How To Start A Band: 15 Things to Think About

How To Start A Band: Questions To Cover Before You Play Your First Gig

by Indiana Gregg
So, you've got yourself a group of guys who like playing the same kind of music and you've sweat in the rehearsal room for a few weeks. You may be best friends now, but, how do you insure that you'll stay good friends in the future? There are several things to consider before you hit the road or get your feet wet in the studio and you may want to consider a few of these points below and even if you have it all together, you might want to consider some of the pitfalls to avoid just in case your band begins to become popular, or even 'profitable'.



Many bands start out as a group of friends from school or the neighborhood who like getting together for a jam. Eventually, the band starts to sound great and decides to record some tracks and do some gigs. This is all good fun, but, what happens when the band begins to get 'serious'? What happens when you start recording or gigging and someone from outside the band begins to take interest?



When I was in university, I began to play in a rock band. We played at various clubs and parties and had a lot of fun for about a year or so. Then, one day, a guy walked into one of our rehearsals who had been invited by our bassist's father. After the rehearsal, as we were packing up our gear to go home, this guy started talking to us. "What do you say I schedule some recording time for you guys to make a few demos?" We were all nodding our heads. "Sure, that's great". Next thing we knew, we were in the recording studio recording our songs. We made copies of our demos and began to send them out to a few managers and indie labels.



Eventually, we were offered a deal. But, wait a minute, Joe didn't tell us that WE didn't OWN the copyright to our recordings. So, who owned them? Joe did! And that wasn't the only problem, when the record company proposed that we re-record the songs, it led to a fight within the band about who the true songwriters were. Since we had all spent a year working on the songs, it seemed logical that we would all be considered 'writers'. However, a couple of the band members began to claim that they had written the songs beforehand. This lead to some disputes, rivalry, and a lot of grief for all of us. Arguments about what the band should be called (because the old name was suddenly not good enough) and who owned the keyboard that we had all chipped in to buy erupted. So, within a year we had gone from being best band mates to arch rivals all due to some interest from a record label and our new friend 'Joe'.



Some might just consider this typical immature band behaviour. However, it could have been easily avoided had we asked ourselves the following questions and come to agreements beforehand:



Here's a list of fifeen things to resolve and define in your band before you ever put your gear up on stage:



1. What's your Band name? Who owns your bands brand or trademark?

2. Who's the owner of the equipment that the band bought? How is that divided amongst you?

3. How will the band handle money coming in?

4. Does your band have a band bank account and who will be in charge of the financials?

5. Who will you designate to make agreements on the band's behalf?

6. How will the band split any royalties from publishing/ song writing splits

7. Who owns the copyright to your recordings?

8. What about your merchandise? Who has the rights?

9. Who will keep track of inventory (both equipment and physical merchandise) for the band?

10. What will you do when one of the band members quits?

11. How do you split the work and the money when a new member joins?

12. How do you plan to handle any disputes?

13. How are the various duties going to be split up between the members?

14. Who will run the website and manage your online presence?

15. What portion of your incoming monies will go towards further promoting the band after expenses are met?



A few bands make it without ever considering these important questions, however, most do not. However, if you are serious about making music and making some money from your music, you may consider setting up your band as a business. After all, once you begin to get paid for your music and merchandis be it online or at gigs, you may want to think about setting the band up as either a partnership or corporation.



You may think now 'well, we just want to have fun and hope we get a record deal". However, you can save yourselves a good deal of heartache by setting a bit of time aside to answer these important questions. It's important that your band works as a unit both on stage and off. If everyone can decide 'who does what?" and "how things will be handled?You'll have less heartache in case your band starts earning money.



Many bands work with one or two 'lead' members who take care of everything from booking the band at gigs to building the website, working the social networks, and even dealing with the band's promotions. Sometimes, there are only a couple of 'songwriters' in the band. Sometimes there are situations where the band may pitch in to buy one of the members a new instrument or a band PA system or a van to travel with. How do you decide who owns the gear? Did one of the members donate it to the band? Was it a loan? What happens to their share when they leave? How do you split the profits and publishing?



If you run your band like a small business and designate roles for each member to fill from the beginning, , you will be less likely to have disputes about who owns the PA, who owns the copyright to a song, or who seems to be 'carrying all the weight' for the band. If you find that there is a gap where work needs to be done and there is not a member of the band with those skill sets, you may need to outsource that work to either a trustworthy fan who does, or in some cases, you may need to hire the services of a professional.



In any case, make sure you find the time to answer these important questions. Make agreements amongst yourselves and have all your band members sign off to a list of duties and protocol about how things will be handled. Give everyone a copy, and start taking care of business. This will free up more time have loads of fun making music now while greatly reducing the potential for hassles and frustrations later.

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Indiana Gregg is co-founder of music social networking site Kerchoonz . Kerchoonz pays musicians when their music is played. Bands and artists can stream and sell their music directly from their profile. They can also sell their cds, merchandise and gear and use Kerchoonz tools to help promote their band. Kerchoonz is free to join:
http://www.kerchoonz.com