Most musicians are notorious as far as setting up administration for their music. They would prefer someone else to come in and do while they concentrate on making their latest hit record but as it stands these days, the musician must know something about setting up their own administrative office until that help comes along.
Every musician or band should have a business development plan for getting their music in front of the right fans. This starts with having a strong back office support system in administration which takes care of things that musicians hate, such as paperwork, accounting, correspondence and other things that don’t resound to an A Flat chord.
There are administrative software tools that musicians can use to help organize files, contacts, contracts and correspondence. Microsoft Office and Microsoft Outlook can take care of these things for you as far as personal contacts, emailing lists and keeping a recording project on schedule.
QuickBooks is a good program to handle basic accounting functions. If you are traveling artists, you should keep your receipts so that you can write things off as taxes and take advantage of every tax break possible.
As a musician, it’s your job to set up a back office operation and understand the administrative and business side of music until the Calvary arrives!