What many people outside of the industry don’t realise is that being a professional musician isn’t all about rocking out on stage. Unfortunately, there are myriad problems that often need sorting out and various aspects of the job that require heavy organisation in advance. In this blog, we’ll take a look at a few resources that can help make your admin life as a musician a little easier…
Whether it’s organising bookings into a calendar, sifting through enquiry emails or doing your accounts, there are many strands to the business of being a musician that, unfortunately, have absolutely nothing to do with playing your instrument.
While this is quite possibly the least sexy aspect of the job, there are resources available to help!
Finding a good calendar/ email service and some accounts software can be a great start to cutting down on the bureaucracy that goes along with managing your small business, or self-employment.
Below, find a list of some good options of admin software life hacks…
1) Gmail/ Google Calendar / Google Drive/ Docs
Perhaps one of the most popular services available, having a Gmail account is simple and easy to set up, and a completely free way to help centralise your admin.
For instance, having a ‘band’ Gmail account (that everyone in the group has access to) can be a great way to centralise your booking system and avoid uncertainty.
This way, designated band members can deal with the enquiries and bookings, as they come in. Keeping the calendar feature updated with both gigs and enquiries can help head off any availability problems.
Some bands also choose to update the calendar with dates they are definitely unavailable (like holidays).
Obviously, Gmail has many other useful features (like meetings/ hangouts and chats) but Google Docs is arguably one of the most useful. Whether it is promotional materials, charts or any other resources that need to be centrally available, then Google docs is a great way to store them.
Google docs is great because it seamlessly syncs across all my devices such as my tablet, phone and PC even though they are all using different operating systems. I use it for all sorts of tasks.
I use it for booking contracts with the band, I can send out an editable file for the client to return, and I also have a wedding planning document that I can share with the client that both parties can edit. I use for invoices and receipts too.
I can quickly copy and create new documents in seconds and quickly integrate them with Gmail.
Another use is – on gigs – I can easily access chords/lyrics/screenshots/pictures of lead sheets etc all within one document, that I can access from any of my devices and it updates automatically when I add new songs.
Tom Kinton, Guitarist and Bass Player.
2) Last Minute Musicians Contract Generator
Writing up contracts can take a professional musician a surprising amount of time.
A brand-new contract is needed for every gig, with the appropriate (and correct!) details filled out.
The LMM contract generator simply requires you to fill in the form provided with the relevant details, and then a contract is generated for you.
This can save you a lot of time when securing new bookings.
Don’t forget, there are many reasons why contracts for live gigs are important, and you should always have one in place for your performance bookings.
3) Quick Books
Accounting is (particularly in the month of January!) a task that can take up an extraordinary amount of a musicians’ time.
Quick Books is a useful service for simplifying your accounts (especially if you don’t have an accountant). Amongst many other features, it can send invoices, shift through business and personal expenses, estimate your tax bill and connect directly to your bank account.
Quick Books self-employed speeds up my paperwork no end! I create all my invoices in the app, plus it’s connected to my bank account, so logs all my incomings and outgoings which I can then swipe left or right depending on if it’s business or not, or can set a rule for any transactions showing the same to be automatically categorised. Also tracks my miles which can be organised in the same way.
Only one problem I ever had was that for some reason, the week before last, my bank connection went wrong. I emailed customer services (the only way you can contact them) and they gave me instructions on how to get connected again, which involves removing the previous connection.
After a few weeks of waiting for very slow responses, I was connected again, but all the sorting I had done over the year had been reset so I had to go through all transactions and journeys again. Effectively meaning that having and paying for the app since the previous April was pointless as I’d just had to do it all again anyway. They refunded me one month. I wasn’t pleased as I have been paying £9 a month for nearly a year by that point and then had to spend hours resorting and setting rules.
If they had a phoneline for customer service, it would be perfect (provided the agents know what they’re doing and sort situations out!). It really is a great app, and I’ve been using it for a few years now, so provided it continues without deleting my connection, it’s well worth the money!
