The Expert Witness: The economics of music for attorneys, musicians, and others (part III)

By John F. Sase

“There are only two types of music—good music and bad music ... I experienced this last week! 
“Here I am, a film composer, talking with Pete Townshend [of the Who], and he’s explaining the last four Beethoven Quartets to me. We, musicians, are funny. 
“We’re incredible snobs about music—but this is not dependent on style. We could have been discussing some fantastic Country and Western song or a piece of Electronica.” 
—Duke Ellington, American jazz pianist, and composer, 1899-1974
Quoted by Hans Zimmer, American Film Composer, in “Role of Music in Human Culture,” by ‎ Michael O’Mara (February 15, 2021) 

Previously, we considered the concept of Labor through the example of professional musicians and addressed the General Economics of producing performances and recorded copies. This month, in greater depth, we explore the Economics behind recording music creation. 

Depending on individual foci of practice, attorneys may serve on cases that involve Intellectual Property, Contracts, and other elements of the Music Industry. Meanwhile, composers and performing artists remain neophytes in matters of their industry’s economic and legal issues. 

Therefore, we address the basics of Economics and Law required for successful music production, recording, manufacturing, and marketing. As an Economist, I (Dr. Sase) will address the economic issues. In addition to being a professional economist, I am a musician who has written and released my compositions and has helped to produce and engineer the pieces of other artists in my small project studio. 

Regarding the legal elements, I am grateful for the advice and clarification offered by Entertainment Attorney Howard Hertz of Hertz Schram PC in Bloomfield Hills, MI (www.hertzschram.com). For the benefit of our readers, we will keep our techno-speak and accounting math to a minimum. Instead, we present the big picture while offering our fundamental treatise on issues involving the music market. 

We hope that our efforts will aid attorneys and others in educating their clients, family members, and friends who may desire a career in this field. (Since many attorneys have also performed music, some of our readers may be interested in making their music available to the public. Therefore, we present our primer on recorded music for your edification.

Production of Recorded Music

We suggest that all aspiring musicians start by making “low-fi” recordings at each rehearsal and gig. Often, performers use a digital pocket recorder, the type that is employed to record lectures and meetings. Since newer digital models hold more than six hours of recordings, musicians can turn them on and let them be. 

If the material and its performance sound acceptable under “primitive” conditions, the recording passes the transistor-radio test of the 1960s. In addition, such recordings preserve structure and arrangement changes that develop during a recording session or live performance for future reference.

Digital video recorders also serve us well for similar purposes. The world of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) and newer incarnations may provide excellent scratch tracks for the next production phase. The ability to watch movement and witness changes as they occur lifts musicians, producers, and engineers above the old-fashioned mechanical click-track. Such an approach aids everyone involved in achieving a more natural and expressive feel in the multitrack overdubbing process. An excellent example of synching music tracks and concert videos from multiple performances, we recommend viewing the work of The Grateful Dead, entitled “Grateful Dead 4 17 72 Tivoli Concert ... with Sound from Europe ‘72 CD” (https://youtu.be/rgmBc2BaM2A). 

Also, we suggest that newbies prepare all their instrumental and vocal parts in advance while developing a work schedule that includes contingency plans upon entry into the studio—the final location where one may maintain creative control. If musicians need to make last-minute changes, they may want to keep them at a minimum in order to avoid excessive pressure and confusion during a session.

Multitracking

With the assistance of his friend, the American crooner and film star Bing Crosby, renowned U.S. guitarist Les Paul (né Lester William Stutz-Polsfuss) invented the modern multitrack, sound-on-sound recording process at his garage studio in 1957.

Les emphatically stated, “I never walk over to that machine until I know what I’m going to do, and I never use the machine to find it. I find it (on my own) and then go to the machine and use it. I never let the machine tell me (what to do). I tell the machine what to do.” (Advice from Les Paul for Recording Music, https://youtu.be/oHa_LlZxqyI). 

Consider another example from Great Britain. English guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin acted as the producer on their recordings. He obtained the massive drum sounds played by drummer John Bonham by recording the drums in the great hall of Hedley Grange, Page’s medieval-era home. 

Forests, beaches, bathrooms, living rooms, and other ordinary locations provide lovely places to experiment with and develop unique musical sounds. Generally, recording studios do not serve musicians well for this purpose. Even if musicians have a project studio that allows them to work “off of the clock,” they can usually maintain a better perspective by doing the “work-up” elsewhere.

