The Music Business.

The music business.

Being 30 years old and having a savings account that couldn't pay my current gas bill, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my future and how I'll dig myself out of the hole I'm in. This is obvious if you've read through my 5 year plan and any of my other business related blogs. So I wanted to use this post as a way of breaking down why I'm doing certain things that I'm doing.

I currently run Skyline Sound Studios. My studio rate is only $25-hour, kept low because I don't have a very large marketshare in the recording market for Central Ohio at this time. When that marketshare increases, my rate will increase, allowing me to shed my day job even sooner and make Skyline my full time day job.

But let's look at the numbers.

$25/hour + 40hours/week + 52weeks/year = $52,000.00/year.

This is a calculation of what is coming in only, and doesn't account for the costs of doing business. I'd be making almost twice what I make at my current day job if I can make Skyline full time at it's current hourly rate, which will be nice, but it won't be enough to get me what I want in life.

Good financial planning dictates diversification. This means that you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket, because if the basket gets knocked off of a shelf, you're out of eggs and have to start from scratch. So I'm looking into other ways of generating an income, and have determined that the music business is where I should continue to focus. This time, it'll be on using the studio as an asset to produce products that will be sold. In other words, I'm starting record labels out of the studio.

Let's explain. I've already expressed my intentions to monetize off of Project DIVIDE and my solo career. This is something that's taking more time to start than I'd hoped, but I'm taking steps when I can. Meanwhile, I've also decided to partner with Nathan Froe to start F.R.O.E. Records, a hip hop label in Columbus Ohio. We've signed Jovy, our first artist. We're going to be hitting the studio soon to record Jovy's first release, which will be heavily marketed online and through other sources.

I'm also considering making deals with other independant artists to work toward promoting their products in exchange for a share of their revenues, essentually acting as a label without signing them to a label. I'd be working for an equal share of their profits.

So what does all this mean? Let's turn to Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn from Pomplamoose.

Yeah yeah yeah. I've mentioned this before, but basically, these two helped me realize that it's possible to make a living off of music independantly in this day and age. So if Jack and Natalie can sell over 100,000 downloads a year, and each of them have their own solo careers as well, then there's no reason I can't follow this model.

So now let's look at some numbers. Let's just assume that I can sell 10,000 downloads each from my solo project, Project DIVIDE, and from F.R.O.E. Records label artist Jovy, and we'll leave the speculated possibility of working with other artists out of it for now. So that's 30,000 downloads I've sold at $1 each, meaning that I'd have generated $30,000! Now, that's not $30,000 for just me, that's $10,000 for each of 3 different projects and I'd need to split those profits between the other parties. But let's just assume that from that, I am able to retain a profit of $10,000. If I add that to the $52,000-year potential revenue of Skyline Sound Studios, I'll be around $62,000 -year. This will be a decent living for an artist to be making, and if these investments continue to grow, then the sky is the limit!

So let's plug that into my 5 year plan.

By New Years Eve 2017, my goal is to have dual residency in Columbus Ohio and in The Greater Denver Area. My studio will have been built into an efficient, self sustaining business by then, and I'll have established income streams from F.R.O.E. Records and my other musical projects. I will have used my recording and musical careers to establish myself as a producer who now has national clients, and will travel the country and possibly the world to work on records. I may or may not start a studio in Colorado, as there are studios I've partnered with there that are already up and running that I can work from. If I don't start a commercial studio in Colorado, this may help me save the cost of starting a new facility and trying to gain a marketshare in that market, but we'll see. I would at least have a private production facility so that my musical career could continue without haulting, and that would allow me to continue working on Project DIVIDE and my solo career from either Ohio or Colorado. And now, on January 5th 2012, the clock is ticking. I have officially less than 5 years to implement these things. Fingers crossed. With luck, and hopefully with Laura by my side, I'll be looking back on this blog on December 31st, 2017, and be toasting my accomplishments to a glass of champaign from within the Rockies.

Happy new year!

The symbolism of dates on a calendar.

