Rodrigo Nieto-Galvis of City National Bank Shares 5 Finance Tips for Young Artists on ‘Latin Hitmaker’ Podcast

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Rodrigo Nieto-Galvis, the vice president and team lead in Miami for the Entertainment Banking division of City National Bank, is well aware that the Latin music industry works differently than any other genre, which is why he’s sharing his knowledge and expertise with independent and emerging artists who want to learn how to manage their money properly.

“It’s important to understand that usually an entertainer is self-employed,” he tells Billboard. “They don’t have constant earnings. They are easily exposed to lawsuits. They have international residency with income in multiple jurisdictions. And it’s really difficult to predict the future of their careers and their income.” 

In this episode of Billboard‘s Latin Hitmaker podcast, Nieto-Galvis elaborates on five common mistakes artists make with their finances and how they can be fixed or avoided overall.

On building your career as a business: “You know, as an artist, sometimes they want to focus on their craft, on their art, on their music, but they also have to be the CEOs or of their careers. They need to manage their careers as a business […] and there’s something also that you may not be savvy in every area of a business, so you need to surround yourself with the right team. You need a lawyer, you need an accountant, you need a business manager who understands and can help you with your growth.” 

On managing expenses: “You need to open an entity and you need to divide your personal income and expenses by your corporate income and expenses. Otherwise, your income is going to become your pocket money, and that’s not something that you want. You shouldn’t be mixing this type of income and expenses and also […] something very important as well is to not leave money on the table. So what that means is when you are negotiating contracts and deals, bring your lawyer, you know, bring somebody to understand these contracts and also sign contracts with every member of your team just to avoid future litigations.” 

On creating a budget plan: “So the first thing that you need to do as an artist is creating a plan at a budget for the year. you need to know what will be resources you need to achieve the goals that you are trying to reach. Right. So like have a plan for 12 years. What are the resources that you’re going to need if you buy that car? If you can buy that boat, is that going to affect the plan? Are you still going to have the resources to achieve those goals? Right. So so again, the third issue is the area of problems is managing your expenses, having a budget, having a plan.”

On understanding taxes: “You really need to have an accountant that understands not only your business but the fact that you work in multiple jurisdictions, in multiple countries. So what we’re talking about is getting the right advice, or also there are elements such as the CW, tax exemptions, which are only for international artists.” 

On protecting your savings: “Avoid getting into investments that you don’t understand and actually, the final component on that aspect is also to pay attention to estate planning. Like what’s the legacy that you’re going to leave, how you’re going to be providing to your loved ones once you are not here anymore. So you pay attention to those areas.”

Listen to the full episode of Latin Hitmaker here:

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