If you can answer all 10 of these questions:
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Your friend wrote lyrics to an existing instrumental jazz tune. They want to release this track on an album — vinyl and streaming. What is the correct way for them to handle the licensing/copyright?
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You play your own all-original music but don’t have any merch or physical album releases yet. You get two show opportunities for the same date. The two gigs pay you the same flat fee, are three sets each, and are equivalent in every way except one: Venue A has no cover charge, while Venue B has tickets that cost $6. Which show will have the better outcome for you financially, and why?
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You work with a artist who has multiple albums out and is a highly active performer. Their website has no clear purpose and is never up-to-date. The artist tasks you with replacing the website. What do you do?
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You know an artist who has a social media account with 100,000 followers but no email list. They say they’re ready to finally do email. They ask you how many initial people you’d expect to sign-up between them announcing the newsletter and when they send the first email. You have time to ask them one question to get more information. What do you ask, and how do you decide what number to tell them?
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Another artist wants to launch a Patreon. They believe at least 5% of their free newsletter readers will become patrons for at least a year. For every $5 they spend on ads, they get a new free newsletter reader. They ask you what price they should set for becoming a patron, in annual (not monthly) terms. What price do you tell them?
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Your friend wants to record their first album as a leader. They’ve never applied for any grants, but they’re considering applications to FACTOR, Creative BC, and Canada Council. They want your advice on which one to apply for. What questions do you ask your friend to help discern which one would be best?
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Your other friend is a great musician and makes $200,000 a year at a tech job they hate. They found a grant for $40,000 to cover mostly cost of living while practicing art, which would give them a shot at going full time by allowing them to quit the day job. They could apply either for the fall intake this year or the spring intake in the new year. Which intake should they apply for?
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You work for a record label. Your boss assigns you an upcoming album to promote and gives you a $1,000 marketing budget. Their priority is to make profit, or at least get a good number of CD sales, from the campaign. How do you spend the money?
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Your boss has another album for you. This time, you have a $10,000 marketing budget, and the priority is for the artist to get nominated for and ideally win a Juno Award. How do you spend this money?
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Your boss is happy with how business is going. This time, you have a $100,000 marketing budget for an upcoming album, but your boss is too busy to give you any direction. You get along well with the artist; you can’t just give them the money, but you can ask them anything. How do you allocate it all?