starting a Music Production Company?

I want to know if anyone on here has there own Music Production Company if so, how do you go about starting one? such as finding a building, getting artists to come to you, studio setup(could it be like your home studio) and basically how could you get people to notice you and start coming to you. I know moving to a major city is one factor but are all the other things you got to do when you have know connects within the industry, could internet networking be the solution?

Hmm... Well, Me and my partner or LLC'ed got a Business License(City and County), Federal Tax ID, and are currently still waiting on our Trademark(yea, we pay taxes ).

But as far as the getting clientele aspect, our story started out as us being musicians playing and touring. We got connects thru things like that, locally and nationally. But if I was starting from the no where. I would get a Myspace page, post some copyrighted tracks on there("some of my hottest $hit" to me, all producers should have their "A" game tracks and their "something thats cool" type of tracks line up). Check out some local artist on myspace in the music section thats in your area, or even as far as you want, listen to the music on their page, if you like their style, and you think they would be cool on your stuff, tell em to check you out(do it in a tasteful way, not just a email or friend request with a little quick message, make it kinda personal so they will know you really took the time to check out their page and you are serious about working with them), I mean because, we all get those messages and comments, talking about check out my music, where the comment was sent to you and thousands of other people. If the person on myspace decides to check out your page, actually like what they hear, hit you back and wanna f..ck wit you, then thats whats up... you should be able to get the ball rolling that way.

Physically(in person), If you all have, what they call a "Record Pool" (mostly for Rap and R & B)where local and major artist, DJ's, and a $hit load of other people in the (most of the time Local) Entertainment Industry in your area, get together and network. Take a couple of copyrighted beat CD's with you, and try to pass em out and get affiliated with the artist in your area thats doing their thing. Or you might run into some one trying to start off, that you could possibly grow with and develop as a Producer is supposed to help do. If yall dont have record pools, find out where the local rappers and other music artist are performing at, get out and meet em, let em know what you do, let em know ya name(Mike Jones, whooooo ......Mike Jones, 281-330-8004.... ). Not only that, once you collab with an artist, make sure you do ya best that you can with that song, and your product will sell itself and you.

Thats a lil bit of what I would do... my 2 cents


by the way, to start your company, you dont necessarily need your own studio, it would be nice, but you could even rent studio time if need be till you get your sh..t together(sometimes you can work out a deal with the studio owner, especially if he/she in particular likes your work. Speaking of that, a lot of studios like to have "In-House" Producers to just be able to call upon when artist call them looking to record and they need tracks(beats) or completed songs(R&B and pop which translates to more money).


By the way, i know cats making a killing just off of their sound, which is they way that it should be, and they arent working with nonthing but a computer, MPC, a keyboard, Sound card, and can work the plug ins in their DAW(if they need em). They got that sound that people want, and as long as you got that sound that they are interested in, they will get in touch with you. You just gotta get your music out there!!!!

So as far as a production company could it be in your house or do you rent out a small building? how do you go about getting a business license, federal tax ID, and trademarking your business. lastly what exactly is an LLC? thanks for your help by the way.

I should have said in the 1st statement above(which this really applies to artist as well), listen to that Ludacris, Release Therapy Album, Song "Tell It Like It Is."

You can be based out of wherever you would like to be based out of.... you can have it addressed to your home, "depending on your local government," Sometimes its a B..tch to have a home based business dealing with the local government, trying to get a business license from them. Even if you have the address setup at your house, you dont have to have your studio there. Most people wouldnt recommend having a commercial studio spot at your home(again, you dont have to have your own studio available to start your own music production company). A lot of major producers still rent studio rooms monthly or quarterly from a major studio(but that wouldnt change where their business setup is addressed to "taxes with that is another story, if you wanna do it the right way). So to answer your question, you cant have it at your house, or you can rent out a small building, or whatever you would like to do.... By the way, if you are planning to have it at your home, what all would be taking place at your home(like would you be selling studio time as well at home, will the clients be coming to your house, will you just be office based from the house) or etc....)? If you rented the small building, what would be your focus there?

