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What Brad Peterson is Listening To:
A mix but includes 70's & 80's rock (love the hair bands), current Country - Rascal Flatts, etc., and current pop / AC - John Mayer, etc. I'm an XMRadio guy at the moment, so I've found my round of stations in those genres......

Read how Johnny Hi-Fi funds their world tours and studio time here...

Read How Melissa Young raised the $75,000 she needed to record her recent album here.

Self-Funding Your Career

Brad Peterson, VP Regions Bank

Financial institutions offer a more traditional route to raising cash. Regions Bank, with 600 outlets throughout southern USA offers unique funding options for musicians at their Nashville-based branch.

VP Brad Peterson explains how their program works:

AP: How does Regions Bank help musicians fund their music projects?
BP: We have 2 facets to our music industry lending; one is consumer/individual songwriter-oriented, and one (my end) is more commercial-based to music publishers or writers/artists with large and very successful individual catalogs.

AP: How much can Artists raise via a Regions Bank program?
BP: The individual songwriter program is basically a royalty advance loan, done through our Music Row division. Generally, they are 12 month, single-payment loans, based off of royalty payable statements from the PROs (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc.).

The amounts would of course vary depending on the royalty level of the writer - but most probably fall in the $20,000 to $30,000, up to much larger amounts depending on credit bureau score, etc. Those royalties are "assigned" to Regions Bank.

AP: What benefits does your program offer?
BP: The benefit is money now for royalties earned but not yet paid, and the single-payment at maturity avoids a monthly debt-service obligation. Pretty quick and easy to do with royalty statements and an application.

The other side is my commercial side, where I'm lending to publishers with larger, more diversified catalogs. This program involves a substantial amount of due diligence on the financial and legal fronts. A third-party valuation of the catalog is required.

We focus on transactions generally in the $1Million to $5 Million range, where a copyright catalog is being bought or sold, or the publisher is looking to leverage his current earnings to buy more copyrights and grow the catalog revenue.

I would say the best thing for a writer / artist to do if they are interested in some type of financial transaction is to call me and I'll be more than happy to direct the need to my Music Row partners on the Private Bank / Consumer side, or I would help him/her engage in the commercial process.

Brad Peterson, Vice President
Commercial Middle Market
Entertainment & Music Division
Regions Bank
315 Deaderick Street, 3rd Floor
Nashville, TN 37237
615.748.2875
brad.peterson@regions.com