Audio Recording For Profit is a real 'insider' guide to the business of making money from sound recording. The author — prominent recording industry executive and 'strategic broker' Chris Stone — can call upon more than 30 years of practical experience in this business, including the founding of the legendary Record Plant Recording Studios and the launch of both the élite World Studio Group, and the US recording industry professional association SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services). Although steeped in the music industry, Chris Stone has never lost the broader business perspective that his earlier career as a marketing executive allowed him to bring to it back in 1968. Therein, perhaps, lies the real value of this book to a sector that can not exactly claim an unblemished record when it comes to applying rigorous business principles to its ventures.
Whether you are just seeking to make a bit of a return on your investment in gear bought for your own projects, or have plans to join the ranks of the world's studio élite, this book has something to offer. From first principles through to proven market strategies, Stone's unpretentious, economical writing style manages to turn a whole bunch of solid tips and hard information into a highly accessible 300‑page read.There is no such thing as a 'Handbook For Guaranteed Success' in the studio industry, but if there was, this would be it!
Although largely written from an American perspective, most of the concepts, from business plans, financial forecasting, legal requirements, marketing, how to compete for business and finding a niche, through to hiring and firing and how to manage personnel effectively, are equally applicable to a European context. Surprisingly, many of the operational recommendations also survive transition from large‑scale international operations with a global client base, down to hiring out a one‑room project facility, for the author deals largely in universal business truths and common sense.
Above all, this is an intelligent book, full of real‑world wit and wisdom. If you have any ambition at all to someday make money out of your recording activities, you will be all the better equipped for having read it. At last, the definitive studio business book! Dave Lockwood
The Sound Of Money, ISBN number 0‑240‑80386‑8, is published by Focal Press and is available in all good bookshops.