BUSINESS PLAN

SNT Records

 Uganda and Continental Africa

Kampala, Uganda

This Music Business start up plan is to give insight about an independent recording Community

of collectives that are creatives, hoping to expand and grow as a collective that operates in the

record production and distribution industry. Our forcus is on signing new artists in the Afrobeats

genres as well as providing those individuals with the necessary marketing and promotion to help

sell their music and build their brand. Our focus on the digital environment of the industry allows

us to keep costs low relative to competitors as well as achieve a reach far beyond the immediate

markets we operate in.

Problem The music industry has been facing a gender inequality problem since its conception in

the late 1800’s. In 2017, only 16.8% of all popular music artists were women, a number that has

actually dropped since the years prior (28.1% in 2016). These numbers reflect poorly on the

music industry, where over half of the consumers are female. Solution Our goal is to provide

female artists with the tools and resources necessary to create a career out of their music.

Through artist development and continuous marketing and promotional efforts, We will create a

platform that female artists look up to and aspire to be a part of. Primary Target Market 16-45

year old women who live in Uganda. Our target market’s median income is about 900,000/=

with a high school degree or higher. Primary genres that they listen to are Afro-R&B, Afro-pop

and Afrobeats, According to a PwC report published before the Covid-19 pandemic, recorded

and live music revenue was worth $34m in 2018, up about 7 per cent on the previous year. PwC

projected the music market would grow by 5.2 per cent a year over the next five years and earn

$44m in 2023, and that’s only in Nigeria, although those numbers may be revised as a result of

the pandemic and the fact that funding and copyright are still under looked in the African Music

Industry

This business plan presents a persuasive and innovative system for organizing and running an

alternative Music Business Startup. An entrepreneur with a new improvement on a traditional

business will find this plan's clear logic instructive.

iWhy Start Music Business?

Starting a business in the Entertainment Industry is highly profitable and interesting for

someone with business sense, perseverance and smartness. With conducive working

environment (Fully Equipped recording studio), various promotion structures in place to

deliver the music to the consumer and a “dedicated to the cause team”, will

automatically lead top-notch service and good marketing.

It is important to note that starting a well Organized, Music Business startup also needs

a significant investment capital, solid planning, and concentration to detail in order to

keep your business profitable.

The truth is that, if you are serious about starting a Music Business Organization in any

part of the world, you are expected to have done your feasibility studies and market

survey before committing your capital in the business. Above all you would need a

detailed and workable business plan if indeed you want to build a successful and

profitable Music Business Organization from the scratch.

iiMission Statement

To develop a highly successful, profitable business which provides quality Audio services

to every individual on our team and to our various clients to become a standard for an

ideal Music business Organization not only in the city but also throughout the Continent.

Core values

1. Innovation

2. Leadership

3. Quality

4. Partnership and cooperation

5. Loyalty to all stakeholders

Goals

• To employ and empower the youth with a passion.

• To provide customers with the best Quality Audio solutions.

• To retain clients through development of attractive loyalty programs.

• To Expand operations by Late 2027

• To build and maintain relationships with other companies in the business.

• To actively participate in community growth associations.

• To build strategic partnership with stakeholders which will support development

of the business.

• To expand the business into supplementary fields

Business Structure

We are quite aware that the success of any business lies in the foundation on which the

business is built on, that is why we have decided to build our Music Business Company

on the right business foundation.

The company will employ professionals and highly skilled people to occupy the following

position;

1.. Record Label President

2. Legal Department

3. Business affairs

4. Executive Vice President

5. A&R

6. Promotion

7. Artist Development

8. Marketing

9. Publicity

10. New Media

11. Record Label Liason

12. Sales

13. Art Department

Roles and Responsibilities

1. CEO/PRESIDENT/OWNER

Record label CEOs manage their companies with a mix of business skills and skills that

are particular to the music industry. The CEO determines the general direction of the

marketing, the music distribution and other matters. The CEO must also master basics

like improving financial performance and communicating with board members. Many

CEOs come from a traditional business school background. However, regardless of

background, CEOs must have strong skills in business management and financial

analysis. For a CEO, a smaller label with a handful of artists will have less paperwork to

handle and tends to be more independent. A big corporation has many divisions and

different music genres, and marketing and touring are major operations. CEOs must

understand the different kinds of music distribution methods, they also recruit and hire

management staff members. CEOs are currently dealing with an industry experiencing

rapid changes in digital music distribution and illegal copying issues.

2. VICE PRESIDENT

Most record labels have several vice presidents. There are different vice presidents for

each department at the record label who manage and oversight their departments.

Depending on the size of the label, there may be up to 10 or more vice presidents for a

single record label. Examples of departments that have vice presidents and has a different

function that works to build the label. The departments include business affairs, legal, art,

artist and repertoire, publicity, marketing, sales and label liaison.