Getting a business license, you have to go down to your local court house(like the drivers license area of it) and they usually have the business license area over there.... Before you just go down there, you can pick up your local telephone book, look in the government area of the phone book, and their should be a phone number about business licenses(possibly), or you could probably google your area online about business license setup, and they can help you with that process from there.

Federal Tax ID: usually after you get your business license, they will tell you that you need to apply for your Federeal Tax ID number and they will give you information on how to do that. Or go here: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html

Trademarking your business will cost a couple of hundred dollars, but its worth it, just, like an artist should protect or trademark their name(so no one else can take their stage name). You should trademark your business because your name is everything. Link: http://www.uspto.gov/


A LLC(Limited Liability Company) check out this link for info on this an other business types:
http://www.mynewventure.com/small_business_tax_tip


Also, one of the good benefits of being a official is, the tax beaks, such as, buying equipment(we all love music, and all the stuff you buy for your studio can be written off at the end of the year on taxes), say you sell a beat, for maybe $2,000.... You should or could be able to show or break even everything you pretty much spend. Owning your own business, you gotta pay for gas(tax write off, and that sh..t high as H.ell), Cell phone(tax write off), some shopping (tax write off), entertainment(the clubs you go to, if you arent too drunk to keep your tab or reciept from your credit card at the end of the night is a tax write off), Dinner or Lunch at a nice spot(tax write off) or even McDonalds, the list goes on. You just gotta make sure you even it out. Do what you love to do while benefitting from it. You cant put %100 of everthing you do on those examples, try to do about %60 of it. Get you a good Accountant, Peferably a CPA( I use him Annually to do my personal taxes and business stuff for the IRS "cause they dont play" like Mr. Clark, as far as city and local, you can take about 2 hours out your day once a month to save the money you would give an accountant to fill out the necessary paper work for that last month and pay your taxes with, Business credit Cards, etc...). By the way, the accountant is a tax write off, the business license is a tax write off, the trademark is a tax write off, If it relates to your business, its more then likely a tax write off.

Entertainment Lawyer(I recommend this before a manager for artists and producers), is a most definite, its usually hard to find a good one, but its worth it when you do get ready to sell your tracks to someone you already know that is doing something for real, that way they can help you get royalties straight(help you understand the fine point of where the percentages are going and are taken from). I wouldnt involve the Lawyer unless it was worth it, because their time is definitely money(the only f..cked up part is, you dont know most of the time til afterwards if you should have called the lawyer ) so then they end up getting mad at you for not at least contacting them. So if you could find one that you could develop a bond with, that does believe in your craft(like that thinks that you are hot) as much as you do, that doesnt mind you calling them up and running small questions about your "situation" across em(we negotiated "pay a lil money quarterly or annually" a lil something with our Lawyer to be able to just call her up and talk a lil biz without any fee issues, so they wouldnt have to step completely in on all "situations"), without charging you an arm and a leg everytime you call.

Another good thing about an Entertainment Lawyer, but if you get one thats been in the game or got connects, and they believe in you, they will be more inclined to pass you own to other artist, labels, etc... and then they get a percentage off of that as well.

Did i mention that This Entertainment Lawyer is a tax write off as well


Go pick up this book and others like it: "This Business of Music: The Definitive Guide to the Music Industry By M. William Krasilovsky"
Link: http://books.google.com/books?id=E89YJo ... &ct=result

Thanks, after reading one of the links you provided I decided that I would form an LLC and I think I just rather rent out a building and have all my home studio equipment there and just rent out some studio time to have it recorded and mixed. Now I have one last question, I know that with an LLC you can choose to be taxed the way you want, rather it be as a sole protietioner, partnership, C corpration or S corparation. which is the best in your opinion and why?

thanks for the help and patience.

BORIS VALADD wrote:this wuz byfar the most informative posts ive seen on here answered many questions i had thanx alot fella'z much respect

Hell yea man!

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