Is this a good Idea?

[Ripsney]

What is the name of your state? PA
My Band mates and I were wondering if we should have our band setup as a small corporation in the state of PA, to make things easier to copyright and such. I know very little about how corporations work but was told it might not be a bad idea for us to look into. We do want everything to be on the good side of the IRS for when we start to sell records and merchandise. Is this something we should look into or is there another better way, we do want the band to run as a business and are a little lost in the way to do it.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? PA
My Band mates and I were wondering if we should have our band setup as a small corporation in the state of PA, to make things easier to copyright and such. I know very little about how corporations work but was told it might not be a bad idea for us to look into. We do want everything to be on the good side of the IRS for when we start to sell records and merchandise. Is this something we should look into or is there another better way, we do want the band to run as a business and are a little lost in the way to do it.

The problem with a corporation, for your purposes at least, is that a corporation has to follow a lot of formalities, such as having a corporate charter, a board of directors, meetings, etc. -- you have to follow a lot of formalities, and you have to follow all of them, or lose your corporate status. Plus, there are significant taxation issues, plus you have to pay fees to the state.

If you want to set up a business organization for your band, there are types of partnerships that might work for you that have significantly fewer formalities and fees associated with them. You and your bandmates might want to consider spending an hour or so with a local attorney, who can review your situation in detail and advise you accordingly.

That said, a lot of bands get by with little to no formalities, so you can decide if the troublew of forming a business organization is worth it to you.