Blog: Financial Transparency

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As I have mentioned on several occassions, one of the main ENGINES powering our THRUST into ROCK-SPACE is my Database Of ROCK. This contains many things - the mailing list, setlists, gigs past and future, and also EXPENDITURE. I've only been doing this for a couple of years, since i had a MINOR PANIC when a few people bought CDs and i thought "Yoinks! What if The Taxman Cometh?", but since I started I have been quite PROPER about it. All direct expenses, like recording sessions, practices, train tickets and so on go into it, as do all INCOMINGS, like gig payments, CD sales and publishing money. It is a thing of GRATE beauty to me, as it can tell me precisely how much CA$H I have spent over the years, and almost makes me hope that The Taxman DOES come a-calling, so I can say "LOOK! Here are precise records LINKED to the actual reciepts for each item! AHA!"

The other day, after I'd done the COSTS so far for the new single and entered the costs AND sales for All Around My House I thought "I wonder how much i have actually 'LOST' doing this?" The single has been VERY expensive so i have done a LOT of chanting my Mantra Of Why I Am Doing This ("It's not about the money, it's NOT about the money") and THUS wondered what the state of play was. The state of play is this: I "lose" about a GRAND a year, which really is a lot less than you'd "lose" if your hobby was sailing or something, and is a WHOLE LOT more fun, according to me.

And no, i don't include BEER MONEY in the total. That would be foolish!

Anyway, i THEN thought, JUST FOR A BIT OF FUN, what if i didn't include the costs that I wouldn't have counted if it WAS a normal hobby? Stuff like train tickets and accomodation and bits and bobs like that which I tot up JUST IN CASE of Taxman, but wouldn't otherwise have entered my head. What if i removed all that and saw what the balance is between How Much It Costs To Make Records (recording, rehearsing, buying gear, manufacturing, postage) and How Much You Get Out Of It (sales, publishing and gig money).

Prepare yourself for a SHOCK: I AM IN PROFIT! Over the past TWO YEARS I have come out with a CA$H GAIN of precisely SEVEN POUNDS AND ONE PENCE!!!! OH YEAH!

This will change completely by the end of the week, when I'll be buying about twenty quid's worth of stamps to send out the promo copies of the single, but for now i am booking me a LIMOUSIME and getting me some BLING! OVER seven quid! COME ON!

posted 11/3/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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