You, Inc. is a business, so you need to act like one. You should look as professional as possible. This includes everything from business cards to websites. I was just out of college and someone recommended me to do a little arrangement of a pop song. Not only did I Read more…
This short phrase, “Make the client feel good,” is one of the most important things to remember in business. Often when doing recording sessions for television and radio commercials (read: jingles) the “composer” may be a person of little of no musical knowledge. He may not even read music or Read more…
Presumably you’ve chosen music because you love it and can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. But, on the off chance that you are in music for the money, you’ve chosen the wrong profession. Sure, there are certain celebrity artists who make big, big money, but there is no doubt that Read more…
Let’s assume that anyone reading this knows that the sum total of all the money an individual earns is called the gross. It is reported by your employer to the Federal Government in the form of a wage and tax statement called a W-2, and a copy is sent to Read more…
When a musician buys an instrument or equipment that has a useful life of longer than one year, he or she can depreciate it over the tax life of the item—usually seven years. This has the effect of spreading out the deduction over time. An alternate course would be to Read more…
This is an important question to ask yourself. In a perfect world in which your every dream was realized, and you were successful at everything you attempted, what would that look like for you? Would you be a soloist with major orchestras and perform around the world? Would you be Read more…
We know that a musician is a person who performs, composes or studies music. An amateur does it for recreation and fun. A professional may do that too, but the difference is this: professionals are paid for what they do. (When I speak about professional musicians I am not just Read more…
Legos. You know what they are, little interlocking pieces of plastic that can be combined in an infinite number of ways. With Legos you can make things like buildings or vehicles. If you don’t like what you make, you can continually try to improve it by rearranging the pieces; or Read more…
You have probably noticed that the word “entrepreneur” is seen in print and heard in conversations more and more these days. I just did a search for it and found nearly 236 million entries. (It’s interesting to me that I did this same search in the first edition of this Read more…
Now that I’m retired (kinda, sorta) I have the advantage of being able to look back and see how my own career has made certain turns—all for the better I might add. But when I graduated from college I had no idea that someday I would be teaching at a Read more…