Starting a Studio

Many people are trying to get their names written in lights. Whether it is from performing music to producing music, everyone is trying to find his or her way into the industry. Thirty-eight billion dollars is how much the music industry generates each year around the world. The United States makes up for one-third of the worlds music income. First thing that is always thought of is getting to the big labels, but what if one has no way of getting there? The next thing that is thought of is trying the indie labels. They are the middlemen of the music industry, introducing the artists to the world of fame and fortune. Some want to become one of these middlemen, such as myself, but how many are successful and what are the costs for starting this business? Is this a business someone should risk starting?

Recently, many people have been going to school for recording and mixing. This puts the ones without schooling at a disadvantage. No matter the knowledge gained prior to owning a studio, one still has to take into effect that a studio is a business and businesses take money and time. The startup cost of a studio, even an at home studio, can be between ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars. The equipment can take time and money to gather. Depending on the selection of consoles, microphones, instruments, cables, and computers/software, expenses can cost anywhere from fifty thousand to two-hundred fifty thousand dollars. Of course these expenses are paid for when bought, unlike the bills and rent payments, which occur monthly.

The other thing that people forget to recognize when opening a studio is the artist. They are the source of the revenue for the business. Without them, there wouldn’t be a studio in existence. People have to think of the payment of the artist, their royalties, their advances (if any), etc. These prices could pile up quickly and cause a business to lose money instead of gain money. Every artist wants to see their name in lights and the studio owner is in charge of making this happen. More people need to think rationally and look at the numbers before jumping in over their heads. Is this a business you would risk starting?

Is Streaming Music Digitally Hurting Or Helping The Music Industry?

Artists, Songwriters, and Labels all had a great fear in online streaming of music. The RIAA already deal with piracy of music on the Internet, which is the consumption of music on the Internet without legal rights or payment. Now with online radio/libraries such as Pandora, Spotify and Deezer, people don’t have to steal music anymore, but rather just look the song up and listen to it, even on demand. Just like the old threat of YouTube, users are allowed access to some of the biggest libraries at no cost. Even though obtaining revenue from online streaming can seem smaller than obtaining the revenue from buying songs, it can actually benefit the industry more than expected.

The biggest fear was that people would not buy the music if they could access the music for free online. Why would someone pay for music when he or she doesn’t have to pay? What was a fear to begin with turned out to be a silver lining in the digital music movement. With each music video played on YouTube and each song played on Spotify or any other online radio, royalties are paid. Something like Spotify, a loophole to piracy, turned out to be one of the biggest sources of revenue for labels.

Soon, iTunes will fall into the game with their release of iTunes Radio upon their release of iOS 7 this fall. This allows people to create a radio station just like Pandora with the same algorithmic learning. The only difference is the direct connection with the number one digital music store, iTunes Store. Each song that plays lasts for the whole duration of the song and allows the listener to purchase the song from the store. Each song that plays and each advertisement that plays will generate revenue. In addition, listeners will have a chance to discover new songs and are given the options to download the music directly to their phone, which adds more revenue. If they thought that was all, apps like Spotify and Pandora allow for ad free subscriptions for a small monthly fee.

Piracy may have scared the Music Industry away from digital music in the beginning, but now piracy has been turned into somewhat of a business. Everything is being paid for, but consumers do not have to buy anything. Everything is free, unless the consumer decides otherwise. It seems as if streaming music digitally is actually helping the Music Industry. What do you think? Is streaming hurting or helping?

RIAA

The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of America. They help to protect the intellectual property of artists and labels as well as music regulations and policies. Not only that, but they perform research on the industry, technology, and consumers. The RIAA is also the award announcers of gold, platinum, multi platinum, and diamond records. Everything to do with music and the distribution of music has to go through the RIAA.

They provide the knowledge artist’s and studios need to know when recording music, as well as the knowledge for a consumer when purchasing music. They create and uphold the laws of ownership for music and handle any music piracy. Their main goal is to make sure artists and labels get what they deserve and no one steals from them.

Currently they are trying to slow down the ad revenue of any site affiliated with music infringement or piracy. They are hoping the movement will make an impact to show that stealing is bad, but making money off of stolen music is even worse. Most people do not realize how bad it hurts the label and artist. They are just trying to make a safe market for the artists, labels and consumers. Everyone that helped make even one song possible should be able to be compensated for his or her work. From the engineers, to the songwriters, when music is stolen, many of these people lose their jobs. 70,000 jobs a year and 12.5 billion dollars lost annually is a lot of money. Piracy should and will be stopped. What is your opinion on the RIAA and piracy of music?