turning my band into a company?

Would anyone know how to go about turning my band into a company? Incorporated, or into a corporation? or something else?

We've recently been signed to an independant label in Toronto, and as they start writing cheques out to us. As it stands now, it's gonna be basically personal income.

Plus then everything we buy for the band (instruments, amps, strings, clothes for shows etc), we'd be abel to write it off correct?

It's basically a small business at this point. With 4 members, we're all in it equally.

Thanks,
Paul

Its really going to depend on how much money you expect to make as a band. And whether you and your band members need all of the money you make to live on. You can still write off your expenses if you are self employed. I would imagine incorporating (or even a partnership) would make it easier to distribute the profit and the expenses. I would seek the advice of a business lawyer or an accountant to determine what's best of you and your band.

I used to do this, although we had a business manager to handle all the details.

The way we set it up was as a limited partnership for the band, and a second company for the publishing (as they were each divided up differently). We put ourselves on a microscopic salary, and anything we made from touring/merch/advances we put into the "pot" and took care of expenses. It's a good idea to make a paper trail with your expenses by paying with cheques wherever you can (jam space, gas, hotels, strings, drumsticks, etc). You might want to think about hiring a bookkeeper if you don't have a manager (which I'm assuming you don't because you're asking for advice on here). Definitely register as a business, though, or you will lose your shirt.

FYI - do not expect to make lots of money doing this. In fact, count on not making any. Being in a band is the most expensive job in the world, and the avenues of income just aren't there anymore with the cluster-**** that is the music industry today. I played in a band for 5 years, had 3 indie label advances totalling $150K, grossed over $300K in touring, and sold 60,000 records in total. In the 5 years, I made about $31K total, including royalties, before taxes.

Don't quit your day job, and don't move out of your parent's house.