Accountancy is an essential component of being a professional artist and musician. So no wonder accounting software is one important tool that could assist artists in scheming their finances.
You need this essential software to avoid mistakes and make your tax documents simple. It will even notify you when earnings requirements for submitting particular taxes have been fulfilled so that you don’t break the obligations!
Why Is It Important to Keep Track of Artists and Musicians Accounting?
Businesses must properly submit their taxes when they have accurate records of their financial transactions. And the foundation of excellent business procedures is bookkeeping.
Plenty of resources teach bookkeeping to artists and individuals starting small enterprises, even if math and logic are not their favorite subjects.
Building up basic processes to practice bookkeeping regimens can benefit artists to operate their companies more effectively while still allowing them to concentrate on their artwork masterpieces.
1. FreshBooks ($15 – $50 & Quotation Based Per Month)
Keeping track of time, billing, and optimizing operational spending isn’t innovative. As a result, FreshBooks is a seamless cloud-based accounting system for artists. With this software, invoicing is a breeze.
It is an excellent option to assist artists in keeping track of their finances. The system easily audits your spending and conveniently shares a workspace with clients.
Artists can use FreshBooks accounting software to organize and exchange information, drawings, assets, and upgrades, so no one is left behind, and they can create their finest work even quicker.
Key Feature:
- Income and expense reports
- Invoice details for your artwork
- Accounts aging records
- Profit & loss statements
- Tax summary
- Timesheets details
- Available on desktop & mobile app
Pros:
- Professional quotes and invoice templates for your art branding
- Automatically send out invoices
- All-in-one online payment solutions
- Automate organizing expenses, tracking time, and following up with clients
- Receivables and payables reminders
- Spend less time on bureaucracy and more time producing arts.
Cons:
- The loading process can be slow
- One-of-a-kind complex onboarding practice
2. Zoho Invoice (Free)
Zoho Invoice is the best online invoicing cloud software for artists and musicians. You can monitor your financial work with automatic expenditure management, quick invoicing, and fast money collection.
Using Zoho Invoice, you can manage your time, customize invoices, and be paid more quickly. Moreover, control your accounts receivable and interact with clients and coworkers using this tool.
Automating regular invoices, payment reminders, and client follow-ups can save you time and money in the long run.
Key Feature:
- Timekeeping and activity tracking for your music or art business
- Receipt & invoice management to match your musical taste and personal style
- Record billable & non-billable hours automatically
- Employee reimbursement database
- Customized Invoices in the billing portal contact database in different currencies
- Compatible with desktop and mobile application
Pros:
- Receipt monitoring
- Convenient expense tracking
- Standard invoice templates and estimates
- Regular payment reminders
- Quick and secure digital payments
Cons:
- Insufficient software guidance
- Customer service is a little sluggish
- Most of its predefined categories and templates presume that you are a large company.
3. Xero ( $12 – $65 Per Month)
Xero is a cloud management system designed for artists, musicians, designers, freelancers, and other entrepreneurs who need to control their operations virtually.
You can access Xero’s features seamlessly on your phone, tablet, or computer impeccably. In addition, advanced payment methods, such as bank transfers, have made billing and invoicing monitoring easier through the application.
Moreover, you can choose your tax year and enter costs as they occur during your account creation.
Key Features:
- Automatic billing & invoicing
- Checks printing
- Bank reconciliation for your art professionals
- Client database & approval process control
- “What if” scenarios &401(k) tracking
- Have a mobile app.
Pros:
- Personal expenditure management
- 24/7 customer support
- The finest accounting software for artists, allowing them to get payments quickly
- Integrate with Stripe, GoCardless, and other reliable payment processors.
- Support various systems, including Bill.com, ADP, and Vend.
Cons:
- Inadequate tracking categories
- Invoice or inventory management is not integrated with Shopify
- The bank feed occasionally misses out on transactions without informing the file owner or bookkeeper.
- No desktop app.
4. QuickBooks ( $25 – $180 Per Month)
QuickBooks is a superlative cloud accounting software for artists and musicians. Users can save time on financial reporting and paperwork since most essential bookkeeping procedures are done automatically.
Manage your financial records, send invoices, monitor inventory, and even process payroll with this all-in-one package.
Adding payment tools to QuickBooks Online allows you to become more organized, save time, and even receive payments more quickly. And you can run your small business from anywhere using QuickBooks Online.
