How Much Does It Cost To Be Legit?

[Rick1965 0]

:xmas: Hi All

 

Can anybody tell me how much I can expect to pay to to be 100% legal for a mobile Karaoke/Disco. At the mere age of 45 after being 10 years out of the business I'm making a big comeback. So if anyone can advise me what I need to be paying to have all my kit pat tested, what I should be paying for public liability etc. and any other legal requirements I would be most grateful. I don't need to know about copyright issues for karaoke songs I have that covered but any other imformation would be useful. One other thing, what should I be charging these days for a gig. I used to do a lot of work for an agent in the Midlands area and I would get on average about £120 per gig less 15% fees but that was more than 10 years ago. I now live in Donny South yorkshire.

Cheers.

[vokf 0]

Hi Rick,

welcome to the forum, and thanks for the intro.

 

There is a "business" area on the forum that is hidden from public view (registered members only), and I would suggest the main questions you have are placed in the are below;

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/index.php?showforum=73

 

However, just to touch on the main points;

PAT, PLI are not legal requirements. They make sense from a liability angle, but are not required (almost like you can insure your car as 3rd party only... but most will have least 3rd party, fire & theft)

 

Declaring your earnings (so paying any TAX, and NI), a legal music collection and correct vehicle insurance IS.

 

This question was asked fairly recently, so please use the forum search facility.

 

Otherwise, welcome!

 

Jason :Thumbup:

[Robster 0]

How Much Does It Cost To Be Legit?

 

from my bank balance .... way too much .. can just pay my bills , i am not rolling in it that's for sure but i do it for the love of the work not to be rich.

 

Jason is right have a look at the business section , for me i think the best £250 i spend each year is on my accountant , i hate all the tax stuff so leave it to them but many will advise on doing it yourself. take a look and welcome

[Dukesy 0]

Phone around (or get a friend, relative, OH to phone for you) several other local DJ's off Google or out of the Yellow Pages, and give them the type of enquiry you want to be doing, in the area you are covering. Add up all of the quotes and then divide it by the number of DJ's who quoted to give you an average figure.

 

If you work full time and the DJ'ing is a hobby / sideline then its still classed as a second employment by the Inland Revenue and you'll need to register with them within a few months of starting up. Because your personal tax allowance is used up on your main employment, this means that you will be liable to pay tax on EVERY penny that you earn as profit. For most people this will be 20% of their profit. So basically, you'll need to allow / put by £20 out of every £100 profit you make, to pay as tax at the end of the year through your self assessment.

 

If your DJ'ing is going to be your main sole occupation and you don't have any other form of income / self employment / Employment, then you can use your personal allowance towards your Tax and offset it against the profit from your business. Currently this personal allowance stands at £6475, so in other words you can earn £6475 from DJ'ing as clear profit, before you start paying tax at 20% on the difference above that. You will still need to register with the Revenue and submit returns to prove this, even if your profit doesn't reach the £6475. However all of this is immaterial if its a second job, and you are already employed in some capacity.

 

If your business earns over £3600 you will also probably be liable for Class 4 National insurance contributions. This is around £11 - £12 a month and can be paid by Direct Debit.

 

So keep accounts of everything you spend - Equipment, Insurance, Vehicle Fuel, Advertising, Webhosting. Mobile Phone etc - anything that you have bought for use in / by your business. If you can also set aside a room at home for use as a dedicated home 'office' then you can also offset a small percentage of your heating, utility bills. Keep receipts for everything you buy and jot purchases and receipt information down in an Accounts book or refill pad.

 

An accountant is a very good idea for the longer term, although its often an idea just to see how your first year pans out first before spending on one. Sometimes, if business is slow, you don't need an accountant to tell you that you are running at a loss <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_biggrin.png . The best thing to do is to see how things go, and then engage an accountant to do your self assessment for you at the end of the Year if you look like you are making a profit.

 

Make sure that you obtain the correct vehicle insurance to cover your business use as a DJ / Entertainer. Many people just insure their car / van for general business use, but don't notice that anything to do with Entertainment is usually automatically excluded from the policy, effectively leaving them open to driving without insurance charges and having their cars towed. From experience this is likely to be your biggest business cost beyond buying the actual equipment, as insurance companies really don't like our occupations, and charge accordingly.

 

Pli will cost you as little as £30.00 a year. For PAT Testing phone around the local Electricians, business is slow for a lot of them at the moment, so you'll probably be able to negotiate a good block rate for getting all of your gear tested.

 

If you use CD's or legal music downloads then you don't need to worry about venue and music licenses if you are only doing private, family type functions. However if you decide to convert any of your original CD / Vinyl collection to MP3 or other digital means then you will need to buy a Pro-Dub license. Prices start at £250 for converting upto 5000 tracks. But if you stick to CD's, you'll never have to worry about it <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_biggrin.png .

 

http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedm...DubLicence.aspx

 

For a lot of people, DJ'ing is a labour of love rather than a hugely profit making business. Earnings vary, some Dj's can get £300+ per booking, others struggle to make £70. Some Dj's are paying a reasonable amount of tax, others are on their first or second year of making a loss :shrug: .