Money, Money, Money!!!!
As an up and coming music executive, I am slowly but surely
learning that one of the main assets I need is money. I currently have seven artists, and they are
constantly coming up with songs and ideas. This creates a need for beats and cd
duplication. As I move forward, I am
finding it more and more difficult to get beats for free, and it is pretty much
impossible to get CD’s duplicated for free.
When it comes to getting your CD’s replicated, you have to
first get them mixed properly, and from there you will have to get them
mastered. These are two very important
steps that we cannot bypass. The reason
that you have to take these steps is that if you give anyone in the music
industry a bad CD well there goes our one shot of opportunity. Can you imagine running into Diddy, Russell
Simmons, Birdman or Dr. Dre, and they cannot hear your songs because it sounds
muddy or the bass is so high they cannot understand a word that is coming out
of your mouth? Well, that is what I have
realized, and I chose to invest my money and trying to get our music sounding as
professional as possible. Because of
course mixing and mastering comes with a pretty hefty cost, but a cost of doing
business. Now once you have your music
mixed and mastered, you are still not at the process of getting the CD
duplicated. You still have to get the
artwork done for the cover.
Now, in order to get a cover done you need to have a graphic
designer. I am lucky and I have two graphic designers that work with me, but
the only problem is since they are doing it for free I have to work around
their schedule. Again, how can I
complain when I am getting work done for free?
But once you have the artwork you have to then pay either in the
duplication process, or before and send the cover off to print, and get some
covers printed. Designing and printing
CD covers is just another cost you will have to incur in order to duplicate
your music professionally. But hey you
are little bit closer to being done, but wait there is one more important step you
have to take, and what is that? Now
don’t forget you have to get an UPC code for your CD. If you don’t know what an UPC Code is, well
it is known as a bar code, which will allow you to get paid, and track how many
records you are selling. You would think
an UPC code would be free, well think again you have to pay for this as well. Now, you can either get this when you pay a
company such as disc makers, or you can go directly to the Uniform Code Council
and pay for it, but then you have to really know what you are doing. You find disc makers at, http://www.discmakers.com/. Now, you see all the processes it takes just
to get a cd duplicated, and this does not include all the promotional and
recording cost that comes with making a song.
This one of the trails and tribulations of becoming a self-made music
executive… MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!! But
like some artist say, “it cost to be the boss”.
Kellie B.
An Up & Coming Music Executive
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