Arts & music education
Books and taxes for DJ and music production schools.
Cohort tuition, a booking cut when a student lands a paid gig, a practice lab full of CDJs, and software seats bought by the cohort. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
August came in at $7,000 once the new CDJs and license seats were counted. I kept the gig placement fee as just your booking cut, not the student's full pay, so the number stays honest.
- Course tuition draftCourse tuition
- Gig placement feeBooking commission
- Pioneer CDJ purchaseDJ gear and equipment
- Serato license renewalSoftware licenses
- Turntable needle orderEquipment maintenance
Why your books are different
DJ and production school books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist sees tuition and a supply order. Your school runs cohorts through a practice lab full of gear, sometimes places a student in a paid gig and takes a cut, and buys software by the seat. When the books do not know that, the monthly number hides more than it shows.
-
1
Gig placement fees get booked as the whole gig's pay
When you place a student in a paid club gig and keep a booking cut, it is easy to deposit the student's full pay and sort it out later. Booked that way, your revenue looks bigger than it is and the money owed back to the student sits unaccounted for.
What we doBooks only your placement commission as revenue, with the rest passed through to the student rather than counted as your income. -
2
Practice gear wears out and nobody tracks the cost
Needles, faders, and cables in a practice lab get replaced constantly from student hours on the gear, and scattered across small purchases all year, the real cost of keeping the lab running stays invisible.
What we doKeeps equipment maintenance in its own line, so the true cost of running the practice lab is always visible. -
3
Enrollment tuition lands before the course even starts
Students pay for an eight-week course up front at enrollment, and if that whole payment counts as income the day it lands, the enrollment week looks strong while the weeks of actual teaching that follow look thin.
What we doRecognizes course tuition across the weeks it runs, so the monthly number reflects the teaching actually delivered. -
4
A lab full of CDJs looks like one supply order
Four matched CDJs and a club mixer for the practice lab can cost several thousand dollars, and filed as one supply purchase, it muddies the month and misses a write-off it usually qualifies for.
What we doFlags gear purchases the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off. -
5
Bundled software seats get billed as one flat cost
Buying ten Serato or FL Studio seats for a cohort as one purchase hides how many seats are actually being used from one cohort to the next, and renewals can get paid for students who already graduated.
What we doTracks software seats by cohort, so renewals match who is actually enrolled.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a DJ or production school.
Set up once for how your school gets paid and what it spends. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Course tuitionEight-week cohort payments, recognized across the weeks the course runs.
- Booking commissionYour cut when a student is placed in a paid gig, kept apart from their pay.
- Practice lab booking feesExtra lab time students book outside regular class hours.
- Equipment resaleUsed CDJs, controllers, or headphones sold to students at a discount.
Money out
- Instructor payContract pay for working DJs and producers teaching part-time.
- Lab and classroom rentLease for the practice lab and teaching space.
- DJ gear and equipmentCDJs, mixers, and turntables for the practice lab.
- Software licensesSerato, Ableton, and FL Studio seats, tracked by cohort.
- Equipment maintenanceNeedles, faders, cables, and repairs from regular practice use.
- MarketingLocal ads and referral incentives before each new cohort.
- Payment processing feesWhat the processor keeps on card and autopay tuition drafts.
What we watch for you
- Enrolled cohort size
The base each course's tuition rests on. A steady cohort matters more than one strong term.
- Gig placement revenue
What your booking commissions actually bring in, separate from student pay passed through.
- Gear maintenance cost
What the practice lab costs to keep running, tracked apart from new gear purchases.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things DJ and production school owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
Only your cut counts as your income. I book your commission as revenue and keep the rest that passes through to the student out of your books.
Usually you can. I logged them as equipment, not a supply run, and flagged the purchase so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
I track it by cohort instead, so when the next group enrolls you can see exactly how many seats are actually in use before renewing.
The tax side
The tax side of a DJ or production school.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and what counts as your income: tuition counted too fast, gig placement fees booked as the whole payment, and gear filed like a routine supply.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Employee or contractorAn instructor who teaches a set weekly schedule using your lab and curriculum usually counts as an employee. A working DJ brought in for one course, paid a flat rate, usually counts as a contractor.
- Contractor 1099sAny contract instructor paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list all year.
- DJ and production gearCDJs, mixers, and turntables can usually be written off the year you buy them, up to $2,560,000 under Section 179, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- The pass-through deductionMost school owners can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions DJ and music production schools miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Turntables and CDJs
- Mixers and controllers
- Serato and Ableton licenses
- Needle and fader replacement
- Marketing and local ads
- Payment processing fees
- Liability insurance
- Continuing education workshops
- Business phone line
- Website hosting
- Practice lab furniture
- Headphones and studio monitors
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A DJ school year, kept every month.
Your cohorts run eight weeks at a time, and gigs land whenever they land. Your taxes come on a schedule either way. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the winter cohort begins, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed while the spring cohort is underway. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether a summer cohort or a gig placement fee changed the number.
- October
Before the winter cohort
Before winter enrollment opens, Gus looks at lab gear or license upgrades worth buying and anything worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for DJ and music production schools. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions DJ and production school owners ask first.
We placed a student in a paid gig and took a booking cut. How is that counted?
Only your commission counts as your income. Gus books your cut as revenue and keeps the rest that passes through to the student out of your books.
We just bought four matching CDJs for our practice lab. Can we write them off this year?
Usually, in the year you bought them. Gus logs the gear as equipment and the accountant confirms how to write it off.
We bought ten Serato licenses for one cohort. Is that one expense or several?
Gus tracks it by cohort rather than as one flat cost, so when a new group enrolls you can see how many seats are actually in use before renewing.
Course tuition is paid up front for an eight-week course. Is it all counted immediately?
No. Gus spreads tuition across the weeks the course runs, so the enrollment week does not look inflated and the teaching weeks after do not look thin.
Our instructors are working DJs who teach one night a week. Employees or contractors?
Often contractors, if they set their own material and are paid a flat rate for a course. Gus flags the arrangement and the accountant makes the final call.
Our books are a cohort behind. Can Gus catch up?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus works through a cohort's worth of tuition, gig commissions, and gear purchases, and most owners know where they stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever