My free, simple CRM for small studios and freelancers

If you’re new to this whole music business thing, you’ll want to know what a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is. 

Many big companies you might have heard of like Salesforce, Trello, Airtable, etc, offer enterprise versions of these systems to large businesses.

But, CRMs are also helpful for smaller businesses, too.  You’ll find that once you’re at the point where you’re executing even just a few projects each month, it rapidly becomes really difficult to keep track of all of the little details associated with each project.

A CRM system puts all of your project details under one roof for you, so you can keep your brain free of administrative clutter and stay focused on the creative side.  Communications with clients, due dates, creative notes, project tasks, etc can all be handled within a CRM.

The problem with most CRMs

The problem is, most CRM software requires consistent spending to use, and it can be quite expensive (prices range from $20-$200+ per month).  And, a lot of these products offer advanced features that someone who’s just getting started doesn’t really need at all.

That makes them imperfect, overly complex solutions for a lot of smaller artists, freelancers, and recording studios.

My simpler, free CRM

So, I built my own free version of a CRM for those of us who like to spend less of our time on the admin work, and minimize fuss by using simple tools. You can grab it here.

It’s all set up as a template in Notion (another free tool). Just set up a free Notion account, duplicate this in your own Notion workspace, and then modify it to suit your own needs:

How to duplicate my CRM inside your own Notion workspace.

The general idea is that each project you’re working on gets a page, and you move that page through different phases that are common to each project, until the project is complete.

You can click through into each project’s page, to see additional details and notes. I always try to take notes on all communications, especially for any due dates or creative items, as I'm working through a project. Each project’s page is where those details live.

You can also view the project list by due date by clicking on the “projects by due date tab”:

The project page view in my simple CRM

For example, for projects coming through my mastering studio it works like this.

Step 1: Lead

Every studio project starts out as a lead: someone who’s reached out and expressed some kind of affirmative interest in working together. 

Step 2: Files/Notes Received

Once a lead is ready to get started on their project, they’re sent an email with a link to drop me their finished mix files, and another link to schedule a call to discuss the creative aspects of their project. When I’ve got the files, and I’ve had an in-person conversation with the artist and/or producer, the project page is moved into this stage.

Hint: the in-person conversation is really, really, important. I would stay away from studio pros who won’t get on the phone, Zoom, or otherwise meet in-person with you. Gonna be a bad time. You can’t know what an artist is looking for accurately until you get face-to-face and converse with them.

Step 3: Invoiced

After I’ve taken a look at the mixes and we’ve had a conversation regarding the creative side, if the project still seems like a good fit, I invoice the job and take payment. Depending on your type of business, you might take a partial deposit to get started on a project, rather than payment up front. 

Step 4: In Progress

This is the actual mastering work. When I’m working on the masters for a project, it sits in here. 

Step 5: Revisions

Once I’ve completed the masters, the artist listens back and sends along any creative notes. Then, we work through any revisions together as necessary.

Step 6: Complete

Once all revisions are complete and the finished delivery files have been sent off to the artist, completed projects end up in here.

Pros/cons of this CRM

The pros to this system are that it’s free, simple, and easy to use. You’ll be amazed at how keeping all of these project details on the page and out of your brain helps with staying focused on the creative side, while also making sure you don’t drop the ball on any mission critical details.

The cons are that this isn’t an automated system, and it has very limited scalability. Because you’re having to take manual notes and there’s no email inbox integration, it’ll get cumbersome to use this if you’re trying to execute a very large number of projects simultaneously.

But, by the time you’re at the point where you’ve maxed this system out, your business should easily be able to afford something like Pipedrive. That’s my usual recommendation for a cost-effective CRM that’s got more automation. They’ve got some great AI that can scan your inbox and automatically organize your communications by project, but it does cost quite a bit more.

One other piece of advice on some of the downsides to any CRM system: be very careful of over-systemization!

Especially when working in a creative field, I would advise against attempting to execute an extremely high volume of projects as a regular part of your business.

We’ll get more into that, next time in this series.