Daniel Sokolovskiy’s Blog: posts tagged Finance

How and why to keep a budget

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 12:44:13 +0100

Since 2017, I have been keeping a family budget: I record and track all income and expenses. Let me tell you how I came to do it, what it does for me and how you can start doing it regularly too.

Screenshot from the budgeting application website. The data is not mine

Backstory

This may sound strange, but the first time I thought about the need to keep a budget was not to check expenses but to answer the simple question: “How much money do we have now?

At the time, I was living in Israel, but I was still doing business with Moscow. In the Russian bank, I had a personal account, a savings account, a sole-trader account, and a credit card. In the Israeli bank, I had a personal account and a family account. I also had accounts at PayPal and Yandex-money, which were popular then. My wife had almost all of the same. And we also had some cash in rubles, shekels, and foreign currency left over from trips abroad.

At the same time, there was some small movement of money in all the accounts because of various automatic payments paid from those accounts. For example, I paid my utility bills with an Israeli card, I paid for my website hosting with Yandex-money, and I paid for Soundcloud via PayPal.

It was real chaos, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I didn’t know how much money I had at a given time. So at first, I just wrote down all the accounts I had, and then I decided to track all the income and expenses to keep those accounts’ balances up to date.

Benefits

When you have all your income and expenses written down, you have an objective picture of your financial situation and can make better decisions.

For example, it may seem that you spend a lot on Uber, so you need a car. But if you write down your expenses, you may find that you spend just £70 per month on taxis, which is a few times less than the cost of owning your own car, let alone the initial cost of buying one.

Or it might seem like you only have Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, for example, for £15 per month. But if you write down all expenses, you may find that you have more subscriptions, including annual ones, so realistically all the subscription services cost you an average of £100 per month.

What to do with this information is up to you. The main thing is that you will be able to rely on real figures rather than guesswork.

Having such an objective picture has helped me plan my future better and make bolder decisions. I feel more in control of my own life, and that’s worth a lot.

It is also fascinating to record not only expenses but also different categories of income: for example, I now know precisely how much I earn from my music without any illusions.

Tips

Not everyone needs or wants to keep a budget. If the very thought of having to write down every expense terrifies you, there is nothing wrong with you. Many people prefer to go with the flow and not think about such things, which is perfectly normal.

However, if you want to take more financial control of your life and start budgeting, here is my advice:

Keep a budget in a separate app. Many banks’ apps have learned to categorise expenses and make nice graphs, but I recommend a separate app. It is important that you can add different accounts to it (for example, an account from another bank or a PayPal account, if you have one) and set up your own categories of expenses and income to make it more personal.
Find an app that works for you. I know how important this is: I’ve started and quit five times just because an app was uncomfortable or unappealing. This is very subjective, so I’m not specifically naming the app I use – just google it and try different options.
Keep records without tension. This is a very important point because as soon as there is tension, some minimal friction, you immediately want to quit. If you get resistance, it may be worth trying a different app – see the previous point.
Write everything down. This is crucial. If the data in your app no longer reflect reality, it will all become meaningless. That is why I recommend writing down all incomes and expenditures, even the smallest ones. It takes me about half an hour a week, and so as not to forget, I have created a recurring to-do in my to-do list.

I would be glad if anyone finds my experience useful.

Distributed income

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 21:12:25 +0100

Cancelled gigs and plans, closed clubs and country borders. Thousands of DJs and producers have lost their jobs. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of our lives, but I would like to talk specifically about the music industry and the income of artists in particular.

Almost all artists strive for a busy touring schedule. And that’s not surprising since the primary income for artists comes from performances. But here’s the problem: if you put all your resources into one single source of income, you become very vulnerable. The artist had ten confirmed performances, and then they’re gone. The situation with closed clubs and cancelled airlines seems like something from a science fiction area, yet it’s happening worldwide right now.

