The band agreement: what to put in writing before the first gig

Every band has an agreement. The only question is whether it is written down or whether it lives in five different heads, each remembering a slightly different version. The written one costs an evening. The unwritten one costs the band, usually about eighteen months in, when the first member leaves and asks for "their share".

This is not legal advice and a band agreement is not a substitute for a lawyer if serious money is involved. It is a plain document that everyone signs so that the obvious things are no longer arguable. Here is what goes in it.

1. Who is in the band and what the band is

Start with the names of the current members and the name of the band. Say what kind of entity you are, in plain words: an informal partnership of individuals, a registered association, a company owned by one person who hires the others, or something else. This varies enormously by country and it changes who is liable and who pays tax, so if you are unsure, write down what you actually do today and get it checked later.

State the purpose in one line: "a function band playing weddings and corporate events for a fee". It sounds trivial but it settles arguments about whether the band "should" do free showcases or spend the fund on an album.

2. The name: who owns it

This is the clause people most regret skipping. Decide now, while there is nothing to fight over:

• The band owns it collectively. If the band splits, nobody can use the name unless a majority (or all) agree. Common for equal partnerships.
• The founder owns it. Members who leave have no claim. Common for leader-run function bands where the leader books everything under the name.
• The name goes with a majority of members. If three of five stay, they keep the name.

Whichever you pick, also decide who controls the domain, the social accounts and the email address, and where the passwords are kept. Choosing and protecting a band name covers the practical side of domains and trademarks.

3. Money: split, expenses, the fund

Write down the actual formula, with an example. "Expenses come off the gig fee first. 10% goes to the band fund. The remainder is split equally between the members who played. The leader receives an additional 100 € per gig for booking and administration." Then show it once with numbers so that nobody can misread it:

Fee 1,800 €. Fuel and parking 90 €. Remaining 1,710 €. Fund 171 €. Leader premium 100 €. 1,439 € split five ways: 287.80 € each, plus the leader's 100 €.

Cover the rest in a few lines each:

• Who holds the money and where (a separate account, ideally).
• Who can spend from the fund without asking, and up to what amount (200 € is a workable limit).
• What happens to the fund if the band ends (split equally between current members is the usual answer).
• Who owns recordings, videos and photos the band paid for.

The five money models that work article walks through the alternatives if equal split is not right for you.

4. Decisions: who decides what

Bands stall when every decision needs unanimous enthusiasm. Set three levels:

1. Day-to-day: the person with the job decides. The leader accepts or declines gigs within the agreed price range; the musical director sets the rehearsal agenda.
2. Band decisions: majority vote. New songs, dress code, price changes, taking a residency.
3. Big decisions: unanimous, or a defined supermajority. Adding or removing a member, changing the split, spending more than 1,000 € from the fund, changing the name.

Say how votes happen (at a meeting, or in writing with a 48-hour window) and what happens on a tie (leader decides, or the status quo stays).

5. Commitment: what is expected

Be specific enough that a chronic problem can be named without a row:

• Availability: members respond to gig requests within 48 hours and mark rehearsal availability at least three weeks ahead.
• Rehearsals: a minimum attendance, for example 80% over any three months.
• Gigs: a confirmed gig is a commitment; a member who cannot make it finds and briefs a dep at their own cost unless the band agrees otherwise. See deps and substitute musicians.
• Other projects: allowed, but the band's confirmed dates take priority, or whatever you actually agree.

6. Joining and leaving

This clause does the most work over a band's lifetime.

• Notice. A member who leaves gives, say, three months' notice and plays all gigs confirmed before the notice date, or arranges a dep the band approves.
• Removal. A member can be removed by a vote of all other members. Write the grounds in general terms: repeated missed rehearsals, missed gigs without a dep, behaviour that damages the band.
• What a leaver gets. Their share of gigs already played, and any personal gear back. They do not get a share of the fund or of future income unless you decide otherwise.
• What a leaver does not keep. The name, the accounts, the client list, the charts and arrangements the band created together.
• Trial period for new members. Three months, or ten gigs, during which either side can end it without notice.

7. Gear

List what the band owns collectively (the PA, the lights, the van if there is one) and what each member owns personally but the band relies on. Say who insures what, who pays for repairs to collective gear (the fund), and who is responsible if a personal item is damaged in the van (usually the owner, which is why gear insurance matters).

8. Housekeeping

• How the agreement can be changed (unanimous, in writing).
• That everyone has a copy.
• Signatures and a date.

A template outline

Copy this and fill it in over one evening:

1. Parties and band name
2. Legal form and purpose
3. Ownership of the name, domains and accounts
4. Money: split formula with a worked example, expenses, fund, who holds it
5. Decisions: three levels and how votes work
6. Commitment: response times, attendance, deps, other projects
7. Joining: trial period
8. Leaving and removal: notice, what a leaver keeps and does not keep
9. Gear: collective, personal, insurance, repairs
10. Changing this agreement
11. Signatures

Two pages is plenty. If it is longer than four, nobody will read it and it has stopped being useful.

Do this today

• Book a two-hour meeting with only this on the agenda.
• Before it, each member writes one sentence per clause with what they assume the rule already is. Compare. The differences are the whole point.
• Draft, sleep on it, sign the following week.

Where expert.band helps

An agreement needs a place where the day-to-day version of it is visible: who is a member, who has the manager role and can book and quote, which gigs are confirmed and who said they were available. expert.band keeps the roles, the gig calendar with each member's own availability answer, and an activity feed of who changed what in one band workspace, so that "what did we agree?" has an answer that is not somebody's memory. The signed agreement itself lives wherever your band keeps documents.