Key Features:
- Accounting records and management
- Receipt and invoice control
- Customized reports, portfolio, and branding
- Data import and export
- Validation for your art funds
- Suitable to use with desktop and mobile app
Pros:
- Straightforward and easy-to-use interface
- Create profit and loss (P&L), cash flows, and other financial reports
- Customized bills, invoices, and reports using bespoke models tagged with the company’s mission and vision
- Musicians may also set authorization levels for different organizations to ensure secure access to financial data based on their role in the firm.
- New users can try it for 30 days for free.
Cons:
- “No ‘undo’ option
- The software might be frustrating and difficult to use in the beginning
- Users who don’t understand how to use QBO properly might mess up the company’s records.
5. FreeAgent ( $10 – $20 Per Month)
FreeAgent is a fresh approach to the business of artists’ accountancy. Multiple features make this cloud program shine, from bill alerts to a simple invoicing process to the potential to fabricate all your reports through your fingertips.
This software has many functions to help you stay on top of your money, including integration for online banking and convenient invoice reminders. In addition, your critical reports can be created with a single click, making it easy to keep track of your finances.
Key Features:
- Payables and receivables accounting
- API audit trail billing
- Invoicing cash management collections from your art provisions
- Management contact database
- Customizable invoices
- Have mobile and desktop app
Pros:
- Manage all of your financial needs easily
- Reminders and billing notifications to monitor your income and spending
- When an invoice or payment is due, the system notifies you immediately
- You can quickly check how your business is progressing, from turnover to average profit per customer.
Cons:
- While a PDF may be readily exported, an XLS or CSV would be preferable for specific purposes
- Some features are currently under development, so you’ll have to find a workaround.
- Certain fundamental functionalities are missing, while the system is prescriptive and restrictive.
6. Wave (Free)
Wave is an easy-to-use cloud-based software for managing your finances. Artists and musicians might find it hard to keep track of their money and assume the amount they can expect to reach from their work.
You can make better decisions using Wave’s features to carry out your responsibilities effectively.
Key Features:
- Invoices and estimates tailored to the needs of creative workers, such as musicians and artists, are available.
- Visualize revenue sources and future project earnings using calendar views
- Customizable reports for tracking income and expenditure
- Support for mobile apps.
Pros:
- Free of charge to access the software
- Getting your taxes done becomes a breeze
- Monitor paid and unpaid invoices
- The user interface was intuitive and simple to understand for musicians and artists.
Cons:
- Lacking support for free accounts, which might not be friendly for small starters
- Expenses and inspections must be manually documented, which is not convenient.
- No desktop app is supported.
7. Quicken ( $3.99 – $9.99 Per Month)
When it comes to keeping tabs on your investments and budget, Quicken is one of the best-known programs in the industry.
This cloud-based technology may help artists and musicians better manage their finances, allowing them to devote more attention to their creative work.
Simplify by Quicken might be an excellent option for those who prefer web-based or mobile access.
Key Features:
- Manage all of your bills from a single dashboard
- Get an overall picture of your financial situation
- High-grade security and encryption
- Organize and classify all sources of revenue and expenditures, including those from a freelance artist’s company, rental property, and personal sources
- Support for both desktop and mobile apps.
Pros:
- Control your small company expenses within a predefined budget
- User-friendly interface
- Classify receipt items into desired categories
- Excellent for preparing budgets or predicting income for music-related tasks.
Cons:
- Cannot get the same functionality on Mac as you can on PC.
- Designed mostly for personal use rather than business-oriented purposes.
8. Bokio ( £0 – £15.99 Per Month)
Bokio is a sophisticated, cloud-based solution to assist small companies, freelancers, artists, and sole traders in flourishing. The software uses artificial intelligence to streamline the company’s accounting processes.
With this system, you can monitor the performance of your bills and automatically issue payment alerts. Take a picture of a receipt and upload it to record your banking activities.
This great free software program for bands or musicians just starting out is Bokio! For free, they offer almost the same services as the major suppliers.
Key Features:
- Accounts receivable management including aging, and analysis
- Expense tracking
- Billing & invoicing
- Bank reconciliation
- Sale tax management for artists
- Suitable to use for both profit-oriented and non-profit organizations.
Pros:
- Use our automated program to inspect your bank transactions and generate reports
- When an invoice is due, you’ll be alerted by email
- HMRC will get your automatic VAT return
- Automated reports assist you in staying on top of your company’s financial situation.
