*NeedHelpFundingARecordLabel

INTRODUCTION

Hello, everyone. I'm Marquis Terrell, a young entrepreneur looking to start my first real business after getting laid off due to Covid-19. For the last few months, I've found employment in my area to be pretty difficult to secure and I'm not qualified for many jobs that pay a decent enough salary for me to live on. I'm very musically gifted and have been a creative-minded person for pretty much all my life. I've taught myself all the ins and outs of the music business from contracts, marketing, running ad campaigns, and distribution. I've even learned to produce a fair bit.

So, with all of that knowledge, I've decided to start my own record label for aspiring musicians in my area, so that I can pass down knowledge of the industry they may not know. Then we can build something together and generate some capital not only to release high quality music but to startup more businesses. Just boosting the economy a little.

True Soundz Entertainment™, LLC. I plan for this label to be quite different from even the biggest mainstream labels. This isn't only for me, though. There is plenty of talent in my city for an independent label to work just fine with minimal risks involved on both my part and anyone who donates to my business. There's nothing we can't do that we don't set our minds to.

I want to start building something for myself and the people around me including friends and family. This is only a small piece of a bigger picture I'm looking at. I'm going to need enough funding to get everything off the ground and to maintain the label for at least three months after we've opened for business. That should be enought time to find talent, sign them and start releasing music. I've got some projects of my own and a few others I have ownership of. I'll need money to hire professional audio engineers and producers to mix, master and refine our music to the best, highest quality sound you'll hear coming from an indie record label. I've even reached out to several local musicians to be a part of the True Soundz roster. I want to rent or buy a building that we will use as a recording studio to meet up, discuss how to maintain the label. We'll call it "True Soundz Studio".

 

LABEL BACKGROUND

So, in 2017, before working at a manufacturing place in 2019, I had started making music. I had a label that I released my own music through, "True Soundz Entertainment". I had to put everything on hiatus to work but when I got laid off, I found it to be a struggle jumping back into the workforce. Application after application, interview after interview, and probably hundreds of phone calls and nothing ever came up. I went to a temp agency and filled out an application some time ago. I've checked back with them and still, nothing. You may believe what you want, but I see all of these instances as signs from the Universe that I was meant to do something bigger and better with my time. Of course, we all need a little cash in our pockets, but I'd rather use money as a tool to help people other than just myself. I want more so I can give more. And the only way I can do that is by utilizing my natural-born talents as a creative and get paid to do what I love: Make art.

Now, I want to get the label back up and running but this time I want to do it how I planned originally: Sign local artists and help them get their music out there so we can all make money. Because that's how a label SHOULD be run. To HELP the artists. It shouldn't be about them taking everything an artist makes and forcing them into debt so they don't make any more money. That's scummy and evil corporate BS which is actually common practice now. There NEEDS to be a change. I wholeheartedly feel like True Soundz will be that "Great Change" for independent artists and the music industry as a whole, because other industries will be able to see how we're doing things and how it will make everyone money, not just those who have more power than others and are more knowledgable about the music business than others. That is also why I plan on passing down what I know to my artists so that they may do the same and the cycle just continues.

There's literally NO other label like mine. If you sign to True Soundz, you keep everything you create and we barely take anything at all. You get 95% of your royalties while the label will only get 5%, which is just enough to run an online record label, keep the promotions going and set up gigs, interviews, tours, etc. for the artists. 

The artists pretty much keep everything and I plan on taking the label's cut and putting it right back into the label so that it can grow and be the platform that artists need to succeed. Then, we will start giving back to the community that helped us grow. Thing is, I don't have that kind of money yet. I've got some to get a little bit started, as far as offical documents and copyrights and such, but it's going to take more to execute my vision how I want it. I’m actually looking into getting some funding from local investors.

True Soundz is for TRUE artists. I’ve already got contracts written up. They need some revisions but they’re pretty solid so far. I also have a 30-page business plan laid out. It also needs some revisions because I want everything to be as fair and comfortable as possible for anyone who wants to sign. True Soundz is for the artists, not the money, but generating some wealth through the art of music is most definitely the goal we're trying to achieve.

 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERTISE

I'm very well-versed in pretty much everything related to the music bsuiness. I had to learn as much as I could about the history of labels, how they used to operate, how they currently operate, what the costs to startup are, the risks, the legalities, just everything. I found it very important to educate myself so that I can be the leader that my team needs to succeed with this. And by team, I mean me, as of now that is. I'll need to hire more members, but I want to make sure they're paid their dues for helping me. So that will also come from the funding.

I do have a handful of external resources and a couple experts who have helped me figure some things out and are still teaching me things. This label has been in the works since 2017 so no one can say that I don't have most of the bases covered apart from money.

