Taking personal time for family vacations, going out to dinner or the theater, and engag-
ing in hobbies aren’t likely to happen if you’re strapped for cash. Even if you have good
cash flow, money can easily and swiftly leak through your fingers if you’re not careful.
For example, you landed a licensing deal and get a royalty check for $5,000. But you
quickly spend it on things you think you need. Pretty soon, it’s gone, and you really have
no idea where it all went. Then the landlord comes, knocking on the door, wanting the
rent. It happens all too often in the indie music world.
In their book, The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers and the Self-Employed,
authors Joseph D’Agnese and Denise Kiernan write: “Having your financial house in or-
der brings peace of mind. It also puts you in a better position to survive and thrive, no
matter what the economic climate.”
In a similar vein, author Tom Robbins once said, “There's a certain Buddhistic calmthat comes from having... money in the bank.”
It’s true. When there’s more month than money, anxiety rears its ugly head, and youcan’t do your best work when you’re constantly worried about money. Plus, by not having
a money management strategy in place, your finances can quickly turn into something
that resembles a game of whack-a-mole gone horribly wrong. You find yourself worried,
forever robbing Peter to pay Paul, never seeming to catch up.
Feast or famine syndrome is common plight for musicians without a money manage-
ment plan. It’s a roller coaster ride that can drive many full-time musicians back to the
nine-to-five cubicle world. To avoid it, artists must always be aggressively marketing
their act and putting money away for the all-too-common rainy day.