Cons:
- No customer service on phone support
- Premium service comes with a price tag
- No mobile and desktop apps.
9. Sunrise App for Accounting ( $0 – 19.99 Per Month)
Sunrise is a cloud-based cash flow solution optimizing financial and accounting tasks with tax filing and paperwork. It helps musicians, freelancers, and other small enterprises succeed in their endeavors.
In addition, free software helps businesspersons manage their bills and monitor their production’s validity.
Sunrise provides professional accounting services to upgrade their free application since most business owners do not want to get complicated with bookkeeping.
Key Features:
- Financial reporting & general ledger
- Income & balance sheet
- Invoice creation & tracking
- Customizable invoices & branding for your art business
- Online payments through mobile phone
- Bank reconciliation & audit trail
- Client database & hourly billing
- Have a mobile app.
Pros:
- Assist individuals or small company owners get the finest financing application
- Help artists with free access to the best bookkeeping software
- Sunrise clients have access to Lendio, which allows them to manage their spending, cash flow, and healthy finance.
Cons:
- Lack of integrated payment forms
- Limited speed and performance
- No desktop app.
10. TopNotepad ($0 – $25 Per Month)
Another cloud-based system, TopNotepad, provides a comprehensive set of tools for accounting, invoicing, and calculating. Budgeting, billing, collecting payments, and reconciling financial records are some of the tasks that will be simplified, streamlined, and automated with the help of this software designed specifically for artists.
Artists often engage on many projects at once, each of which has a separate deadline. They are able to maintain tabs on their revenue and expenses, too. Therefore, this software for an artist is meant to make the tedious work involved in the back end more manageable.
Key Features:
- Provide online payment collection, quotations, and invoices
- Artists can generate real-time reports
- Pre-filled templates can be done for quoting and invoicing
- Offer Stripe or PayPal integration.
Pros:
- Monitor invoicing margins and earnings
- The app is free to use
- Ensures tax compliance by generating all necessary reports
- There are models for artists that correspond to industry standards
- TopNotepad users can have more time to concentrate on important tasks
Cons:
- No easy way to export data to Word or Excel.
- No mobile or desktop applications are available.
11. Artsystems Software ( $49 – $2,189 Per Month)
Artsystems is another cloud solution that is designed for professional artists who want automated management of the information regarding artists, collections, and galleries.
Using this tool, you will have a technology that is perfect for reporting, recording, tracking, and all things related to the artwork. Moreover, the system will help artists to work smoothly in collections, art galleries, artist estate areas, and studios.
Key Features:
- Monitor messages, contacts, transactions, interests, and accounting for artists
- Feature with contact records that can connect all artist’s information
- Suitable for integrating with QuickBooks
- Can access from any device from desktop to mobile apps.
Pros:
- Workflow becomes much more efficient when data is properly managed
- Reduce the number of steps required to enter and data output
- A fantastic customer service
- Functions are performed more quickly and effectively.
Cons:
- Need a lot of updates to catch up with modern tools and utilities
- Database update might be difficult as it requires a comprehensive understanding
12. Zarmoney ( $15 – $350 Per Month)
Zarmoney is another accounting software that uses a cloud-based system designed for all corporates, especially for artists and musicians. With the goal of boosting productivity and reducing expenses, Zarmoney was built to solve the industry.
This helps musicians and artists without financial backgrounds understand accounting principles.
Key Features:
- Categorize expenses and record other A/P and A/R activities
- Manage sale orders
- Offer extensive inventory management functionality
- Generate, submit, and monitor bills in a matter of seconds.
- Bill and purchase order splitting
- Desktop apps can be accessible.
Pros:
- Enable artists to monitor all projects orders at once simply and effectively
- Auto-update for improved services
- Do not require any accounting knowledge for artists or musicians to use this software
- The platform is simple to use
- Improve efficiency.
Cons:
- Several features to get familiar with
- Might be difficult to contact customer service at night time
- The mobile app has yet to be set up.
13. Hiveage ( $0 – $42 Per Month)
Hiveage is a cloud-based solution that features so many great functionalities for musicians, businesses, artists, and freelancers. They can automate invoicing and other accounting tools to operate the business easily.
With Hiveage, artists and musicians can easily migrate their invoicing to a cloud database, saving a lot of time for paperwork and allowing them to focus on growing the operation rather than keeping up with the documentation.
