Proposal for Business

Music Division

Amaranta Entertainment

Table of Contents

The Dome by Amaranta Entertainment – Business Potential and Operations

Projected revenue and expenditure pertaining to The Dome Subsidiary Income A – Lodging and Kiran’s Goodies Subsidiary Income B – Programming tieups in South India Subsidiary Income C – Lectures and Demonstrations Marketing plan for The Dome Promoting original talent Conclusion

The Dome by Amaranta Entertainment

Business Potential and Operations

The Dome, over the time since its inception, has earned for itself a reputation of being one of the best jam pads in Chennai and is frequented by many of the better known bands in the city. Recent technical developments have the potential to turn the space into a recording studio, maximizing its potential as a consistent revenue generating entity for its parent concern, Amaranta Entertainment. Its existing reputation, the strategic location of the property in the posh Anna Nagar locality in Chennai and the availability of an A/C lodging facility and an in house catering system can be used in tandem to enable The Dome to become the focal point of a mini ecosystem of music tourism in South India. A mix of young bands and more seasoned recording artists utilizing the space would promote healthy interaction between the two, make for a good reputation and talking point for the space as a forward thinking entity in the Chennai music scene. Keeping the above in mind, the following model is proposed for utilizing The Dome’s time and resources :

Band Practice Timings - 9AM TO 9PM

and

Recording Sessions - 9PM to 9AM

This is keeping in mind that the daytime is more suitable for bands to come in and practice and the night time with its quiet would make for ideal recording time for artists. Value offers and a variation of the marketing plan must always be part of the promotion of the space to sustain interest. Since very basic setup is required of an engineer operating the studio during band practice hours, Amaranta Entertainment can tie up with a local sound engineering school like the School of Audio Engineering, Chennai to enable their students to take fortnight or month long internships at the space for a basic stipend payment. For the recording sessions the company can either have an in house engineer paid a fixed salary or have a range of engineers on call for bands to choose from.

Projected revenue and expenditure pertaining to The Dome

For the sake of convenience, maximum potential earnings and expenditures have been calculated and estimates of potential earnings calculated at the end of the topic.

Revenue

Band Practice Timings for 12 hours a day @Rs. 350 an hour= Rs. 1,26,000 per month

Studio Recording Sessions for 12 hours a day @Rs. 1000 an hour= Rs. 3,60,000 per month

Total potential earnings from The Dome = Rs. 4,86,000 per month

Expenditure

Electricity costs = Rs 8,000 per monthStudent stipend = Rs. 10,000 per monthIn house engineer fees =Rs. 40,000 per monthHousekeeping and maintenance = Rs. 3,000 per monthTotal = Rs. 60,000 approx.

Net potential revenue = 4,26,000 per month

20% of revenue = Rs. 97,200 per month = Rs. 37,200 profit40% of revenue = Rs. 1,94,400 per month = Rs. 1,34,400 profit60% of revenue = Rs. 2,91,600 per month – Rs. 2,31,600 profit

It can thus be seen that even if 20% of the maximum potential revenue can be achieved, a minimum profit of Rs. 37,200 still stands to be made per month.

Subsidiary Income A – Lodging and Kiran’s Goodies

The Dome exists on the top floor of a residence and has an office room just outside along with a balcony and an air conditioned bedroom with a washroom attached. The office room can be converted into a meeting cum lecture room now that operations for Amaranta Entertainment have been shut down. The balcony can be converted into a sit out and the bedroom can be used to lodge outstation artists who come to record at the studio. Amaranta Entertainment also has within its fold a sister concern - catering entity ‘Kiran’s Goodies’. This entity can be used to run a regular limited menu canteen for bands using The Dome as a practice pad. In addition, a lodging and ‘Bed & Breakfast’ and/or Lunch and Dinner facility can be provided to bands coming in to record music at The Dome. This would provide for both a business opportunity for Kiran’s Goodies as well as a good touch to the very homely feel of the space, which is ultimately beneficial to the company.

Sample rates

Lodging + Breakfast @Rs 500 per person per dayLodging + All Meals @Rs 1000 per person per day

Rates in this range would encourage bands from even outside the city to come and use The Dome because of attached lodging facilities.

Subsidiary Income B – Programming tieups in South India

As an added incentive for outstation bands, or even local bands to patronize The Dome, Amaranta Entertainment should form strategic tieups with music venues in and around Chennai and organize mini tours for bands either immediately before or after their dates at The Dome.

