But if you require larger amounts of funding to get your project off the ground, you can’t rely on credit cards, 401ks, in-store financing, savings, and so on. Crowdfunding might be a better option if you’ve got a larger number of supporters that would be willing to help you out with smaller amounts of money. Now, if I’ve given you the impression that it’s easy to get funding from any of these sources, it isn’t. You can look at: Venture capital, angel investors, bank loans, grants, and so on. you’ve started executing on your plan), it’s time to research traditional sources of loans, financing, or investments.
Once you have your plan in place, you’ve registered your business, and the wheels are in motion (i.e. Whether you’re a musician or a music producer, you are a business, and you can set yourself up like one. The first thing to do is create a thorough business plan, outlining what products and services you’re going to offer, how much you’re going to charge for them, what your projected revenue is for the next five to ten years, who your competitors are and how you’re going to compete with them, how you’re going to market and promote your business, and so on. I’m not sure why you would take that risk in this era (more and more musicians are opting to record from home or in a home studio), but for anyone looking to make larger purchases, credit cards and in-store financing probably won’t cut it.
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You want to buy a building, renovate it, install sound treatment, and purchase recording equipment. Let’s say, for instance, that you’re looking to set up a recording studio from scratch. Make A Business Plan & Approach Traditional Sources
Instrument retailers generally have flexible options for musicians, so this is often the best way for musicians to finance equipment. Just avoid a situation where money is being debited from a credit card, and you’re paying interest twice (in-store and on your credit card). If you aren’t sure whether they offer financing plans, go in and ask. In the U.S., Guitar Center (they have something called the Gear Card which you can apply for online), and Sweetwater (they have a 0% interest for 24 months card) are some of the more popular stores. In Canada, we have an instrument retailer chain called Long & McQuade, and they will allow virtually anyone to finance musical equipment. Visit Your Local Instrument Retailer & Ask You can keep making minimum payments indefinitely, but then you’re just fueling the monster that is consumer debt.įinancing musical gear on a credit card is somewhat common practice, but rarely if ever the best option. Unfortunately, interest rates are going to be extremely high, and if your credit rating isn’t great, you could get roped into bad deals without even knowing it. Meanwhile, consumer debt is socially accepted, and when you finance products on a credit card, no one is going to ask you what you’re putting the money towards. They rarely hand out loans to people that can’t show steady income over the last five years, and don’t have saleable assets or co-signers, let alone to a musician. Let’s face it – most banks aren’t going to support your music career. Now, let’s look at a few ways you can obtain funding. There may be other situations where borrowing could be a solid move, but it mostly comes down to whether you have cash flow or not. Again, since you have cash flow, you should be able to pay down those monitors faster than if you didn’t have any leads or clients. This can be a bit of a precarious situation, so beware, but we’ll say you’ve just booked several new clients at your studio, and you need to replace your studio monitors to accommodate them.