2011 is now a not so distant memory, and honestly I feel amazing after having turned to a new chapter in December. I'm starting to finally recognize myself again. It's been a long fight, filled with lots of whining emo moments and lots of bitching and moaning. Laura thinks I was depressed, in more than an "I'm Sad" sense, and I think she's right. But fortunately for me, I think that's well behind me at this point. I'm starting to feel like after crossing the threshold into 2012, I've wiped the slate clean and am starting a new year fresh and clean with lots of my old unwavering optimism. For the first time since 2010, I feel consistently good about the future.

What's weird though is how passing a date on a calendar can do that to a person like me. Laura thinks I fixate on dates based on events from my life, and again she's right. When I was a teen, every April 26th was the worst day of the year for me, cause that was another anniversary of mom's death. Being with Sarah for 12 years, dates on a calendar were a huge deal. Every year, the holidays were highly anticipated, as were birthdays and anniversaries.

But who cares?! It's a date on a calendar. A Calendar is a time management platform developed by man. Just because you pass the anniversary of something terrible doesn't mean that the terrible thing is going to happen again. It's just another day in the grand scheme of things. So why get all hung up on the date?

But I do. And now that I've passed into 2012, I feel almost new. I feel like it's all officially in the past and I can move on with my life and not let my past rule me.

It's a good feeling.

Reflections

Meet Kelsey Webb.



I met Kelsey when I worked at Clear Channel as WTVN's traffic Producer. I was the guy who answered the traffic tip line during the afternoon drive when it was first instituted. Then I moved away from Columbus, left my job at Clear Channel, and lost touch with most of the people I knew there. If it weren't for twitter and Facebook, I'd have lost touch completely.

A couple of years ago, I saw that Kelsey had joined Dave and Jimmy. While I was proud of her move up, I was a little jealous. She was getting where she wanted to be, and moving up the ranks. I left media to follow a relationship to a different state, and was now working in grocery. Jealousy was a natural reaction in that situation, but I was also proud of her.

I just saw that Kelsey changed her Facebook status to Engaged. I'm again proud of her, and happy for her good news, but seeing this caused me to reflect a little. She stayed in and worked up the ranks to get where she is, and I'm happy to see that from her, but what about me?

Well, I'm no longer jealous of it. Jealousy is a childish emotion, and i try not to allow myself to be ruled by childish ways. I'm 30, it's beyond time to be past that. Besides, truth be told, even though I don't believe in fate or karma, I kinda feel like the way that things played out for me in life lit a fire in me which cemented my dedication to get what I want out of life once and for all, and on my terms. And now, after the crumbling of a 12 year relationship and a virtual pressing of the reset button of my life in 2011, it's almost like things fell into place for me. I wish I'd never left radio, but at the same time I feel like if things had just worked out for me and I'd never had to work shitty assembly line and grocery jobs, I'd not have been as dedicated to start my own businesses and fight as hard as I now find myself fighting to get my life where I want it to be.

As for things working out for Kelsey's career during her 20's, and me just gaining a career footing as an entrepreneur at 30…….it's like I always used to tell Sarah. It's not a contest. Things happen to people at different times in life, and for me I can say that rather than being consumed by career in my 20's, I was able to live a relaxed decade in relative comfort and not much despair. I can honestly say that I hope Kelsey never has to see some of the personal pitfalls I faced this year, but I can also honestly say that my drive and dedication would not be what it is right now if not for those pitfalls.

So yeah, it would've been nice to have had my career ambitions go a little more smoothly when I was in my 20's. It would've also been lovely for my mom not to die when I was 9, or for my father to have paid attention to the first 28 years of my existence, but those things didn't happen……and i wouldn't change it. It would've been great to not go through the pain and tribulations of life, but having gone through those things I feel like I'm a better person for it. I feel like the kind of person I am today was etched in by those tribulations, and that life experience is not something I'd trade…..ever.

So Kelsey, congrats on the engagement and the career. I wish you the best for a bright future. I'll be anxiously awaiting your wedding photos on Facebook!

It's my world now!

I just got loaded with a HELL of a lot of drive to make 2012 my year.

First, today was a MAJOR ass kicking day behind the mixing desk. I got the Enemy By Mourning record about 99.9% done, and was able to make some more progress on the Project DIVIDE EP too!

Then, I got two studio inquiries, and a date booked for Jan. 15th. Yay for clients!