Key Features:
- Automatically track the business trips and generates invoices
- Take care of monetary transactions
- Use of several currencies
- Subscription or recurring billing
- Set up a system for calculating and quoting artist rates
- The mobile app is ready to be used.
Pros:
- A solution to payment gateways
- Data could be easily imported and exported
- Procedures are automated
- Sign up and can use all features on the platform directly
- Convenient user-interface
Cons:
- Credit cards accepted only by US subscribers
- No desktop app development.
14. ART (Quotation Based)
ART is a cloud-based accounting solution that features advanced tools for musicians and artists. By utilizing the software, the business owners will save a lot of money and time for their business operations.
ART simplifies account reconciliation and provides an excellent insight into the balance sheet. On top of that, the technology extensively automates accounting processes for the benefit of artists and musicians.
Key Features:
- Give artists and musicians powerful real-time monitoring features
- Keep tabs on anything from expenses to revenue
- Enable a stable server that can run 24/7 without any interruption
- Allow bank reconciliations
- Offer free service from knowledgeable customer care experts.
Pros:
- Completely configurable for skilled artists
- Advanced automation that runs smoothly
- Streamline the accounting procedure by linking up balance consolidation
- Customer service is helpful and responsive
- Simple to set up the software
Cons:
- Beginner instructions might be difficult to understand
- Desktop and mobile applications are not available.
15. Art Galleria Software (Quotation Based)
Managing artworks has never been easier with Art Galleria, an exquisite, highly customizable cloud-based solution. If you are a gallery owner, an artist, or a fine-art collector, this software is available to help you get things done in less time.
Moreover, this cloud-based software is built for all in one. Artists can manage their art, host marketing campaigns, and create web services on a single platform. This allows them to monitor collections, retain data, and expand the artwork’s operation.
Key Features:
- Xero integration allows invoice syncing
- Easily sync existing client information with MailChimp integration
- Auto-syncing website
- Offer a highly-secured platform for artworks storage, management, and uploads for artists
- Only available with mobile apps.
Pros:
- Marketing tools allow you to establish “private rooms” where you may distribute a customized selection of art to just a select group of customers
- The application’s user interface is user-friendly for artists in the industry
- Feature artwork cards printed directly from inventory
- Excellent for storing a limitless number of artworks.
Cons:
- It isn’t easy to get live support outside of Australia
- Cannot access it with a desktop app.
16. Spenmo ($39-$99)
Spenmo offers corporate credit cards that allow users to spend and track their money conveniently.
Having a corporate credit card Singapore allows artists to spend money for business use without using personal cash, set a pre-assigned budget,s and also track expenses effectively.
It is the same way a personal credit card does, but with lots of perks to enjoy. These perks come in cashback or cash credits, shopping vouchers, complimentary travel insurance, air miles, waived foreign currency charges, and more.
Key Features:
- Corporate credit cards
- Automating bill payments
- Seamless employee reimbursements
- All-in-one expense management platform
Pros:
- Increased control of expenses
- Advanced security
- Avoid out-of-pocket expenses
- Rewards
- Easy to use
- Free trial
Cons:
- Starting rates are quite higher compared to other similar products
- Their website only has 1 language (English)
- Customer service is only available on Sundays
Buying Guides To Choose The Best Accounting Software For Artists And Musicians
There are a wide variety of software options available for purchase. There are numerous factors to consider while deciding which system is ideal for you.
Finding the best tools for your unique working style is an important step. What if you’re an artist or musician who has to write several design documents?
You could require software that automatically produces these documents for you by considering the following tasks:
Daily Bookkeeping Tasks
Bookkeeping consists mostly of a series of recurring duties. Simple strategies for planning and carrying out the stages in this routine may help artists and musicians operate their companies successfully while concentrating on their art.
Weekly Bookkeeping Tasks
To ensure a healthy cash flow, weekly accounting chores include quickly maintaining required materials and labor and invoicing for completed jobs.
Monthly Bookkeeping Tasks
The artist needs to take a small break from their creative work to check in on what’s sold and what’s offered for sale, and what relevant commissions are pending before returning to their work.
Quarterly Bookkeeping Tasks
Many independent contractors and small company owners will need estimated quarterly tax payments. Although an artist does not have to submit their tax quarterly, reviewing and updating tax info every three months is still a good idea.
Annual Bookkeeping Tasks
The owner of a firm should be able to take a broader picture of the company’s financial health, identify sources of income and expenses, and perhaps identify methods to manage the organization more effectively via annual financial responsibilities.