Help Small Business: Songsmith LA Needs Support!

Hi, my name is Bobby Apperson, founder of Songsmith LA - a unique small business and music school in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. I formed Songsmith out of a need for a modern, different approach to music education and the creation and sharing of music, including songwriting. We have a large community of songwriters and producers, and as we like to say, Songsmith gives you the music lessons you always needed.

We have an urgent need to fundraise for upgrades to our new music studio space, as well as a general fund, due to a few factors: Inflation and incredible costs after reopening our physical location post-COVID just this year; a long writer's strike and now actors' strike in LA, impacting the overall economy and affecting our client base; and being a microbusiness at a time of economic uncertainty, as small businesses close nationwide.

You can help us to:

Here's where your generous support goes:

Air conditioning. We have an urgent need to add AC to our main room, which is our events and workshop space! LA has been impacted like most of the world with unprecedented, sustained heat and humidity. We have already had to cancel events due to the heat. Please consider helping us with relief for our staff and clients.

General rent and staff fund in support of our music offerings. We are proud that through the COVID-19 pandemic we didn’t have to let any staff go, and even with this year’s economic uncertainty—and lack of support from the banks—we have actually hired, and not downsized. However, we are all impacted by inflation / price hikes and the high cost of living, as well as strikes and what is essentially a slow-motion recession. Your support ensures we can continue to weather this brief storm and continue our offerings of music classes, open mics, shows, workshops, and bring the arts and education to our local community. And we offer online learning, too, so you can access our creative community from anywhere!

A sign and a stage. Your support will help us achieve our longtime goal of street signage, a huge marketing plus for us. And we want to build a small, single-step stage platform where our open mics and live shows happen.

Our space has two rooms: a smaller back room for private lessons and small groups, where we do light recording and podcasting, and a large main room. Our main room is a small storefront and a medium-sized events space! Having outside signs and an indoor stage will bring us to the next level in all that we do.

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We at Songsmith LA believe strongly in small businesses, creativity, and sharing the arts. Our new location in a historically underserved area is just getting started—and with your help, we can fill this urgent need and continue strong into 2024. We know we aren’t alone in feeling the pinch of the current moment, and so many other small businesses have closed.

Thank you for supporting us and for all that you can do!

Examples

For a rundown of where your donations will go and how you can help: