An Accounting Studio
A place to practice accounting. A place to thoroughly enjoy the accounting being practiced. A place where accounting comes to life.
What It is
An accounting studio integrates the enabling skills of a recording studio with the technical competencies of an accounting firm. In a recording studio, a unique relationship develops between the musician and the sound engineer, built on trust, musical understanding, and a shared appreciation for seeing the song or album come together. A key word in a recording studio is collaboration. To produce a high-quality product, the musician(s) and sound engineer(s) must collaborate to meet that standard.
Technical accounting includes six key areas: Financial Reporting, Taxation, Audit & Assurance, Managerial Reporting, Finance, and Strategy & Governance. These areas fall into two groups: Financial Reporting, Taxation & Audit fall under Outside Accounting. Outside accounting is directed to a company’s external stakeholders. These stakeholders can include the government, creditors, lenders, investors, and customers. Inside accounting includes Managerial Reporting, Finance, and Strategy & Governance. Inside Accounting is directed to a company’s internal stakeholders, which can include employees, executive management, managers and other personnel operating internally.
An Accounting firm would focus on some of these areas, while a CFO in a large, medium, or small corporation would focus on others. An accounting studio would do everything from one place. An all-in-one stop for accounting needs and wants.
It’s Origins
Sailor was told to pick one. Sailor picked both.
For most of his life it’s been framed as a choice. The musician or the accountant. The amp or the spreadsheet.
Sailor played music for 18 years. Sailor wrote and recorded as Sailor Schmidty, and his album Something About Sailor came out in May 2026. He plays open mics, and makes heavy records. Music was never the side project. It’s the thing he chose accounting to protect.
So he earned an accounting degree to give my music solid ground to stand on. Then he spent about two and a half years in public accounting practice, learning the work properly: personal and corporate tax, HST, payroll, bookkeeping and year-end files.
Keep the rigour, lose the costume
That time taught Sailor the rigour is real, and it matters. It also showed him how much of the profession runs on a costume: the stiff letters, the guarded tone, the sense that you leave the rest of yourself at the door.
Sailor kept leaving the musician at the door, and the work never felt whole. Rock The Jive Records is what happened when he stopped splitting himself in two.
Rigour and creativity aren’t opposites. Learning the minor scales in all 12 keys across a 22-fret neck takes the same patience as tying a bank feed to its closing balance. Same discipline, different instrument.
A studio, not a firm
So Sailor built a studio. It carries a record label’s name on purpose, and its logo is a vinyl record minted as a gold coin. That’s the work: the art and the money, looked after as one thing.
RTJ is for musicians and bands, for creators on every platform (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, Patreon, OnlyFans, Fansly and the rest), and for the indie labels and small music companies that keep the scene moving. If your income is irregular, your gear receipts are scattered, and you’re worried an accountant might look down on how you earn a living, you’re in the right place.
We don’t judge the hustle. We manage it.
How it works
You work with me, the person who actually does the work. Fees are fixed or set by tiered retainer, so there are no surprise hourly bills. Everything is explained in plain language.
The studio handles personal (T1) and corporate (T2) tax, HST, payroll, QuickBooks and Xero bookkeeping, and creator-finance advice built around how you really earn. Every number gets the care of a master take.
Rock The Jive Records is based in Erin, Ontario, and works with clients across Canada.
If that sounds like the accountant you’ve been looking for, book a chat. Let’s talk about yours.
Sailor Schmidty Principal, Rock The Jive Records
