Introduction

Thinking like an entrepreneur can be very useful when it comes to problem solving by thinking of different ways to solve problems and helping others to solve the same issues that may be affecting multiple people. This has happened lots of times in the past where entrepreneurs have discovered problems with something that multiple people share and then created a business or idea to help solve that problem. For example Jack Conte, the CEO of Patreon, wanted a way for creative people to receive donations for their work from fans who want to help support them and in return the fans would receive something unique only a donator could access, so he created Patreon to allow that to happen. This inspired me to research the problem of studio prices being extremely high for small artists as well as producers who are trying to get experience finding it very hard as the best way to get a job as a producer is to have experience. Because of this I want to create a business that will require new and learning producers who are looking for experience to work together to supply their own equipment to create a basic studio to then rent to smaller artists who can’t spend lots of money on profesisonal studios so that they can record their music and release it to help promote themselves.

As studio equipment has got so good at an affordable price you don’t need to spend thousands on equipment to get a good recordings anymore, lots of big artists are even starting to use more basic equipment for ease of use and still recording very popular songs that no one would know it wasn’t recorded in a studio. For example Steve Lacy’s track “Bad Habit” was primarily recorded on his phone using Garageband and even the lead vocal line was recorded using his phone microphone. This song to this day has 1.5 Billion listens on Spotify showing you don’t need expensive equipment to record a good performing song.

Business Overview

When researching studio prices it shows the average hourly rate for a budget studio is £25-50 an hour which for a full day in the studio can add up to £400 a day and as many artists and producers know, to get an album or even one song recorded in a one day at a high level is next to impossible meaning you would need at least a weeks worth of studio time. If an artist was wanting to record a song for cheaper than that the next option would be to do it themselves by buying some recording equipment and learning how to record and mix themselves. This is a very time consuming way to record their work as if you have no prior experience in production it can take a very long time to do it well and can also very easily end up costing more than renting a studio. As you can see there is a very clear gap in the market for starting a budget studio to rent out to artists who don’t have the budget for a professional studio.

For my business to work it relies on acquiring producers who are more interested in gaining experience in a studio rather than earning lots of money from it but as there are so many producers that are struggling to find experience in a studio there would be plenty of producers that would be willing to work with this business. Our main target producers would be producers who are studying production at university who have lots of knowledge of production but are struggling to find experience. We would also rely on producers own equipment that they are willing to let us use as well as any donations we can acquire to get it running. This would still work as most producers will have a small selection of production gear they use to learn how to get better at production meaning if a few producers worked together and provided their gear it would then give us enough gear to kit out a small studio to record bands and artists. Once we have acquired a small group of producers and enough equipment to start recording we can then start advertising to bands and artists to come and record their music at a much cheaper and affordable price compared to a professional studio.

Entrepreneurial Skills and Aptitudes

To allow this business to run effectively it will require certain entrepreneurial skills as well as the right mindset to remember why this was created and what the purpose of the business is. As this business is about giving artists and producers a studio that they can use we can’t be in the mindset to turn over as much money as possible due to that not being the reason for this business. A large percentage of the money that is made will go back into the studio to hopefully buy new gear to improve the recordings and experience. A small amount of money will then go towards the producers for working on the songs they are recording and mixing as they are working and will acquire a payment for it. This business will also require good leadership skills to manage all of the producers who is also able to take risks to allow the business to improve quickly to get it to a good standard where the studio can start to achieve good recordings. Not being a risk taker could make the business stay in one place in terms of improvement which could then lead to it having to shut down as there are not enough people on board to make it happen. Being a good leader will also be a big part in making this business run as they will need to organise people to work in the studio as well as find bands and artists to come and record their music. Without producers and artists this business will not run meaning they are one of the most important part to make it happen. The business will not only need other people’s skills to make it run effectively but it will need some of my own skills, for example, I would say that I have experience in being a leader and delegating tasks to people in a way that will suit people’s skills to get the tasks done correctly. This will come into play when we are working on a track and we will need multiple producers working on it, I will be able to give each producer a different role to help make everyone feel useful as well as making sure it gets done to a high standard.

