How to survive a recession as a music producer
Whether it’s going to happen in the next two years, 5 years, or beyond, a recession is undoubtedly coming. Due to it being a natural part of the financial cycle, it’s truly inescapable. Companies within the music industry will go bankrupt, producers will be unable to afford their lavish lifestyle due to a lack of funding, and a variety of other consequences are simply inevitable over the coming years. But how can you survive a recession within the music industry so that you can continue your lifestyle? That’s what we’re going to be discussing during this article.
Firstly, getting profit from your artist career is absolutely essential if you wish to be sustainable and survive the recession as a music producer within EDM. Instead of paying for services that don’t yield a specific financial ROI, producers will most likely be more focused on services that are fundamental to the success of their career. This could include things like mastering, social media management, and also mixing services. By creating a business around a service that will remain in demand, you are more likely to have several streams of revenue whilst the recession is happening. It’s worth noting that companies such as Walmart flourished during 2007-8 because of the low discounts that consumers were hungry for. If you’re able to replicate a similar business model with whatever services you offer and create different price points so that anybody can become a customer, you will have a much larger audience to sell your product to. Likewise, you should be minimizing your expenses so that you can generate profit on a regular basis.
Also, finding financial opportunities during the recession is a good way to stay financially afloat as a music producer. During the Great Depression, uplifting songs about happy times were downloaded immensely as it provided people a form of escapism from the so-called real world. If you are able to evoke certain emotions in masses of people via your music, your streams & revenue will significantly increase.
During a financial crash or recession, it’s incredibly easy to panic due to the large amount of pressure that is suddenly mounted onto you. After all, it’s a feeling that thrives on negative emotions. Instead of giving up and getting a “real job”, use this energy as fuel to go out and find ways in which your music career can thrive during a bad era. Instead of simply saying that you’re the best producer out there, explain to potential customers why they should shop with you, and help them to understand the different price points. As a music producer, you can overcome the adversity of a recession by adopting a positive mindset and using any negative energy as fuel to kickstart your dreams in a totally revolutionized way.
As well as increasing your profit, looking at your regular expenses is an important step to overcoming a recession as a producer within the music industry. Are you eating $200 steak dinners? It might be time to avoid that. Are you flying business class? Consider flying premium economy or coach. Are you living in a giant house in which most of the rooms aren’t even used regularly? Consider downsizing to save money on your bills. Or alternatively, are you spending thousands of dollars on marketing with little ROI? It might be time to find somebody else to do your marketing. By tracking your daily, weekly, and monthly expenses, you will be able to get a good idea of what is essential spending, and what is simply just there to inflate your ego.
Additionally, reviewing your marketing spend is a great way to thrive during the financial recession as a music producer. Are you still spending money on Soundcloud reposts? It’s time to stop if they aren’t providing tangible results. Are you spending money on Facebook ads but not getting good results? You might actually save hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars by hiring somebody who can get results every single time. Ultimately, you need to take a good look at your marketing spend and find ways to make it as efficient as possible in order to maximize your profits.
Finally, expanding geographically can be an incredible way to overcome any issues faced within a recession. If North America, South America, and Europe are the continents most affected by the recession, it’s a good idea deploying your resources in other areas where people still have reasonable amounts of money to spend. For example, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Brazil may not be as heavily affected by the financial crash than other parts of the world. If you are able to create an income by selling your services to music producers (and people within the entertainment industry) in those particular regions, your chances of generating a reasonable profit during the recession will significantly increase.
A recession is simply a natural part of the financial cycle. If you are able to create a profitable career from your music, your chances of surviving the coming decade shall be significantly greater than somebody with $37 to their name. By evaluating both your income and outgoing expenses, it automatically becomes a lot easier to track what is generating a strong return on investment. Ultimately, the choice is yours to create a strong career for yourself that will hold up – even in the toughest of times throughout the life cycle of the economy.
