Making The Entertainment Industry More Diverse And Representative With David Franz

David Franz is a California-based music business entrepreneur, producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, and educator. He is the founder of the record label Underground Sun and co-founder of Underground Sol record label. David writes, produces and engineers music for a wide range of artists in the Soul, Rock, Electronic, Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Americana genres. His music has been heard in prime time TV shows, multi-million dollar movies, advertisements for Fortune 500 companies, and through speakers around the world. He also hosts “Underground Sun Live with David Franz,” a monthly music-based live stream variety show and docu-series, and “The Mixdown,” a web series about music production and music business.

Click to read more ...

Hedging Against Uncertainty In The Music Industry

Let’s face it, the music industry is going through an uncertain period right now. Venues have had to close their doors indefinitely, and artists have been forced into busking online for money. The music industry is resilient though. This isn’t the first time it has been forced to adapt to tremendous change and adversity. No one is immune to the threats of disruption, volatility, and hyper competition that exist in this industry.

Despite the fickle nature of the music industry, there are things artists can do to set themselves up for success in the long run. Here are some thoughts on how to weather the storms and come out on top.

Click to read more ...

How Touring Musicians Can Run A Business From The Road

Over the last few decades musicians have had to become more savvy regarding the business aspects of the creative endeavours that they’ve dedicated their lives to. Whether it’s due to the myriad examples of how unsuspecting creatives have been taken advantage of, or the industry shifts that have affected how revenue is made, musicians are taking the development of their business skills almost as seriously as their musical chops. While this adds a certain complexity to musician’s lives, this is also incredibly empowering.

Click to read more ...

What "Entrepreneurship" Really Means For Musicians, Part 3: Looking Towards The Future

In the first two parts of this series of brief articles on entrepreneurial musicianship, I provided a definition of entrepreneurship, and a model for critical reflection to practice entrepreneurial musicianship. In this final installment of the series, I am going to begin to discuss how we can apply this rethinking to our planning for the future, and why looking towards the future is one of our fundamental responsibilities as artists and arts leaders. This discussion will open from two major viewpoints—the artistic, and the business—then culminate in a synthesis of how these two viewpoints relate to one another, through the principles of the new economy.

Click to read more ...

What "Entrepreneurship" Really Means For Musicians, Part 1: Rethinking Entrepreneurial Musicianship

We are fortunate to live in a time where we have an incalculable amount of information at our fingertips. “How do I distribute my music?” “How do royalties work?” “Why won’t Logic save my volume levels?” Just about any problem can be solved when a musician knows what questions to ask. However, when it comes to bigger questions about artistic and business growth and direction, it can become hard to find the next step. There are many resources for artists that cover the topic of entrepreneurship, but they are often near-sighted or just blatantly covering a topic other than entrepreneurship altogether—such as how to gain Facebook followers, or how to make a killer set list. My aim with this series of three brief articles is to clarify what entrepreneurship actually means, and hopefully empower artists towards harnessing their natural—or unnatural—entrepreneurial spirit to make change in their world(s).

Click to read more ...