Venue Suggestions

Bangalore : The Humming Tree OR Counter Culture OR B FlatChennai : 10 Downing Street OR Bay 146Hyderabad : Xtreme Sports Bar, Cuba Libre, Lost SocietyCochin : Café PapayaPondicherry : Alliance Francaise

If an act is good enough, even Mumbai and Pune can be tapped into, adding a whole new dimension to the tour. Any band would be happy to recover atleast part of the costs they incur during their trip to The Dome to record plus promote their music through the shows arranged. Venues in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad Pune and Bombay are very capable of paying atleast Rs 25,000 in performance fee while others can pay a very basic fee and transportation. As part of a package deal with the bands, Amaranta Entertainment may allow the band to keep Rs. 10,000 for a well paying venue and stick to the basic transportation and accommodation arrangements provided by venues who do not pay too much fees.

A sample tour and revenue model

Cities : Chennai + Bangalore + Hyderabad + Cochin/PondicherryExpected performance fees : Approx Rs 75,000 + one free show

Amaranta pays the band a fixed sum of Rs 30,000 for three shows and they play an extra show for free. The company thus makes a potential profit to the tune of Rs.

45,000 per band.

Subsidiary Income C – Lectures and Demonstrations

All jam practice bookings must be encouraged to be made atleast a week in advance and recording bookings atleast two months in advance. This gives the company enough leeway notice time to organize pop up lectures and demonstrations at The Dome and adjoining room during the time the same is not in use. A database of important musicians from Chennai and surrounding cities should be maintained, as well as tie ups with music and audio engineering schools in Chennai be formed to enable students and aspiring musicians to drop by The Dome for lectures and demonstrations. Membership identity cards may be issued for a basic fee, and additional fees may be charged for lectures or demonstrations to make the same profitable for the lecturer and the company. Lecturers may be encouraged to come to Amaranta for free or for a basic token amount, transportation and hospitality on a case to case basis.

Marketing plan for The DomeAs mentioned earlier, constant innovation need to be incorporated into the marketing plan for The Dome to sustain interest and keep existing patrons to keep coming back. A few marketing ideas are illustrated in brief below.

1. Foremostly, brochures showcasing the space pictorially must be made along with basic details of the company and it’s vision. Contact details, an email address for internship and membership applications must be mentioned along with basic rate plans for jam and bookings. If the company is choosing to tie up with other workspaces and/or engineers, mention should be made of the same.

2. Bands patronizing the space are also it’s main marketers. They can be offered referral discounts and or special rates on studio and jam bookings and special discounts when bookings are made in bulk.

3. The time bracket of 9AM to 12PM can be billed as ‘Happy Hours’, which younger bands can avail of to practice. An ideal pricing can be around Rs 250 an hour.

4. Peak booking hours and weekends can be billed higher once the space starts getting more popular. An ideal pricing would be Rs 400 an hour.

5. If a band recording at the studio doesn’t want their setups dismantled when bands come for jam, they may be offered to book the space for the entire day with the 12 jam time hours available at jamroom rates.

6. If Amaranta forgoes hiring a permanent engineer and encourages bands to either bring their own recording engineers or have a range of engineers on call, separate prices may be charged for the same in addition to the recording costs. The company may also consider tying up with mixing and mastering engineers and operating as a completely functional record label with booking services and festival properties in the South of India.

7. Social Media like Facebook and Twitter are the cheapest way to engage an audience of the target age group of 16-25, the average age of most young bands. The page must be effectively marketed with pictures, news updates from The Dome

and latest deals on bookings and workshops. Creative artwork and well worded posts should encourage sharing.

8. Low cost radio and magazine ads may also be considered as and when financially viable.

Promoting original talent

In the present climate of the independent music ecosystem, it is difficult to expect the recovery from a young up and coming artist, a large sum of money invested in recording and release of their records. A functional way Amaranta Entertainment may choose to support and encourage deserving talent is by allowing in house artists a fixed number of hours of free or discounted jam sessions at The Dome and free recording sessions for their first record. The artist can then be promoted by the company and must agree to play a fixed number, say 8 to 10 shows at 50% fees for the company to recover studio time costs. The said shows can be secured through aforementioned programming tieups with venues, or tieups with booking agents.Thereafter, the company can continue promoting the artist and getting them shows through the same methods and make money by taking a cut out of their performance fees as consultation charges. Additional services like press and media relations, design services, photo shoots etc. can also be provided to an artist on a case to case basis for a fee, through consultation with professionals in these fields.

Conclusion

Considering all the above plans well implemented, once The Dome does a steady business of 40% to 50% of the projected maximum, ties up with venues and holds regular meets and lectures, the base investment of Rs 20 lakh can be recovered in profits in under a year.