Band Licences

[Ric5]

Saw a notice that Myrtle Beach SC is demanding that resident musicians obtain an musician's license for $100/year. The fine is $1065 and they claim they are enforcing it heavily this year.

They claim it is to track them as a business and that bands that make more than $15,000/year will have to pay more.

Have any of you seen anything like this where you live?

(Article about it 6 posts below)

That is evil ... it sounds like a crooked union or organized crime.

It is an evil oppressive government imposing fees on poor working people who can't afford it.

We need to fight this and stop it. The government is there to serve us. We are not here to serve the government.

Find out who passed this law. And make sure they get voted out of office.

 

[CalBuzz51]

I guess that would mean any visiting out of town road bands would have to have each member buy a license before they can play their gig.
Sounds like the end of live music in Myrtle Beach. Must be somebody in the local government is a DJ.

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If this catches on, some neighboring town might make a killing billing themselves as musician friendly.

 

[Spectrum]

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If this catches on, some neighboring town might make a killing billing themselves as musician friendly.

Or...other towns will follow suit and there will be nowhere to hide.

This whole story is very depressing. As if playing live weren't already tough to begin with.

Is Myrtle Beach ruled by the priests of the Temples of Syrinx?

 

[Meghans Dad]

So, what about a DJ license?

Maybe the mayor's son is a DJ and doesn't like the competition of live music. Sounds like a petty revenue earning scam.

 

[Meghans Dad]

Lest he's a M.B. municipal judge. If it ain't specifically unconstitutional or already conflicts with another ordinance, then good luck. Work the free speech angle and that you are being discriminated against as musicians vs other types of entertainment.

Do you think Woody Guthrie would have paid for a license?

 

[okcrum]

This will have the same result as restrictive noise ordinances have here (in one of the local towns). The live music scene will leave, and those wanting to hear it will go elsewhere. The same 4 acts will play any gigs left, but only transients and those on holiday will show up.

 

[Old Blastard]

They are doing it in Albemarle County (Charlottesville Virginia) as well. They obtain tax records from the state and anyone filing a Schedule C tax return is dinged as a business, ordered to buy a BPOL (business license) with estimated taxes based on gross income paid upfront and then gigged for however many years they've filed a Schedule C for back taxes and penalties. When counties have so many special programs and services and departments and new administrators hired since 2009 making $60k and above, they have to dig for cash.

 

[Old Blastard]

My county, Albemarle County, VA, started enforcing their business license last fall. It was annoying that I pay for a CPA to do my taxes and neither one informed me of the license and tax requirements to do business in Albemarle county.

Albemarle's law looks just like Myrtle Beaches - it applies to all businesses - but the only crack-down I've heard of is on musicians! All of the musicians who file got hit with the requirement to get a license if they made between $5000 and $100,000. The license only costs $50 though. There is also a tax on business equipment for everybody, no matter how much or little you make. Over $100,000 and you pay extra based on how much business you actually do. My wife is self-employed and they did not target her with a letter, just me! They made me pay for back licenses and pay back taxes. Now I regret letting the accountant depreciate my amp purchases from a few years ago.

Anyway I don't make over $5k/yr in music, so I don't need a license. But I *do* have to pay tax on my equipment. If I ever use any piece of gear, even once, at a gig, it is taxable. The phrase was if it is used even 1% for business, it is business equipment.

Now I need to know what I paid for each thing and when I bought it. I am not sure I kept accurate records for all of it; I never intended my pedals to be part of the business, I always considered them personal items. Like a guy who uses a nice pen his family bought him for Christmas in his business - but they're saying no, if you use it at all it is taxable. The county is kind enough to depreciate the gear for me on some schedule of their own and send me a bill.

But now I am worried if this will affect how my homeowners insurance protects my gear from fire and theft while stored in my house. My insurance agent told me a few years ago that it would be covered as long as it is in the house, or in my car in the driveway or garage of my house. But now that the county is depreciating the value of my gear to 0, how much is it insured for?

So anyway they're definitely going after musicians for the most part - why, I don't know. We don't make that much money! It's not like this is going to add a lot to the county's coffers.

The county didn't require a BPOL for Schedule C filers until recently. They hired a new tax administrator, Betty Burrell, and some new employees and set them about combing through state law to find every possible way to increase tax dollars as the county apparently has spent its way into some sort of oncoming tax crisis. Not exactly sure how that happened.

Now, because they've interpreted any Schedule C as a small business, they can gig you. Doesn't matter whether they didn't enforce it before, you should have known, hence the penalties.

Ignorance of the law by the officials is no excuse. You should know more than they do, comrade.

