City Dump Records

–The long-term strategy in terms of personnel is exclusivity. The original facility consists of 5 audio engineers, one booking assistant, and one accountant. This small team ensures that the client knows that they aren’t just getting service by random individuals that are coming and going. This “Lean and Mean” model (Black, 2011) includes lean business practices like continuous improvement and total quality management. Simply, lean is described as creating greater value for the consumer while using fewer resources. With the exact same staff count at the other locations the company has already used this model to perfection and see no reason to tamper with this formula in the new location. They would only need to hire 5 more audio engineers, 1 more booking assistant, and they will share the same company accountant. There is no need to let anyone go of any one due to them already doing a maximum amount of work with the most minimal team. 

–In recent months, the company has been going through a growth phase. There has been more demand for booked hours from different artist than the recording studio have available. This demand has caused Icon to decide to expand by placing a new recording studio on the opposite side of town that the original location is placed at. As busy as the one location is, often more times than not the clients are coming from other sides of town. With the success of other clients in the music industry that are locally based, the next generation of local recording stars will increase. We are talking a continually rising client base that often will slowly grow rather than decline at all. If the company fails to expand to service new clients, they will simply loose those clients to other competitive recording facilities. They think the same approach that was taken for the original location should be taken in the new location. This includes purchasing a spacious house in a regular suburban neighborhood and gutting it out to build the recording studio inside. The original investment for the house, construction, and equipment. This roughly came to a total of around $600,000. Buying the building as they did originally will secure a foothold in the community and ensure a growing clientele that there will be more time available for artist. 

Based off the information above, I would recommend that the company expands with a new location on the opposite side of town. There are a many of artist that would love to use our facility, but the location makes it hard for all of them to get the booking times that they require when they require them. Putting another location within the city limits will most likely double their booking time. 

Using the Bayesian formula, we can calculate the probability that an event occurs based on another event being true. It’s key for taking prior beliefs and comparing them with new belief based on the evidence in between them. 

Using this formula, we can determine the probability of something based on the given fact of another. For example, given that there are 1395 potential artists in the contest, we can estimate the probability that a pop artist will win given only 100 actually submit a song.  There is a 10% chance that the winner will be a pop artist. 

Also, as a contest for all artist involved, we will hold a random drawing. The winner of this drawing will receive a free trip to Honolulu, Hawaii to perform at a music festival. This contest will have nothing to do with the contest but will give incentive to everyone who submits a music single for the contest. To make sure this is don completely at random, every artist who makes a submission will have their name placed in a raffle machine to be randomly picked for the trip. Using the chart above, we can use a probability formula that will help us determine the chance of someone winning.  For instance, the chance that the winner is a hip-hop artist that is a client is 

            According to formula, there is a 48.4% that the winner is a hip-hop artist that is a client at our facility. 

Looking at the data from out databases, we know that there are 4 different genres of music recorded here; rap, R&B, rock, and pop. There are a total 1395 potential artist that can enter in the contest. Suppose one wanted to know the probability that a rock artist can be among grand prize winner. Using the probability equation (P=R/T), we can determine that there is a 13.9% chance that a rock artist will win the final prize. Using the same formula, there is a 24% chance that the winner will be and R&B artist. Hip-hop artists have the best chance to win with a 40.8% probability that it will be them to take the final prize. 

The target customer pool are the artists that are currently working with us and up and coming artist looking for a home studio to record their projects. We would categorize these artists using the genre of music they are making. The main cost of the event will be the out of pocket payments for the audio engineers’ hours that the clients would normally pay for the free sessions. Also, another small investment for promoting the whole even on radio and internet sites such as Facebook and Instagram. All around I think about a $5,000 flat would cover all the cost, which I think is very reasonable. This small investment will get traffic in the facility around the clock and will have new and current artist busting down the door trying to record here. Not just for the free studio time, but the will get free publicity by being a part of a large set of songs being up for voting among their local peers. 

City Dump Records are becoming interested in holding some sort of giveaway as a promotional event for the business. I have suggested running a recording competition for all artist currently living in the Indianapolis area. This will do many things for the company at once. Have a music single contests, meaning that every artist submits a single that has to be recorded in the facility. The song will then be posted on a website for all fans to vote on the top 4 best songs. Each artist will have a free 3-hour session with a staffed engineer of their choice and the finalist of each category will go through another round to determine the best single among the genres. The winners of each genre will not only receive time in the facility to record and mix their final submission but will also receive free 12-hour session that includes 3 free beats courtesy of a local participating producer of their choice.