RKease Founder's Journey: Musical Bookkeeping

"Making good judgements, when one has complete data, facts, and knowledge, is not leadership, it's bookkeeping." - Dee Hock

"Understand data to keep my books, to make great moves so I won't be overlooked." - RKease Company

Being an artist-entrepreneur, is a difficult and tedious process because you are wearing multiple hats at the same time in order to become successful. Learning about bookkeeping has been a crucial step in that process because bookkeeping teaches you so many things about finance, legal compliance, and business growth. Through bookkeeping, as an artist-entrepreneur, I have peace of mind because I know that as I accumulate income and generate expenses that I will be in compliance with the Canadian Revenue Agency, during tax time, which will give me a peace of mind, and accelerate business growth.

(https://www.waveapps.com/)

The bookkeeping software that I actually use is Wave accounting software that I found while doing my research in trying to find my bookkeeping software to use. Wave was an essential software because first of all it's Canadian, and the way that America and Canada are going right now, it's important to support Canadian owned businesses that are helping to build our economy strong. Also, Wave was recommended to me by Vel Omazci, whose the CEO and founder of the Canadian Music Incubator. During the Incubator we learned how to build a sustainable business financially for musicians.

CMI FInancial Literacy Program

There are various reasons, why I like Wave because the platform is actually user friendly and it also gives you definitions to the accounting terminology that is used in the platform. For example, when you look up "Cash and Bank", it states that it's used to track the balance of cash that is immediately available for use. Also, it gives you the ability to manually put in the receipts and put in your expenses so that you are able to get a chart of accounts and do your reconciliation. Now, Wave is a great software and I would highly recommend it, and here are some reasons to do bookkeeping as a musician.

Financial Health and Decision-Making

• Provides Financial Visibility: This helps to keep an accurate and organised record of all income, expenses, and overall financial health.

• Supports Informed Decisions: Provides the data needed for strategic decisions on pricing, budgeting, and investments.

• Manage Unpredictable Income: Helps me as an independent musician plan for fluctuating income by monitoring cash flow and identifying trends.

Wave Expense Breakdown

Within my financial health and decision making bullet points, identifying trends was one of them. The trend that I spotted with my expenses is that all of my expenses are software related. This proves the point of Satya Nadella's quote that "every company is a software company." That you must think of yourself as a digital company and have a technical acumen in order to build a solid business because were in the Information Age 2.0 with artificial intelligence, data science, web 3.0, etc. Here are some more reasons, why musicians must have bookkeeping down.

Business and Career Management

• Tracks Diverse Income Streams: Manages various income sources, such as royalties, licensing, live shows, and merchandise sales.

• Manage Expenses: Tracks costs associated with touring, studio time, equipment, and promotions.

• Facilitates Growth: A solid financial foundation supports the growth of a music career, whether through expanding the business or touring internationally.

Wave Business Expenses

Listed above are some of my business expenses that are deducted from my bank account every month so that I can have tax deductions for my musical business and activities. This proves that my company is actually being managed as an actual business since I have deductions that will lead into my taxes.

Legal and Tax Compliance

• Ensure Tax Compliance: Accurate records are crucial for properly reporting income and claiming all eligible deductions.

• Reduces Tax Liability: By identifying eligible business deductions, musicians can lower their overall tax burden.

• Documents Intellectual Property: Serves as a record of intellectual property, including the financial aspects of creative works.

• Avoids hobby classification: Good financial records show the Canadian Revenue Agency that musical activities are a business, which is important for deducting expenses.

Values

All in all music bookkeeping is apart of my values as an artist-entrepreneur because I culture is capital and capital is culture. The culture we have such as our beliefs and values are industry agnostic and produce income for us no matte where were at, but we haven't been able to reap off those rewards due to a lack of formalities in our ventures. This is why bookkeeping is imperative and a sound business ethic in order to build a lasting legacy and sustainable business model for generations. I hope everyone enjoys reading this blog and has a great day filled with rest, kindness, and ease, peace!