we don't have a band fund other than a jointly agreed on purchase is jointly shared out of pocket.
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The Band Fund
- Thread starter bluewine
- Start date
It's all up to the people in the band and honesty. My band does/did a band fund and it worked great. We payed for any and all expenses, photo's, equipment and funded our entire studio time as well as mastering ,artwork and production all thru gig money and a band fund. I trust the member who holds the fund and he makes sure we all know where the money is and how musch. It has never been an issue.
We no longer have a band fund and all members take their cut at the end of the night but will start another if we need to.
We no longer have a band fund and all members take their cut at the end of the night but will start another if we need to.
This topic has been covered many times. Unless your willing to create structure and accounting like Febs, band funds almost always end poorly.
The nature of the band also makes a big difference. If your band is getting paid $100 total in cash from a bar once every other month, it probably doesn't make much sense to create that sort of structure. On the other hand, when you regularly play for corporate clients who require you to provide your taxpayer identification number before they'll cut you a check, it's pretty much a necessity to have those structures in place.
You're right that this topic has been covered before. Jive1's "Band Ownership Issues" thread a month or so ago dealt with a very similar topic.
my band does ... take tip jar and a small percentage off the top of our fee... but we are alway's saving to upgrade something. We are full swing trying to have a reliable PA with redundancy built in in the event a component goes down it's just a matter of reconfiguring something.
that being said... im not worried about when the band breaks up or if I ever have to leave as I don't really care who gets the band fund funded crap ...
the small amount of my cut that goes to the band fund to me is just matienence cost of being in the band. I could care less where it goes long as it doesn't go from my bank account or pocket. If it never hits either in the first place again... out of site out of mind ...
im waiting to be asked to pony up some cash ... it hasn't happened yet... but when it does the book keeper better have his stuff in order.
thanks guys now im thinking about it... im going to ask how we've been doing tip wise and see how we've done in tips over the past few gigs... im about to figure out if it's being tracked at all... cause i've been told it is but never actually seen a balance sheet.
that being said... im not worried about when the band breaks up or if I ever have to leave as I don't really care who gets the band fund funded crap ...
the small amount of my cut that goes to the band fund to me is just matienence cost of being in the band. I could care less where it goes long as it doesn't go from my bank account or pocket. If it never hits either in the first place again... out of site out of mind ...
im waiting to be asked to pony up some cash ... it hasn't happened yet... but when it does the book keeper better have his stuff in order.
thanks guys now im thinking about it... im going to ask how we've been doing tip wise and see how we've done in tips over the past few gigs... im about to figure out if it's being tracked at all... cause i've been told it is but never actually seen a balance sheet.
Febs said:
Interesting, I over heard our business manager talking a bank account, signatures and tax ID. I know the band does a few corporate gigs in the summer and some boat tour gigs.
I guess it's fine, I like getting cash at the end of the night.
- Jan 27, 2010
- 4,141
- 471
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genz Benz Amplification
With the group I'm taking on the road this summer we'll be taking a % of the net for a fund to cover vehicle maintenance and misc. expenses. But the singer and I are doing all the booking, providing a vehicle and trailer for travel, paying for PA, maintaining the website, etc. So I think it's more than fair. We've discussed reducing the % for dates that we have to pay commission to an agent, some places have an exclusivity deal with a particular agent, so you have no choice but to go through them. Bit then again, since we take our fee from the net it's already reduced due to the agent's commission, so I'm not sure about that yet. The idea is to make sure the band members still make enough money to be happy. I don't like having a revolving door of players.
Exactly. In our weekend warrior band everybody has their own gear and takes care of their own expenses for it etc. One guy has a PA that's his, although we don't use it much.
Everyone gets their split.....no "band fund".
Last band I was in had a band fund account. I owned most of the PA gear & keyboard player owned the lights. Typically we split the gig pay even multiples of 20.00. Anything left over went into the bank account. Insurance on the band trailer (equipment was stored in the trailer) came out of the account. Any repairs to PA or lights were payed off the top of the gig unless it was small enough to be paid out of the account. When we decided to do some recording we kept 20.00 each from the gig and balance went into the account until we had enough money (4 or 5 gigs).
