On Friday my girlfriend ‘Sadie’ (Sadie, Sadie married lady) had her Wedding Shower at THE Hospital Club (THC) …in the Chalk Room, never has a less ‘romantic’ room been seen in a members club, but it is amazing what you can achieve with some white flowers and lots of pink balloons. When one of her friends asked how she managed to snag such a illustrious location she pointed to me and said ‘She lives here, it’s her home….” Unsure about whether to be aghast or proud of this accusation I started to examine just how much time I spend within these walls. If asked I can expound at length about the benefits of being a member of The Hospital Club, I can talk about it’s full-service production studio on the lower ground floor, it’s hotel rooms and multiply bars. But when I come to the club, I head to the second floor, and woe betide if I can’t find a spot to park my bum…But honestly, the studio? Barely seen it, the Loft Lounge? I ‘Ohhed’ and ‘Ahhed’ when it re-opened after refurbishment then forgot it was there; I’m a second floorer and that is where I stay, for my sins. Which makes me think I’m not getting the most bang for my buck; I’m short changing – myself! Which is just cray cray, right?
Logging onto my member’s area of THC website I looked at the plethora of member’s event on offer and eeny, meeny, miny, moe choose The Music Producers Guild – Taking Care of Business talk, time to get more lolly for my money. For anyone (i.e. me) who thinks that ‘music business’ equals glamour, this talk was an ‘interesting’ awakening. I entered the room, escorted by Twin, I think she thought I might do a runner, and spent the first 10 minutes convinced I was in the wrong place, never have a room full of plumbers look less like music producers. Interestingly, there were only two women in the room, one of which was convinced she was in the wrong place. After much kerfuffle with sound equipment and microphones, you can take the man out of the studio…the talk started. The talk focused on the changing role of the modern music producer. With less money in the industry, ‘producers’ now wear many a mantle. A&R, studio and record label duties, artist management – the list is endless. With a panel made up of a tax manager, a music lawyer and specialist insurance broker, the talk gave the audience general advice on how to run your own business successfully and how to optimise your finances. The panel gave the audience the reins to lead the talk where they would, making it more about what they needed to learn rather than what the experts wanted to discuss. That meant a wide range of advice was given, i.e. what happens if an artist records material in a studio’s down time, when it is closed for instance, with the owner’s permission. If that material then goes ahead and becomes a hit, does the studio owner have rights to a percentage of the revenue? Answer? Get a good lawyer. Some of it was so obvious you’d slap your head in a ‘duh’ moment. Don’t insure your studio equipment with a regular household insurance broker; you may know that your amplifier speakers are worth £3000 but as far as Tesco Home Insurance is concern they are just hi-fi speakers worth £250. Copyright, employer’s liability, apprenticeships all were touched on and talked about at some length. Music is not my industry and so my interest was superfluous but I could tell that if you were a small music production company or engineer there was a lot of meat to be had from this talk.
I started the evening not really knowing what to expect and missing my comfortable spot on the well-broken-in green sofa in the member’s lounge and ended it thinking. ‘What next?’. If only I could get a wriggle on in the mornings, I might find myself at a 9am Business Breakfast talk….OK, I think I’ll have to really stoke myself up for that one.
