Business Plan Artist Management

11-10-‘10

Teacher: HP Nieskens Names: Ratna Janssens Kaylou Toonen Annelot Suijk Jasmijn Verreussel Stefanie van de Ven Hein Beekmans

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary ...... 3

2. General Company Description ...... 4

3. Product and Services ...... 5

4. Marketing Plan ...... 6

5. Operational Plan ...... 11

6. Management and Organization ...... 13

7. Personal Financial Statement ...... 14

9. Budget ...... 15

10. Appendices ...... 16

1. Executive Summary

We are a brand new artist management company called “LUST”. The owners of this business are Kaylou Toonen, Hein Beekmans, Ratna Janssens, Jasmijn Verreussel, Stefanie van de Ven and Annelot Suijk. We will manage new artists and help them get to know the world they are going to work in. We will guide the professional career of the artist in the entertainment industry and oversee the day-to-day business affairs of the artist. We will also give advice and counsel the talent concerning professional matters, long-term plans and personal decisions which may affect their career.

With this business plan we want to start up a new virtual band, called “Monkey Mushroom”. Our target group is people from the age of 18-35 years old. We anticipate to the new trends and developments within the music industry.

2. General Company Description

Company Goals and Objectives

The vision of our company is that every talented artist, who will go for the full 100% for his career, deserves a chance in the entertainment industry. We, as an artist management, would like to contribute to this. Our managers will have close contact with the artists en they will provide a good development of the career. We consider the wishes of the artist and provide the necessary expertise. The mission of our company is that music is a way to tell a story. We would like to do this on the right an affordable way. We would like to share the music with the listeners.

Market

Our target group are average people between 18-35. These people will have an average income level and they will live in the bigger cities.

Industry

The industry we are in is the entertainment industry. This is a fast growing industry. On the long term the products and services in this industry will become cheaper. There will not be many new things to see in the coming years in this industry.

Company strengths

Our product is distinctive and visual. There is a visual band projected on stage. There aren’t any other bands that are doing the same thing. Expect for Gorillaz. Therefore this is our biggest competitor.

3. Product and Services

Band

At LUST (company name) we are committed to achieve the best match between music and visuals. We guarantee a spectacular virtual band called Monkey Mushroom. The band makes hip hop music with a lot of reggae influences. Their style can be describe as really edgy and alternative. The band is composed of three animated members:

Singer: Lee

Rapper: Mamadu

DJ: Raoul

USP: Monkey Mushroom not only for your ears but also for your eyes!

The first album that they will release is called ‘Extravagant Delight’ and contains twelve tracks. The songs on the album are all written and produced by their own.

Performances

The band will be performing all over the country and further. A Monkey Mushroom performance is not like other performances because of the life music and the 3D-show. It guarantees a maximum experience that you have never experienced before.

Merchandise

Monkey Mushroom has got a wide range of merchandise for all their future fans. They got:  T-shirts  Sweaters  Stickers  Baseball caps  Games  Bobble heads  Mugs  Posters  Bags

4. Marketing Plan

Market research

In the music industry there are not that many virtual bands. De most familiar band is of course “Gorillaz”. Gorillaz is a British virtual band and a multi-media project of Damon Albarn en Jamie Hewlett. The group was founded in 1988, the band members are fictional characters 2-D, Noodle Noodle, Russel Hobbs, and Murdoc Niccals. Gorillaz started in 2001 with organizing concerts.

This band is therefore our biggest competition. But next to this band there are also other bands in the same music genre. We will only mention the Dutch band because we are already distinctive as a virtual band in the Netherlands.

Different reggae bands in the Netherlands are;

Luie Hond The Sundance Kid Zebra Marcus and the Rebels Mighty Pirates New Born Creation Jammah Tammah Poor Man Friend Instant Seawater Roots Encounter Stenchtown Mopion Out of Many E.S.P MMAF Nice Time Rude Rich and the High Notes Dread & Dreadless. Redemption. Awareness Mystic Band The Dub Meditation Ibo Jacob Elijah Kalswe & His Roots Reggae Team

Economics

The total turnover of the music industry decreased with 6,8% in the first half year of 2009 compared to that same period in 2008. The number of CDs that been sold decreased with 8%. In 2008 there were about 8 million CDs sold, but in the first half of 2009 there only were about 7,4 CDs been sold.

