Problem with a Recording Studio

[texasmusicforge]

Here is some solid advice from someone who spent part of my "day job years" toiling in law offices. I am not a lawyer, nor am I representing any of what I am about to say as professional legal advice.1. This has gone on way too long - send a demand letter seeking completion of the agreed-upon terms. Give them 30 days to comply.2. Small claims court dollar amounts vary wildly from state to state. Some have a $1,500 limit. That means you will need to go to civil court, where you will need to hire a lawyer, if your local small claims court threshold is under $3,500.3. You will need to file the suit in the county where the alleged breach of contract occurred. Look in the phone book (or online) for the county clerk's office in the county the studio is located in. Call them and ask about the limits in their local rules for dollar amounts. Ask also about filing fees and definitely pay the extra $50 or so it will cost you to have the subpoena delivered by a constable. If you go cheap and only have the court send the subpoena via certified mail, you're just going to be wasting your time.4. Good advice previously given in this thread about not letting these clowns provoke you into saying or doing anything that might be interpreted badly in a courtroom. This is just business, treat it as such.5. Even if you win a judgment against them, that doesn't mean your money is back in your pocket. The losing party will typically have 30 days beyond the court date to come up with the money. If they default, the winning party will have to go back to court (which will have to wait for the next opening on the court's docket) to ask the court to allow them to seize real property of some sort with a comparable value. Typically, you won't be allowed to seize the car he drives or the tools he uses to do his job. If the studio is in a house listed as a homestead, you won't be able to touch that either. If the guy doesn't have any cash in the bank, you're pretty much out of luck.6. Do not ever forget this basic truth: Any contract is only as good as your ability to enforce it. Re-read that last sentence, please. Case in point: If your local small claims court has a limit lower than $3,500 and you are forced to retain a lawyer to sue in district court but haven't got the money a lawyer is going to require up front, then what good is having the contract in the first place?7. Any lawyer, by the way, is going to look at this as "I'd be lucky to be able to squeeze a dime out of these losers in court" and is not going to take the case because you're righteous and indignant. He/she has bills to pay too and they're going to want serious money up front as a retainer fee. The ugly truth here is that you get as much justice as you can afford in this life.8. The BBB is well-intentioned but toothless - like expecting a school crossing guard to stop a gang of thugs. Contact 'em if you wish but don't expect anything concrete except a little sympathy.This has already gone on too long and I'm sorry there isn't any good news for you in it. You've probably paid for an education and nothing more when all is said and done.For future reference, you paid waaaaay too much per song; never believe a studio owner who has already been paid that says they will keep working on it until you're satisfied; never pay 50% up front for a project this big; you should have shopped around a little more diligently - these fools must have some competition; the terms they quoted you for your project are out of line with industry standards and are - to put it diplomatically - predatory in nature.Anyone reading through this, please let this unfortunate situation be a lesson and to you, my friend, my best wishes for the rest of your songwriting career.Ed

[gongchime]

The police know that to control a crowd, even 10 officers are not as good as one big German Shephard. Snarling teeth. Vicious grin with drool. Human beings are thought to have some rational mechanism but animals are not thought to have any such thing. Hey Sparky, doesn't that so called record producer look delicious? Loud psychotic barking and gnashing of teeth ensues. Can ...barely... hold on... to... the leash... Oh, why bother? Did I say German Shephard? Oh sorry, I meant lawyer.

[milfus]

yeah that really sucks man, I got it burned into me way early on by a veteran engineer, contracts before cash, alwayshonestly, depending on how much they value reputation, they might fold at the intent to sue. I wouldn't count on it though, I would definitely mention that I would be adding bad reviews about them on every biz report I could find and reporting them to Better Business Beaurue.

