This year I am concentrating on spec projects with some paid work to keep the wolf away from the door...
Put it this way, I haven't needed to 'turn a lot of paid work away' .
I would normaly get a lot more calls from bands or band managers I did NOT want to do and would turn down..... these have pretty much died away, saving me the trouble of regecting them for being awfull and not something I would like to be associated with (got to be carefull what I work on as a producer, I;m not a commercial facility owner)

Lest you think I am too much of a snob, when I DO reject a band I try to fob bands off to other producer /engineer friends of mine, to keep my behind the glass chums afloat $$ )

So yes, slowdown.

What to do about it? I really don't know....Start a Publishing Co and swap rights on songs for studio time? Thats what I am doing!

:)

Jules

Originally posted by Julian Standen:.

What to do about it? I really don't know....Start a Publishing Co and swap rights on songs for studio time? Thats what I am doing!

:)

Jules[/QB]

Could you elaborate on this? What's your criteria for taking on an artist.....is there a lot of contract work to be done? Lawyers etc.? Craig

I was shocked at first that there would be a a legal bill for me to pay on each contact 'negotiation' . I had day dreamed that the 'standard agreements I had made up' ($$$$) would do in every instance...but no!

So I have a $200 -$300 bill for EACH act I take on to cover the paper passing back and forwards between my lawyer and the acts lawyer...

Then my time, studio staff, utilities, tape back up of my hard drives..($10)

Re the acts I have to belive they will 'do something' and are 'signable'.
I am just starting out on this spec 'sideline'. I am convinced it is a potential earner for studios with time on their hands and can be a general boost for artist development in general which seems to be a lost art as far as big record lables are concerned..

:w:

Originally posted by drundall:
How many of you feel your business has been adversely affected since September? Have you been successful with any strategies to bring bookings back in (ie rate cuts, etc)?

at first everything went upside down (after September 11), sessions cancelled or moved way back. Travelling came heavily into play (almost none of my clients are from Nashville ;) ). It was very quiet for a few month. Now everything seems to be back to normal and bookings reach into the middle of the year, which still does not mean they actually come in when planned, but that is just business as usual. With the type of music I do, I feel that 2002 is going to be a good year. The rates didn't change much after September, that actually happened around the early 90's for me, with the appearance of Grunge on the scene and the parallel development of great "home" recording gear.

The rates didn't change much after September, that actually happened around the early 90's for me, with the appearance of Grunge on the scene and the parallel development of great "home" recording gear.[/QB]

amen

the 2001 recession seems to be over if the phone is any indication. bookings are way up. rate increase will take effect april 1st. i don't attribute the business slowdown in 2001 to sept. 11, the year had been slow generally. during the time off i upgraded a lot of gear and software and worked on some pet projects. looking forward to a profitable 2002!

Originally posted by Julian Standen:
I am convinced it is a potential earner for studios with time on their hands and can be a general boost for artist development in general which seems to be a lost art as far as big record lables are concerned..

:w:

I agree with you 100% Jules.

Hi Schultz.

It dropped off right after the 11th, then got busy as ever. 1st off, anyone that knows me knows I do a lot of Hip-Hop / R&B. So, a lot of my rappers had to change questionable lyrical content like "When I swing through you town, I drop lyrical bombs that will knock buildings down", etc...
Maybe the 11th drew people closer to music, maybe I dodged a bullet *shrugs shoulders* But this has been one of the busiest years in my career.

The current studio climate sure does make you think a little more on client satisfaction though! IMHO
:)

How many of you feel your business has been adversely affected since September? Have you been successful with any strategies to bring bookings back in (ie rate cuts, etc)?

Very bad effect , not only for the studio , but for my label sales as well. November , December ( and therefore Jan as well ) were terrible. Had to start renting the studio out as rehersal space in order to keep afloat. However the last 2 months have seen an upsurge . So the blip appears to be over , but this could just be because the new tax year is approaching. Companies needing to get rid of money and others finding funds available to them from returns.

Record sales in america especially were almost removed overnight though by the 9/11. The effect seems to be a minor replication of the loss of the SE Asian market in the 90s that put V2 £750 million in debt. I have also heard on the grape vine that Virgin are winding down. They have dropped many acts like Toby Slater and FSOL and apparently are selling their offices in Harrow Rd , London. But this could be part of a longer term trend that saw EMI loose £65 million last year and almost saw Pop Tones and Nude almost go bust.

My strategy is to pay more attention to independents and unsigned acts. Although getting money out of them is more difficult , when you do get paid it is sooner than the quarterly auditing of their accounts. Also you cannot take a big company to court ( as I found out with Saatchi and Saatchi ). They have lawyers on a retainer and they can keep you in the courts until you run out of money , when you do you have to drop the case and pay their legal fees. Very , very unpleasant ... and there is nothing you can do about it.

AS for rate cuts , if I cut them any more I would be eating out of the dog bowl ( Hey move over Rover , and let Jimi take over ) :D