A weekly newsletter for music producers and artists who want to make better records, all 3-minute reads. Covering songwriting, audio engineering, recording studios, and more.
When to drop a client
Three minute reads for artists and producers
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TAKE TWO: RECENT RELEASES
Two great songs out this past week I had the pleasure of producing. I recommend listening on your own, these email players can have very poor quality.
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"Take It Back" - Grace Annabella Anderson (produced / engineered)
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"Lose My Mind" - Cole Spain (produced / engineered / mixed)
TAKE THREE: When To Drop A Client
If you haven't had to drop a client yet, I genuinely hope that you never will. It is not fun.
But I do think we tend to hold on to toxic client relationships sometimes, and it can be more beneficial (to you AND your client) to fire them.
Here are three signs it might be time to drop a client.
1. Financial Reasons
I once had a client completely ghost me after I sent his masters and his final payment was due.
He owed me thousands of dollars and literally went radio silent for weeks. Eventually I had to have an attorney send him a threatening letter, which thankfully worked and we avoided going to court.
But a year later he emailed me again asking about more work, which is hilarious.
If someone doesn’t respect your work enough to pay for it on time, they can’t afford to be your client, and you can't afford to work for them.
2. Creative Reasons
A friend of mine once fired a client by driving to his apartment, knocking on the door, handing him his hard drive, and saying
Creative differences are way more common than financial problems.
You may have an artist who has great songs and talent but disagrees with you on every single decision you make or idea that you bring.
Eventually, it makes you want to stop bringing ideas to the table because it doesn't feel like collaborating anymore.
In situations like this, firing your client is the most beneficial step forward for both of you:
- Your client is freed up to go find someone who is more aligned with their vision!
- You're freed up to spend that time working on music you actually like!
By the way, this is why I don't always say "yes" to producing every artist who approaches me. If I don't like the music or feel like I can deliver the vision they're going for, I usually try to recommend someone else that I think can.
3. Energy / Headspace Reasons
I've noticed something very counterintuitive about my clients over the years, and speaking with other freelancers has caused me to believe it's common:
Your highest-paying clients are the easiest to deal with.
Conversely, the clients who are getting a "friend rate" because you owe them a favor or you're friends with their cousin, or whatever, are the most taxing on your mental health.
The Pareto principle, or the "80/20 rule" says that 80% of outcomes tend to come from about 20% of inputs. Applied to your headaches and stress, it can be approximated that 4/5 of your client stress and problems come from just 1/5 of your clients. Which means:
Dropping the most stressful 20% of your clients gets rid of 80% of your stress.
What would your productivity, your work/life balance, your mental health in general, be like if you eliminated 80% of your client stresses?
Maybe you need to fire those low-paying problem clients and use the free time to go after higher-paying artists who are going to make your life easy.
That's all I've got for this week.
Have you ever dropped a client, or wanted to but couldn't? Hit reply and tell me about it. Or if you've never emailed to just say hello, my inbox is always open!
Until next week, happy music making, Reader.
PS - if you have a friend who you think would enjoy this in their inbox every week, would you forward it along? Appreciate you!
Take Three
A weekly newsletter for music producers and artists who want to make better records, all 3-minute reads. Covering songwriting, audio engineering, recording studios, and more.
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