[fidgetyfeet]

Thanks to texasmusicforge who so eloquently put into words my exact thoughts... Andyourexcuseis you've been ripped off! It's sad that the lesson was so costly. Mike

[coachdebra]

And once you get done with all the legal stuff and get as much remedy as you can from them. Take some time, and ask yourself -- what can you learn from this experience that will support you in creating a prosperous business?What are the lessons here -- I think there are soooo many!Like getting it in writing before you hand over money.Like standing up for yourself from the beginning.Like remembering, they work for you.Once you get the lessons, its so important to release it all. Let go of the anger of the angst of the blame and frustration. Just let it go. And get back to doin what you're here for.Success is, after all, the best revenge.Warm regards,Debra

[andyourexcuseis]

Hi!Thank you for the reply! That was very, very helpful advice! I would be filing in a place where the limit on small claims is $4,000, so I think I would be fine there. My plan was to take the advice of one of my clients (who is an attorney in California) and send them a formal demand letter that asks for the return of my money, considering that I won't be getting what I paid for in the length of time they said I would or even within a reasonable length of time. My lawyer client (I'm a web designer) said that I probably wouldn't see a penny from them out of this effort, and I only really had a 50/50 chance in court of winning because they (the studio and producer) have done some work. I feel like I should just stick with the point that they've blown their time quote out of the water by more than double, and they're still telling me it is going to be 2 to 4 more months.I talked to another studio owner in the area who said that, for five songs, even if he was performing all the instruments and had to learn the songs and was arranging and producing them, that, on the outset, it ought to take 3 weeks, max. He said that he would come to court with me, if needs be, as an expert in the field to comment on not only the amount of time their taking with it, but also on their comments that it is "industry standard" to keep paying artists out of the studio and away from their songs until the engineer and producer think the material's done.What you had to say here, though, is part of the reason that I am afraid of doing this:Quote:5. Even if you win a judgment against them, that doesn't mean your money is back in your pocket. The losing party will typically have 30 days beyond the court date to come up with the money. If they default, the winning party will have to go back to court (which will have to wait for the next opening on the court's docket) to ask the court to allow them to seize real property of some sort with a comparable value. Typically, you won't be allowed to seize the car he drives or the tools he uses to do his job. If the studio is in a house listed as a homestead, you won't be able to touch that either. If the guy doesn't have any cash in the bank, you're pretty much out of luck.I'm afraid that, even if I win in court, that I won't get my money back, and I certainly won't get what I paid for. My sister, who works for a bank, says that, in the state where I would be filing, that the courts are constantly putting liens on the bank accounts of people who have to pay someone back after a judgment, but, like you said, if they don't have anything, I'm pretty much SOL.Quote:6. Do not ever forget this basic truth: Any contract is only as good as your ability to enforce it. Re-read that last sentence, please. Case in point: If your local small claims court has a limit lower than $3,500 and you are forced to retain a lawyer to sue in district court but haven't got the money a lawyer is going to require up front, then what good is having the contract in the first place?There wasn't a contract, as such - not anything that everyone signed, anyway - but I do have everything they promised me in writing, in e-mail communications with dates and identifying information. My lawyer client told me that contracts of this type don't need to be in writing or signed to be valid, and it might be treated like an oral contract... except that I still have the e-mails. Have you ever heard of anything like that?Quote:For future reference, you paid waaaaay too much per song;I'm just starting out, really... what is the "going rate"?Quote:the terms they quoted you for your project are out of line with industry standards and are - to put it diplomatically - predatory in nature.What is "industry standard?" Quote:Anyone reading through this, please let this unfortunate situation be a lesson and to you, my friend, my best wishes for the rest of your songwriting career.Thank you, again, for your reply and advice and well wishes. I appreciate it!

[andreh]

Quote:I'm just starting out, really... what is the "going rate"?I don't think you paid too much for these demo's [if the studio had actually delivered them, that is]. $500-1000 per song is about what most publishers are willing to recoup their songwriters per demo track (I just had a publisher recoup $900 in demo fees to me), and your $700/track falls right in that line. I know several producers who get many times that amount.Perhaps you could've found a better deal if you'd looked around, but you certainly weren't dragged over the coals [again, strictly from a cost standpoint].André

[bassman]

Although $3500 is a lot of money to loose, it's not a lot of money in recording terms. As a producer myself I would'nt be able to deliver a world class production for that kind of money. Condsider that even an o.k musician will charge $200 a world class $500-600, it's simply not doable unless the producer himself can play himself or they call some serious favours.What you can expect though is 5 decent demos and good customer service although some companies don't understand the business sense in this.Usually when I work on a job like this I always put a limit on the time I spend and I make it clear from the beginning what can be achieved with the budget the artist has. If the artist is unhappy I usually go an extra mile for them and if they are being really difficult I'll go another mile for them but won't work with them again once the job is finished.If they haven't delivered anything you should take them to small claims court. If they have delivered the 5 songs and you're not happy with them........it becomes a little more complicated. You could still win a court case but it's hard to predict.In the future, shop around, get friends to recommend someone etc. (my 2 cents)

