WHAT IS VOXFOX PRODUCTIONS?
I hope you’ll forgive me for getting a little personal in this blog. People were asking me, “Why the change?” Business is good. Why change your business model and go through the hassle of re-branding if everything is working? If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
Because to me, it isn’t working. Let me explain by sharing a bit of my own music journey with you.
I spent my 20’s blindly attempting to navigate the music industry. I didn’t know how or in what way but I knew that I had to figure out how to make music a part of my life. Mind you, this is long before the YouTube or social media days where everyone and their dog is blasting you with ads about how you can succeed in the music business (this has its own set of problems which I’ll have to address in another blog). It was all a huge mystery back then. When I saw some people I was acquainted with making independent albums, I thought, “If they can do it, why can’t I?” I spent over $10k (which I didn’t have...had to beg and borrow) on an album that I wouldn’t want any of you to listen to today. Not because it wasn’t recorded in nice studios with great engineers and the best musicians in town. Heaven knows, the ticket price should reflect that! It’s because I was not ready to make an album. I had no direction, no purpose, no goal, no plan...only that I wanted to “make music”. The “making music” part, though expensive, was the one thing that seemed “doable” to me so I jumped right into it long before I should have. To complicate things even more, I found that when I performed live...by myself...which I had to do in order to support the album….I was terrified. My voice and body would shake and what came out of me wasn’t very good at all. No wonder no one wanted to buy my album.
During my 30’s the album was a pretty distant memory. While working a “day-job” as well as teaching voice lessons in the off-hours, I spent all of my free time learning and studying all aspects of the music industry. Music publishing, music publishers, sync, music supervisors, sync agents, artist development, songwriting (writing better songs and how to pitch properly), record labels and how they work, income streams and on and on. This is also the time that I really learned how to coach singers and began recording and producing their vocals in the studio. In the meantime, I began making demos of songs I had written and also for the singer/songwriters I was coaching. What I discovered about myself was that my “happy place” was being in the studio being creative, shaping the arrangements, playing with effects, molding and shaping the frequency spectrum to sound like professional recordings. I LOVE THIS PROCESS SO MUCH! Nothing makes me happier than creating a piece of music that sounds exactly like (or...pretty close to anyway) what I heard in my head. I also totally geek out over the music business side. It’s fascinating to me and navigating it feels much like trying to solve a puzzle. Had I known back in my 20’s that these two things were my true passion, perhaps that $10k could have been spent more wisely than on an album.
When I moved to Utah in 2011 (the year I turned 40), I started what was at first called Vox Fox Vocal Studio which then became Vox Fox Studios. I worked really, really hard to build the coaching, recording and producing side of my business. After about a year of serious networking, stretching and reaching beyond what I thought I was capable of doing, my business really took off. Word started to get around that I had some skills and at the time was probably the cheapest in town (lol!) so business kept growing. For quite a few years I was working long, horrendous hours to keep up with the demand and meet artist’s deadlines while still honing my skills. Being single at the time with no one to worry about but me, I buried myself in work and focused solely on building my business.
Gradually and especially after getting married in 2013, I was able to increase my rates, take on a little less work and focus on “working smarter rather than harder”. As I built relationships with artists and their parents over the next few years, many of them turned to me for help and advice. But a few have not. Some simply ask me to record or produce their songs and don’t care much about whether or not I think they are ready or what they should do to build their business. And to be honest, I have been so busy keeping up with recording and production work that there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t have extra time to spend with artists to help them “build their business” when I was really just focused on keeping up with the demand. A good problem to have, it would seem!
Over the past few years, I have felt frustrated. The demand for my recording and production has not slowed down, only increased. Yet I had no time left to guide artists and advise them. Artists and parents continue to come to me after trying it on their own with frustration as I help them as best I can or frankly say, “Sorry, I don’t do marketing. That part is up to you”. However, the desire to guide, protect, advise and mentor those that I work with has become almost as strong as the passion for creating great music with them (I said “almost!”) There is so much more that goes into building a sustainable music career than simply creating music.
It’s the one thing I didn’t have when I started out that could have saved me thousands of dollars and probably 10 years of wasted time; a mentor. Someone who knew all sides of the business and could help me navigate it. What they would have likely told me was that going to the studio and creating the music was like step 10 or so, not step one.
So, I can no longer just “shut up and press record”. Now called VoxFox Productions, I will be spending much more time with artists I produce. Artists (accepted by audition only!) will be mentored through the creative process, the nuts and bolts of the different income streams generated by songs and the master recordings (because they are different) overall entrepreneurship, branding and marketing in order to build a sustainable business that actually generates income! We are no longer just a studio to go record at. The focus is with carefully selected artists who are ready to build their music business. These artists will be my priority.
So that is why we are shifting our branding, creating a new website, developing a new artist development program and so much more. I want to empower independent artists by giving them guidance and knowledge. With knowledge and planning, you can take control of your music business and craft it to be exactly what you want.
If you aren’t sure whether or not you are ready to go “all in” or what you need to do to get ready, let's talk about it!. Send me a message by clicking that big button below saying “message me” ;-)