We never had to reach into our own pockets for anything except our own repairs. The last lineup in that band was together for 17 years so it worked just fine with us.
When we finaly retired the band, the band account was drained by having a heck of a good night out for us & our wives.
We never had to reach into our own pockets for anything except our own repairs. The last lineup in that band was together for 17 years so it worked just fine with us.
When we finaly retired the band, the band account was drained by having a heck of a good night out for us & our wives.
That's the hardest part right there...balancing the instant gratification from being paid for the show you just played and paying for the PA that you used to make that money.
One of the hardest things I did while gigging in college was put together a band where no one got paid for six months. We bought a PA on credit with the bass players name and it was him on the line if it went bad.
I was fine with it as was the lead-singer; we both went without a dime for half a year of gigging to pay it all off. The drummer however wanted his money and never was willing to pay into it.
At the end of it the lead-singer got his return on investment and then some from the bass player. I ended up owning the PA rather than taking my cut, which would have been a quarter of the value of the PA as new.
The bass player had the PA for about five years after the band was over and done with; he got his money out of it gigging with other bands. It never bothered me really; I was just glad it was being used.
I do not take booking or PA gear out of gig pay. However, if I am going to do promo, I will try and get everyone to agree up front to kick in for it, and that can come out of gig pay.
Other than that, you really shouldn't do a "band fund." If there are expenses, (recording, etc,) then you have to negotiate what everyone's cut should be, BEFORE doing it.
In my all original band, I paid for a large amount of the recording of our CD. So when we broke up, everyone was surprised when suddenly, they didn't have boxes of CD's any more.
Well, I wasn't surprised...
Other than that, you really shouldn't do a "band fund." If there are expenses, (recording, etc,) then you have to negotiate what everyone's cut should be, BEFORE doing it.
In my all original band, I paid for a large amount of the recording of our CD. So when we broke up, everyone was surprised when suddenly, they didn't have boxes of CD's any more.
Well, I wasn't surprised...
- Sep 4, 2010
- 3,304
- 2,730
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Martin Keith Guitars
I liked the fund thing in the tribute band i used to play in. I believe 20% went into the band fund. It was not spent on gear (and rightly so, imo), but website, rehearsal space rental, gasmoney for long trips, demo's and so on. Also for example sometimes the wives came along on a nice gig, and whatever that cost extra came from the fund-one of those simple ideas that kept everybody involved and supportive on the home front and the vibe at ease within the band. Nobody had issues with the fund, because as bandmembers we did get a garantuee (150 euro for local gigs, and 300 euro for gigs requiring overnight stays-that was and is good money). The drummer was an accountant, so at least someone in the band was good at bookkeeping.
YUUUUP! This is how the cover band I'm in does it, and how I prefer it.
But I think it comes down to the type of band, original or cover. Generally speaking, the former is going to need a lot more cash to operate with little income; the latter is going to have more income and lower expenses, making a band fund less of an issue.
If people want to operate with a band fund, that's their decision but I'm like a previous post; if faced with this situation, I would be comfortable only if I were involved in handling the money. Yeah I've been screwed before.
I'm in an original band. Sometimes we make $100 a gig. Other times we make $1300. For the low paying local gigs it doesn't make sense for us to split up the pay and each leave with $20 in our pocket. That goes to band fund. For higher paying gigs we'll each take a cut and give some to the fund as well.
I'm the one who handles the money and I make sure to let everyone know how much we have and how much we make\spend. Even if it's as little as $5.
I'm the one who handles the money and I make sure to let everyone know how much we have and how much we make\spend. Even if it's as little as $5.
We decided on a band fund simply because, as Broken Ohms said, we are an original band that has walked out with $50 total for a night. No use splitting that up. Our biggest payout was $600 for two bands, so by the time we pay the opener, still no use splitting that up. When the band fund reaches a certain dollar amount, then we split it up. But three years later, that hasn't happened yet....