I would say the only thing I could use more help in is the overall marketing of the label and its artists. I know how to work social media and get a word out, I did it with my debut project (Teck the Rapper: The EP), but of course, there's more to marketing products than just posting about them, so I'll need professional help with that.

 

BUDGET BREAKDOWN - $55,000

Renting Recording Space (12x30 "Rent-to-Own" Shed - $411/6 Months) - $3,600 Paid in Full

Recording Studio Equipment - Total = $6,294.82

• MacBook Pro MF840LL/A 15.4-inch + Mouse - Amazon - $1,876.88 
• Omnirax ProStation Workstation - $1,589.00
• PreSonuz Eris E3.5" Near Field Studio Monitors with Bluetooth - $139.95
• Neumann TLM 102 Microphone - $729.00
• Klipsch Reference Premiere RP - 280F (2x) - crutchfield.com - $600 each
• Dell Inspiron 24 3000 - Amazon - $600 
• SANNCE 8CH 1080N HDMI DVR 1500TVL CCTV IR-Cut Home Security Camera System 1TB - Ebay - $159.99 

Artist Management = $10,000

Marketing / Online Campaigns  = $10,000 spread across different platforms (Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, etc.)

Staff = $200 Per Week for First Three and a Half Months (Math below)

Distribution - (Routenote, Distrokid, Music Gateway) = $1000

New Logos = $100

Website - $300

 

MATH (Rough Estimates)

$50,000 - $10,000 (Artist Management) = $40,000

$40,000 - $10,000 (Marketing) = $30,000

$30,000 - $3,600 (Recording Space) = $26,400

$26,400 - $1,000 (Distribution) = $25,400

$25,400 - $6,294.82 (Studio Equipment) = $18,305.18

$18,305.18 - $500 (New Logos & Website) = $17,805.18

$17,805.18 / $200 Per Week (5 Staff each excluding myself) = 89 Weeks = 7 1/2 Months of Guarantee Staff Payment 

Should any funds be leftover, they will go to any expenses or debts that need to be paid. These are only estimates, mostly based around the cost of the Recording Space, as all the other costs are fixed, I still need to find an affordable building to use as a Recording Space. Though, it really shouldn't be too expensive, especially to rent.

 

CURRENT STAFF

The label will be primarily online-based, but I would still like to build a full team. All the great labels needed a team of dedicated and like-minded people working together for them to reach the heights of success that they have achieved. I can find people like that myself, but to hire them will take some money. At least ONE person in each position should be just enough.

• CEO: Marquis Terrell
• Accountant: 
• Legal Department: 
• A&R: 
• Marketing: 
• Publicist: 

 

S.W.O.T.

Strengths

• Our royalty rates are leagues better than even the most popular major labels.
• Multiple artists/acts with moderate to large social media followings interested in signing to the label.
• Distribution to major music stores through Music Gateway and other free/affordable services (Distrokid).
• Industry support and advice via Record Label in a Box, music professionals, and industry figures.
• Whatever doesn't kill us, make us stronger.

Weaknesses

• Label is based in Roxboro, NC, a very small and limited city for entertainment.
• Current lack of investment & funding.
• Current lack of professional marketing expertise.
• No major brand awareness.
• Not every "L" is a Loss, but a Lesson.

Opportunities

• Growing arts & entertainment industry.
• Long list of influential press, media and music industry contacts.
• Large number of aspiring musicians and a few music venues in local area.
• Every day is full of opportUNITY.

Threats

• Competition from other high-profile independent labels.
• We're going for Gold, Platinum, and Diamond by any and all means necessary. They can either run with us or run from us.

 

MARKETING PLAN

Ideally, when it comes to promoting an artist's or band's latest project, the general rule of thumb would be to use 6+ weeks for pure release promotion: 3 weeks before a project, 3 weeks after a project.

Platforms To Use (Promotion, releases, distribution, etc.) - YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, ReverbNation, iTunes, Deezer, Audiomack, Bandcamp, Facebook, Discogs, Ditto, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Music Gateway, Spinnup, Riff, Patreon, Spinrilla, Datpiff, Distrkokid, & Music Gateway.

 

MUSIC TO BE RELEASED

All original cover art by me.

   

 

IN CONCLUSION

True Soundz is going to be the next biggest thing, not only in music but entertainment as a whole. We're going to have our own recording studios, film studios, web series, podcasts, streaming services, and all kinds of other side businesses to build up an empire. The world wasn't created in one day. Depending on what you believe it could have taken all week. Point is, this is more than just a label. This is about unity among creatives, generating wealth and spreading positive energy. This is the place where dreams will come true.

Welcome to True Soundz.