How to choose your accountant
Lesson time: (0min 59sec)
Practical advice on choosing an accountant: meet more than one, get recommendations from your manager or peers, and pick someone you genuinely connect with.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Music Business 101 for Artists
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Guest Advice for Musicians
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Consulting with Your Team:
- If you have a manager, speak to them.
- If you have a lawyer (or even if you don't), find recommendations through your manager or friends.
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Recommendations:
- Aim for three names.
- It's essential never to go see just one lawyer , that's always a mistake.
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Choosing the Right Lawyer:
- Meet with two or three lawyers to evaluate:
- Their different approaches
- Their unique characteristics
- Remember, we all have different personalities; some may resonate with you while others may not.
- Meet with two or three lawyers to evaluate:
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Finding Empathy:
- Choose someone you have a degree of empathy with.
- Be sure to ask:
- "What are you going to do for me?"
- "What do I need to do to make your life easier and my bills cheaper?"
Closing Thought
Assessing potential legal partners thoroughly will help you make an informed decision that fits your individual needs as a musician.
About the instructor

Imogen Heap is a Grammy-winning English singer, songwriter, producer and technologist whose influence runs through two decades of pop, electronic and film music — and through much of the technology modern artists now take for granted. Born in London in 1977 and classically trained on piano, cello and clarinet, she released her debut album 'iMegaphone' in 1998 before forming the duo Frou Frou with producer Guy Sigsworth, whose song 'Let Go' reached a global audience through the film Garden State. Her self-written, self-produced album 'Speak for Yourself' (2005) delivered 'Hide and Seek', the a cappella landmark that later powered Jason Derulo's chart-topping 'Whatcha Say' and Ariana Grande's 'Goodnight n Go', and continues to find new generations of listeners. 'Ellipse' (2009) won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical — recorded and engineered in her own home studio — and she went on to co-write and produce 'Clean' on Taylor Swift's Album of the Year-winning '1989'. She also composed the score for the stage play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'. A relentless innovator, Heap developed the MI.MU gestural gloves — recognised with three honorary doctorates — and founded Mycelia and The Creative Passport, initiatives building a fairer data ecosystem for artists. In 2024 she returned with 'What Have You Done to Me?', created with her AI vocal alter ego Mogen, while a viral resurgence of 'Headlock' brought her music to millions of new fans. read more