Lessons Derived from Filmmaking

We can borrow a good parallel of detailed planning from the Motion-Picture Industry; the industry developed high-quality sound in the 1920s and continues to interface the most with the Music Industry.

In his early days, English-born filmmaker and TV host Alfred Hitchcock worked as a director in British and American studio systems. He was responsible not only for his own time but for the time of many other professionals working together on the same project. In advance of shooting, “Hitch” storyboarded every shot of a scene before stepping onto the soundstage. 

In the famous “shower scene” for his film “Psycho” that stars Janet Leigh (Shamley Productions, 1960), fifty-two individual shots comprise this scene lasting three minutes and ten seconds (Famous Shower Scene from Psycho (1960) Dissected in 52 Shots, https://youtu.be/wBAMzmQ2SqQ). 

As the master of storyboards, Hitchcock worked out every detail of the shower scene, including chocolate syrup, to simulate blood going down the drain. He framed each shot in advance of rolling the cameras. 

Also, a significant talent that contributed to Hitchcock’s success came from his ability to maintain creative control in exchange for “tight budget-management through meticulous planning”—a practice that pays in many creative studios when time is money.

The Recording Studio

Returning to the music recording studio, we can borrow from filmmaking practices by preparing more material than we intend to record. Life happens. With some good fortune, musicians sometimes move through the tracking faster than expected. At other times, a piece of music does not gel satisfactorily. When this occurs, producers need to shelve the recorded tracks in order to rework them later. 

With the time and physical cost of preparation, travel, and coordinating the schedules of the producer, recording engineers, musicians, and other participants at a session, contingency plans constitute valuable assets. On this point, the “time-is-money” constraint spills over to the tools of the trade. This variation of Murphy’s Law states that devices, including amplifiers, microphones, cables, and fuses, enjoy the notoriety for failing at critical times. Therefore, backups of these items must remain available on short notice. 

As with many endeavors in life, the experience remains the best teacher for the recording arts. Rehearsing against tracks (previously recorded for use during overdubbing sessions) provides the most economical way to prepare for a “take adequately.” Generally, sound-on-sound recordings gel best when they build upon percussion tracks recorded against a simple scratch- or click-track. From here, the tracking progresses upward through the pitch spectrum (lower to higher frequencies). Adding bass, keyboards, guitars, and other instruments provides the bed for the lead instruments and vocals. 

Offering a lead instrumentalist or vocalist a copy of the best mix, sans scratch tracks, helps them to avoid confusion, frustration, and wasted time for everyone at the session. This type of work mix allows soloists to develop their parts while they acclimate to the nuances of tempo, rhythm, and volume changes before the session. 

Along the arduous path toward the final mix, such development results in fewer retakes. Thorough preparation helps to minimize production costs that tend to eclipse the replication cost of creating Vinyl, CDs, MP3, and other copies. Time management outweighs the time-and-money costs and benefits production through thorough preplanning.

Whether or not musicians pay out-of-pocket for studio time, they nevertheless make hefty investments of their own time along with that of other musicians, producers, engineers, and technicians vested in the project. Therefore, (first of all) everyone needs to arrive at the studio on time or even a bit early. The studio constitutes a professional work environment for musicians and their associates. Therefore, we extend the same respect and courtesy to music professionals as we would to professionals in other fields. 

We should do so promptly if we must delay, postpone, or cancel. Equal to the importance of showing up and starting on time is knowledge of when to stop work on individual tracks and the session as a whole. Work fatigue remains a relative term. However, a trait worth developing requires sensing the point at which the marginal net benefit of tracking a different take equals zero.

Time Is Money

Musicians who do not act as producers or engineers on their work should make time to meet with other professionals to share the project’s vision, needs, and concerns in advance of any session work. We may review production notes, equipment requirements, and other mendacities during this time. Before beginning work, all parties involved must understand their responsibilities’ scope and depth. Delays eat up time and money. Remember, “Money is Time, and Time Is Money!” Therefore, musicians and other recording professionals must ensure they remain on the same page.

Furthermore, everyone involved in the project must be aware of the selected studio’s limitations and equipment. This practice requires knowing the number of and assignment of tracks, microphones, signal processors, the capacity of the mixing console, and other essentials. 

Are you planning to use any unfamiliar equipment? Then, those involved need to make the time to research and understand those items and, if possible, to work with such equipment beforehand. If potential, unpleasant surprises should not form a part of recording sessions. For optimal planning, members of the recording group need to familiarize themselves with any limitations, in order to avoid last-minute alterations to the planned mix. 

