Question about production library composing business

Welcome General Chat
1

Hello fellow composers and CH community, I have been working on getting ready to approach exclusive libraries with my music for submission (ultimately for placement on TV shows etc.)

My question is in relation to legal setup. I’m not expecting legal advice here for obvious reasons, it’s not the place.

Briefly, from those who have experience of working with and signing with boutique libraries who have global distribution deals with the big libraries, or those that have signed with the big libraries themselves (i.e. Extreme, BMG etc) do you have a personal view on whether to set up a Limited company or to do this individually?

Pros/cons of either approach?

Like for example, if I have a limited company VAT registered, and I get music placed on a show in the US, do I need to charge the tax onward and where is this accounted for, is it at the collection stage?

Same question for the performing rights and collection organizations. As you can tell I’m a newbie with this. Hope it makes sense. I’m in the UK. Thanks in advance.

1 Like
2

I would reccommend to start as an individual while you’re building your catalog and income is relatively small and sporadic. Are you a PAYE employee with a day job ? If so you can earn £1k per year hobby income without any need to declare it. With average luck it will likely take 2-3 yrs to exceed this. Once you do then you’ll need to declare earnings on your personal Self Assessment tax return each year. Switch to a Ltd Company later if/when you’re earning enough (say £40–50k+) that tax and legal advantages become worth it. VAT registration — don’t bother unless you have to (currently turnover over £90k/year triggers it). It complicates life unnecessarily.