Recording High school orchestras and bands

Marshall Simmons · 28th May 2003

I remember seeing a thread on this a while back but i can't seem to find it.

I know some cats out there are recording local high school orchestra and band concerts. How did you go about talking to them, and what kind of payment plans are you going for?

Should i be asking for money from the school, or just from the parents, or both?

What are you delivering on? CDR? tape? how are you labeling the cdr's or tapes?

marshall

bjornson · 28th May 2003

Heres what I did......
1)Put an nice ad in your states' music educators association magazine.
2)call the president of this association and offer to do his band for FREE.
3)start calling the other officers and making them similar offers.
This type of work adds about 15-20K/yr to my bottom line, and its really easy! At least one kid per band has another project he brings in. It becomes a little snowball. great training ground for interns too!

jbchef · 28th May 2003

Marshall,

Most works are normally from referral.

I would solicit the high school band director(teacher) and let them know your service and what you do. Let them know that you are accomodating choirs and school bands and that you give special rates for them since 'you believe in what they do and the future of music'. I think that 'reasonable rates' for high school is $50-100/hr for a recording (usually 2-3 hours)
Usually they will hold the master at the end of the recording when they hand the money to you. Have a few backup and let them know that if they want to cut it to a ready to release copy, they can for additional fee. (tracks, mastered)
Most schools actually didn't know on these services or they didn't know that some of them are affordable that they didn't include these in their annual budgeting. Solicit schools during their budgeting season (fall?) and see results within the next 12 months.

All the best!

Moko

Beezoboy · 29th May 2003

Yes, also you can can get a list of every highschool in your state, and its address. The cool thing is you can just mail it to the school and mark it "Attn Band/Choral Director"

I would be better if you new their name though. People are way more likely to open a hand addressed envelope too. Remember that.

Beez

Marshall Simmons · 30th May 2003

cool, so i know how to get to the groups now.

How do i go about pricing? Should i charge the school for a flat fee and give them one master? Or should i charge only the parents and make dups of the performance? Or both? What has worked for you guys?

also if i am making dups, are labels on the cdr's important?

Marshall

Frost · 30th May 2003

I used to do a lot of this. For me, I worked at schools that had a lot of wealthy parents. I offered the schools $300 flat fee with two CDs and the master or $100 and gave fliers to the band director to give to students to order copies. I charged $20 shipped. I also offered to split profits with bands once a certian number of CDs had been pressed. It ended up paying pretty well and I usually gave some cash to the band rather than the other way around. You need to print labels. I also offered some schools a $25/copy cd with a nice digital photo in the jewel case. Bands that think they can get funding from a service usually advertise the heck out of something for you. If you sell 40 cd's and end up giving $200 to the band, you stil make like $500 profit. I usually sold 30-100 cd's.
Frost

28th May 2003	#1
Marshall Simmons Gear addict Joined: Nov 2002 Location: Kansas City, Missouri Posts: 391 Thread Starter	Recording High school orchestras and bands I remember seeing a thread on this a while back but i can't seem to find it. I know some cats out there are recording local high school orchestra and band concerts. How did you go about talking to them, and what kind of payment plans are you going for? Should i be asking for money from the school, or just from the parents, or both? What are you delivering on? CDR? tape? how are you labeling the cdr's or tapes? marshall

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28th May 2003	#2
bjornson Lives for gear Joined: Nov 2002 Location: Pittsburgh Pa Posts: 562	Heres what I did...... 1)Put an nice ad in your states' music educators association magazine. 2)call the president of this association and offer to do his band for FREE. 3)start calling the other officers and making them similar offers. This type of work adds about 15-20K/yr to my bottom line, and its really easy! At least one kid per band has another project he brings in. It becomes a little snowball. great training ground for interns too!

28th May 2003	#3
jbchef Gear Head Joined: Jan 2003 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia Posts: 73	Marshall, Most works are normally from referral. I would solicit the high school band director(teacher) and let them know your service and what you do. Let them know that you are accomodating choirs and school bands and that you give special rates for them since 'you believe in what they do and the future of music'. I think that 'reasonable rates' for high school is $50-100/hr for a recording (usually 2-3 hours) Usually they will hold the master at the end of the recording when they hand the money to you. Have a few backup and let them know that if they want to cut it to a ready to release copy, they can for additional fee. (tracks, mastered) Most schools actually didn't know on these services or they didn't know that some of them are affordable that they didn't include these in their annual budgeting. Solicit schools during their budgeting season (fall?) and see results within the next 12 months. All the best! Moko

29th May 2003	#4
Beezoboy Gear addict Joined: Mar 2003 Posts: 495	Yes, also you can can get a list of every highschool in your state, and its address. The cool thing is you can just mail it to the school and mark it "Attn Band/Choral Director" I would be better if you new their name though. People are way more likely to open a hand addressed envelope too. Remember that. Beez

30th May 2003	#5
Marshall Simmons Gear addict Joined: Nov 2002 Location: Kansas City, Missouri Posts: 391 Thread Starter	cool, so i know how to get to the groups now. How do i go about pricing? Should i charge the school for a flat fee and give them one master? Or should i charge only the parents and make dups of the performance? Or both? What has worked for you guys? also if i am making dups, are labels on the cdr's important? Marshall

30th May 2003	#6
Frost Lives for gear Joined: Apr 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 711	I used to do a lot of this. For me, I worked at schools that had a lot of wealthy parents. I offered the schools $300 flat fee with two CDs and the master or $100 and gave fliers to the band director to give to students to order copies. I charged $20 shipped. I also offered to split profits with bands once a certian number of CDs had been pressed. It ended up paying pretty well and I usually gave some cash to the band rather than the other way around. You need to print labels. I also offered some schools a $25/copy cd with a nice digital photo in the jewel case. Bands that think they can get funding from a service usually advertise the heck out of something for you. If you sell 40 cd's and end up giving $200 to the band, you stil make like $500 profit. I usually sold 30-100 cd's. Frost