Legal Question in Business Law in California

Business licenses are very local in nature. if you do business in Fresno, you go to the Fresno City Hall and fill out an application and pay a fee with the city clerk. If you are in rural Tulare County, you get a county license. You should probably get a business license for wherever you principally do business........and that place is where you sit when your hand is on the mouse, doing business on line. Your town (or county, if not within city limits) will consider that's where your business is situated.

Next, it sounds as though you'll be conducting this business as a sole proprietorship, as opposed to a corporation, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), etc. In that case, and since you're using a stage name, you'll need to file a fictitious business name statement with the county and arrange for its publication in a local newspaper. See Business & Professions Code sections 17900-17930. (This is actually relatively simple... contact the county clerk).

Finally, I can't comment on PayPal's or various banks' requirements except to say that these outfits tend to be persnickety about their customers having filled out all the required government forms and otherwise complying with the technicalities for being in business. Trying to run a business of any kind is getting very technical and demanding as to dotting the i's and crossing the t's and having the ducks in a row.