Critical evaluation of successful business

To help understand how a businesses in the same sector works, I will evaluate two businesses to help compare to then help improve my business.

The first business I will be evaluating will be “Wee Studio”, this is a remote studio based in the outer Hebrides of Scotland on the Isle of Lewis. I will be evaluating this business as I am hoping to run my studio in/near the Lake District, so evaluating a studio that it is very remote will help me understand how they perform whilst being so remote.

Wee Studio offer one large studio with a live room and control room filled with a large selection of equipment and instruments, as it is so remote from everything they also offer accommodation so that bands and artists can stay at the studio and not have to worry about finding separate accommodation. As well as being a studio they are also a record label so that musicians that record there can release their music through Wee Studio’s label which for them would be another source of income. Another source of income they have is from their A/V service where they provide live audio, video and equipment hire for customers to use.

For their studio hire they don’t directly advertise their studio prices but under their shop section they advertise gift cards you can use, these do state that £300 will provide half a day of studio time and £480 will provide a full day in their studio. Going off these figures that puts them just above average for cost of studio hire which would make sense due to their large selection of audio equipment as well as being advertised as a remote Scottish recording studio. This is because some artists and bands may like the idea of being remote and in the countryside as they want to be in a quiet place to think of ideas for their music. This also links in to their target customers as they will be primarily targeting people who want to be in a remote location whilst recording music. Wee Studio will also be targeting people who live in or near that area, just because they are so remote it doesn’t mean there aren’t musicians wanting to record their music in a studio so having a recording studio allows musicians who are based so far north means they don’t have to commute a long way to find a studio. This will not only give Wee Studio lots of clients but also inspire people from that area to record their music and potentially release it.

Wee Studio was founded in February 2008 by Keith Morrison, it originally started out in Stornoway’s media centre but eventually ended up in its current location and is now a large recording studio that can provide lots of different audio and video services. From research it looks like being able to have the studio in it’s own remote, distraction free location gave it it’s main selling point and at that point it started to take off. To get where the studio is now the main income streams have been from studio hire but Wee Studio also has it’s own shop where they sell their own merchandise as well as cd’s and vinyl that has been recorded in house as Wee Studio.

Overall Wee Studio has been a successful business especially with it being so remote, this is something that inspires me as it shows that even though they are not in a large major city you can still run a successful studio. After researching their hire rates it shows that I will need to charge a lot less so that I can appeal to my target audience, this will mean trying to fund most of the equipment from producers wanting to work at the studio but also not have high profit margins as the idea is to appeal to people who can’t afford expensive studio’s and give them an opportunity to use a studio.

The second business I will be evaluating is “The Green Room” which is another recording studio that is based in Leeds and was started by two graduated university students. The two founders, Tim Malkin and Sam Newham moved into their current location at Swinnow Grange Mills, Leeds on October 2024 and have been offering recording and mixing services since. Due to their studio size their target audience would be small bands or solo artist who are wanting to record their music instrument by instrument as apposed to large bands wanting to record a live performance. This tends to appeal to smaller artists who may not have a full band and want to spend time on working out how they want their music recording. Another reason why this Appeals to smaller artists is due to the style that the Green Room have gone for, this is because they have made the studio feel like a home that has a studio in it by adding lots of decoration that is similar to what you would find in a home. The building that the studio is in also makes it feel very homely as it is in a small space rather than a big building, this can all make it very easy and comfortable for a new artists to record in and it not be intimidating like a large professional studio.

From what I can tell from my research the main source of income for growing this studio has been from artists hiring and using the studio as there is no other advertised way of making an income. As they have only been running since 2024 there haven’t been many key milestones but one milestone they have reached was being able to move into the Penthouse recording studio’s old space so that they can have their own space to work with their clients. This will then allow them to work with more and larger artists and band which can help them grow as a business and as producers by being able to work in a larger space which can accommodate larger projects.