The turnover of the global record industry has almost halved since 2000. Concerts now replace CD sales as income for artists. (Source: www.tijd.be)

The biggest barriers we have to deal with are the costs of the production. It will cost a lot of money to develop a professional virtual band. That is why this is our biggest barrier.

If there are going to be some changes in technology it will only make us product better because we are dependent on the technology we have.

It can be that there will also be some changes in the Music industry or in the economy. But it hard to say if that is positive for our product or negative, this depends on the changes there are going to be.

Product

Our product is a virtual band. De band has a DJ, a rapper and a singer. The band plays reggae and hip-hop music. That the band is virtual and de combination of reggae and hip- hop makes this band distinctive from others.

In the Music industry there are not that many virtual bands. As mentioned before, “gorillaz” is our biggest competitor.

The positive things of this concept are that you can give the members a special look that a lot of people would like. By using a rapper, DJ and a singer you also can reach different target groups. By putting the rapper, DJ and singer together you make your target group bigger.

Once the target group is familiar with this band, the band will continue surprise the audience with new product. As figures shows out that concert are the new revenue source for the music industry, this band will also give concerts. But because of the fact that this band is virtual, the band member will be projected on the stage. This will give the audience another experience then they used to.

Customers

Age – 18-35 Gender - male/female Location - national/international Income level - Average income level Social class and occupation - working class Education - average education level Graphic education, music interest

Competition

Importance to Factor Me Strength Weakness Competitor A Customer

Virtual Band Animation Expensive Gorillaz 1

Products Innovative

Higher better quality More risks -Lady Gaga 1

Price -Madonna - Elton John

-Different -Innovative less Gorillaz 1 Quality knowledge -Innovative -Different Visual designers

Innovative music Unique low animo Gorillaz 3 style and Service experience Video Games 3D movie

High No human Technical Gorillaz 3 Reliability illness failure

Virtual technology Refreshing not a lot of 3D Games 5 knowledge Upcoming 3Dmovies Expertise knowledge

Amsterdam Capital, Long distance -Utrecht 5 worldwide, Location Reputation of Amsterdam

Virtual Band 3D less 1 Appearance performance appearance

DVD Visible Expensive All bands 1

Sales Method CD Touchable Concerts Reachable

Television Visual Expensive All bands 1 Posters

Advertising Billboards Internet

Edgy Alternative, Tricky Gorillaz 1 Image innovative, different

Comparing to other competitors there are several things that works in our advantage. For example we offer a unique and innovative product to a saturated market what makes our product stand out above our competitors. This due to an totally new appearence comparing the rest. This all will infect our image and the quality of the product which will have a positive influence. This will also bring disadvantages. Because we are unique and innovative we are working with new technology. This brings along high costs and a need to expertise

Niche

We are an innovative and one of a kind new virtual band in Holland which can compete with new music developments because we offer high quality, unique appearence and have a high reliability.

Promotion We will use a promotional mix which consists the following idea’s. - Monkey Mushroom will appear in several radio shows - There will come video clips to be broadcasted at music television - Having a website which is linked to social media - Making a Monkey Mushroom game - Cinema advertisement (think of the M&M commercials) - Hacking into led screens on the buildings in the city to astound the people. Then a Bluetooth message to send them to the website. - Monkey Mushroom will get a new taste of chips at Lays. In these Lay’s bags will be small bobble heads of the Monkey Mushroom characters to collect.

In short, we will use these medium types; - Television - Interactive media - Radio - Outside media - Cinema - Promotional items

System for repeating customers: When someone orders a ticket or an album or anything, they get an personal invitation to be VIP member/gold member. These people will get an customer number and use that with every order they make. This way we can see the progress of buying and react on that by giving discount or extra products/services. Additional is the newsletter which keeps the customer informed.

Desired Image: The image we want to create is to be an edgy, alternative but approachable group. We want to bring a fresh new mature sound of various music styles.

Visual image support: Colour: Red and army green The whole outlook should be raw. In the same kind of style as ‘Gorillaz’ but then a little bit more swinging because of the reggae touch.

Promotional Budget:

€3.000 making the website €10.000 Costs of the game €500 + €2000 Costs of advertising in cinema and making the commercial. €0,00 Costs of the Lay’s action €10.000 Costs of the system for repeating customers

Pricing The Pricing of the competitor Gorillaz is quit high. Though, Gorillaz is an international act so for Monkey Mushroom these prices are a bit too high. Ticket of Gorillaz is: $154,00 CD: $25,00 Ticket of t-shirt Gorillaz is: $25,00 It is smart to reward customers by giving discount but that is about bonding with the customer. The target group is not searching for discounts. Though it is smart to start our prices for the tickets cheaper than Gorillaz’s. How much cheaper depends on the costs we make.

