When writing your record label business plan, pay attention to what you need to achieve in the plan and what will be difficult or even impossible for the plan to convey. The following are a few tips:

Do Keep It Short and Sweet

The length of your plan won’t make it any more convincing and there is no a magic number of pages which will win over investors who are on the fence. It is the quality of the argument within its pages which should make it clear that you have found a valuable opportunity, have the means and ideas to exploit it, and expect profits that will make investors happy.

Do Show The Experience of Your Management Team

Running a successful record label requires skills in a variety of functional areas (marketing, sales, legal, logistics, artist development) and it is highly unlikely that any one person, yourself included, will have skill in all of these areas. Therefore, you must show that the experience of the team members and planned team members, put together, covers all of these bases. Spend time showing this experience through biography and resume focused on the needs of the business. If any holes are left, don’t ignore them, but show you recognize the need to recruit more talent.

Don’t Assume The Music Speaks For Itself

It simply doesn’t matter if investors will like the type of music you intend to promote with your new record label. Investors and lenders simply have to understand that there is a clear market for this type of music and a demonstrated need for the music you choose. The music does not have to have mass market appeal, as long as you have a plan for how the target market will be reached and can convince readers that they will buy the music. When the music sounds odd or extremely niche when described directly, describe instead the intense devotion which the fans have for the genre.

Don’t Assume Just Building A Website Is Marketing

Launching a website for your business was once described as “placing a billboard along the information superhighway”. Those days are long gone, and putting up a website is now more like buying a 1-800 number – it is a means for customers to reach you, but only if they can find it. The marketing plan should focus more how the website itself will be promoted (on posters, CDs, via email lists, search engine optimization and search engine marketing) than on how the website itself will drive sales. Websites are now primarily means for users to engage more directly with the bands and music they enjoy rather than means to convince them to buy the music.

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Business plan writers must adhere to a basic format. While covering the important sections of a business plan, pay attention to these additional rules which contribute to a more successful plan.

Make the Executive Summary Stand On Its Own

Some funders reading your business plan will only get as far as the executive summary. Some may request that you send only an executive summary with your initial application. For these reasons, make sure that the executive summary hits all of the major points of the business plan and is compelling even as a separate document. While it cannot go into the detail that the rest of the plan will, it should also not be vague or incomplete. Make sure that the executive summary leaves readers wanting more not because it does not answer key questions about the business, but because the strength of the idea itself is contagious.

Make the Plan Easy To Navigate

A table of contents, page numbering, and section headings and subheadings go a long way to making the plan easy to read. A reader should be able to flip between the different sections. For example, some funders may be most concerned with sections covering their specialties, such as strategy, operations, marketing, or finance, and may want to go straight to the relevant section after reading the executive summary.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words is certainly true in a business plan.  Graphics, such as graphs, product photos, and logos can go beyond description to convey more than paragraphs of text can. If numbers are a primary part of what you are trying to explain, or when comparing competitors or customers, a chart can summarize the data simply. Make sure that photos or logos are of high enough resolution to appear clear and not pixelated on the business plan. Also be sure that each graphic is relevant, contributes to supporting the business plan, and is not a distraction from the purpose of the plan.

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