Considerations as an Independent artist by Ben Barnicoat https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx Made with a curious mind en-us 2019-03-06 13:48:52 UTC 2019-03-06 16:12:54 UTC hello@padlet.com Songwriting / Composition becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369189 As an independent artist, you would have to sort out the composition and songwriting yourself. If you are not able to do so yourself, you would have to hire other people to do it for you.
Advancements in technology means that songwriters or composers are able to hear what it sounds like whilst writing compared to in the 1600s when they would have to get musicians to play the music after it was written. ]]> 2019-03-06 13:52:28 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369189 Marketing & Promotion becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369503 when it comes to marketing and promotion the artist most consider his branding for example his logo or the name is what gets the artist recognised from his music to his merchandise. target market is also a key aspect because your music needs at certain age groups which would listen to your music for example if you make DNB your target audience should be young adults to adult teens. if you are planning on trying to get a record deal you should do a promo package this is where you give a bio about yourself and a press release about your music thanks to the rise in technology it is much easier to do this on mainstream networks such as Spotify , youtube or Soundcloud.]]> 2019-03-06 13:53:03 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369503 Accounts/Book Keeping benbarnicoat14 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369728 In accountancy, you are in charge of all finance and sensibly regulating the areas in which the money is being spent. The costs involved are all dependent on whether or not you have an accountant. If you do, you don't need to worry, as an accountant is specialised in the area of book keeping and making sure you are spending your money correctly. If not, you are in charge of your expenses which means you need to take charge of paying off taxes and keeping a record of where your money has been spent. Historical events have not really affected this in anyway, other than the fact you are now able to do certain aspects of this online, such as paying your tax return and using spreadsheets to monitor your transactions.]]> 2019-03-06 13:53:27 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369728 Live Performance becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369919 Live Performance involves booking/buying equipment, hiring out venues and if you are incapable of doing it yourself, booking a sound engineer to make sure the levels are right and to set up the equipment. These things are what you would be spending money on. Historical developments have changed this because of the availability of portable equipment has made it much easier for artists to perform in more venues using more instruments/equipment for it.]]> 2019-03-06 13:53:44 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338369919 Mixing & Mastering becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370128 Mixing involves changing sound levels within a production and adding effects so that the final sound is fine tuned and at a professional level. Mastering is the final touches after mixing, for example, after an album is made, going through and making sure all the tracks are at a similar level and checking the EQ to make sure they are not too tonally different. The costs would involve the equipment that it requires to do this sort of thing and potentially paying for a specialist in this area, if you are incapable of doing this by yourself. Historical developments have changed this because nowadays you are able to mix and master from your bedroom with a computer, whereas, 30 years ago, it would've had to have been done with much more equipment and would've cost you a lot of money. For example you would've needed a mixing desk which would cost at least £1000.]]> 2019-03-06 13:54:04 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370128 Sales / Distribution becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370465 This would entail making sure that your products are being sold to distributors so that they have a platform to actually be recognised by your target audience. For example, you are more likely to sell your product if it being sold in HMV, as opposed to selling it yourself on the street. It involves communication with distributors and making sure that you are selling products regularly. The costs would involve paying the distribution company for their services and potentially shipping, depending on where your products are being sold. Historical developments have very much affected this area of the industry because music was much more widely sold in physical form in the past 50/60 years  but now music is being sold or streamed in digital form. This means that distributors might have to consider other forms of marketing and perhaps even making deals with streaming sites, such as Spotify.]]> 2019-03-06 13:54:32 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370465 Art & Design benbarnicoat14 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370533 With art and design, you need to consider your target market and most importantly, your image. For example it would be inappropriate for a heavy metal band to have a pink album cover, so you need to consider what would represent you as an artist best. I have researched the standard prices for a graphic designer and the top end services will charge you up to £300 an hour, whereas, if you're not looking for as high a price, most charge around £75-150 an hour. The low end graphic designers will charge anywhere between £10 and £50. Historical developments have definitely affected this in some ways, especially considering the advance of technology and the ability to create your own art/graphics on a computer. Another historical development that has changed this is the way artists want to portray themselves to the public, for example, artists nowadays will specially synthesise a logo/album cover to suit their image whereas a band in the 60s are more likely to have a photo of themselves or something as generic as this.]]> 2019-03-06 13:54:40 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370533 Production becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370743 In production you are responsible for creating the music. this involves sound design , drum patterns , sampling and choosing samples ETC. The costs involved might be plugins , sample packs. note that some of the sample packs and plugins are free but the higher quality packs are expensive. technology has changed this area for example DAWs such as Logic Pro X `and Cubase mean that you don't have to have expensive mixers or lots of hardware instruments and outboard gear (EQ,compresser etc) Technology allows file sharing meaning people can get pirated software for free rather paying an expensive amount note this is illegal and if you get caught expect heavy fine ]]> 2019-03-06 13:55:00 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338370743 Recording becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371036 As an independent artist, you would most likely need to get time in recording studios unless you had your own facilities. If you did not know how to use the equipment in the studios then you may need to hire a mix engineer.
Costs for time in recording studios can vary depending on the size or quality of equipment, as well as the costs of mix engineers. 
Access to the facilities or equipment needed to record has become incredibly more available which means that artists do not need labels as much anymore to provide those facilities. ]]> 2019-03-06 13:55:29 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371036 Management becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371298 If you have a manger as an independent artist, a lot of things could be done by them for you. Such as, marketing and promotion, sales and distribution, negotiating fees and contracts, booking events and venues for live performances or managing media relations on their behalf.]]> 2019-03-06 13:55:55 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371298 Pressing becky_jones1 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371497 This involves going to pressing companies in order to get hard copies of your music to then distribute. You would have to make an educated decision on the amount that you press depending on how much you think you could sell.
You'll most likely have to pay up front and full price compared to what record labels would have to pay due to credit agreements. 
For CD's its around £250 per 100, as vinyl is still popular, you would spend around £200 per side of the record. Pressing time for vinyl can take from around 3 months to a year to receive the final copies, this is something to consider.
The price of pressing CDs or vinyls hasn't really changed, however vinyl seems more expensive now because of how cheap it is to press CD's and buy music online(mp3). The pressing process for vinyl is a labour-intensive process.
Hard copy sales are not as popular now as they used to be now that access to music through the internet is available, this is through such things as iTunes or streaming applications like Spotify.
]]> 2019-03-06 13:56:16 UTC https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338371497 Generating Income/Funding benbarnicoat14 https://padlet.com/benbarnicoat14/5chwncve09qx/wish/338431636 Generating income involves collecting royalties and publishing music. One thing that is suggested in this area is joining PRS (performing rights society). This is an organisation that is obligated to collecting royalties (mechanical, sync and performance). To join the PRS, it is an upfront fee of £100 but after this, it is a good investment as an independent artist because you are more likely to receive money back from previous productions. Historical events have changed this because there are now different ways of gaining funds and income. For example, crowd funding is one instance of recent happenings that could affect the way you can make money as an independent artist. This is when people donate money towards a project through an online website. It is a recent development that could change the way independent artists gain money. For example, if an artist has a large following but not enough funding to release an album, they could use Crowd Fund to gain enough money so that they can release the album to the public. 

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