Overall the Green Room is similar to Wee Studio as they both attract people based on their aesthetics with being very unique and targeting a specific audience. Wee Studio manages to run and gain lots of work even whilst being so remote from large music scenes which makes it similar to my studio and the Green Room is a very comfortable space to work in which appeals to new artists and bands which is who my business will be targeting. Evaluating these businesses has also shown me things that I don’t want to copy from them as they are both targeting clients with the money to spend on professional studios due to the equipment list and location meaning I will need to work hard to source equipment for as cheap as possible without effecting the quality of recordings we will achieve.

Feasibility and Justification of the Proposed Idea

To help justify my businesses idea I will go into detail and explain how it will be commercially viable, sustainable in the long term and compete with the current market as these are key points to show a successful business idea.

For a business to be commercially viable it needs to generate more revenue than the expenses (Breakeven) as well as be driven by high demand and a constant cash flow to help grow and pay for the expenses and improvements. My businesses key selling points should help achieve this, for example to help acquire equipment and gear for the studio we will need producers who will work for the studio to donate some of their gear to build up a collection. The other selling point to make the business commercially viable is two target smaller bands and artists which should hopefully bring a lot of people to record their music as it will be a much cheaper rate than other studios to make it more accessible. Due to the equipment being donated by producers it will mean the studio will be very basic which will make the studio feel more like a home studio rather than a professional studio which as I have found out from the Green Room studio can help target new artists and bands as it can feel more comfortable to record in as there is less pressure for the clients.

To make this business sustainable it will have different producers working there by acquiring new producers every year as this business gives experience to producers rather than provides them a long term job. This will mean every year there will be advertisement to hire new producers that may have come from university or college to gain experience to allow them to find a job at a professional studio. This makes the business more sustainable as new producers will have different connections with different people who may know bands or artists who are looking to record but aren’t able to use professional studios which would frequently bring new artists to use the studio and keep a constant flow of clients for the business.

This business will compete with the current market in many different ways one of them being the cost and accessibility of the business. As the studio will have much lower rates to hire, it will bring clients to this studio as it will be cheaper for them making it more accessible for more people. Another way it will compete with other businesses is due to the location, as it will be located in the Lake District there aren’t many other studios in this location meaning it is more likely to acquire clients compared to if it was in a large city such as Leeds with multiple studios to choose from. For example as mentioned earlier the Green Room studio is based in Leeds meaning when someone is looking for a studio to record in Leeds there are lots of other choices to choose from which could reduce their amount clients as there is nothing stopping people from going to another studio.

Conclusion

To summarise this business will be an easily accessible studio for new bands or artists to come and record their music at a lower price whilst making it comfortable for them to be in the studio and build up their experience in a studio. To make this happen it will require producers that are looking for studio experience to collaborate together and provide some of their own gear to put together a working studio for the bands and artists to record in, this then solves the problem of high studio prices as well as new producers struggling to find experience to get a job as a professional producer. After researching about similar businesses I have gained inspiration about what I can do to help improve my business idea as well as not what to do to make it as successful as it can be, for example understand what my target audience are willing to pay for a budget studio. Overall from all of the planning and research I have done this business should be successful and sustainable to keep running.

Bibliography

Acrus Sounds, (2024), How much does a recording studio cost per hour?: https://arcussounds.com/how-much-does-a-recording-studio-cost-per-hour-in-the-uk/ [Accessed: 5th December 2025]

Wee Studio, (2008), Wee Studio Records: https://weestudio.co.uk/ [Accessed: 27th December 2025]

Keith Morrison, (2007), Keith Morrison Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-morrison-524bb112/?originalSubdomain=uk [Accessed: 27th December 2025]

The Green Room, (2024), About The Green Room: https://www.thegreenroomleeds.com/about [Accessed: 27th December 2025]

Jean Murray, (2020), What Is Business Viability?: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-business-viability-3884327#:~:text=Business%20viability%20means%20that%20a,well%20as%20solvency%20and%20liquidity. [Accessed: 8th December 2025]