is hard to do, even between frieds and acquaintances.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Me and friends/partners had a short meet yesterday and talked about the structure of partnership. Two companies, one production company and one label. The producer regains his own management because my partner in label was manager for him. But it is better now because the producer can focus on himself at his own speed, we kinda held him back unintentionally.

Now we are gonna work this way: Label (Me and partner) find artists, go to Producer and make songs/albums and buy music from him for a percentage. Then we take it upon us to promote and make artists into well know musicians that can earn enough money to live off of it. And we succeed then our label will make money too..

 

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[Davidla]

Good to hear you managed to work out your differences!
The deal sounds fair..

I am having a little trouble understanding the business structure though:

Each partner has his own company, the producer has his own production company, and you and your partner have a label together? :smx4:

Goodluck with the upcoming studio time!

 

[Guest3722A]

Me and friends/partners had a short meet yesterday and talked about the structure of partnership. Two companies, one production company and one label. The producer regains his own management because my partner in label was manager for him. But it is better now because the producer can focus on himself at his own speed, we kinda held him back unintentionally.

Now we are gonna work this way: Label (Me and partner) find artists, go to Producer and make songs/albums and buy music from him for a percentage. Then we take it upon us to promote and make artists into well know musicians that can earn enough money to live off of it. And we succeed then our label will make money too..

Is it in writing and each person's duties are well defined or is it just verbal? When the money starts coming in, partnerships can encounter alot of grey areas when they're not well defined.

IMO, getting things in writing is a must.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Is it in writing and each person's duties are well defined or is it just verbal? When the money starts coming in, partnerships can encounter alot of grey areas when they're not well defined.

IMO, getting things in writing is a must.

Oh yeah man, that's what happened to us. It may still be because I can't read their minds but they both seem to understand what to do now. It's kinda fresh start to us.

Biggest grey area for me and my label partner is that he studies almost full-time and can't spend as much time as me on the project. Esp. upcoming year, on summer he can spend more time. We may have arguments there but hopefully not.

And we are gonna make contracts with artists and producer soon so that we had it all on paper.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Good to hear you managed to work out your differences!
The deal sounds fair..

I am having a little trouble understanding the business structure though:

Each partner has his own company, the producer has his own production company, and you and your partner have a label together? :smx4:

Goodluck with the upcoming studio time!

Producer - makes beats, goes to the studio to produce and master the album. Can also look for artists for us to sign or if he wants to start label himself, he can.

Label - me and partner, I run marketing and business side of things, he manages artists and organizes meets. We would share profit 50/50 and we share expenses that way too. We invest in artists, pay for their songs to producer and songwriter, pay for tools to use for promotion and do marketing for them. In return we will take 50 percent of profit from album sales and other income. That's for the first year of contract, later we will get less if artists do well and succeed, we will set up bonuses for good performance for both artists and producer.



Our label is more to help the producer be free from all the stuff except working on songs and albums creatively but he may still want to do his own label and sign artist for himself. If he wants he's free to do it, but he wont enjoy it and that would take away time from him.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Alright, lil less than a month since last post and LOTS have happened.

First, we fired 2 out of 3 artists we had planned to sign because they weren't willing to spend time and come to meet and and discuss preparation for studio and strategy. That is just disrespectful and plainly shows that people don't take music seriously or don't take us seriously and neither way we are gonna work with such people.


Secondly, probably most importantly, I almost fired my co-founder on the label since he has f-ed up with not spending enough time doing his job, which was easy - organize meeting, show up when you needed, organize studio, contact people with connections... From now on he is no longer 50-50 owner. I own 60 percent of label since I do most of the job, pretty much all. My partner owns 25 percent since he invests money along with me in the studio and album making and he might also find some more artists. I'm real disappointed with this development because the friendship is on the line, you can loose it because of business. Which hasn't even fully started yet... Didn't enjoy giving him the talk about how he hasn't showed up when needed...

On the other hand, we got one guy who seems to work hard with our producer, we might also develop a good connection in the future with some artist who has done more than us and has much more experience than us in music. Also, I decided not to take up more artists currently and just focus on one of them and see how it goes. If we get good start there is a que of 10 people who could step into place of the two fired artists..

I am also learning about music industry in general how things work and worked and how they can be improved. The legal side of things scares the shit out of me honestly.. tons and tons to learn and do..like royalties, publishing, distribution... advances..

This is probably first of my started projects that scare me a lil...

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Whups....looks like the name Atom Records is already taken... can't use it for my company... now trying to figure out a new name again.

And there is only half day left till we go to the studio! Cant wait! Itching!!! Should be fun and exciting experience. We got so much stuff to do...songs, video interviews, photo session in the city center and then a few beers after hard work.. If we earn it!

 

[Gymjunkie]

So the big day came and we went to the studio! It was beautiful! We had fun, we shot videos, made pictures and made 3 freestyle songs for our rapper who is gonna be first signing probably. We got some good stuff and it's in editing stage now. Should be ready sometime next week.


We also might be able to sign (steal) another guy with lots of talent, he came in to the studio and had lyrics written in 10 minutes just hearing the beat of the top of his head. Next time we go to studio on April 1st we gonna make songs for him and probably few more for first guy. 12 hour night session should be fun!

 

[Gymjunkie]

Video clip from Friday's Studio session. Unprofessional so bare with it

YouTube - In Studio.wmv

 

[Gymjunkie]

Anxiously awaiting second session of the studio where we need our artist to re-do one of 3 songs again and then we will have another guy who we want to sign but not necessary will (he just needs beats, he may not need my label's help). He's also supposed to bring a girl for us to listen to and support him on one song.. maybe we will sign her. Lots of things hang in balance now...

 

[Gymjunkie]

OK, things are moving along fine. The second guy I want to sign seems to be good. My producer likes him a lot and they seem to work well together. If he shows up great in the studio session looks like I will have second artist to promote.

I seem to have come up with the name for my company and the official setting up of company is gonna be needed quite soon...

I'm also having self-doubts, excitement, fear, happyness wrapped up into one..

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Uploaded two freestyle songs to the net. We will see how people react. If anyone is hip hop fan check out the Flavour D at Flavour D | Facebook

 

[Gymjunkie]

As my 1000th post here I will share our first video made for one of our rappers. Not even a video just pictures in a slide show but still... first is first.. we will get better:

YouTube - Flavour D - Keep On Tryin (Prod. by Young Fizzy).wmv

Friday night we are doing a 12 hour recording session at the studio with both rappers and its gonna be a huge thing. Our producer has made some sick beats and we should be able to make some singles..

After that if all is good I will prepare contracts for the guys.. Huge thing.. dont know how this will pan out..

 

[Gymjunkie]

Didnt get to the studio on Friday because the studio guys were not able to get us engineers thru the night.. Mad pissed at them..we should be going there this Friday instead. We will see what happens..

 

[Gymjunkie]

Wow..things getting exciting... the guy I want to sign pulled some strings and got a discount for some music, mixing and mastering and studio time. That comes up to 8100 euros. Still way way more then I expected to invest. On the good side artist himself is willing to invest big part of it and wants me to find the rest. he also seems to have connection in UK so we could sell stuff there.. Looks very exciting but I'm not sold yet... I will try to get a contract first.