Band funds

Lemoore-on · #1 05-22-2008, 08:59 PM

does your band have a bank account? We have been talking about putting our pay (or part of it) into an account to buy sound equipment. (we currently use a sound guy.) This is kinda scary,

How do you guys work it. One member own the equipment? use a sound dude? Band equipment?

Connor · #2 05-22-2008, 09:38 PM

when i had a band we would just bitch over who's money goes into what... never actually bought anything but an audio to 1/8 cable

Phalex · #3 05-23-2008, 06:20 AM

Yeah. We have a "Band Tax". Basically, everyone chips in $10.00 a gig until the funds reach a predetermined amount. ($500.00) This money is used to repair speakers when we blow them, fix amplifiers, and replace mic cables and any other "Community" equipment. We also take money out once a month for website fees.

Billygoat666 · #4 05-23-2008, 06:37 AM

I find it so strange when I hear you guys talking about having to bring your own sound/PA gear to shows. In my city, pretty much everywhere that has live music has their own PA gear and their own in house sound men. Bands usually have the option of using their own sound guy but unless they're a big name band coming through town, nobody does. The gear is usually pretty decent too.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by my surroundings but if I had to arrange for a PA rental (or buy it), arrange for a sound man, and haul the PA gear to the show on top of my bass rig, I'd seriously question if playing the shows was worth it.

I hope they make up for that in what you get paid!

3toes · #5 05-23-2008, 06:48 AM

Well everyone always tells me "you'll be sorry..." or "sure that's what they all say..." but my bandmates are some of my best friends since childhood and vice versa. So we just chose to put all funds into one of our savings accounts. Until we get all the mutual equipment we need (mainly a trailer and our own PA), all proceeds go into the account after paying out gas $. Then we can start pocketing individually.

IanStephenson · #6 05-23-2008, 07:05 AM

Everything belongs to someone. Just divide the cash up at the end of the night and each take your share. If the band needs something (like cash for flyers) we each put in $5. The mixer blew up recently and the singer went out and bought a new one (though the old one was the guitarists). I bought the lighting rig.

When one of the guitarists quit a few months ago he walked away with smile, and our goodwill. If he'd part owned everything it would have been an nightmare.

Ian

Porksicle · #7 05-23-2008, 07:54 AM

As a gentlemen's agreement, we don't buy individual instruments or amps as "a band" - your bass and stack belong to you. We do, however, collectively own all of our PA equipment, purchased with gig and merch money.

In our BPA, it basically says that anything we decide to buy as a band belongs to the band. You leave the band, but the band continues, you lose all ownership.

Our BPA also says that the "Band" ceases to be the band when the majority of the membership decides to leave. This means that if 3 of our 5 quit, it's done. If 2 quit, we continue on.

It also says that, if we were to cease being "the band" and break up, each member gets first dibs to purchase any remaining stuff at 80% of an acceptable market value (not too hard to find if you use Craigslist and E-bay as a benchmark, and 80% because the money would be split up between the 4 members who wouldn't get the gear). Anything we don't want to buy ourselves goes on e-bay.

It's not really all that difficult as long as, if something does go down, you make sure to have a plan in place and get rid of everything quickly.

lonote · #8 05-23-2008, 09:35 AM

Nobody ever thinks a "band fund" is a bad idea when it is first discussed. After all, you're old friends and bandmates, right? The band will never break up, nobody will ever quit and everything is going to be perfect. The problem is when somebody quits after having paid for 20% of the PA and wants their contribution back NOW. That's when it shows itself as the bad idea that it is. I know, I know, your case is different...

Porksicle · #9 05-23-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonote

Nobody ever thinks a "band fund" is a bad idea when it is first discussed. After all, you're old friends and bandmates, right? The band will never break up, nobody will ever quit and everything is going to be perfect. The problem is when somebody quits after having paid for 20% of the PA and wants their contribution back NOW. That's when it shows itself as the bad idea that it is. I know, I know, your case is different...

That's why you treat it like any other business.

Our accounting system is pretty vanilla. Every month, mgmt. is paid their percentage up front. Gas and merch re-order monies are allocated, followed by rent for our rehearsal space. Remaining profit is distributed to members unless we decide by unanimous vote to use it for something else.

Band wants a new van? We vote, and if agreed, allocate profits towards that.

Band wants to produce our own record? We vote, and if agreed, allocate profits towards that.

Band wants hookers and blow? We vote, and... well, you get it.

It's not foolproof, but it's honest, and as long as we're all working towards the same goal, it's not very difficult to manage.

Juniorkimbrough · #10 05-23-2008, 09:52 AM

We have a band bank account but we also have a lot of expenses......rehearsal space, van payment, van insurance, promo materials, recording costs, gas, hotels, etc. etc. It makes it so much easier when you can use a debit card to pay for all this stuff.

scottbass · #11 05-23-2008, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billygoat666

I find it so strange when I hear you guys talking about having to bring your own sound/PA gear to shows...