Emma Collingham, Last Minute Musician.
4) Microsoft Teams
If you’re looking to organise meetings with clients, teach online lessons or maybe even have a virtual rehearsal, Microsoft Teams can be a great resource.
Frequently used in education settings, Teams allows you to work within several “teams” and build multiple channels within them. For example, you could have one team for “Wedding Bookings” and then build a new channel for any client that would like a face-to-face meeting before the big day.
Couple this with its calendar facility and ability to interface with many other platforms, and it can prove very handy indeed.
Microsoft Teams is relatively easy to get to grips with, giving it an advantage over some other platforms.
5) Last Minute Musicians Risk Assessment Generator
Some venues will require you to submit a risk assessment for the activities you are undertaking there.
A risk assessment involves you working out any potential hazards that might cause harm to you or the public, working out how potentially severe they are and putting in place mitigating factors to avoid them.
The LMM Risk Assessment Generator allows you to instantly download your risk assessment (RAMS) in a PDF file. You’ll also get a copy emailed to you for your records.
6) Asana
Asana is a great platform for organising and assigning tasks. A huge number of struggles are involved with running a professional band and surrounding organisation.
This can lead to various problems – some people can end up doing too much and feeling overworked or unappreciated, or other tasks can just end up being missed due to miscommunication.
Creating an Asana list can help coordinate who is doing what, and make sure everyone is taking an equal share of the responsibility. You can also use it as a central point to store information – a list of upcoming first dance requests, for instance.
Whatever part of the music industry you work in, if you are looking to ditch the pen and paper approach, Asana is a great way to modernise and streamline your organisation.
Asana is a great resource that we use to create and distribute tasks, as well as for keeping lists. Whether it’s organising short-term projects or long-term goals, Asana has been very useful for our business.
Chris W
7) Last Minute Musicians Travel Expenses Calculator
Working out how much you should charge your clients for travel can be a complicated equation.
Generally, a charge of £0.45 per mile is relatively standard, in order to contribute towards fuel, vehicle expenses and insurance costs – all of which add up over the year.
The LMM Travel Expenses Calculator allows you to input your travel rate, milage and various other factors to accurately calculate your travel expense charge.
8) Dropbox
The transferring of large files can be a big problem for musicians. If you’re a producer, looking to send a new mix to a client, then using a service like Dropbox can be an easy way to transfer the files. They can even use Dropbox to make notes and create new documents.
If you’re in music education, creating various Dropbox folders can be an exceptionally easy way to build and trade resources with other teachers.
Dropbox is a secure location to back up your files, meaning you’ll never have to worry about a laptop crash wiping out your hard-transcribed sheet music, lyrics or even backing tracks.
You can also mark the folders you would like to be available when offline. This means you can still have access to your files when you’ve got no WiFi or signal available. The Dropbox app is also available across your devices, making moving documents and files from device to device very easy.
9) Last Minute Musicians Free Invoice Generator
If you’re looking to cut down on the time you spend writing out invoices for clients, then the LMM invoice generator is a really handy tool.
All you have to do is fill in all the relevant materials into the form provided, and a free, professional invoice will be provided for you to send on to your clients and receive payment.
Saving time on invoicing has one obvious advantage – you get paid quicker.
Some larger companies can take up to 30 days on invoice to provide payment, so making sure your invoice is sent promptly is incredibly important.
The generator also provides you with a blank invoice template for you to use.
10) The Musicians’ Union “Find A Musician” Directory
Whether you’re looking for a new band member, or a specialist session musician for a record, the MU “Find A Musician” directory can be a hand place to look for professional musicians in your local area.
The directory allows you to filter by instrument, style, region and more, meaning you can zero in on professional musicians that will suit your needs and hopefully aren’t too far away.
Do you have any good recommendations for admin resources? Leave them in the comments below!
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