3. BUSINESS ACCOUNTANT

Music Business Accountants advise and work with musicians and music industry

companies on financial matters. Some Accountants specialize in copyright, royalties or

licensing. An average salary is $65,080 An Accountant may be employed in different

roles — as a management accountant, as a specialist account in a particular field. Their

tasks will include: monthly financial reporting, support for forecasting and budgeting,

including advances and royalties and managing payments. Knowledge and experience of

working with music industry clients is required, and will be an asset for any Accountant

working within the music industry.

4. LEGAL.

A record company’s legal department is responsible for all the contracts that are made

between the company and the artist. The label’s team of attorneys will draft the recording

contracts and do the final negotiations with the artist’s manager or lawyer. Any legal

actions, such as lawsuits between musicians and the label, go through this department,

such as: licensee queries, issues and disputes; record company membership

documentation, queries, issues and disputes; performer registration documentation,

queries, issues and disputes; issues relating to facilities and services, carrying out

company secretarial duties; dealing with other major issues.

5. A&R DEPARTMENT.

The A & R department, also known as the Artist and Repertoire, is responsible for

finding and signing new talent. The vice president of this department manages scouts

who receive hundreds of submissions a day from unsigned artists. These scouts also

attend shows and conventions to find the best new talent. Depending on the size and

budget of the label, the vice president may choose to only sign a few acts a year out of the

thousands that he reviews.

6. ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

The vice president in this department is in charge of managing the staff that is in charge

of career planning for artists signed to the label, both artistically and financially. This

department sets up promotional opportunities and determines how best to market the

album and artist to reach the target audience. In this department, they are concerned with

making signed artists a hit as quickly as possible to make a profit. They are responsible to

stockholders for how fast they see a profit from their investments in artists and albums.

7. MARKETING

A Marketing Assistant is responsible for helping to come up with new marketing

concepts, working with the creative department on images and advertisements, develop

marketing strategies and plans, and present findings to company executives. They are

also involved in coordinating all the promotion, publicity, and sales campaigns that the

label is committed to. A marketing assistant or manager may be assigned to work on one

6or several campaigns at any given time, but will usually liaise with the artist and/or their

management. Their aim would be to come up with a “plot” for that artist which may

include starting with some “viral marketing” activity such as involving fans via fan

websites, blogs and social media to create excitement.

8. ART DEPARTMENT

This department is responsible for handling all artwork that goes into creating an album

and its video. This artwork is the first thing fans and the general public see when

purchasing the album, therefore this is crucial that the art department presents the

artist/bands image correctly. The music video needs to be exciting and full of a “cool”

atmosphere. This is because this is also one of the things new fans or people with an

interest will see when looking up the band.

9. PUBLICITY/PROMOTIONS.

Press/Publicity and Promotions department try to obtain maximum publicity for any

appearances/gigs/interviews/arrests leading up to the projected release of a single/album.

This is usually when the employee gets involved and uses his/her contacts or calls in

favours to ensure that the song is heard on the radio and/or played on TV. In turn, the

album would be promoted in the press, on radio, billboards, online and, depending on the

budget, on TV. Not all record labels have the funds to follow such a potentially expensive

route for all (or any) of their artists and smaller budgets call for greater creativity and,

perhaps, a less traditional approach to marketing. This is where certain independent

labels, benefiting from strong reputations in specific genres can gain higher success for

their artists.

10. SALES.

Once the song/album has been recorded and the marketing campaign is in place, the sales

team will need to ensure that the retailers and wholesalers buy enough stock to cover the

anticipated demand. Because of the high cost of warehousing and physically distributing

stock to thousands of outlets throughout the country, most of the distribution is from two

or three major distributors, co-owned by the larger record companies and a handful of

smaller distributors serving the independent labels. The sales team is usually consists of

telephone sales staff, who sell new releases direct to the independent record shops and

key accounts (or national accounts) salespeople who liaise with the head offices of the

large retail chains and supermarkets. The relationship that the sales people build with the

buyers is a crucial component in the success of a new album. The distributor may also

employ the services of a merchandiser to visit the shops and supply point-of- sale

material (posters, cut-outs etc) in support of a particular release.

11. ARTIST MANAGEMENT

It is the manager’s job to serve the artist; to deal with all the everyday mundane business

affairs so that nothing is left to interfere with the delicate creative process. Many

managers find themselves dealing with the personal as well as the professional lives of

their artist or band, and grow a strong relationship with one another, as they’ll spend

almost every day of the year with this person/ people. Invariably though, any interested

record company will suggest, if not insist, that an artist be signed with an experienced,

professional manager; recognizing the importance of the role. Certainly, they will be

involved in any decision that directly concerns the artist’s earning potential. A manager

must be prepared to negotiate with record labels, publishers, tour managers, booking

agents, promoters, producers, lawyers, accountants, journalists, photographers,

merchandisers, fan clubs and often the artist’s friends and family. Whilst it is important

for both parties that the manager is a fan of the music, he or she must remain objective

about the look, sound and next career moves of their artist(s). In an ideal scenario,

everyone will have the same objectives and will trust and respect each other’s decisions

and motives. In return for these services, a manager can expect to receive anywhere

between 15% and 25% of an artist’s gross earnings.

