When acquiring your equipment, is it better to purchase or lease music studio equipment? 

Quality is one of the most important factors in equipment, as it directly affects the quality of whatever product you are creating. This has never been more evident than in the music industry, where the best songs are professionally recorded and edited to be released.

Professional music industries will spend hours just recording and working on a song, just to release a three to five minute end product that has the potential to become a huge hit.

One of the reasons it takes so long to work your way up in the music industry is simply because it takes so long to get good equipment to record your music and begin branching out beyond concerts, which is why music studios are so helpful.

Most music studios are professionals with all of the good hardware that you can go to and get your song(s) recorded and mixed by the pros.

Getting Equipment for your Music Studio

As a business, a music studio has a very good chance of doing well simply because it is skill based. Not everyone can just sit down and make a recorded song sound its best, even musicians themselves; that’s why so many musicians will get in touch with that kind of professional expertise to get the job done.

If you’re a professional as far as mixing and recording music and want to start your own music studio, you will absolutely need the best equipment possible. Equipment need is very high for anyone in the music industry, but especially music studios simply because it’s their job to make songs sound as perfect as possible.

However, getting that hardware can be another matter entirely, especially if you’re just starting your music studio.

Most businesses will normally lease their equipment, purchase it, or get some kind of funding to pay for the equipment, but many business owners in the music industry don’t understand what happens when you lease music studio equipment versus you purchasing it.

Why Should you Lease Music Studio Equipment?

Leasing is a varied length contract that essentially acts like an equipment loan; the hardware is leased out to you for the contract period in exchange for you paying for it. The upside to leasing is that you’re paying a low, flat monthly rate, and not dealing with interest rates or high payments.

One of the better benefits to leasing is how your equipment is handled when something goes wrong. The fact of the matter is, all equipment breaks over time, and you need to be able to handle that situation when it comes up; with leasing, equipment disrepair is taken care of for you.

Leasing contracts specify how, but normally you pay a low fee (depending on how long the lease is- after all, you need to take care of your equipment to stall off equipment disrepair) and get your hardware repaired or replaced for you.

Plus, leases normally have some setup as far as upgrades, either during the lease or if you finish up one lease contract and continue another, meaning you get the best new hardware available every few years.

Getting the Best Lease for your Business

When you lease music studio equipment, you get good hardware at a decent rate, but a lease is a contract, and you need to make sure that the contract is suitable for you. Say you’re planning on leasing a specific type of hardware you’re not sure you’ll need, or that you know is going to be outdated or not used much soon; it’s generally not a good idea to get a long lease on this equipment or to even get the lease.

Since a lease is a contract, you are obligated to pay the monthly rate until the end of the lease, and the only way to get out of that is by paying a high cancellation rate, and you don’t want to have to do that. Many business owners get themselves caught in a bad lease without reading the fine print and, when the lease doesn’t suit their business, they assume leasing is a bad route for a business.

If you lease music studio equipment you can get so many more advantages for your business versus purchasing, but you need to do your research and know what you want out of the lease. More importantly, when you go searching for a lease, make sure that lease has everything you want; you don’t want to get overcharged or get stuck in a lease that doesn’t work for you.

To learn more about how to lease music studio equipment, click here.