The Money Question

[Handsome Devil]

Here is my situation....

I am a singer songwriter, and am just about to record some songs which are going to be put onto Cd as a mini album then sold in some independent record stores. I have written all songs, and will perfrom most instruments My best friend is recording it for me, and has title of "co-producer". I am unsigned. If, and hopefully when, we make a little bit of money, any ideas of how money should be split? The record stores are taking a little bit for each one sold. Does anyone have experience of a similar experience? Or can offer any possible solutions?
thanks!

[malcom]

question: are you playing live to promote this? if not, how do you plan on making people want the album?

1)dont' charge more than $10 per CD, in fact, try to charge $5 or less. People don't like spending to much on "local" music

2) talk it over with your friend, doesn't sound like good advice, but thats the best I can offer. Obviously he isn't worth half the profits (If he's only serving as engineer and "co-producer," but is he worth a third? I dunno. THis is a personal situation here.

[Malcolm203]

I would have offered to pay him a flat rate up front. (so then it never has to be dealt with again). Recording is a just a task, he provided you with a service, you pay him, end of deal. You wrote the music and played/sang. You should be the one who is on the line for the reward.

Now, if you don't have the money to pay a flat rate up front, I agree that a percentage would be good. Keep the prices of your discs down. If you sell them for 5, offer him a buck or 1.50 off each one sold. I stick by my flat rate suggestion, though.

[Clayton38]

Yeah, I always just say flat out "I'll give you X amount of money to record me". Thats it... after that it's your money.

[Handsome Devil]

Originally posted by malcom
question: are you playing live to promote this? if not, how do you plan on making people want the album?
Not playing live yet, but in the city where the Cd will be sold, good stuff kinda sells by word of mouth. There's this sort of community full of record shops and the stores also promote it on their mailing lists. The get a cut of the sales for agreeing to sell it, so they help out with promotion and stuff.

[Handsome Devil]

Originally posted by gururyan
Also, what kind of recording gear are we talking? Does your friend have a professional studio or is it simply a Boss BR-8 or Tascam 4-track? That also has a big impact.
He's recording it on his computer. Don't ask me what software he uses, I have no idea! But he's recorded and produced some records for local bands, so he knows his stuff.

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I agree paying him a flat rate would be the best idea, but I dont know if I could afford that right now. So I'll go with the percentage payments, now just gotta decide how much.....

[joeinthebox1980]

i would also suggest the flat rate as well... or a very small percentage rate on the album. because if your CD gets huge and sells a lot, then you don't want to have this other person getting a sizeable chunk of your money for doing minimal work (compared to what you have been doing).

i think you should see what sort of gear he is using, compare some prices with other studios and then go with that flat rate.

[freeorangeshoes]

use the favor system. seriously. you said "mini-cd", so im assuming that you are talking about 5 songs or so. really, if he is just running some mics into his computer, it isnt that hard. mixing, etc. still not that hard.

since he is your friend, you two apparently know each other, etc. meaning you probably have a certain degree of mutual trust. so! if the album does well, goes somewhere, you promise him that you will come back to cut some demos for a major label (if and when) and refer other local people that you meet back to him for. if the cd doesnt work out, he doesnt get anything. but neither do you.

its all about connections. and this is a good way to build them.

[Handsome Devil]

Listening to everyones advice, I think I'll go for a small one off payment now. I wont compare him with other studio prices cause I'll probably be paying him a lot less than if I were paying someone I dont know.
We're definately big fans of the favour system. If I do get anywhere in the future, I've promised let him "have a piece of the action".
We're starting recording next week. Have any of you guys had experience of doing a similar project? Also, do you know what the advantages of paying a company to put the music onto Cds are, as opposed to burning them on my PC at home?
Thanks again.

[Malcolm203]

Advantage of having a place press it for you?

You don't have to spend 20 hours doing it yourself...truthfully, you don't save too much doing it yourself. (factor in cost of CDs, labels, ink cartridges, cases, inserts and time spent on it).

Shop around and i'm sure you can find a good deal at a place to press them for you.

[Crash]

If you don't have all the proper stuff to burn them at home then your CD won't play on alot of high end stereo's. That's another thing to consider.

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by Handsome Devil
We're starting recording next week. Have any of you guys had experience of doing a similar project?
yes! i had a friend who converted a small bedroom into a mini-studio. but with very simple gear... a bunch of mics that fed into a mixer which went into his computer.

surprisingly, the sound turned out to be quite good! after some mixing and balancing with computer software, everything should sound pretty good. good demo quality for sure. or if that lo-fi sort of thing is what you're going for, it's great.

Also, do you know what the advantages of paying a company to put the music onto Cds are, as opposed to burning them on my PC at home?
Thanks again.
CD pressing companies can get kind of expensive... i don't know if it's worth it though... however, musicians friend and guitarcenter.com have both come up with fairly affordable CD duplication packages.

of course, the DiY approach is cool too... perhaps even more satisfying!