MARKET ANALYSIS

The Music Business Climate in Uganda is growing positively rapdly, quality music consumption

in the country is increasing, the number of shows is continuously raising by the day, for example

there a numerous live band shows on every night of the week, case in point is Ntinda, we have

bars with live band starting on Monday night. These go on till the end of the week.

We are also able to interact with the outside world, on a music business basis with music

streaming platforms like spotify, tidal, apple music etc……Ugandan music gets to be promoted

out of Uganda.

Our Target Market

We look forward to meeting the quality of the demands of our clientele, we anticipate shows,

live sets and continental tours, In less than a year of the commencement of this project.

Methods of marketing

Online advertisement

Social Networks

Purpose: Social media will be used primarily as an attraction tool to create a communication

channel with potential end-customers, to highlight the latest news, the latest industry

trends, loyalty programs, updates/new features of mobile application, etc.

8Strategy: Facebook fan pages, Twitter and blogs will be created with minimum once-

daily updates. This will have an added advantage of contributing to the overall SEO

effort as well.

Keys to Success: 

The keys to a successful social media launch include the following:

ü Successful and aggressive initial friending/following campaign

ü Ability to create compelling blog content

ü Ability to find time to interact with users via Twitter and Facebook

ü To launch display and video marketing campaign targeting relevant keywords to

attract members of target audience

Google

Purpose: To leverage the allowance of paid advertising on Google and to acquire

traffic at a competitive CPA for Project D

Strategy: A standard AdWords strategy of identifying potential keywords and then

whittling said keywords down to a profitable and manageable list, utilizing tests in

ad copy.

Keys to Success: The keys to a successful Google AdWords launch include the

following:

Successful acceptance by Google

Ability to quickly test and to respond to ad copy, landing page copy and

acquisition offers

Ability to track and determine ROI and CPA of AdWords campaign

Offline advertisement

Traditional marketing tools (Billboards, TV, Radio ads and advertising in printing media)

Purpose: Leverage the allowance of advertising to attract clients at a competitive CPA.

Strategy: Build marketing campaign based on communication with potential clients

through advertising on local TV, Radio channels and printing newspapers on each

market.

The key advertising method will be billboard advertising located in densely populated

urban areas.

9Keys to Success: The keys to a successful traditional marketing campaign will include

the following:

ü Qualified/Well-trained marketing personnel

ü Proactive and creative marketing personnel

ü Availability of resources to implement traditional marketing tools

PROPOSED METHODS OF FINANCING

Below are some of the methods to solicit finances in order to run the business.

Crowd funding

There are a handful of really good crowdfunding sites that have become very popular

with inventors, entrepreneurs and the general public.

Angel investors

Angel investors stand out from other types of funding options because they are always

on the lookout for the next business to invest in. Many of the biggest tech companies

today, including Google and Yahoo, were funded by angel investors.

At its most basic deal, taking money from an angel almost always requires you to give

your investor some share of equity in your company. Angel investors and any related

transactions must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Venture capitalists

Similar to angel investors, venture capitalists have money to invest, which they want to

invest in young, up-and-coming businesses with a high potential for growth and

monetary returns. Venture capitalists typically also look for a share of equity in

exchange for their investment, but are also interested in having a voice in the direction

of the company.

Personal financing

Starting your own business is risky. In many cases, this level of risk is what prevents

traditional lenders from granting loans to entrepreneurs. This is made even more

difficult if the startup owner hasn’t invested any of his or her own money.

It’s hard to get a third party to give you money for your business if you haven’t ponied

up your own.

10If you have savings or own your home and are willing to refinance or take out a second

mortgage, then these are options you should definitely explore if you’re comfortable

with the potentially bad consequences.

Purchase order financing

Many different factors can affect a business’ cash flow, including seasonality and supply

and demand.

For example, some companies may find themselves unable to fulfill a large order due to

a lack of funds to purchase the materials needed to produce the goods.

In these instances, purchase order financing might be the answer. A purchase order

financing organization will essentially extend an advance so the organization can

purchase the materials it needs today and then collect back the money once the goods

are sold.

Friends and family loans

Your friends and family have a vested, personal interest in watching you succeed. This

might make them more willing to invest in your business, especially in the beginning.

Taking money from friends and family, however, can be tricky, and all of the pros and

cons should be scrutinized before deciding to use this method to generate funds.

Contests

Believe it or not, there are organizations out there that offer monetary rewards—or

even financing—for businesses and entrepreneurs who enter their contests.

Eligibility requirements, entry fees and judging criteria vary widely. But if you have

confidence in your pitch, this might be the way to get some cash.

Alternative lending sources

Using alternative lenders might require more due diligence on your part because you want to be sure you are doing business with a legitimate vendor. In most cases,however, thes enders fall just outside of the category of banks or government institutions.