Proposed location: Fontys will be the base of our company. We could arrange a room to have guests at and as storage.

Distribution Channels: Through the internet, Merchandising at concerts, on location and internet The concert by bookings

Sales forecast 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 CD sales 12.000 15.000 20.000 15.000 20.000 Liveshows 50 80 100 80 90 Pricing Liveshows 2.000 10.000 18.000 15.000 17.000

5. Operational Plan

Location

Our company is located at Fontys academy for creative industries. Fontys ACI is located atProf. Goossenslaan 1. 5022 DM in Tilburg. Here we have the utilities such as an Internet connection, telephone connection and the amount of space needed for our office to manage our band properly. The location is located near the freeway A58 which is very convenient for transportation of the band.

Production costs & techniques

Below the estimated production costs for recording a studio album divided over an A- studio and a B-studio. Costs for studiotime:  21 recordingdays, divided over an A-studio and a B-studio, 9 days of mixing in an A-studio and 1 day of mastering  12 days of recording in an A-studio à € 1.000,- per day € 12.000,-  9 days of recording in a B-studio à € 600,- per day € 5.400,-  9 days of mixing in an A-studio à € 1.000,- per day € 9.000,-  1 day of mastering à € 100,- per hour, x ca 10 uur € 1.000,-  € 27.400,- ex.  + BTW € 32.606,- incl.

Estimated costs for the albumvisuals

 Glassmaster t.b.v. productie CD € 238,- incl.  Printingcosts Cd (incl. opdruk, oplage 10.000 st.) per Cd € 0,50 ct (ex. BTW) jewelbox € 5.950,- incl.  Film t.b. artwork booklet full-color € 404,- incl.

The estimated costs for designing an animated musicvideo €40.000.-

Personnel

As a new band we need the following personel to realize our plan profession tasks -dj/composer provides the instrumentals for the album -singer performs at live concerts/provides the vocals on the album -rapper performs at live concerts/provides the rapvocals on the album -animation videoclip designer creates the animation videoclip

All of these above need to be skilled and professional. So we expect our rapper and singer to work together and write and compose the songs theirselves. Auditions will be held to cast the performers of the band. These auditions will take place at our company building. The designing of the animationclip will outsourced to a external animation designing company.

Legal environment

We need to take the following rights into account -Copyright (Buma/stemra) -neighbouring rights (Sena) -merchandising rights (image rights, personality rights)

6. Management and Organization

For the best possible operating company it will be necessary to have a clear overview of all employees and professional advisory support.

 Board of Directors

Stefanie van de Ven, Hein Beekmans, Ratna Janssens , Kaylou Toonen, Jasmijn Verreussel and Annelot Suijk

 Management Advisory board

Ernst & Young is a global network of professionals in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory. Our 141,000 people worldwide share the same values and stand for quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and society to help them to exploit to the fullest.

 Attorney

Entertainment lawyer, Diederik Donk. Diederik graduated in 1997 from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and then worked in Cape Town Attorneys Hofmeyr Herbstein. In 1999 Diederik joined the Intellectual Property as a lawyer at Clifford Chance in Amsterdam. Diederik provides its legal services to all parties within the entertainment industry. Diederik has special expertise in the field of (operating) audiovisual productions and acts on behalf of leading television production companies, artists and management companies. Derrick specializes in proceedings concerning the protection of format rights and the interpretation of music publishing contracts.

 Insurance agent

Aon. Aon RiskConsole offers a simple solution to support processes in incident and/or damage registration, insurance and risk management. Aon RiskConsole effectively supports the decision making process of risk management at all levels, such as risk identification, risk judgment, incident and damage registration, as well as the reactive mapping of risks

 Accountant

 Banker

7. Personal Financial Statement

Our financial background is stable enough to get a loan for our project. We had several successful projects before. Even if this project won’t succeed we could get financial support from Jack van de Ven, the (rich) father of Stefanie van de Ven. This is enough to reduce the risk for the bank. We are also getting small support in way of grants of the government.

9. Budget

Income Concerts 80% Merchandise 5% Sponsors 5% Royalties 10%

Outcome Promotion 10% Materials 20% Designers 20% Flat fees 20% Recording CD 30%

10. Appendices