Ready to apply the language of business to the universal language — music? The crossover is a lot more important than you might think. The greatest albums of all time, the Grammy’s, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour (estimated to gross $300 million 😮‍💨) – all of these require accountants to play a pivotal role in order to make them happen successfully and profitably. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain on how accounting makes the music you love possible.

Handle Biz By Day, Sit Front Row at Night

Everything you see happening on stage (and everything you don’t see happening backstage) is due in part to an accountant’s hard work. Before Queen Bey 🐝can get started on planning every detail of her tour (#virgotendencies), she relies on her tour accountant to help her be successful.

Music tour accountants are responsible for creating a budget using projected cash flow out that takes into account the costumes, stage decor and design, backup dancers, backstage snacks, and of course, the onstage visuals. 🤯Simultaneously, they also help make decisions on ticket prices, merch, and even the tour locations in order to make sure proper cash flow is coming in. Their goal is to make sure the two are balanced in order to increase profits.

Music tour accountants are also involved with the negotiating and structuring of contracts with the venue and production teams. If strategizing is really what floats your boat, then you might find yourself loving the fact that you can help identify other revenue opportunities for the tour, including licensing, sponsorship and merchandising ventures. If it is an international tour, the music tour accountant would also ensure that the artist is compliant with all applicable international tax regulations. Be prepared for collaboration galore, as tour accountants work closely with artists’ managers, promoters, booking agents, and tour managers.

Help Make the Album of the Year

If being a tour accountant is not your jam, then consider being a music business accountant, where you’ll still have the option to work with rappers, bands, producers, singers, songwriters, record labels, and distributors, but in a different capacity. Music business accountants help advise those in the industry on how to make, save, and invest money from their music career. While the work might seem identical to being a corporate accountant, there’s actually important nuances and financial needs specific to the music industry. One example is helping to monitor artists’ owed royalties, or vice versa helping record labels distribute royalties and determine what percentage goes to the creators. Accountants will find themselves staying on top of contracts to make sure everything is being handled correctly and fairly.

You can also thank music business accountants for making albums like Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo, Made in Lagos by Wizkid, and Isolation by Kali Uchis, happen. Even though Olivia Rodrigo is Olivia Rodrigo, her creativity has to operate within the confines of a budget. Making music is an investment and record labels want to make sure they see good returns on it. Budgets for household names like Olivia are going to be very different from that of a new artist. Accountants help determine the proper budget, inclusive of production costs, marketing and promotion, music videos, and more.

The Perks

As we mentioned, working in the music industry as an accountant comes with some cool benefits, such as going on tour with music artists, attending album release parties and catching a vibe with the coolest people on your Spotify playlist. If you’re a musician yourself, you just might find yourself in a jam session with Rosalía. Working with some of the most creative minds in the world will also inspire you to dig into your own creativity bag to better explain financial concepts to them.

While kicking it with famous artists and attending free events is cool and all, the ultimate win for us is the flexibility in this industry. Music business accountants don’t necessarily hold a 9-5 since they work with artists whose primary business hours are 4-11pm. These types of accountants often get to catch up with their clients at the “stu” in the evening and catch up on their Zzzz in the morning. 😴

Remote work is also quite popular when artists are on tour; since they’ll be out of town, you’ll get to spend a lot of your time taking meetings from your living room. How sweet is that?!

If you love music but know that the only place safe for your vocals is your bathroom shower, consider putting your strengths to work by becoming an accountant in the biz. You’ll be the secret weapon behind everything that goes through the headphones of billions of listeners. Imagine being able to press play on your favorite artist’s new album and say, “I helped make that happen.” You don’t have to imagine if you choose a career in accounting.