Maybe I'm just spoiled by my surroundings...

Yes, you are. Where I'm from, fewer than 50% of the venues with live music have their own in-house sound or lights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billygoat666

I hope they make up for that in what you get paid!

Not usually. Low end venues where we are required to bring our own PA & lights pay $400 to $800 per one-night, 4 hour gig. Professional PA guys charge $500 to $600 to provide PA & lights, so we can either hire the PA & lights ourselves and then play for free or almost free, or provide our own PA & lights and make $100 - $200 each per night. The idea is to build up our reputation and our following so we get booked into more higher-end venues where the PA & lights are provided and we still get paid a reasonable amount.

3toes · #12 05-23-2008, 10:45 AM

Well, we're under no delusions that the band will be together forever or that no one will quit. But regardless of what happens we're grownups and we have respect for each other. If one person left, we'd simply break up completely, there's no one else around that we want to play with, we came to that conclusion a long time ago.

And if that happens, we have a mutual agreement to sell the shared gear and split the money 3-ways.

GeneralElectric · #13 05-23-2008, 02:54 PM

In my band I own the PA, but it wasn't always so.

My old band bought a PA together. We split it 6 ways, and we each had a share of the PA. When one of the guitar players left, we communally bought his share. (1/6 of the current market value of the PA) as member left, either we all bought part of his share or one of us bought it outright. (Usually me)

When we down to our last 3 remaining original 3 members, I just bought their shares in the PA as we discussed calling it quits. They got their money, and I got the PA, no one left sore.

Lemoore-on · #14 05-23-2008, 06:20 PM

Small town america here, our venues dont provide a house system. If your luckey the're keriokee stuff can be used as satilite speekers or monitors.

We have a sound guy, he provides the PA, mixers, monitors & cables & sets up. He also runs the mixer. He is a paid member of the band. he gets his cut. He may not be around in a year or so, so we are planning ahead.

I think we need a contract or agreement in writing stating how its gonna work if/when we split.

fdeck · #15 05-23-2008, 07:54 PM

When I was in high school, we had a unique deal. The guitarist / bandleader bought a bunch of broken down PA gear for practically nothing. I kept it all working for practically nothing. When we went to college, the band evaporated, and the bandleader kept all of the gear. I was happy to have kept my expenses close to zero, and not to be saddled with a bunch of gear. The bandleader used the gear for what evolved into a successful band.

Lpspider · #16 05-24-2008, 05:05 PM

It depends on how serious you are. There's no right way to run it.

For my band we all own a portion of our sound gear. Like one guy owns the mixer, one guy the speakers, etc.

However, if we were more serious about it, I'd treat it more like a business. I might even make it a registered business, in which case we'd make a bank account and take a large cut of our pay from each gig and put it in the account.

thesteve · #17 05-24-2008, 05:15 PM

My band needs to set up a bank fund. Right now our bank fund consists of all the money we have not spent in a little plastic cup inside of an ammunition box.

That being said, any money we make at gigs or from merch sales stays in the band fund. If we had to drive a long distance to a gig, gas money would come from the band fund...etc. We've used the band fund to buy our drummer a kit ($400) and half of my bass ($150 for that) as well as buying any promotional stuff we've wanted (t-shirts, business cards, etc.)

Of course our situation probably doesn't apply for the majority of situations because we knew from the start that there wouldn't be a lot of income in this and that we never planned to make it big or "take it to the next level." Our "band PA" is a two channel bass head plugged into a 2x12 cabinet sitting at an angle where everyone can hear the vocal. It works great.

Spoiled Grape · #18 05-24-2008, 06:33 PM

We have a band fund that we send all the money to. Every week on tour we send all our money to our accountant. He handles the van payment, insurance, as well as our "paychecks." We also keep a bit of cash in hand to start tours.

Every person buys their own gear, cases, etc.

Lpspider · #19 05-24-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoiled Grape

We have a band fund that we send all the money to. Every week on tour we send all our money to our accountant. He handles the van payment, insurance, as well as our "paychecks." We also keep a bit of cash in hand to start tours.

Every person buys their own gear, cases, etc.

That sounds like a good system, but don't you find the accountant unnecessary? Does he just take a percentage of your cut (I've never used an accountant)?

Lemoore-on · #20 05-25-2008, 09:23 AM

Our singer doesn't even own his own mic! We(drummer & I ) want to be able to continue as we loose members. both gp are leaving by Nov. & the singer is active duty also. We have 1 replacement gp ready to step in now(already playing a few songs at gigs)

We are thinking the "band" will take 10% from each gig.

We all just put in $50. each for an AC unit for our practice studio. Everybody seems to be cool with the idea 4 now.