Idea Pool : Promo and Publicity

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Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
yeah its def NOT assigned to my company .. but after googling around i dont think that financially i can make that happen at this time. its not THAT much money to get the ucc at all, esp if u only sell under 100 diffrent products, i think it will come to like just under a grand. they have an inital fee of 750 plus a yearly fee of 150 from what i gather. but i think at this point I gotta put all my resources into actually getting the record out there. On second thought i think i will do that first. If we recieve a good response, then i will get the ucc and related stuff immediately after we get a decent street buzz. No point in starting a ucc (product chain) if there is no response to the product. Or there is no product lol... im going to try and do that though as soon as its financial feasible for me to do so. Thanks for the info ldb
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
Word...u r welcome Ash.

The reason I went a head and got mine is because i didn't want another company receiving credit for my product. I was running my entertainment company in it's own building with artist I was producing so it made sense for me at the time. I also had a stake in a local night club. I had the money through my other businesses and investors so I was good.

You're right, "product" needs all the attention when you're first getting started. I've been doing this music shit on a diff't level since '94 so I already have many things in place. For me the late 90's and early 2G were financially "Great".

For example take disc makers. They will assign a bar code for your release but lets say they want to get a loan based on there company's income and growth. You're already paying them to reproduce your product and on top of that you're paying them an additional fee for the "use" of there bar code. If they have 500,000 customers who are using "there" bar code, who reaps the benefit of that when they're sitting with the loan officer? lol....it's not hard to tell.

Get the product done. I'm anxious to hear what you guys have cooked up!
 

dahkter

Ill Muzikoligist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 4
I just did the LLC thing last week, if I was single I wouldn't care so much, however considering I'm supporting a family, I thought it was best to play it safe and have a seperate business entity for my music (djing/engineering/producing/retailing/etc).
 

classic

I am proud to be southern
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 90
who is your bar code assigned to? if u don't have your certificate from the Uniform Code Council saying: issued to: YOUR COMPANY NAME with the 6 digit prefix (in which you use to generate all upc codes or bar codes) how do you have a upc code?

I'm taking it that you have one issued to you thru the company that you guys are using to distribute or manufacture the CD. That will only be good for that release and nothing else.

The first 6 digits or your company bar code will be assigned to anything that you sell. I.e my first cd release was 80654120022 (last number goes here generate by my software). The first 6 digits makes sure "my" company gets credit for the sale of merchandise.

Let me do this:

Positions 1-6 make up the UCC company prefix, in my case [806541](company identifier)

Position 7-10 i use for the year of release but it's actually your item reference number. You come up with this number yourself..can be basically an set of numbers that you want to use to catalog the product.

Position 11 is the audio,video config digit, helps distinguish between diff't recording media i.e cd,cassette,vhs,8mm etc etc. The eleventh number (2) is used for compact disc (ALWAYS)

A 12th number will be generated by your bar code calculating software and is always a check digit for the entire GTIN (global trade item number), it basically calculates all previous 11 numbers and spits out the 12th.

Good looks, i was wondering what that number ment...
 

skidflow

Boom Bap is precious art
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 220
I already have a tentative gameplan, but I love to hear other people experiences with releasing independent records. Ive seen it done successfully and seen it done very poorly as well.
My advice would be follow the positive examples that you have learn from other people...plan YOUR work and work YOUR plan. If you have the doe to hire marketing agencies...by all means do it. I would see if I could look for a distribution deal. I was wondering could a artist like "finance" a distribution deal? You know, pay monies to a distribution company after the put your album in stores and whatnot. I think this would help alot of artist out there if it is not being done already. I say promote yourself heavy by doing shows, open mics, giveaways, college radio and whatnot first.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
I hope you guys have a full understanding of what it means to be an LLC! It's not just some cool letters to have behind your company name. I guarantee it's not what many of you think. It limits but does not exclude liability. It doesn't protect you from anything you do as an "individual". If you want to be totally covered everything you do has to be done under the business umbrella. If you get a personal loan and invest it in the company you are not protected. If you get a loan as a company you are. In order for this to make a difference your company better be well established. Most company's don't do this until they've been around for awhile, have a strong business and deem it necessary to remove there personal assets from the equation. I

An LLC owner can be held personally liable if he or she:
* personally and directly injures someone
* personally guarantees a bank loan or a business debt on which the LLC defaults
* fails to deposit taxes withheld from employees' wages
* intentionally does something fraudulent, illegal, or reckless that causes harm to the company or to someone else, or
* treats the LLC as an extension of his or her personal affairs, rather than as a separate legal entity.

