ryst Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 If I make some merch (cd's, tees, stickers, buttons) for my music project and people from other parts of the country want to buy it, do I need to register as a business first? Would I tell the customer to just send a check/money order to my home address or should I open up a P.O. Box? Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated! www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveMusic Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 I'd say don't mess with any of that business permit crap until you are doing enough to worry about it. Naw, I wouldn't fool with a p.o. box for this reason you asked about. > > > [ Live! ] < < < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryst Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 So I should just have the customers write the check in my name and send it to my home address? www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 I would do a p.o. box. I had one for years, and there's a measure of security it provides that can't really be defined. They're cheap, too. AND...if you make enough money--enough to be noticed by the IRS--then you can deduct the cost of the box as a business expense. As far as the name on the check goes, it would probably be a good idea to set up either an account or an arrangement with your bank for a "DBA" (doing business as) setup...for example: (your name) dba ryst rockets...and have all checks made out to ryst rockets. You may not be a business, yet, but you might as well start acting like one. I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billster Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 If you feel comfortable broadcasting that you are a musician with a lot of gear and don't mind people knowing your home address, go for it. If you feel a need for some level of insulation and security, get a P.O. box. Contact Lee Flier or Wewus about the promotional stuff they sell. I've seen other bands with similar on-line presentations, I think it is a turnkey contract service. You provide the artwork and choose what styles of stuff you want (t-shirts, keyrings, coffee mugs) and the company prints them as needed to fill online orders. Check out what CD Baby packages with their disc distribution. Here ya go - cafepress.com Buy my CD on CD Baby! Bill Hartzell - the website MySpace?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryst Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 offramp, How did you know i was selling ryst rockets? Damn, you're good! Seriously, I appreciate the advice! Billster, Thanks for the link! Lee is my neighbor so I will be harassing her soon. www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spokenward Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Originally posted by offramp: As far as the name on the check goes, it would probably be a good idea to set up either an account or an arrangement with your bank for a "DBA" (doing business as) setup...for example: (your name) dba ryst rockets...and have all checks made out to ryst rockets. IANL, but You will probably have to file a registration of a "business alias" or certificate of "assumed name" to establish that bank account. The registrations in Illinois, for example, are filed at the county level. Then you may have to file a legal notice. In Illinois, that costs more than the filing. 50 USD to file and approx 100 USD to publish a legal notice for 3 weeks. The good news is that there are many "retail" type banks that will set up a small business account without fees these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 www.cafepress.com perhaps... I haven't actually bought anything from them, I wanted to, but not sure how their quality is. Although, Ryst, I mean no offense here but is it really worth it? You and I are different people and you're probably more experienced than I am with music and probably write more interesting music, but do you think it might be a bit pretentious having merch? I ask this because I had a little Cafe Press store going on but I soon felt like it wasn't worth it, just yet. I dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryst Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 Originally posted by Phait: www.cafepress.com perhaps... I haven't actually bought anything from them, I wanted to, but not sure how their quality is. Although, Ryst, I mean no offense here but is it really worth it? You and I are different people and you're probably more experienced than I am with music and probably write more interesting music, but do you think it might be a bit pretentious having merch? I ask this because I had a little Cafe Press store going on but I soon felt like it wasn't worth it, just yet. I dunno. pretentious? You mean arrogant? I wouldn't care if people didn't ask me all the time. Plus, I am trying to be a rockstar and I am following the playbook as close as possible. Seriously, my music is getting a lot of attention on myspace.com and here in Atlanta andwe haven't even played a show yet but people are asking me when am I going to play in their town. Once I find a decent guitarist who can learn my stuff, we will be playing out shortly. So I would like to be able to have some merch because I believe my music is going somewhere and this is my dream. But i hope not you or anyone else thinks i am being pretentious for wanting to sell merch for my band. If you met me in person, you would know that I am far from that (Hey, Lee.. back me up over here!!). Maybe I just don't understand that word very well. But no, Phait, I am definitly not offended. You have an interesting perspective on this subject and I appreciate that. www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Actually, ryst, this is just how my mind works. It took less than a second to come up with 'ryst rockets'. Sorry. And no, you're probably not being pretentious. It's marketing, pure and simple. So many acts have 'made it' this way. And for further elaboration, check your PM's. I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Heh, never thought about the marketing aspect. Just fandom... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryst Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Originally posted by offramp: Actually, ryst, this is just how my mind works. It took less than a second to come up with 'ryst rockets'. Sorry. And no, you're probably not being pretentious. It's marketing, pure and simple. So many acts have 'made it' this way. And for further elaboration, check your PM's. Exactly! I never thought of merch as anything more than marketing. That's why I am going to do it. www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Strat Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 A lot of the bands around this area have stickers printed up for their bands that they will give to their friends and fans at their shows, but they also sell them on their websites, as well as T-shirts. What type of stuff would you be selling? I'd agree with setting up a P.O. box, but I don't think I'd worry about the alias until I showed a decent profit. I'm not sure of the amount, but you're allowed a certain amount of undeclared income per year by federal law. BlueStrat a.k.a. "El Guapo" ...Better fuzz through science... http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryst Posted May 7, 2005 Author Share Posted May 7, 2005 Originally posted by Blue Strat: A lot of the bands around this area have stickers printed up for their bands that they will give to their friends and fans at their shows, but they also sell them on their websites, as well as T-shirts. What type of stuff would you be selling? I'd agree with setting up a P.O. box, but I don't think I'd worry about the alias until I showed a decent profit. I'm not sure of the amount, but you're allowed a certain amount of undeclared income per year by federal law. I would be selling "band stuff" for my band just like any other band does. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that in my first post. www.myspace.com/apocrypha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 IMHO it is never a good idea to broadcast your address on the internet. just because you only intend it for a certain genre of viewer doesn't mean those will be the only people who acess it. Better safe than sorry. PO Boxes are $70/yr. That's a few t-shirts and a couple CD's. Is your safety worth that? Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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