The main lesson for artists should be the saying “don’t put all eggs in one basket” and striving for a distributed income structure. Ideally, three or five sources of income should generate roughly equal shares.

No	Yes
Gigs fee — 90%	Gigs fee — 30%
Streaming royalties — 10%	Streaming royalties — 20%
	Educational products — 20%
	Soundtracks for films and commercials — 10%
	Mastering services — 10%
	Web graphic services — 10%

The structure in the right column is not ideal either and here just for the illustration. Still, the main thing it provides is an active reserve and the ability to pay the bills, even when the primary source of income is lacking, like many artists all over the world are sadly experiencing now. For example, months with no gigs (which can happen even without coronaviruses) is no big deal if other sources of income can generate 70% of your regular income, so you can pay the bills and use this time to focus on other projects.

In my educational talk back in 2017, I advised aspiring producers to have a financial backup and not be in a hurry to quit their day job. The combination of regular work and music is an example of a distributed income structure.

I don’t have a recipe or advice on making a distributed income, but it seems like a good idea to start by understanding the importance of the concept itself. And, of course, this does not apply only to the music industry.

How much I earned on the album sales

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 20:18:51 +0100

Behind the scenes in facts and numbers

Last year I released my second studio album 2000 Years Ahead, my the most successful release to date.

Success shows in different ways: followers’ growth, bookings, smiles on the dancefloor. But today I’d like to share specific numbers, and that is how I earned on the album sales. Just in time as I recently got a financial report from the label.

How many copies sold

The album was released in two formats: digital and physical. Label — Digital Om Production. At that time Bonzai Music was taking care of the digital distribution, whilst Arabesque Distribution for the CDs.

940 tracks and 140 CD copies sold so far

For the first quarter, people downloaded 940 tracks and purchased 140 CD copies.

Is that good enough or not?

Let me answer with the fact: the album was #1 on Psyshop and #2 on Beatport top charts for the whole month:

“2000 Years Ahead” in the top sales charts. Source: bptoptracker.com.

Overall, the album spent 18 days in the top-10 and 69 days in the top-100 on Beatport. Sitting in the charts for more than two months considered as quite an achievement.

How much I’ve got

Now comes the more interesting part. To be clear, all numbers below are net, i.e. after the deduction of the stores and distributors commission, which is roughly 50% depending on the platform and region. For example, when you see $1,99 retail price per track on Beatport, the real income from it is about $0,9. That’s the numbers I’m operating below.

Stores take 20—50% cut from retail price

So, this is what’ve got from all sources — digital sales (including streaming), physical sales and sublicensing:

Revenue
Digital sales	+€815
Physical sales	+€610
Sublicensing	+€200
Total revenue:	+€1625

A thousand and a six hundred euros sound nice, right?

But revenue ≠ profit. The album also had some expenses on production and promotion that we have to take into account:

Expenses
Mastering	-€225
Artworks	-€200
CD printing	-€300
Logistics	-€100
Marketing	-€100
Total expenses:	-€925

Now let’s calculate the profit: €1625 (revenue) – €925 (expenses) = €700. But we’re not done yet since all profit splits between the artist and the label — that’s a typical deal in the industry. So, then: €700 / 2 = €350. And that is how much I earned before taxes.

€350 is how much I’ve got a year later for the first quarter of sales

Added in 2021: I want to emphasize that all numbers above are given for the first quarter of sales only since the release date. For the last two years since I wrote this post, my total net profit from the album is over €1500, mainly due to streaming.

Now we can make a few conclusions:

Once again I’ve got a confirmation of my own words that a music producer cannot make a living on the music sales alone. I’ve written about it earlier and talked on my master class.
Music release is not only income but also expenses. And whilst you may not gain profit at all, it will cost you something for sure.
It’s important to mention that in my case the label took all expenses since we already worked together and I got a trustworthy reputation. Keep in mind that not every label would want to invest a thousand dollars if you are a new producer with a debut release.
People still buy CDs!

