ADDIE INC.'S - THE SCENE



This website was made quickly, for the sole purpose of displaying the information in a readable format; not necessarily in a pretty, or award-winning fashion. As long as the text is readable, my mission has been accomplished! This is the first draft of the first business plan I have ever written, under the guidelines of The US Small Business Administration, and I wrote down most of my ideas as best as I could, trying not to forget anything! The writing format - the ease of reading, use of pronouns, things like that - I don't wish to be an issue. I would like to get the information down first, then work on making it sound smart, and look pretty. As you may notice as you read, this is not nearly finished. I don't want to dump everything on you all at once, but you need to understand part of my business ideas to understand what I'm having problems with, so that you can, hopefully, help me to the fullest extent. :) At the bottom of the page, I have listed the areas I am having trouble with, so that you may read the information first, then understand my problems better. If you notice any areas I seem to be slacking in, or that I haven't developed quite right, I would appreciate those comments as well; just remember that I do not want to focus on how well it is written. I just want to get the information down - one thing at a time! :)

Executive Summary

Company Objectives: To provide a valuable place for the promotion and advertisement of local, basement, and garage bands and the shows they play, as well as a comfortable atmosphere to purchase a variety of underground, indie, and popular music, band merchandise, and music equipment.

Product/Service Offerings:
Descriptions:
1. The Scene (store)
The Scene (store) will sell CD’s, novelty items, band merchandise, and basic musical equipment. Several times a year, local bands will be invited to play live at a show hosted by The Scene. Local bands will be able to sell their CD’s and promote other shows, post ‘want ads’ for new band members, ect. Focus on punk, rock, and alternative music. The online store will most likely proceed the actual building, allowing current customers to determine the best location for the first store.

2. On The Scene (tour)
On The Scene (tour) will consist of the local bands that played for The Scene’s (store) shows. Hopefully it will become popular enough to feature a few more popular bands, with a focus on punk, rock, and alternative music. The tour, however, will be based on the local bands, and not the famous names.
*Battle of the Bands The Scene will host a Battle of the Bands several times a year. The winners of those shows will later be invited to play on the On The Scene (tour). At the end of each year, the ‘War’ will take place - the battle between the winners from the previous battles. Hopefully, deals can be made with local recording companies (eventually using the company’s own recording company), and The Scene (store) will be able to award discounts, or similar prizes, to the winners of the ‘War’.

3. The Music Room (club)
The Music Room (club) will create a club after the success of The Scene (store). the On The Scene Tour will begin their tour at this venue each year, once the club opens. The bands that win the Battles will be invited to play at the club when possible. Select bands only. Focus on punk, rock, and alternative music. This will be the location of indoor concerts hosted by The Scene (store), during winter or inclement weather.

4. Record Company (record company)
Our Record Company will allow us to sponsor, promote, and recruit the bands we let play at our shows. These bands will be able to make records, and will directly benefit the company as well as the band, by signing onto our Record Company. We will offer record contracts to the winners of the “Wars of the Bands”, as well as other promotional and distributing services to the winners of the “Battles of the Bands”. Signing on our own bands will help our profit margin – if our company is selling our records, we can’t lose! Whereas other record companies are charging us a little extra to sell their CD’s, our company is selling our company’s products, keeping our money in our business.

5. Magazine and Radio
Eventually, our own radio station and magazine will help tie us in with the whole of the music industry – playing current, local/basement/garage bands, and having interviews and reviews of our, and other, shows in print will help our loyal base and customer satisfaction. These are probably the cheapest, and easiest, departments of The Scene/Addie Inc., and they will give our customers an opportunity to say what they want, voice their opinions, and alert us of new, local music. The magazine will be music-focused, but will have areas for the customers to speak on virtually any issue they would like – politics, laws, schooling systems, health, or even just criticism on other people’s behavior. Virtually anything. This section will be edited and reviewed by a board, to select the best, and most appropriate, editorials. Arguing viewpoints will be displayed when appropriate. Names, general complaining and whining about a bad day will not be displayed – editorials, opinions; not mindless bashing of teeny-boppers. Reasons and explanations must be somewhat logical; although, we may have a few issues displaying some of the more idiotic messages sent to us…

