Chris Erhardt is the co-founder of Tunedly and a business advisor helping companies in Canada, the U.S. and beyond to grow their business fast. Chris helped to grow Tunedly from zero to one of the most recognized companies among songwriters worldwide in only four short years, by transforming a traditionally location based business model (recording studio) to a fully digitalized online business. He took the company through two business accelerators (StartFast in New York & Capital Innovators in Missouri) and raised funds from angel investors and government grants. Outside of work, Chris enjoys basketball and is an avid hobby pilot flying single engine airplanes, discovering the diverse landscapes of North America.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Tunedly all about?
Tunedly is an online recording studio, connecting songwriters to some of the best session musicians and allowing them to create music online in a studio-like environment. With Tunedly, musicians can record songs at the same quality as in traditional recording studios in Nashville, Los Angeles or New York, with real, live instruments, but from the comfort of their homes. In addition, we also have a music publishing department, placing music in film, TV and advertising as well as “a music as a gift” department under the Bring My Song To Life brand.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I am a former songwriter and music producer myself. I know it’s so cliche but when we “founded” Tunedly, we didn’t really think of starting a business. I lived remotely at the time as a songwriter and producer and had trouble finding and collaborating with professional session musicians. The co-founder, Mylene, managed touring artists and introduced me to a few who weren’t touring at the time, looking for other income streams. We put together a super simple collaboration tool and I started working with my eight or so favorite session musicians and singers. Other songwriters in my circle started noticing how the quality of my recordings improved, asked me to help them record their music, and one thing led to another and Tunedly suddenly was a business.
What are your plans, how do you plan to grow this company?
We’ve grown rapidly over the last four years since founding, including last year in 2020, having increased our revenue by over 30% compared to the year before. Our main focus for 2021 will be to work on our music publishing department and license more songs. We signed a partnership with the music publisher Spirit Music Group at the end of 2020 and are planning to utilize this partnership heavily going forward.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
The biggest problem early on was that it was such a new service and not yet very accepted among songwriters and musicians. Unlike some other startups who enter a well established market and simply put a twist to the traditional model, like Airbnb, Dropbox or Uber, creating music online and remotely at studio quality was completely new. Many songwriters thought it can’t be done and didn’t necessarily seek out such a service. We spent a lot of time and resources into educating the songwriting community about how it is possible, essentially creating the market rather than tapping into an existing pool of users who are looking for exactly what we were doing. This has changed to a degree through our efforts in the past five years, and I believe has been accelerated through COVID in the past year. Due to the pandemic, the music industry is much more open to innovative new solutions to old processes and methods.
In a way, we are facing a very similar situation now with our “music as a gift” service under the Bring My Song To Life brand. People are used to buying flowers for their anniversaries or birthdays, but having professional musicians write and produce a custom made song based on your own personal story is such a new concept, not many seek out a service like this. Hence, we are in a similar position with that department of our company, trying to establish this service among our target audience through education and other creative ways.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
I think the biggest mistake I made early on was not managing my time and not taking off every now and then. Here is the thing, you start a business and while it’s relatively small, you don’t have that many tasks to take care of. I mean, you run the day to day operations, there aren’t any, or very many employees so things are easy. At that time, I should have put some methods and practices in place to manage my time but I didn’t feel the need to so I just went with the flow. As we grew, we started hiring more staff, all of a sudden, I was fundraising, giving speeches, presentations, attending events, you name it and before I knew it, I was working 15+ hours a day, seven days a week and still felt like nothing really gets done. That was rather stressful. About two years ago, I put a stop to it, got really organized, learned to live by my calendar, learned to prioritize and how to say “no” to opportunities that aren’t really opportunities and made sure I find time for my family and hobbies, by having healthier working hours and taking most weekends off. I’m more productive than I’ve ever been since having perfected this.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
Learning new skills and it doesn’t even have to be related to business. Just something that challenges me and keeps me mentally sharp. For example, I have a pilot license, which was challenging to obtain in the first place, but I keep adding new ratings and endorsements for the sake of learning new skills. I have no intention to ever fly airplanes commercially but I find it challenging learning about aviation, having to use math, physics, common sense and good decision making, to safely fly a plane, hence I keep learning about it. Although it isn’t directly related to business, it does help me stay and become more organized in my workplace. As you can imagine, it’s not the best feeling in the world being 10,000 feet up in the air, wondering if you filled up the gas tanks or not, so you learn to be organized and double check even small items through checklists to make sure you’re safe.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
I wish I knew how rewarding it would be. Sure, it can be hard at times, especially early on but, my gosh, being an entrepreneur, being responsible for your own destiny, financial status and along the way, creating enjoyable experiences for employees and customers is one of the best feelings in the world. My parents and siblings aren’t exactly entrepreneurial. My dad has worked a corporate job for pretty much all of his adult life and starting a business has always been portrayed as being too “risky”. And it is risky for sure, especially if you could get into a fortune 500 company as an employee and climb the corporate ladder. But, in my opinion, this “risk” is totally worth it based on what I have experienced being an entrepreneur.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
My most effective marketing strategy, that’s a good question. I would say my most effective marketing strategy has been having an incredible Chief Marketing Officer. Seriously, Marketing isn’t my strong suit but my co-founder Mylene Besancon has been doing an amazing job building our brand and cranking out converting marketing campaigns. Maybe best ask her the question if you want to interview her some time in the future.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Just go and do it. I think so many people out there have great ideas for businesses but find a million excuses to not start. It’s too risky, the economy is down, the economy is up and about to crash, not the right time, etc. All of that doesn’t matter. If you don’t do it, someone else will. To be fair, even if you do it, someone else will also and here is my second best piece of advice: It’s in the execution. No matter what business idea you might be thinking of, I can guarantee you there is someone else working on something very similar, if not the exact same thing. We’re nearly 8 billion people on this planet, chances are you aren’t the only one with a particular idea, but what will make you successful in launching your business is how you execute it better than anyone else.
What is your favorite quote?
“Time is the most valuable asset you don’t own.”
– Mark Cuban
How can we get in touch with you?
If you’re a songwriter or musician looking to create music, visit tunedly.com. If you’re looking for a very unique gift idea for a loved one, visit bringmysongtolife.com and if you’re looking to get in touch with me for consulting or to say hi, visit chriserhardt.com
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