Why I’m telling this

Perhaps, not everyone aware of that, but we actually have a problem in the music industry: many young producers expect to make a living on the debut release sales, then they see a financial report with a 2-digit number (or nothing, at all), start to accuse everyone around and eventually quit their career.

I’m sad to see these things happen all the time and hence why I share my experience on how things work behind the scenes.

I’d love to tell you that “I released my album and bought a house”, but the truth is after a year of hard work and a fantastic appearance in the charts, the album sales directly gave less than a monthly salary of a janitor. That’s the true story.

That’s why you need to remove the pink glasses and start working hard — a something that musicians do not really like to do. And threat your music releases simply as a portfolio.

Bonus: stats

A financial report is not only about the money, it’s also a lot of juicy data. I’ll put some metrics that I find interesting down below.

Digital sales, by store:

Beatport	75%
iTunes	18%
Juno	4%
Google Music	2%
Amazon	1%

Digital sales, by country

USA	20%
United Kingdom	13%
Germany	12%
Australia	9%
Switzerland	7%
Japan	5%
France	4%
Canada	4%
Brazil	3%
Finland	3%
Netherlands	3%
26 more countries	14%

Streaming, by service

Spotify	50%
Apple Music	38%
Google Music	5%
iTunes	4%
Deezer	3%

Streaming, by country

USA	10%
Germany	9%
United Kingdom	7%
Mexico	6%
Russia	6%
Netherlands	5%
Switzerland	4%
Australia	4%
Japan	4%
Sweden	4%
France	3%
Canada	3%
37 more countries	25%

Laidback Luke on music sales

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 14:55:39 +0100

Laidback Luke

This is brilliant. Today, Laidback Luke uploaded a new vlog episode where he is telling about ripping of tracks on SoundCloud. And by the end of the video, here is what he said about the music sales (watch at 11:55):

“So I started this vlog by telling you that I run my own record label, I even run my publishing company, so why would I promote this type of stuff [ripping off tracks on SoundCloud]? I need you to realise right now is that music is mainly promotion. The amount of money that is earned by selling your tracks is way less than back in the days. The most important thing is that your name gets spread, and because the money is in performing mostly, it’s always good to get your name out there.”

Music is mainly promotion. The most important thing is that your name gets spread.

This is exactly what I was written about in my “The truth about music sales” advice, and I’m happy that such a credible artist like Laidback Luke confirms it from his experience as well. By the way, all of his vlogs are amazing, make sure to check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Video from my talk @ Audio School, 05.12.2017

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:26:59 +0100

In December, I gave a talk at the Audio School in Moscow, where I shared my personal experience as a musician, and now it’s available on YouTube as well.

The video is in the Russian language, but you can still watch it with the subtitles:

00:00 Intro
03:56 Expectations and why they are important
08:02 Studio: how to avoid writer’s block
14:05 Release: what to do with music next
24:26 Audience: why artists need it
39:23 Routine: how to organize things

It was my first public performance where I had to say something, and I was terribly nervous. There is a lot to work on in the future: intonation, gaze, posture, and all that. Right now I look pretty dull.

However, this doesn’t make the information less valuable, so if you’re a beginner musician – definitely watch it.

I would be happy to give a talk at a conference, electronic music school, or any other music-educational event. Please get in touch if you would like to invite me as a speaker.

Artists income per gig

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 19:38:07 +0100

Patrick Chen sharing insights about Psytrance scene

Behind the Scenes: FM Booking. Some interesting insights from Patrick Chen: “In Psy scene, per an artist, DJ, or producer, the average price rate is about €2000 per gig. Nevertheless, prices can oscillate hugely. [...] price range can be from €500 up to €10 000 or €12 000, it all depends on the artist popularity. The most popular countries in Psy scene at this moment are Switzerland, France, Australia, Germany, Portugal, Israel. [...] There is something very important that an artist should have always: unique style”.