A&R Administration

By, Keith Holzman What did it cost to record your latest release? Was it under, on, or over budget? Do you have the information readily available? The process of budgeting and controlling recording costs is called A ! Administration" #nsufficient care and attention to it can cause costs to balloon completely out of control" But first, $hat is A !? %ost of you &no$, but # recently received an email from a potential client $anting me to e'plain it( %y ans$er $as that it stands for )Artists and !epertoire) and is the heart and soul of any successful record label" #t refers, in short, to the scouting for, signing, and recording of singers, musicians, etc" #*ll ma&e a fe$ comments on A ! in general at this point, because # $ant to devote most of this message to discussing ho$ to &eep trac& of recording costs" #t*s my philosophy that you should not ma&e a recording unless an artist has something uni+ue and special" An artist should have a ne$ sound, a ne$ interpretation, or a ne$ vision ,, $hether as a singer,song$riter, composer, or interpreter of others* music" %ore important from a business standpoint, not only should an artist be special and uni+ue, but should also be one $ho is performing regularly ,, not -ust in his home to$n, but throughout his region and his state, if not the entire country" # also thin& the artist should have professional management" #.ve found that artists $ithout representation place a tremendous amount of stress on a label.s staff, because the label ends up having to manage their careers as $ell as get them gigs" This is a potential conflict of interest, and the artist should be represented by his o$n manager or agent" /nce you.ve signed an artist and have come to an agreement as to the nature of the recording you.re going to ma&e, it.s necessary to put together a budget $hich can be agreed upon by all parties" !ecordings can sometimes cost as little as 01233 to 04233 ,, particularly if an artist has his o$n in,home studio ,, but can range to many hundreds of thousand of dollars in the case of a ma-or artist at one of the big multi,national companies" What.s involved in establishing a budget? And $hat do you have to provide for? 5irst, of course, are fees to the artist, $hich may be an advance against royalties and $ill have been negotiated in the contract" There also may be an outside producer $ho may be getting either a straight fee or a fee plus royalty points" And, in the case of a larger,scale recording, there may be an arranger for $hom you have to budget, as $ell as allo$ing for the cost of copying parts" #n addition are the costs of musicians" They may or may not be union members" 6arge labels, $ho are most li&ely signatories to the A5% 7American 5ederation of %usicians8 agreement, $ill be paying through the union" 9maller labels are generally not signatories, and $ill pay negotiated rates for musicians on a per session, or day, or pro-ect basis" :ou must estimate ho$ many you $ill need per session, and multiply that number by $hat you.ve agreed to pay per session" #f the recording includes use of a piano, you $ill need to budget for a tuner $ho should tune prior to each session in $hich the instrument $ill be used" Then there are all the other costs related to recording sessions, such as the rate for the studio, either by the

hour or by the day, and perhaps an outside engineer in addition to $hoever the studio may provide" Add the cost of tape 7one or t$o inch8 for multi,trac& recording, if applicable" Any instruments or e+uipment that needs to be rented must also be put in the budget, as $ell as cartage costs" :ou.ll also need to allo$ for the cost of mi'ing, $hich includes the studio, the number of hours or days re+uired, an additional engineer or e+uipment if necessary, and the cost of tape 7+uarter, half inch, or DAT ,, although # don*t recommend DAT as your final master storage medium"8 5inally, you should include the cost of mastering ,, not an insignificant amount unless this is done on a %acintosh or ;< using a program such as =am or ;roTools" Do the computation in a simple spreadsheet and you $ill get a good estimate of the cost of the pro-ect" #f the resulting number is higher than you.d li&e, see $here you might be able to cut bac&" But once the various parameters are agreed upon $ith all involved, the budget should be set and frozen" >o$ is $hen the actual administration of the budget comes in" 9ometimes an artist $ill boo& the studio, sometimes the record label, but in all cases the cost should be controlled through the A ! administrator" This may be the head of the label, or it may be someone $hose specific tas& this is" 6arger labels have entire departments $ho handle A ! administration" But the person $ho is handling the pro-ect should give a purchase order 7$ritten or verbal8 to the studio for the agreed upon rate, and the number of sessions or days" %any labels do it verbally, but the ;"/" number should be $ritten into the budget $hen it.s been given out ,, in ne$ columns 7alongside the budget column8 by ;"/" number, dollar amount, and date of authorization" The ;"/" number should appear on the studio.s or vendor.s invoices $hen rendered" Also note that, in the case of a ne$ label, studios may $ish to be paid a portion of the fee in advance, and they may not release the recorded tapes until after all bills have been paid" 9o be prepared to pay right after sessions have been completed" After recording has started and invoices come through, the administrator should chec& off the appropriate column, ma&ing ad-ustments in an )actuals) column in the event the invoice is slightly lo$er or higher than estimated" %ost important ,, your budget spreadsheet must be &ept up to date on a fre+uent and regular basis" Additionally, $here studio musicians are involved, the administrator or the producer should be responsible for seeing that the musicians fill in the appropriate forms, $hich include W,? ta' forms so that your accounting department can $ithhold the appropriate deductions, as $ell as #,@s ,, government,re+uired forms that verify employment eligibility and $hich must be accompanied by appropriate identification" When union musicians are used, as soon as sessions are completed, A5% session contracts have to be prepared sho$ing the musicians. names, the location 7studio name8 and times of recording, the songs recorded, and the amounts due to the musicians, plus additional amounts for Health and Welfare, pension benefits, etc" <hec&s should then be dra$n and sent to the union $ith the A5% contracts" The amounts of these chec&s also have to be entered into the )actuals) column of your budget" #n the case of most smaller labels $hose musicians are not union members, a similar situation $ill apply, but at lo$er cost" /f course musicians $ill $ant to be paid, sometimes at the end of the session, so chec&s should be prepared and given to them as soon after recording as possible" The amounts of these chec&s should also be put into the )actuals) column of the budget" At all times, the administrator needs to be a$are of any significant difference bet$een the actual and estimated costs, and if it appears that the actual may be e'ceeding the budgeted amount, senior

management should immediately be advised" Another useful tool for senior managers, in the early stages of deciding $hether to record a ne$ artist, is to ma&e a spreadsheet and estimate $hat it $ould cost to ma&e the record, add ho$ much you thin& you.ll need to spend on mar&eting, and add the cost of sales for the number of records you thin& you.ll sell" Divide the total outlay by the average sales price to your distributor" The result is the +uantity of units you.ll need to sell to brea& even" This can help you ma&e your signing decision"