
BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR MUSIC CREATORS
DEADLINE: 28/02/25As part of our Propeller programme (Future Yard’s ongoing, free-to-access support system for Liverpool City Region music creators), we have programmed a series of dedicated business support sessions, which will help future-proof your projects.
A number of these are open access info workshops that you don’t need to be a Propeller member to attend, with additional practical support sessions that are members only, as we feel that we need to know crucial information about your project, to ensure you are business ready.
If you are not yet a Propeller member, but feel you would benefit from regular mentorship and a personalised development plan, alongside access to workshops, masterclasses, live performance opportunities and free gig tickets, then you can join here.
Here’s what we’ve got in-store for you, please sign up to the individual sessions by clicking through to the event page. All sessions take place at Future Yard.
Opportunities to chat to your mentor are available on Wednesdays and Saturdays, throughout the month. Members, book a timeslot here.
EXPLORING REVENUE STREAMS
Thursday 30th January: 6pm – 8pm
In this session we will be looking at all the different ways that your music can make money and what you need to do to receive it. How you can ensure you have that money trickling in, when to expect it and how to plan around it. (open to all)
BUILDING A TEAM: HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
Monday 3rd February: 6pm – 8pm
There’s going to be a great deal covered in this. How on earth are you supposed to know if that manager is going to make or break your career? How do you determine whether that label has the resources to get you where you want it to? How do you find out if that press person gets your project and can tell writers about you properly? Expect lots of answers to these questions and a tonne more. (open to all)
AVOIDING BURNOUT
Thursday 6th February: 6pm – 8pm
Starting with ideas for effective time and task management, we’ll be discussing how to avoid reaching those dreaded feelings of burnout. How can you ensure you are working smarter not harder and that there’s “return of investment” on the time you spend pushing your musical projects forward. (open to all)
THE BUSINESS TOOL BOX
Monday 10th February: 6pm – 9pm
This session is dedicated to getting you ready to register your musical project as a business, thus making it official. If you are at the stage where money is being spent and earned in relation to your musical endeavours, then it may be time for you to get registered with HMRC (and Companies House). Particularly if you are spending money, sending out invoices and generating royalties. We’ll be going through everything you need to know and consider when doing this. How you can be getting ready to take the plunge into business registration, so that important practices that are essential when we make it official, can turn into habit. (Propeller members)
PPL REGISTRATION
Monday 17th February: 6pm – 9pm
Grace Goodwin is here to guide you through your PPL Registration. You will leave this session with your PPL account all set up. Once it’s done, it’s done. If you are recording music, or playing on other people’s recorded music and you are not signed up to PPL, then please come to this and get it boxed off. PPL is free to join and once it’s done, it’s done. You cannot collect the royalties that your performed/recorded music generates without being registered with PPL. For those that have looked at the registration process and been put off by the jargon and acronyms, then please come and get guided through it, ensuring you are ticking the right box, providing the right details. (Propeller members)
BUSINESS REGISTRATION
Monday 24th or Thursday 27th February: 6pm – 9pm
Following on from the Business Tool Box session on 10th February, we’ve got two opportunities on the 24th and 27th of February to get your business set up and registered. Whether you are a solo artist becoming a sole trader, or a band becoming a partnership – we’ll guide you through the process and make sure you start off with all your ducks in a row. You don’t need to come to both sessions, please book on to one or the other. (Propeller members)
Am I business ready?
It’s good to get into decent practices with regards to your accounting and finances while the amounts coming in and out of your musical project are small and manageable. This makes it easier for a music accountant to take over when it starts to become more significant.
Whether or not you want music to be your career or you’re in a band with your mates and it’s a fun hobby. If money is going in and out, it needs to be looked after. By becoming knowledgeable in this area and by employing some basic practices, this will help you either turn your music into a career, or prevent your hobby from costing you more money than it should.
This month of activity is all about ascertaining where you are at and putting the basic building blocks in place so that you can create a foundation to future-proof your project.
We begin by building an awareness of all the different income streams your music can create, then look realistically at what you should be aiming for when building a team around your project to support you. We are also covering time and task management to ensure you are working smarter rather than harder, thinking of a return of investment on your time, not just your pocket. After these essentials are covered, that’s when we get into the nitty gritty of getting to grips with business and royalty registration.
Following this mini-programme within the Propeller programme, there will be ongoing support on all these elements, along with funding application support to coincide with the return of PRS Foundation’s PPL Momentum Accelerator fund for Liverpool City Region artists in April.
Do I need to join the Propeller programme?
There will always be activity that you can just sign up for without being a registered Propeller member, but by joining up (which is free) we can support you further, as we can tailor what we deliver based on getting to know you and your needs. Not only this, but you will be assigned a lead mentor, provided with an individual development plan and a live performance pathway at Future Yard. Propeller members will also get access to members only workshops and masterclasses, external performance opportunities and free gig tickets and offers. It’s also a great way to meet other like-minded musicians and lift each other and support each other.
You are absolutely under no obligation to attend every session, and we appreciate life can often take over so that the attention is not on your music, but we are here when you need us! You can engage with the programme as little or as much as you want. We will keep you updated with all the upcoming activity through a weekly email.
Propeller is open to music creators at ALL levels! Whether you’re starting out or on album three. If you want a bunch of cheerleaders fighting your corner, we’re here. Knowledge is indeed power. No matter where your project is at, and who is involved, we are here to myth-bust, sense-check and generally listen and offer an outside perspective. You are not on your own.
If you think you may have signed up a while back, and can’t remember your login, then shoot us an email over to artists@futureyard.org