Planning Your Next Project.
If you’ve found yourself here, then my guess is that you have an amazing idea for your next project and are looking for a few pointers on how to get the most out of the ‘non-creative’ music industry side.
‘Great projects deserve great planning’
Unfortunately, unless you get very lucky, an amazing idea isn’t enough. Some of my favourite artists are just about hanging on in there, simply because they don’t create solid foundations that can support the brilliance of their vision. You can have the best album, live show, video concept or business idea in the world but unless you can incorporate your creative powers into a solid project strategy then you might as well put your desired outcomes away and just enjoy whatever ride the world naturally has in store for you.
In this blog post, I am going to introduce you to my starting point for all of the projects that I develop. I’ll outline my six-step pre-project process, go into detail on the areas I consider and include a free project template for you to download so that you can give it a try yourself. By being organised and having a plan you’ll be able to manage your time better, invest in yourself without worrying, carve out time to dedicate to the ‘business’ side and open up your diary for concentrated creative time, without the dread of the industry side getting in the way.
The following structure is malleable to a single idea, or a general career overview so can help you to focus on one particular idea (such as an album, or tour) or if you are really organised can be used to manage your whole career. The information you need to build is also particularly useful if you’re looking to attract some public funding for a project, as most applications require these details, so by planning in advance you’ll find yourself ready to submit those time-consuming applications!
I’m going to start by outlining my six-step planning process. The infographic below gives you a simple and clear structure to help you figure out what’s at the core of your project, how long it will take to complete, what resources you need to make it happen and ultimately to help you make a decision on whether this project is the right thing for you to be doing at this moment in time. It’s important to note that not all great ideas have to happen right away, it’s a combination of available time, resources and inspiration that create the right environment for your project’s success.
If you’ve made it this far then congratulations are in order! There’s a lot of scary stuff in the six-step planning process but by following it you’ll be able to solidify your idea and turn it into a fully-fledged and realistic project plan.
If you ae ready to try out the process outlined above, then you can download the free project template below. It has space for everything you need and gives examples for every step to help you understand how it works. There’s also a breakdown of each section of the project plan below, so you have all the information you need to make your project a success!
Project Title
If you haven’t worked out that catchy name yet - don’t worry! This can be a work in progress, but it’s always good to be thinking about it from the beginning.
Project Description
Here we want a short (150-250 words) word outline of your project. We don’t need the small details, just focus on the broad brushstrokes and make sure it’s the clearest and most concise description possible. If it’s less than 150 words, that’s not a bad thing. You want to be able to explain what your project is and for someone else to understand it immediately.
Is it an album of original material? A concept for creative collaboration or an overview of a business plan?
Aims & Objectives
People often get these two mixed up. Aims are general and objectives allow you to quantify them. Think about your aims as overarching goals for the journey you will be going on. An example of an aim could be; ‘I want to tour my new album in Summer 2022’. It’s pretty vague, aspirational and non-specific, and that’s exactly how they should be.
Meanwhile, your objectives are what hold you accountable. They help to identify what success looks like for you, so it’s important to be pushing yourself to grow, but not so much that you set yourself up to fail. If we create an objective for the aim mentioned above, it could be ‘A 10 date UK album tour in June 2022, including 4 summer festival slots’. Being this specific allows you to look back and see if you achieved what you had initially hoped for. It allows you to measure growth, success and plan for the future. You won’t always hit your objectives, but without them, you’re likely to be much further away as you won’t know what you’re aiming towards.
Project Timeline
If we don’t have a timeline things can take much longer than anticipated and often we are working towards something that has a fixed point in time such as an album release, run of tour dates, the launch of a business etc. How can we be expected to have everything ready for that point if we don’t manage our time beforehand?
It’s important to keep a list of key milestones and project stages. It doesn’t have to cover every single tiny activity, but the main moments need to be listed and have a time frame allocated. This could include planning time, research and development stages, time in the studio, time for marketing campaigns and so much more.
Personnel
Who else are you relying on, or hoping to have involved in your project? It’s important to have a list of partners and keep track of where those relationships are. For example:
John Smith - Videographer - Confirmed
Polly Aldren - Audio mixing engineer - Unconfirmed
Having this list will help you to keep on top of the people involved, and in turn, will enable you to create a budget that accommodates the fees they require to complete the work you want to give them.
Budget
Every creatives least favourite part! You need to budget your project up-front. If you don’t have everything lined up you could find yourself caught short and with a half-finished product. Make sure that you list both income and expenditure.
When it comes to expenditure always respect your partners. Do your research and work out how much time they need and what fee is necessary for them to make your project a success. If you feel that they are quoting too high, negotiate with them and if they come in a lot lower than expected, try not to see it as a win for you and offer to pay them the industry standard. This can be difficult sometimes, but every effort should be made to financially reward peoples time. If you do, they are more likely to want to work with you again in the future.
Partners can include spaces you rent, equipment hire, project managers, PR/marketing specialists, bandmates, composers/arrangers/songwriters and so many more. Get quotes for everything that could cost you and then add 7-10% on top as a contingency for if anything ends up going wrong, or becoming more expensive.
Income includes any initial personal funds, any fundraising that has already been offered and anything you expect to bring back into the project. If it’s an expected income, it’s better to underestimate the amount so that you can still make the project work if you don’t earn as much as you had hoped. If you think you can sell 100 copies of your album at £10, maybe put down 75. This also applies to other variables including ticket sales.
If your income and expenditure don’t balance, you’ll either need to find more revenue or identify potential funding or sponsorship to help you reach your target. This could be public funding, private funding or even crowdfunding.
Next Steps
If you’re committing to developing a project in this way, you have to make the most of the momentum your project builds. To achieve this I recommend writing out a more general follow-up plan. Personally, I always go for a time-frame that is twice the length of the initial project; so if it’s a 12-month project, you will create a general overview for the following 24 months, giving you a three-year plan in total.
Don’t get too specific here as you don’t know which of your Aims and Objectives you are going to hit (or miss). This is all about getting a general idea down on paper. If you’re planning an album release in 2022, you might want to note your plans to develop a second album, or a tour, or a greater social media presence so your music can reach a wider audience. A few bullet points for each year is a great start and you’ll be able to add to them as your project unfolds.
Review Process
Identifying what success looks like is key to optimising the future potential of both your project and career. Having a review process in place before starting creates marker points that allow you to check-in with yourself both along the way and at the end. You’ll have a clear idea of if you are achieving what you want to and this gives you the opportunity, if needed, to tweak your project and to inform the future development of your next steps.
If you’re not sure where to begin, your objectives are usually a good starting point. Success isn’t always quantitative, it could be more general or personal but it’s always a good idea to know what will make you feel good to achieve.
If you find this post useful, please consider clicking the box below and making a small donation to help me to keep this blog free to access, and if you’re in the music industry and need a helping hand, feel free to book a consultation. I am always here to help!