some opinions please

[+Erik.+]

I am seriously thinking about going into business for custom built audio pcs.

I am wondering how many of you have toyed with the idea of using a company or something similar to get a system like this. If so, where would you look? Would you scan the net or would magazines adverts in the right places interest you?

I am concerned about placing adverts in magazines and apart from dedicated audio mags what other types of magazines would a typical audio head be looking at that an advert of this type would catch their attention?

Any other places I should target?

I feel i have enough knowledge (and enough good people here) to start building pc's with a mind of total compatability.

Let me know any thoughts you have on this.
Cheers.

[the_lost]

Hey erik.
Talk to maggotcontrol. He operates studio kobari in the East Village in NYC. He'll know all that you need to know... http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif
later
jay

[wolfpuppy]

From my own experience it was a lot more work than I expected. But I think any business is a lot of work, even if you love to do it.

I'll give you some of my experiences. Both myself and my brother (who is also my business partner) decided after all the time we were spending putting together audio computers for ourselves and our friends that we might be able to make a go of it as a living. We approached several music stores that that also sold music software, sound cards, and the like. Many liked the idea and told us that they would plug us for computers if we plugged them for everything else. Sounded good in the beginning. I also noticed that most of these guys already sold Macs but wouldn't touch PCs.

After we got into business and contacted dozens of distributers we found the awful truth: the markup on computer parts was even less than I could have imagined in my worst nightmare. The profit margin is literally from as little as 1% to around 8%. Macs make their sellers around 25-35%. The mystery was solved.

But of course we weren't just selling a computer, we were building DAWs so we could add on a bit more to make it worthwhile. So people started discovering us through some of the ads we put out, through the music stores that we had talked to, and through word of mouth.

Everything seemed to go well in the beginning and then the phone calls started coming in one after another about setting up Cubase(Reason, Wavelab, Live, ACID...) properly. So we were spending a lot of time helping people with products that we didn't even sell them nor make any money from.

Next idea: why don't we start selling the music gear, sound cards, and software? We did. Of course all the music stores didn't appreciate it, but then we didn't appreciate having to be their tech support. Did we make some enemies? Sure. Do we regret it? No.

When we put out our first major ad we put it in a local music magazine. It cost us thousands of dollars and we didn't get one customer. Ironically we received plenty of calls from companies like Steinberg, Roland, and others wanting to know if we would like to carry their products. So we met a few great people and made some nice contacts, but that was all.

When we put an ad in a local entertainment magazine (one that listed the happenings in and around the city) it worked much better.

I didn't mean to be so long winded about it but unless you knew some of my background my advice might not mean much.

Word of mouth has been our primary source of clients. Doing promos, such as working with DJs or up-and-rising musicians is another. Surprisingly ads have generated the least. We probably need a marketing team, but that will have to wait for now.

This might be a givin, but sell the audio gear and software as well.

Make sure you have two or three solid computer models. The only custom thing about them should the sound card and software. Anything else and you might be asking for trouble, especially if it's a configuration that's never been tested.

You will need a grand amount of money if you want to get the best deals on computer parts. Buying ten of the same thing always gets you a better deal than just buying one. With the markup as pathetic as it is any little bit helps. Intially we didn't have that luxury but that didn't stop us.

Make a webpage and design nice pamplets or brochures. Finally, get in people's faces and let them know who you are.

At the least I hope this prevents you from repeating some of our mistakes.

Peter (aka wolfpuppy)
www.pcmusicsolutions.ca (http://www.pcmusicsolutions.ca)

[+Erik.+]

cheers man, that's exactly what I need to know.

I was gonna go with the grand glossy advert first but i think i will stick to the city for now.

[Neil Wilkes]

I agree with just about everything Peter aka wolfpuppy says. You really do spend sooo much time giving support. It doesn't seem to matter how well you set up a machine originally, the big problem is the sheer amount of stuff that a new or unfamiliar person can change or fiddle with. The only way we could make it work was to put a clause in the original sale stating that any software installations or system "tweaks" were done entirely at own risk, and we would not support a machine that had been "tweaked" by the user in any way. So many of these alleged tweaks are either useless, result in inbstability or make so little actual performance difference they just ain't worth doing! We began to dread phone calls saying " i got this from you a couple of months ago, and suddenly it's started playing up/crackling etc". 99 times out of 100 the user had "tweaked" the OS or installed some dodgy demo or other.
Try to ensure if you build turnkey systems that you put in a disclaimer against this sort of customer interference!