The Importance Of Record-Keeping For A Band

If you’re an active musician who enjoys payment in any way, you’ll probably have to do taxes eventually. Unless you’re giving all of your music and merchandise for free, you may have already missed an important amount of work that could get you in trouble with the government. That’s normal — musicians don’t always think about it, happy their art is finally making back more than what they’re putting in. But eventually, it needs to be addressed.

See, when you have a band, in a lot of ways you are running your own small business. You are selling a product, no matter how much integrity you have in putting it together. And where there’s a profit, there’s taxes to be done and records to be kept. If you don’t get this taken care of, it could ruin your band/music later.

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A Bunch Of Ways Musicians Are Actually Making Money (& One Way They’re Not!)

As a music producer, artist or musician (especially if you’re starting out) you’re probably wondering how it’s possible to take your passion and push it so you’re able to do it full-time, without having to worry about how you’re going to pay rent. How to make money from music?!

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Going Mobile: 4 Great Ways Your Band Can Save Money On The Road

Three words on the first-time DIY tour experience: exhilarating, difficult, and rewarding. Sandwiched between the positives – between the thrill and the sense of accomplishment – there’s the reality of what it takes to get it done. If you don’t understand DIY is going to be difficult, you’re coming at your first tour with expectations akin to fantasy.

When my band embarked on a three-week West Coast tour three years ago, we had no idea what we were doing. We weren’t rich, but we didn’t even look at advice on inexpensive touring. And we were at each other’s throats. But we survived. I’m here now to impart some of what I learned to you, so you don’t make some of the same money mistakes we did. I can just hear you now, saying, “Thanks, Dad.” 

You’re welcome.

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More Money, More Problems!

Often times, people look at their band/music project as an endless money pit. They view it as impossible to break even. However, I’d argue that over time, breaking even is pretty attainable. A lot of young bands don’t pay enough attention to money - they give up early and view their losses as necessary evils for the sake of “the game,” so to speak. And they also give way too much away for free. That’s fine if free merch is your thing and you’re not concerned with breaking even (in fact, I think that’s noble of you). But if the reason you’re doing that is due to an idea that success comes only from terrible losses, I think you’re wrong. You can start making money now, and it’ll probably help you to continue your music henceforth.

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Frugality On DIY Tour: Some Simple Suggestions

A DIY tour is expensive. There are ways to be successful, but for a band just starting out, I would recommend trying to spend as little money as possible. Here are some suggestions on how you can do that.

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How To Pre-Plan & Manage Your Band's Tour Finances

When indie music duo Pomplamoose went on 28-day tour in fall 2014, they sold just under $100,000 in tickets. With merchandise sales and a sponsorship from Lenovo, they pulled in a total of $135,983. However, after paying for publicity, payroll, production, hotels, food, travel, commissions, merchandise manufacturing, and other costs, total tour expenses added up to $147,802. Pomplamoose ended up putting $11,819 on credit cards to cover the cost of their own tour.

Fortunately, Pomplamoose was expecting a loss

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