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Band LLC and Money Transparency Questions

#21
I don't have an LLC, but here in Florida I do have a Subchapter S Corporation. It doesn't expire, per se, but I am required to file an annual report and pay an administrative fee every year. That report lists any changes to the Corporate officer(s) and their duties as well as other information. In my case, I'm the sole cook and bottle washer so I list myself as PVTS ... President, VP, Treasurer, and Secretary. I don't file any board minutes although that may be a requirement for some. Check out Sunbiz.org. They list all such entities and may give insight into rights and requirements. Good Luck. Sounds like your bandmates could use a visit from Uncle Vito.
 
#22
I own my band. It’s registered with the state as a sole proprietorship. But I own all the PA, the trailer, the F350 pickup to pull the trailer, etc. There are no partnerships, no shared ownership of equipment. We’re still very much a band, not employer/employees, but it’s understood that all finances, business decisions, etc are handled by me.

I’m completely transparent with everything, so if anyone questions, the books are open for them to see exactly where money goes. So far, in 6 years, no one has.
 
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#24
Thanks a bunch for comments and advice both in this thread and directly via IM. The advice was super helpful, and fortunately there is a positive outcome in this. At least it seems there is. I delicately approached the subject with the 4 core members and it was agreed upon that there was no malicious intent to leave us out of the LLC, and that it was done in haste. Those of us with a vested interest will be added to the registration. The guitar player said he was just being playfully salty about the finances and has agreed to be more transparent. Time will tell but at least for now a positive dialog is taking place. Next step is to define everyone's role in the band and to create more transparency altogether.
 
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#26
mikopita said:
Thanks a bunch for comments and advice both in this thread and directly via IM. The advice was super helpful, and fortunately there is a positive outcome in this. At least it seems there is. I delicately approached the subject with the 4 core members and it was agreed upon that there was no malicious intent to leave us out of the LLC, and that it was done in haste. Those of us with a vested interest will be added to the registration. The guitar player said he was just being playfully salty about the finances and has agreed to be more transparent. Time will tell but at least for now a positive dialog is taking place. Next step is to define everyone's role in the band and to create more transparency altogether.
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Communication - what a concept! Glad to hear it appears to have been a false alarm to be concerned.
 
#28
mikopita said:
Thanks a bunch for comments and advice both in this thread and directly via IM. The advice was super helpful, and fortunately there is a positive outcome in this. At least it seems there is. I delicately approached the subject with the 4 core members and it was agreed upon that there was no malicious intent to leave us out of the LLC, and that it was done in haste. Those of us with a vested interest will be added to the registration. The guitar player said he was just being playfully salty about the finances and has agreed to be more transparent. Time will tell but at least for now a positive dialog is taking place. Next step is to define everyone's role in the band and to create more transparency altogether.
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Make sure you follow up with your LLC registration online. How FL does amendments, this cannot be done in haste. The amendment form requires that you must be dropped from being one of the managers that are in control of the LLC. Otherwise, you'll still be listed as on the original articles of organization form.

Sorry to say, you were feed a line of BS, and the two are probably hoping this will blow over and they will never re-amendment with the FL SoS.

Follow the advice giving above, and go to your SoS web portal and check out the forms filed for your LLC.
 
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#30
74hc said:
Make sure you follow up with your LLC registration online. How FL does amendments, this cannot be done in haste. The amendment form requires that you must be dropped from being one of the managers that are in control of the LLC. Otherwise, you'll still be listed as on the original articles of organization form.

Sorry to say, you were feed a line of BS, and the two are probably hoping this will blow over and they will never re-amendment with the FL SoS.

Follow the advice giving above, and go to your SoS web portal and check out the forms filed for your LLC.
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Totally agree with this, something is still not right. LLCs do not expire in and of themselves, it takes proactive measure to close or change one. Every member (partner) of an LLC has a capital account based on the interest (percentage) that they own, and at the very least, the accounts need to be closed out before an LLC can be dissolved. So you would either have been owed money, or owed money if your capital account was in the red.
 
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#31
bherman said:
Totally agree with this, something is still not right. LLCs do not expire in and of themselves, it takes proactive measure to close or change one. Every member (partner) of an LLC has a capital account based on the interest (percentage) that they own, and at the very least, the accounts need to be closed out before an LLC can be dissolved. So you would either have been owed money, or owed money if your capital account was in the red.
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Yep, look up your previous llc and find out how/why it was closed. If you pay the annual fee it keeps going forever.

Somethings not right. The other guys own the band now. You guys are sub-contractors.
 
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#34
mikopita said:
The guitarist happens to be a financial analyst for a living and has been hiding all of the financials from the rest of the band. When prompted for transparency, he says that we'll have to pay him for his time (which does not sit well with the rest of the band).
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Tell him to give you the financial statements, you'll review them yourself. It's not rocket science. Or pay him. Even if he charges $100 an hour, he should be tracking all of this, it should just be a matter of the time to review it with you. It's still cheaper than a lawyer.

I was the new guy in a band where I handled the money. They kept saying, "We don't need receipts." Every time I spent a penny they got the receipts and a full accounting of how much we started with, what was spent, how much was left.

Your real issue here is that if you had to hire an attorney to go after these guys, it would probably cost you more than you would get.
 
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#35
pcake said:
any updates yet?
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Guitarist has been out of town on vacation the past week but is due to get back today. I hear what everyone is saying, and am gathering all info and data I can. It looks like we're having a band pow-wow sometime this week to go over the band agreement details. The singer/guitarist both claim that they are going to do right by the rest of us.
 
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#37
mikopita said:
Guitarist has been out of town on vacation the past week but is due to get back today. I hear what everyone is saying, and am gathering all info and data I can. It looks like we're having a band pow-wow sometime this week to go over the band agreement details. The singer/guitarist both claim that they are going to do right by the rest of us.
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The horse is already out of the barn, but for future reference, and as a lesson to us all, these things should be hammered out BEFORE you join a band.

Good luck.
 
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#39
My band of 8 years just dissolved our LLC at the beginning of this year. Personally, I won't do another band with an LLC. The key reason was costs, there is cost to set it up and we had to pay to have an accountant audit and do our taxes every year which were zero anyways. We never actually made much money on paper, there were always significant enough deductions to keep taxes minimal. The other issue is that it's extremely restrictive legally so the contracts need to be redone if someone wants to exit...which again costs money. This might be why your band is redoing it.

We've gone back to a simple formula where the band as an entity owns the PA and Lights. The ownership is equal and exit strategy is that remaining members need to pay out the guy that leaves at current market value of the assets. Or if the band dissolves, we sell the gear and split equally. Pay is your own responsibility. We split all evenly and it's up to you to claim on your taxes.
 

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