[texasmusicforge]

Quote:I don't think you paid too much for these demo's [if the studio had actually delivered them, that is]. $500-1000 per songIf you're trying to determine a reasonable price for services, it's important to define what services we're talking about here. Are we talking basic guitar and vocals demos? Full band? String or horn section? How about the studio itself? Who/what is behind the board doing the engineering? See what I mean? Lotsa variables at play here. Setting aside the ever-popular debate about "full production demos" vs. "guitar and vocals is good enough" here, we'll assume you need a chording instrument, voice, rhythm section and a few overdubs for your demo. The key word here is "demo." If you're tracking a song intended as a commercial release, you need top quality and should budget for it by using the best musicians and studio you can afford. If you're only tracking a songwriter's demo, you don't need top tier session musicians or a state-of-the-art studio.With the cost of digital recording gear so low these days, it's not hard to find good musicians who have their own home recording setup (complete with virtual instrument software) who can do your recording AND provide backing tracks for substantially less money than the $500-1,000 a song being discussed here. Assuming we're recording a basic pop/country/rock song demo, clean/clear audio with good vocal sound and an acceptable level of musicianship you don't need to be paying more than $300 a song if you'll do a little informed shopping. If you've got 5-10 songs you need recorded, you ought to be able to get a "repeat customer" discount on even that modest price. People running professional demo services and well-heeled purists will flame me for heresy, but speaking as a working musician I'll stand by anything stated here. Personally speaking, if I were in need of complete demo services, I'd make a point of investing some time in putting a few ads out on CraigsList or somewhere else in markets like Austin, LA, NY, Nash, Chicago (or most mid-size college towns) with an abundance of musicians and then *carefully* going through the responses. I'd say I was a songwriter looking for a musician to team up with on a regular basis who could provide "one stop shopping" for the process. I'd be very specific about my musical preferences and I'd ask for demos of previous work done and some credentials you could Google or otherwise verify online. I'd have done my homework first so I could give clear enough directions on what I want that the musician had a reasonable chance to get it right without a lot of back-and-forth. I would start first with an inexpensive chords and voice demo to get a feel for whether this is someone I could partner with on a professional and personal basis. Like everything else in life, your level of satisfaction will largely be determined by how hard you work for it.If you've got the funds to spend $900 a song and a reasonable expectation of recouping the money, more power to you and long may you wave - I applaud you. That said, this isn't rocket science and there are a lot of talented musicians out there with more gear than income who would jump at the chance to partner with a songwriter in this manner, you simply have to be smart and tough enough to blaze your own trail to find them.I apologize for the length of this post but if it helps keep even one songwriter independent, I'll beg your indulgence.Yours in the quest for soul and solvency,Ed

[andreh]

Apr 15, 2008, 4:43am, texasmusicforge wrote:Quote:I don't think you paid too much for these demo's [if the studio had actually delivered them, that is]. $500-1000 per songIf you're trying to determine a reasonable price for services, it's important to define what services we're talking about here. Are we talking basic guitar and vocals demos? Full band? String or horn section? How about the studio itself? Who/what is behind the board doing the engineering? See what I mean? Lotsa variables at play here.Ed-The OP was told he would get "world-class production," so that appears to be what his expectations were...and for that the costs seem justified.I'm sure if he were to look around exhaustively, he could find someone willing to work for very cheap or even free, and he might even get decent results. But should our goal as songwriters be to spend the least we can for the most basic, unflattering of demo's, or to be willing to invest a reasonable, fair amount in our work and end up with something that will be much more likely to get a song picked up?I've done a fair amount of research in demo studios, and almost invariably, you get what you pay for (although in this case, the OP clearly didn't...). Perhaps you could point us to some specific studios that can deliver excellent results in the sub-$300/song range?Kindly,André