The Market: Many music stores don’t sell band merchandise, only music. When they do sell band merchandise, it is not a large selection to choose from. Music is a critical part of life, especially recently, and many people like to reflect their personality, their mood, or even their attitude, with band merchandise. Too many stores, such as “Hot Topic”, “Spencer’s Gifts”, and “Sam Goody’s”, focus on too much of a variety of merchandise and brands, with only a small selection of music merchandise – band merchandise that reflects a person’s tastes and personality. Most stores carry a wide variety of novelty brands, such as “Corona”, “Hello Kitty”, and “Family Guy”. All good merchandise, but that selection dominates the music merchandise offered. Most band merchandise is only available at the bands’ concerts and websites.
Most people are always willing to go to a show or a party, but location and cost are factors of failure. Many good shows only occur in the major cities, and sometimes tours only play one or two shows for a whole state. Residents of a state may have to choose between traveling a great distance to see a really good concert, or not go at all. And oftentimes, the smaller shows with the less popular bands are not promoted enough, and consequentially have a smaller turnout than desired, usually ending up with only the people who already fans of the bands who are playing. This does not help promote the bands if the only people coming are already fans! The local shows are not always known for their atmosphere, or for being all that much fun. When local shows become known for their atmosphere, and not just the no-name bands that are playing, you’re getting on the right track.

Competitive Advantage: Using the “Now!” factor, we plan to sell band music and merchandise to our customers seven days a week. Instead of a fan waiting all winter long for their favorite band to come play a show near them in the summer, so they can rock out and buy merchandise, they can come to The Scene and buy the merchandise Now! Instead of going online and waiting 2-4 weeks for their merchandise to be delivered, the can come to The Scene, and buy the merchandise Now! Our variety of band merchandise from a selection of bands will gain us respect and loyalty from our customers, as well as the bands we promote.
Our biggest advantage is hosting events for our bands to play. Starting out, we will only be able to host shows around the area of our first store, but we will eventually grow, and with every new store, our local shows will become nation-wide. Since we will be supporting local bands at local shows, the ticket price of our shows will be minimal, compared to ticket sales of the more popular bands. Promotion will be our key to success, promoting our shows and store in flyers, the newspaper, radio, local schools, online, and by the bands themselves, advertising their appearances at our shows. Our shows will be recognized for their fun, relaxed, but still crazy atmosphere. People will want to attend our concerts for the atmosphere, even if they aren’t familiar with the bands playing. Our concerts will be a fun night out with friends, similar to a fair or a bar where customers would hang out, frequently attracting new patrons as well as regulars. This will help build a bigger fan base for the bands playing – the regulars will most likely hear the same bands play our shows frequently, and develop a taste for their music if they didn’t like it at first. The new customers will get the chance to hear music that they have never heard before, and it will open them up to a new type of music – the unheard type. Our shows will also promote our store, with our staff running the events, the merchandise counter, food, and managing the lighting, stage, and sound. We will also employ an outside source for crowd control, to ensure the safety of our patrons. People will come for our atmosphere, they will return for the quality – that goes for both our stores, as well as our local concerts.



Problem Areas:
1. Right now I want to focus on the store and the shows - not the tour, but the shows that I want the store to host. How can I incorporate both ideas into one business plan? Should I use two business plans instead? I need help creating an outline (or something) for myself to follow. Any help is welcome on this topic!

2. Have I missed anything so far? The marketing, competition? Those are two areas I am very etchy about, and I'm not sure if I addressed them as I should have... I know I need to research these areas, but I don't know where to start! How do I know what information I need, and where can I go to find it? Just some tips or links to help me start would be great.

3. Further in the outline, it tells me to "project" where my business will be in 3 and 5 years, ect. How do you make those projections?

4. Pricing... when I'm in such early stages of planning, how do I go about developing a pricing system? How do I figure out how much things cost? Where do I get those numbers? How do I research that?

As you can see, I'm completely lost. Please sent help/comments to:
smartone83@yahoo.com