Help the project
I started BeatenTrack almost 2 years ago due to the Co-Op building next to my house in Windham Road becoming available to rent.
There are 3 studios and many bands have used it over the past 18 months and its mostly used in the evenings for rehearsals.
But I want to turn my business into something more than just rehearsal studios and doing so without loans is a slow process.
Things I want the Studio to offer:
- An area upstairs in the Hall for making podcasts/interviews, this is to offer a place for bands to do promotion and to interview anyone that needs a platform.
- Turn the area in the back of the studio into a small cafe that would also have a small stage for solos/small bands which can be used to create more content to promote the studio and the artist.
- Collaborate with content creations to offer a location and even perhaps the bands and artists to create content from to promote not just the music but also the town and music community.
- Live stream rehersals on Youtube (if band is ok with it) with various camera angles to also help promote the studio and the artist.
- Offer unusual events, for example a "tiny-festival" or "Rocksmith Lessons"
- Music Lessons, Workshops, Political Group Discussions, Debates, Community Debates that could be livestreamed to interact w those that cant attend.
- Use profits to donate money for community projects and use Forums/Polls online to decide on the project.
Why I need donations
I dont like to ask for donations, I would be a very rubbish beggar.
Everything you see so far has been done almost 100% by me with help from my parents, my job and the lodgers in my home.... I have done the website, I laminated the massive hall upstairs on my own, I have gathered the equipment from local Marketplace listings, build and knocked down walls and learnt how to do the planning application, built a customer base and more.
I have even joined a local band and now I actively play gigs around the area which is the sort of thing money cannot buy and makes all of this worth it - never did I think I'd end up playing guitar on a stage, specially when I started playing guitar in my 30's.
There are many things I'd like to offer to innovate the local music scene and local community which I simply cannot afford at the moment these include:
1) Clearing the back for Performing Area/Cafe.
The rear of the Studio could be used as a small Cafe in which musicians could have small acoustic performances and network together and have a hot drink or a snack.
But as you can see there is a lot of rubbish that needs to be cleared and there are many pallets that could be used to make furniture or tables/stools/etc...
Once its ready this could be a good place to go for a quiet drink in which you might be able to catch a local musician just playing a small private set which would be recorded and uploaded on the website.
Estimate: £500
2 Website
This website has been relatively cheap to create as I have learnt how to develop pages with WordPress and have put in endless amounts of hours to create what you see.
However, in order to get the website functioning in a way that would really benefit the local music scene it would cost me some money that I cannot afford.
Peepso can be very useful and would allow us to create a social media community based around local music and creative projects.
It would allow people to discover new local bands and support the music scene, have a local directory of bands and musicians, forums, collaboration, band updates.
Forums - Instead of making a post on a Facebook group which may not show up in someone else's feed, we can have a forum in which you can create a thread about forming a band, having a jam, joining a band... etc.
I find Facebook almost impossible to keep track of who is looking for what! with forums we can organise and find what we need.
The same can be applied to local community projects who would have the platform to discuss ideas, vote on polls and bring those ideas into reality without adverts or censorship.
Cost: $199 per year or $2000 to buy.
I can learn how to set this up for the studio avoiding high fees for a developer.
3 Solar Panels - Self Suficiency
One of the main expenses for the studio would be power bills and the studio has a big flat roof, therefore solar seems like a very good idea as it would cut the costs of heating the studio during the winter and cooling it in the summer.
Any excess electricity would be fed back to the grid and might end up even bringing a profit instead of an expense when it comes to power bills.
Cost: £8000
4 Upstairs Hall
This room could be used to host different types of events like private parties, workshops, meetings, table game hosting, dinner events, lessons and can also host a very good setting for a podcast set as it would have trains passing by in the background and there are plenty of trees around making it seem like you are not in town.
However, there are some problems with it which need some investment in order to make it more usable for these activities.
The hall has no insulation, therefore heating it is very expensive. This also means that amplified music cannot be played here at night due to the noise it would generate as it is on a first floor.
There is no insulation between the hall and the rehearsal rooms, so there is a lot of noise that gets upstairs making anything that requires silence impossible.... so no meditation, yoga, teaching, meetings or podcasts could take place if there is bands rehearsing downstairs.
Cost: £ would need estimates.
Final Goal/s
To create a modern rehearsal studio for bands that also brings the community together through creative arts and through content generation.
Create community project ideas to improve the area can be grown and funded by the studio and also used to create more content generation.
If this is a successful model then I'd like to expand to other towns.
-Erik