The path of a novice musician is often long, rocky, and financially uncertain. The members of the Swedish punk band Lepra felt ready for the recording studio, but the musicians who had been practicing in an affordable training room for a long time did not know where to start. Already, a significant amount of money had been spent on musical instruments, amplifiers, and accessories over the years but money and fame had not come yet. The daily rent for recording studios in the Stockholm area is typically anything from a hundred euros upwards, in addition to which the musicians have to pay for the venue. Prices can vary a lot, as some studios also include mixing and mastering, while others only offer their guests soundproofed space, musical instruments, and recording equipment.
In smaller city studios, the rent may be lower, but in this case, the travel and accommodation costs will be included. Even if it is a project started with passion and love, the realities of real life very quickly change the picture: how to finance it all?
Visibility and networking – an advantage for an unknown artist
It’s hard to ask anyone for money for a product that doesn’t yet exist. Free gigs may well be played for visibility, but potential listeners would be better reached if, after the performance, it was possible to purchase a ready-made single album or listen to songs from some streaming service. Recording an album, on the other hand, requires money that isn’t there because nothing gets sold. The sad vicious circle is complete.
Of course, playing free gigs may seem like you don’t get a fair reward for your work, a performance that also includes all those hours spent making and practicing music and the money invested in quality instruments. However, visibility plays a big role in a musician’s success, and in the end, it may even earn. Once the band has a reputation among their own subculture, they can, at best, finance their activities with, for example, crowdfunding or pre-sales.
Crowdfunding is modern and raises attention and funds for many successful projects.
Lepra toured for a long time. They took every opportunity offered and marketed their band themselves for many events, allowing them to enter local music circles. Relationships play a big role in the creative industries, as the word rushes fast. When Lepra finally got their crowdfunding site, they promised every supporter more than € 20 from their band’s first single as soon as it was recorded. This was the first step on the way to renting a recording studio.
Dare to invest – credit for future success
After finding visibility, Lepra set out to plan a small tour in southern Sweden for a week after the single’s release date. They started from their hometown of Stockholm, where they managed to book gigs for themselves for two separate evenings, and then moved to Malmö and Gothenburg. The plan was to sell as many singles as possible during the gigs, but in order to make it happen, they had to invest money in travel and accommodation, for example, as well as a spacious package that would accommodate all the instruments. The crowdfunding had raised some of the amount needed for the studio, and it was daring to set out to plan the trip before the single was even out.
At this point, the band had to think about how much they were willing to invest in the future of their project. They needed a recording studio and a mixer for an estimated two weeks, which would cost them a total of about 3,000 euros, or 30,000 Swedish kronor. They had about half of the amount collected at this point. On the other hand, they were also sure that sales and even paid gigs will happen, as long as they got something concrete to offer their listeners. So, their next step was to apply for a loan. Known for their precision and accuracy, even being punks, Swedes decided to act carefully. The band’s vocalist and lead character Tobias Blom familiarized first with the terms of some loans, even including OPR corporate loans or OPR företagslån as they call it in Swedish. It was important for the whole band to find a form of financing for their project that would cover all the remaining costs, i.e. the rest of the rental of the recording studio as well as the needs of the upcoming mini-tour. The loan seemed the most straightforward solution at this point.
“We browsed through all the loan providers about which Foretagslan Finance had information. We sent applications to really many parties and therefore we also got a lot of negative responses. For us, granting a loan was probably a pretty daring thing, but we’re really grateful that someone finally dared to take the risk. We got the single recorded and sold almost every song at our gigs” – says the band’s vocalist Blom.