To: Miss Enger

From: Chris Pickett CP

My individual project for English 320 will be a business plan for a music promotion service.
What follows is a definition of the project, the objectives for the project, the methods for
completing this project and a timeline for the project.

Project Definition

The project that I am proposing is a music promotion service. The internet age has brought
about some major changes in the music business. The music industry is falling apart due to
peer-to-peer sharing and the record companies are faltering. Bands no longer gain popularity
by signing a deal, plenty hit it big through the internet via Myspace, Facebook and other social
networking sites.

This project involves a website to promote the music and also a dedicated staff that would
promote local music and help get small bands into venues for shows. It has the potential for a
full-scale, for profit business employing many people in a metropolitan community. The
difference between this music promotion service and a record label is that we will not offer any
contract to any bands. Individual bands hire out our service to promote their band on a
relatively small scale level.

The scope of what I will be undertaking will be more along the lines of a business plan rather
than a fully operational service. This will be mostly research and organization based. There will
be three documents and a mock website that I will hand in when I am complete. Each
document is described in the Methods section of this proposal and will be two to three pages
including charts and graphs. The mock website will fulfill the visual aspect of the assignment
and the documents will fulfill the writing aspect of this assignment. I will be turning these in via
email.

Objectives

The research objectives for this project are as follows:

 The research for this project will be rather extensive. Different cities, bands, and venues
need to be researched in order to find the best location to set up this service.
  People with know-how in the business need to be found and contracted to help.
Connections need to be made and relationships need to be built with club and venue
owners so that this service can get these bands into the venues to play shows.
 I will learn how to construct a website that will facilitate the promotion of the business
as well as the different bands that are using my service.

Methods

Because this project is more of a business plan that will potentially take years to get going and
then even more years after that to become profitable, the methods here will be more research
and organization based rather than steps towards actually starting this business.

The methods I will use to set up this project will be:

 Research web development and come up with a mock up of something that would
become much greater if the business was actually started.
 Research different cities and the venues that call said cities home. I will prepare a
document listing pros and cons of a few different cities and note the premium location
for the business.
 Research music scenes in different areas of the nation to help decide which area would
be best to set up this service. I will prepare a document describing each music scene
and what it has to offer in terms of business for this service.
 I will contact a few people in the business to discuss the viability of this service. I will
prepare a document of the findings of these interviews.

Timeline

The following timeline details the schedule for completing the above methods:

July 11 - 17 July 18-24 July 25- Aug 1-4

These assignments will all be turned in by email By August 4th at 5 pm.

The benefits of this service will be to the community in which it will be set up. The bands using
this service will get more exposure and have a better chance at making money at what they do.
The community will benefit because this service will create jobs as it becomes a profitable
business venture. The music industry itself will benefit from an influx of great talent as
determined by this service.

Evaluation

Documents:
1 – City Evaluation – 40 points: Will have a research superstructure (p.581 in the text).
2 – Music Scene Evaluation – 40 points: Will have a research superstructure (p.581 in the text).
3 – Summary of Feasibility Surveys – 40 points: Will have a feasibility report superstructure
(p.612 in the text).

Website Mockup – 30 points: This will fulfill the visual aspect of the proposal. This will be
graded in terms of content delivered and cleanliness of presentation.

There will be three different documents (pros and cons list for different cities, an evaluation of
different music scenes around the nation, and a transcript and summary of my findings in the
interviews), and a website mockup. Everything will be turned in by August 4 th by 5:00pm. Each
of these is worth 25 percent of the total grade. Coherence, grammar and sticking to the format
will be the main detractors of points from the documents.

Reading List

"The Future Of Music Business Models (And Those Who Are Already There) | Techdirt."
Techdirt. Web. 23 July 2010.

[Link] : Radio Promotion, Music Promotion, Radio Airplay, Radio Stations, Radio
Syndication, Music Promotion. Web. 23 July 2010.

"RIAA Accounting: Why Even Major Label Musicians Rarely Make Money From Album Sales |
Techdirt." Techdirt. Web. 23 July 2010.