Articles for working bands
Guides, checklists and honest product notes for people who play in or run bands professionally: booking, money, rehearsals, repertoire, gear and promotion.
Topics
Leadership, members, money splits, agreements and communication.
Getting gigs, contracts, riders, weddings, corporates and day-of-show.
Scheduling, running and getting the most out of rehearsals.
Building, pacing, charting and rating the songs you play.
Pricing, quotes, invoices, deposits and fair splits.
Packing, backline, PA, power, insurance and the van.
EPKs, video, websites, referrals and getting found.
How the product works, who it is for and what it costs.
Latest
A bank account for the band and simple bookkeeping
How working bands handle a shared account, who signs, a 30-minute monthly money routine, and the few tools you need to keep the books clean.
5 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Gear and logisticsA small PA for small gigs
What a band needs to cover 50 to 150 people: speakers, mixer, monitors and power, with realistic price bands, and when hiring beats owning.
6 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Repertoire and setlistsAdding new songs: proposals, votes and vetoes
A fair process for adding songs to a band's repertoire: how to propose, vote thresholds, who gets a veto, promoting winners into the set and killing dead songs.
5 min read · 8 Sept 2026
PromotionAn email list for your band
Why a working band should keep an email list of clients, planners and fans: what to send, how often, free tools, and consent rules in plain terms.
6 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Gigs and bookingAsking the band 'are you free on the 14th?' without 40 messages
A system for checking band availability: one message, one deadline, one-tap answers, a dep plan, and a clear confirmation moment so requests turn into gigs.
6 min read · 8 Sept 2026
expert.bandAvailability requests explained
How expert.band availability requests work: personal links by email and SMS, one-tap answers with no login, who has answered, reminders, the SMS allowance.
6 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Gear and logisticsBackline explained: what venues provide and what you bring
What 'backline' means, what a venue or festival usually supplies, what you should always bring anyway, and how to pin it down before the day.
5 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Band managementBand communication without the group-chat chaos
Why WhatsApp fails for band logistics, how to set up one source of truth and a decision log, and the three situations where you should pick up the phone.
6 min read · 8 Sept 2026
Money and quotesBand expenses you should track
What a working band spends money on, with typical figures, which costs are per gig and which are fixed, and a 15-minute-a-week system to track them.
5 min read · 8 Sept 2026
All articles
- A bank account for the band and simple bookkeeping
- A small PA for small gigs
- Adding new songs: proposals, votes and vetoes
- An email list for your band
- Asking the band 'are you free on the 14th?' without 40 messages
- Availability requests explained
- Backline explained: what venues provide and what you bring
- Band communication without the group-chat chaos
- Band expenses you should track
- Band meetings that take 30 minutes and change things
- Band photos that sell
- Band website essentials
- Branding consistency across quotes, setlists and socials
- Building a referral network: planners, venues, photographers
- Building a wedding setlist that fills the floor
- Cables, spares and redundancy on stage
- Choosing and protecting a band name
- Choosing keys for your singers
- Chord charts, lead sheets and Nashville numbers
- Click tracks and backing tracks: should your band use them?
- Corporate events: how to become the band companies call again
- Covers vs originals: making both pay
- Deposits and cancellation policies that protect the band
- Deps and substitute musicians: a system that never lets a gig down
- expert.band compared with other band apps
- expert.band for band members
- expert.band for cover bands
- expert.band for managers and agencies
- expert.band for wedding bands
- expert.band pricing explained
- expert.band vs Google Sheets for band management
- Festival applications: how to get on the bill
- Finding and paying for a rehearsal space
- Finding, auditioning and replacing band members
- From request to confirmed gig: the steps in between
- Gear insurance for musicians
- Getting reviews and testimonials after every gig
- Gig fee benchmarks: weddings, corporates and bars
- Gig travel logistics: vans, hotels, timing, borders
- Handling conflict in a band before it costs you a gig
- Handling song requests live
- How many songs does a cover band need?
- How to get more gigs: a working outreach system
- How to price your band
- How to run a band like a business (without killing the fun)
- How to run a rehearsal that is worth everyone's evening
- In-ear monitors for bands: a practical start
- Learning new songs fast as a band
- Live video that books gigs
- Managing several bands or projects at once
- Medleys and mashups for cover bands
- Negotiating with clients
- Onboarding a new band member in two weeks
- Outdoor gigs: weather, power and sound
- Packing lists and kits explained
- Packing the van: order, weight and the two-minute load-out
- Payment terms: deposits, balances and getting paid on the night
- Planning your band's season: a 12-month calendar
- Preparing remotely: charts, stems and homework between rehearsals
- Printing setlists for the stage
- Private party gigs: pricing, expectations, and keeping the room
- Quotes and client links explained
- Raising your band's prices without losing clients
- Rating rounds explained
- Rating your repertoire: find the songs that actually work
- Recording your rehearsals (and actually listening back)
- Rehearsal etiquette: the unwritten rules
- Reminders, no-shows and the cost of a missed rehearsal
- Repertoire for jazz and function trios
- Replacing spreadsheets and group chats with one band workspace
- Running a gear inventory: who owns what, who brings what
- Scheduling rehearsals when everyone has a day job
- Setlist pacing: the science of a three-set night
- Social media for working bands: less posting, more booking
- Song structure notation the whole band understands
- Soundcheck etiquette and how to make the engineer your friend
- Splitting a gig fee fairly
- Splitting money in a band: five models that actually work
- Stage power and safety
- Tempo and BPM: keeping live songs at the right speed
- The band agreement: what to put in writing before the first gig
- The band packing checklist (nothing left at home)
- The complete guide to playing weddings
- The day-of-show checklist
- The gig contract: 12 clauses every band needs
- The pre-gig rehearsal: what to run and what to skip
- The rehearsal planner explained
- VAT, invoices and receipts for bands (the basics)
- Wedding fairs and showcases: are they worth it?
- What a band leader actually does
- What is expert.band?
- Why a quote link beats a PDF
- Wireless microphones and instrument systems basics
- Working with agencies and wedding planners
- Writing a quote clients accept
- Writing a tech rider and stage plot that engineers love
- Your band's EPK: what to include in 2026
- Your data at expert.band: privacy, security, backups
- Your first week on expert.band
- Your service catalog: package what you sell