And finally, I noticed just now that a song that was recorded in the room where I sit right now and type this has been distributed to Spotify! It's the first time I've heard something I've created that was distributed there, so I'm having a mild geek out!

If you have Spotify, check out Free by K Nacole. Follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KNacolemusic



This won't be the last time something I worked on is put on a nationally utilized distributor, but it is the first time, and I'm stoked!

That's it. I'm gonna make 2012 my bitch. It's about time shit turned around, and I'm pumped.

What others think.

You know what, Fuck you.

That's the attitude I should have toward anything anyone else thinks of me. it's only their impression of me, and it doesn't define me.

Last night, drunk, posting to twitter about Colorado, I got in a conversation with a friend where it was made apparent that I whine about Colorado at levels that others take notice too. Now to be fair, the friend was being empathetic, and this isn't a pissed off rant at him. He meant well, and I thank him for talking to me. But now I realize that people may see my posts and see me as whiny.

Well, Fuck them! Again, not directed at the friend I talked to last night, but rather directed at anyone who thinks any less of me because of my posts. They can all go kiss my ass, because I don't wanna be someone who lives his life based on what others think of him. I'm living my life on my terms based on what I wanna do, and I'll do and say whatever the hell I want.

I've turned a corner, and I've turning away from being a whiner into a fighter. I've already made 2012 my bitch, she's tied up in the basement with a ball gag right now. It's time shit gets real.

That Quirky Old Guy

Death is inevitable. I'm 30, and will be 31 in about 3 weeks. I still consider myself somewhat young, and I have a lot that I can do with the youth that I have left.

But what about when I get older?

After I retire, I wanna be that quirky old guy that everyone knows in a town. I wanna be that old guy in a small mountain town that everyone knows and respects, who always has some old story to tell, and who everyone knows as "old Mr. Hire."

I'm weird, I know that. But the good thing about this is that I know I want to make it to that older-than-dirt age and make it to that place in my life where I can be that guy. But I also know that I need to be able to load my life with those stories that I would one day tell. So in that, I need to live a meaningful and fulfilled life, because that old version of me would be relatively boring if I didn't have anything to say.

Hate

Over the past month, I've been feeling pressure to finish some things that should've been done by now. I've been working hard to get them done, but I've been feeling a sense of pressure from those who are waiting for them. To those people, I'm sorry. I'm working on it, and nearing home plate, but I still feel pressure…..although some of it may all just be my own head blowing it way out of proportion. Still, it makes me feel like people are starting to look at me more negatively. That's never fun.

Then I get in a fight today on Facebook with my brother over fundamental beliefs he holds that touched a personal nerve with me. This got my father and my brothers mother on the defense against me, and made me start questioning whether or not I was overblowing things.

But the biggest thing is regrets for things I did to someone who means the world to me in 2011 while I was going through my emotional torment. I'm looking back at events that played out, looking at how I handled them, and I get disgusted with myself. I almost feel like I'm not worthy to have Laura in my life, and I wonder why she still clung to me. I'm glad she did, and most of the time I feel wonderful, but on the rare occasion when I do allow myself to start feeling regretful feelings of what I did over the summer (rather than block it out so that I can get past the guilt and move on), it's crippling.

It makes me feel like I don't deserve any of what I have. I certainly haven't been a great person over the past year, and I've taken everything for granted at one time or another. I hope that in 2012 I can change that, but this isn't a positive post. Quite frankly, I'm really pissed off at myself. I feel like in some ways I've alienated a lot of people I knew thanks to the emotional shit I've been so public about over the last 11 months since Sarah left, and I kinda feel alone. But in a weird, twisted, fucked up kinda way, I feel like I deserve that. I feel like I don't deserve to have friends, I don't deserve to have awesome projects to work on in the studio, I don't deserve to have Laura in my life…….

I just feel like it should all go away, because I've taken it all for granted and don't deserve any of it.

Part of me doesn't want to ever feel like I deserve any of what I have, because I worry that if I start feeling like I deserve it, I'll start feeling entitled to it and start taking it for granted. I don't want to do that. If there's one thing I'm trying to retain as a permanent lesson from the last year, it's humility.

And right now, I feel that the world is relatively stacked against me. I feel it should be that way, and maybe they should all just leave me be, because I'd deserve that.

I dunno if any of that makes any sense.