 

[hrodbert696]

Im curious about this. A hot dog vendor for example needs a license. But there are food safety issues at play there. My wife needs a license to run her salon out of our house. Then again she's applying chemicals to scalps. Builders need licenses, and homes need to meet code. A band is a business so I can see where this is coming from, but there is no set of standards on what a band delivers. I ask, do wedding photographers need licenses? Do DJ's?

In the wording of the ordinance, the license is simply for the "privilege of doing business." There's no pretense of safety concerns or quality control or anything else. Just the authority of the municipality to regulate and tax business. Which is true, government does have that authority. But to pick on such a minor business this way is just petty and ill-advised. I wouldn't think Myrtle Beach is the kind of town that wants to start getting a reputation as the place where the nightlife has gone dead.

 

[OldPlucker]

Anyone who failed to stand up against legislators who chose to increase taxes in lieu of controlling expenses is to blame. How many of the grieved musicians voted? Of those that vote, how many continue to vote for the the same people over and over knowing they want to limit individual and tax everything? Sin taxes are very popular because those who aren't affected by the tax won't oppose it. If you don't stand up for others, don't expect them to stand up for you.

 

[i hate username]

Where i live you need a licence to perform/busk in a public area but you dont need anything to perform in a bar/club. I assume the bar needs multiple licences of one sort or another but the band dont.
I actually did a google on the specific regulations and found out it is quite stringent to be a busker in Dublin. Invalid Link Removed

 

[buldog5151bass]

Time for musicians to pack the city council meetings.

 

[39-Bassist]

Maybe the City doesn't really want LIVE music...too much of noise problem ehh?

What would they do if a National act came through?....Ouch I don't want to think of that.

But hey then people can say..."what a nice quiet town this is"

 

[buldog5151bass]

More likely they, like a lot of munincipalities, are looking for revenue, and local musicians are not likely to be a group with friends in high places.

 

[two fingers]

We have a style of music called "beach music" in this area. (I'm in Eastern NC, a 3 hour drive from Myrtle Beach.) Myrtle Beach is the unofficial Capitol of beach music. The thing that will get this killed is "The Cammies". That is the beach music awards show held in Myrtle Beach every year. All the beach bands go there and tip their collective hats to the fans. Shows all day up and down the strip for several days. Once those beach music bands find out they have to pay $100 a head to play in North Myrtle some won't show up. That will make the Cammies kind of a bust. The ones who do show up will have something to say during the ceremony.

Trust me. If Beach Music threatens to move away from Myrtle Beach, this thing will be gone faster than you can say "beach music sucks".
The awards website.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[10cc]

My business has to pay my local city a license fee annually. So why wouldn't any other organization that has income be exempt?
Where has all the "Professional" attitude gone?
As mentioned before if you do not like your local legislature get out and get involved. $100.00 isn't a lot of money. Spend money to make money as they say.

 

[buldog5151bass]

My business has to pay my local city a license fee annually. So why wouldn't any other organization that has income be exempt?
Where has all the "Professional" attitude gone?
As mentioned before if you do not like your local legislature get out and get involved. $100.00 isn't a lot of money. Spend money to make money as they say.

Because a lot of musicians are not making enough money to make it worth it. I would imagine 95% of weekend warriors could be making more money per hour flipping burgers. It's a hobby. That is why I suggested going to town meetings and explaining the situation.

 

[two fingers]

My business has to pay my local city a license fee annually. So why wouldn't any other organization that has income be exempt?
Where has all the "Professional" attitude gone?
As mentioned before if you do not like your local legislature get out and get involved. $100.00 isn't a lot of money. Spend money to make money as they say.

What percentage of your annual income is that fee? There are local musicians in that area that might only play Myrtle Beach once a year for $100 a man. What if every town in the area did that? They would have to pay $1,000 per man to play in ten towns.

What if someone from another town does business with you? Do you have to pay that twin as well? (No, of course you don't. That would be silly.)

Comparing this to a business license is ridiculous....unless you pay a fee to every single town your customers live in.....which you don't do.

How "professional" would you attitude be if you got a notice in the mail stating that one of your customers drove in from our town so you now owe us $100? I believe your "professionalism" would fly out the window and you would be pretty pissed.

Musicians travel into Myrtle Beach to play. This doesn't just affect musicians LIVING IN Myrtle Beach. If I drive down from Eastern NC and play ONE SHOW down there, I owe Myrtle Beach $100... which is why I won't do it.

 

[Gluvhand]

Maybe they are indeed looking to chase away the weekend warriors and hobby bands. The bigger venues and acts get a bigger piece of the pie and bands coming through will be more likely to be fined just due to ignorance of the local laws. I bet some of the bigger local acts are ok with this.

 

[bolophonic]

This is known as "trickle-down economics."