How To Get People To Work On Spec

Published: Tue, 11/16/10

One of the most challenging aspects of entering into the music licensing business, for many people, is the challenge of how to pay for recording time.  Unless you already have adequate recording gear (which although has become a lot more affordable is stil fairly expensive )you'll need to pay someone else to record your music.  I've said time and time again that production quality is as important as the music itself, when it comes to getting your music licensed.  If your music isn't well produced it's not even going to be listened to, let alone licensed.  So the question then is how do you finance your recordings while you're pursuing licensing opportunities.   Here are a few options:

1) You pay for either recording gear or recording time out of pocket. If you can afford this option, this is cleary the easiest.  You just look at the expense of recording your music as a business expense that you then try to recoup through future licensing deals.  This is obvioulsy risky, because you don't know in advance whether or not your songs will actually be licensed.  You might make a profit and you might not.  You might spend a lot of money and never get it back.  This option is the riskiest from a financial standpoint.

2) Use credit cards or borrow money - This is essentially the same as option 1, although you end up borrowing money from either a credit card company, a bank or friends and family.  If you're comfortable with risk and you have a very strong marketing plan in place and you feel relatively comfortable you can make a profit or at leat recoup your expenses, this isn't a bad route to go.  I'm not a big fan of debt, but I'm much more comfortable using debt for business reasons than for personal consumption.  It does take money to make money.  Use this method wisely and only if you're feeling really strong about your music and your ability to market it.

3) Get Producers To Work On Spec - This is actually easier than it sounds in my experience.  This method entails you finding outside producers with recording gear who are willing to record you for free or for a reduced rate, in exchange for a percentage of future earnings.  This is easier to negotiate if you already have a bit of a track record, so you might want to consider using one of the above options to get the ball rolling and once you start making contacts and/ or getting a few licenses then contact potential producers interested in spec deals.   You can also get vocalists and musicians to work on spec and in my experience this is even easier than getting producers to work on spec.  Most musicians are eager to work and get their names out there and are very open and flexible to creative agreements for compensation.

I personally financed my first few really good recordings, was able to get one of those songs licensed and then started doing spec deals after that and have paid for very little studio time upfront since then.

For a complete list of my products and services related to the music licensing business, check out my product page here. http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/productpage

Happy Songwriting!
Aaron Davison