Well Im of no help cause Im still building mine.But we are/will be in the same boat 4 I am buliding a "hip hop studio"...I don't know where your from but I think it has to do with your enviroment like how many rappers/artists are actually in your city?then its a question of how many and which ones are good than ultimately how many are actually serious about this ish.There mabey alot of rappers and there always talking about how hot they are but when it comes time to invest in themselves ie putting together a demo and paying $$$.They don't because A .they don't take it seriously and/or B.There cheap.It's hard to find talented individuals that want to invest in themselves and there career,So basicly it's just a matter of contacting the guys with the mindstate of "I will succeed,no matter the cost or how long it will take" but unfortunately there's way more "yo,I got skillz,I wanna get this shyt off the ground"...oh 4 real wanna buy a beat?.....(silence).....Studio time?.....(crickets)...lol serious man dudes are in for a rude awakining thinkin platinum plaques are gonna fall into there lap outta no where know one's willing to work to get ahead and that leaves aspiring studios,producers like ours/us with no sence of purpose...it sucks but thats all there is to it.good luck I know we're gonna need it.

Hi, I have run a small project studio for about 15 years and my best promo has been word of mouth from happy clients. The other thing I can offer is don't value your services to cheap. This can drive away more serious clients who are used to paying for quality. When I started out I priced to cheap and it attracted a lot of bands that really weren't ready to record an album, but had the money. I got really busy, but when the equipment wore out, I had not made enough to replace it (the adat years!). Raising the price seemed to bring out more of the serious musicians, the type who are in it for the long run and know how to promote themselves. And some radio or club play, even just locally, can make your studio a very busy place.
Another thing I try to do is go out often and talk to the bands/artists where they play. Drop cards, demo reels, if you find a great act, do it for free and try to make it back on album sales (become a record label/producer).
Good luck all..

While word of mouth is definitely the best advertising, but it does help to be in the yellow pages under 'recording studios' The people who look for studio there are usually ready to go, and many are clients that you would not ordinarely get, like schools, college students, classical musicians etc. There is a whole world out there outside of rockandroll, and if you studio is to survive you should tap into it.

Thankx for the input

I get what ur saying, i get that same ish. They want everything to fall in thier lap, There are many rappers and singers around here. They all are serious...so they say..but when time comes to pay up and really get serious, they front. I think i am going to raise prices as i just received my digi 002 and new pre amp, and was charing 40 before with tha MBox. There are many wayz to promote, plenty time to wait on good biznizz. But i thank yall for the input as this is one of the major topics that we all go through. There should be a lot more critical topics like this around. Thankx a lot guys, and good luck. My hotmail iz thegodgrandson@hotmail.com and my AIM iz caymaniterapgod . Whoever wants to up there studio links a nuther notch, add me. Im looking for as much connects as i can get. Holla!