Everything you do better be done under the company name and you better dot all (i's) and cross all (t's). Understand you're fucking with the Federal Government if you do otherwise and there penalties and fines are damn near nonnegotiable, especially when it comes to a business! U GET WHAT THEY GIVE! You're basically inviting the Feds into your business from the jump so the mistakes you expect to make as a start up company must not be made! The Government figures if you go down this road you're aware of all the do'S and don't s! BEWARE! IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE WHEN BIG BROTHER IS A PART OF THE EQUATION AND YOU ARE THE REASON THAT THEY ARE!
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
^^ i hear ya .. thats why im just gathering facts at the moment .. my brother has an llc and he handles his shit pristinely.. although he is in diffrent area of business (retail and merchandising of electronic devices..ipods,cell phones,games ..etc) so his experience will not be the same as mine. I just tryin to get some feedback from cats that are doing the llc thing specifally and what there experiences are. Particluarly someone like nomics or PA thats is roughly in the same boat as we are..

LDB .. what do u have if not an llc? .. a corp, a sole propietership, a partnership?
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
^^ i hear ya .. thats why im just gathering facts at the moment .. my brother has an llc and he handles his shit pristinely.. although he is in diffrent area of business (retail and merchandising of electronic devices..ipods,cell phones,games ..etc) so his experience will not be the same as mine. I just tryin to get some feedback from cats that are doing the llc thing specifally and what there experiences are. Particluarly someone like nomics or PA thats is roughly in the same boat as we are..

LDB .. what do u have if not an llc? .. a corp, a sole propietership, a partnership?

Partnership. It's just me in my brother though we have some investors so a partnership is good for us right now. The investors have businesses of there own so they don't necessarily want the responsibility of being apart of another business.

Your brother deals heavy with the public so the LLC was the right move for him. If you see your business blowing up to the point that you'll be dealing a lot with the public do the LLC thing. Like you said earlier, putting your money towards the product should be of the utmost importance right now. Work your plan in away that benefits you "right now". You can always cover your ass legally when the time arrives.

I just went another route because at the time I was "good" financially. Had I been just making ends meet I would have put all my money and time into the product.
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
God was soooo right, since all music business is a scam anyway, the key is to get in the news...alot...then people will follow the hype..amazing..
Im gonna try it!


Just slap one of your domestic violence victims in court and when the news people come while the Sheriff is dragging you away kicking and screaming look in the camera and say "be on the look out for that new RIP Stepchild album dropping real soon" "RIP LOVE DA KIDS"!
 

Vice

9ine 2o 5ive Live
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 71
Just slap one of your domestic violence victims in court and when the news people come while the Sheriff is dragging you away kicking and screaming look in the camera and say "be on the look out for that new RIP Stepchild album dropping real soon" "RIP LOVE DA KIDS"!

LMAO..... You know, that would work.
 

God

Creator of the Universe
ill o.g.
Just slap one of your domestic violence victims in court and when the news people come while the Sheriff is dragging you away kicking and screaming look in the camera and say "be on the look out for that new RIP Stepchild album dropping real soon" "RIP LOVE DA KIDS"!

LMAO @ having domestic violence victims.

(Note for sarcasm)

On a more serious note. Local news is slow during the weekend. Though ratings aren't as high - they are always looking to fill time with a "feel-good" story. And I'm not talking about a camera busting into an Asian-massage parlor.

Some shit about a "cause" works. Maybe victims of domestic violence?
 

shadeed

Go Digital or Go Home
ill o.g.
^^ i hear ya .. thats why im just gathering facts at the moment .. my brother has an llc and he handles his shit pristinely.. although he is in diffrent area of business (retail and merchandising of electronic devices..ipods,cell phones,games ..etc) so his experience will not be the same as mine. I just tryin to get some feedback from cats that are doing the llc thing specifally and what there experiences are. Particluarly someone like nomics or PA thats is roughly in the same boat as we are..

LDB .. what do u have if not an llc? .. a corp, a sole propietership, a partnership?

If your primary product i.e. your music is not generating a significant amount of cash, then stay as a partnership or sole proprietor for now.

I see so many startup labels, and moreso other forms of business etc file as corporate entities and they're paying that corporate fee every year and they're barely making enough to cover that expense alone.

Make sure you keep good records and receipts for business related items for the recording of this project and trust me, you'll be fine.
 

classic

I am proud to be southern
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 90
If your primary product i.e. your music is not generating a significant amount of cash, then stay as a partnership or sole proprietor for now.

I see so many startup labels, and moreso other forms of business etc file as corporate entities and they're paying that corporate fee every year and they're barely making enough to cover that expense alone.

Make sure you keep good records and receipts for business related items for the recording of this project and trust me, you'll be fine.


Good looks shadeed, thats the direction we are headed....
 
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