If you are in the music business, the chances are good that you got into it to create music, express yourself artistically, and allow others to connect with the beautiful music you made. You unquestionably did not get into the music industry to deal with the business end and manage things like music royalties. Yet, this remains a very important part of what you do, and if you do not manage it correctly, you might run into challenges with the IRS. Thankfully, there is accounting software to help you manage the business and accounting side while you take care of putting out the best beats.
What Is Music Royalty Accounting Software?
In the past, the only royalties that musicians had to worry about came directly from sales or media plays. That, of course, has expanded dramatically. Thanks to the proliferation of platforms like Spotify and others, it has become exceptionally complicated for artists to manually track royalties across the ever-growing list of music streaming platforms. As such, music royalty accounting software exists and is designed to automate this process by connecting music platforms directly with accounting software, enabling musicians to track their royalties from any number of streaming programs, automatically.
The Best Music Royalty Accounting Software
Thankfully, there is no shortage of options if you are looking for this type of software to help you manage the business side of your music. The top performers that all integrate with Quickbooks accounting software, include:
1. Eddy
Eddy bills itself as the ideal software for indie labels and offers users a fifteen-day free trial period, giving you a perfect chance to determine if the software is right for you. It comes with many features, including the ability to import your entire music catalog, track costs and manage the revenue from various programs.
Interestingly enough, Eddy has a relatively unique offer: If it doesn’t already track one of your revenue sources, it will add it free of charge, making this software option highly adaptable.
Benefits of Eddy:
- Fifteen-day free trial period
- Ability to import entire music catalogue
- Track costs and manage revenue
- Highly adaptable
Iris
Iris also offers streaming royalty services, meaning that you can track the revenue you get from any number of places. What sets Iris apart is that it also manages the registration of your music. In fact, you can use this program to register for up to 60 different music platforms directly. This is not a small thing, because as many musicians know, writing for streaming services can be one of the most challenging aspects of using them.
Benefits of Iris:
- Track the revenue you receive from any number of places
- Manages the registration of your music
- Register up to 60 different music platforms directly
Reprtoir
Reprtoir works directly with a number of streaming platforms and has business relationships with retailers, distributors, and aggregators. It leans into its broad base of music operations. The diversity of platform integrations ensures musicians are getting every cent to which they are entitled.
Benefits of Reprtoir:
- Diversity of platforms and music operations
- Great variety of integration with retailers such as Apple, Spotify and Youtube music.
Tax Deductions for Musicians
Musicians can deduct a wide variety of expenses, like instruments, computers, websites, travel, expenses related to grooming, and more. Inaccurate accounting for royalties can also lead to penalties with the IRS. Having the correct accounting software set up makes the tax filing process simpler, especially when set up correctly by a CPA who can ensure the royalty management software you use integrates properly within your Quickbooks setup.
Entertainment industry accountants can help you create profit and loss statements, cash flow analyses, and balance sheets. Accountants specializing in the entertainment industry can help you account for royalties and file your taxes to take into account the various factors that come into play for your music business. They can also advise you on the best entity structure for your entertainment business and apply interstate accounting tax laws to ensure that you aren’t paying double taxation.
Fusion CPAs have the expertise when it comes to managing multistate entertainment industry tax and accounting for royalties.
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This blog article is not intended to be the rendering of legal, accounting, tax advice or other professional services. Articles are based on current or proposed tax rules at the time they are written and older posts are not updated for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability in regard to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.