When the red recording sign lights up, artists, producers, and technicians must discipline themselves to keep production work from going “over budget.” All the while, we need to bear in mind that we “art” (the denormalization of the noun “art”). Performing with feeling and emotion from the heart remains of paramount importance. Producing art commercially (or otherwise) requires we walk the fine line between the pragmatic and the ethereal, as 99% perspiration provides the platform for genius. 
Recording musical artists must work with the technology, not against it. Generally, many of us believe it best to “keep on playing” through a take that feels “flop-ish” rather than stop and start over again. Often to our surprise, suspected sub-adequate performances sound great in retrospect. 

As part of the art of recorded music, we can “ punch in” a short section of a retake or a digital copy to seamlessly mold a few notes into a track. As long as most of the take maintains the necessary artistic integrity, the pragmatism of time-is-money works out. Musicians remain focused on a lead line that prevails in shaping the sound. 
In popular music, vocals usually lead (except during intros, outros, and instrumental solos). Developing the vocal and instrumental accompaniment against a rough take of the lead line achieves a fluent and natural sound. Also, the accompaniment provides a solid understructure that offers flexibility and independence to the musicians who rerecord the final takes of the lead lines. 

Ergo, the accompaniment remains the most economical in achieving the desired sound during original tracking. Usually, it costs more to dig into a final master mix to repair or rebuild short segments before the final mix-down to mono, stereo, or surround sound. Recording clean and then adding effects and other “sweetening” afterward produces a superior sound. 

Profit equals Revenue minus Cost

Musicians approach the production of recorded music with the same regard that any other successful professional or business entrepreneur would approach their concerns. As with many competitive markets, the Average Revenue per physical copy or downloaded track remains relatively constant across all artists. For example, consider the album “Born This Way” by American singer/performer Lady Gaga. A top-ten seller of 2011, her record hit the market at a retail price equivalent to that of the album “MDNA” by American recording artist Madonna. “MDNA” ended up as one of the bottom-ten sellers of that year. 

Notably, Price did not stand as the determinant. As a result, the economic task of controlling the Profit per Unit rests entirely on the cost side of the calculation. Since music production involves the costs of talent and studio time, the producer should seriously consider any action that can safely shave costs without destroying the product’s integrity, quality, and marketability. Note: these actions may include keeping “guests” out of the studio session, frequently making backup copies of takes, and keeping detailed written notes throughout the project.

In order to complete a quality product, we expect that editing, mixing, and other post-production work will consume the “lion’s share” of budgeted time and money. When we add up all the production and post-production time, we should anticipate an average investment of at least fifty hours per track. In other words, we may consider 500 to 600 hours per album as the norm. 

This time estimate may explain why having open access to a home studio for most post-production work carries a great value that translates into savings. This value comes partly from the fact that human ears tire easily; consequently, prolonged post-sessions lead to diminished listening capabilities. This results in Diminishing Returns to Scale for a long session length. Work beyond mundane cutting and splicing (such as adding fades and plug-in effects) demands the perspicacity of fresh ears. Tired ears tend to result in a substandard mix that requires costly reworking.

Wrapping Up

How and when do you know when the mix “is done?” This question resembles asking a chef if s/he has finished cooking the soup. Simply, it is a matter of knowing. 
We may define that moment in the commercial-recording process as the point at which we reach an economically Constrained Optimality. It reflects the balance at which artists fulfill their visions subject to practical budgetary constraints. One knows when the soup has finished cooking. 

For some engineers, this endpoint arrives when they play the mix-down through a pair of “crappy old car speakers.” Others define this bliss point concerning playing the finished recording for others who have not heard it and getting a positive response. 

The sound must feel right to the producer, engineer, and objective listeners and—importantly—to the artist. Studio professionals obtain the most desirable vocal and instrumental takes. Only then do they use their wizardry to create a work that reflects the vision and integrity of the artist while sounding significant to the average listener? From their talent and experience, these professionals know the time has come to release their music to the world.
————————
Dr. John F. Sase teaches Economics at Wayne State University and has practiced Forensic and Investigative Economics for twenty years. He earned a combined M.A. in Economics and an MBA at the University of Detroit, followed by a Ph.D. in Economics from Wayne State University. He is a graduate of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (www.saseassociates.com).