Band Longevity And How To Deal With Band Break Ups Or Financial Conflicts
The Music Industry in the last five years has really taken off in the indie scene and has become more of a business and just another vocation. Bands come and go like the next "beer fart"--But here are a few tips to at least keep the business side of your band together even if your band does not.
First of all, make sure all gig money is spread evenly between each working member of your band no matter who is contributing the most. Now as far as song writing goes, even though one person may be writing the songs for the band and getting the bulk of the royalties, you'll have other band members saying we have to play more tour dates because that's the only way the others can make any money.
When that happens you start having internal problems. Especially when the band has regular expenses such as vehicle and instrumental maintenance.
And if those expenses are over and above what the band makes touring , it makes the others even less inclined to keep the band going in hard times. While the main songwriter keeps on making a supplemental income from song writing royalties, everyone else tends to feel like dead wood in respect to financial gain and their value as a contributing player.
But at the same time, if the main lyric man isn't properly compensated for and the others are receiving regular royalty cuts, yet not contributing anything creatively in the song writing process--you have another quagmire again. This can turn around and cause problems with the main songwriter.
If the others contribute to the composing and arranging of each track then they should be at least receiving mechanical royalties which I will go into in another article on this subject. But everyone should receive a fair percentage based on their individual contributions to each song.
As well, the arrangements of each track on an album are part and parcel of each song along with the lyrics. So you should split the royalties, but if someone is the main writer, composer and arranger they should definitely receive the bulk of any royalties. Each individual musician in a given band should be smart with their publishing royalties and learn all they can about the music industry from a business standpoint.
If you're in a position to be a session player between tours and receive royalties from your regular band work, do it. Learn to sing at least background vocals and definitely learn to write songs to end up being more employable doing what you love to do. So even if your band doesn't stay together you can at least have the satisfaction of knowing you are keeping the business side of life together, because these tips will be important for long term success in this business.
As well, your band needs to learn how to joint venture with other bands setting up gigs where you open for each other, interview each other and set up media as well. This can also go to writing promo material for labels and showing other bands how to make money selling other band's material for a cut of the profits, and recording bands too.
There are many ways to make money if your band dissolves. That way you have a back up if it does, and you're not so pissed off at the end of the day and can move on to other band's of your own and doing session work or writing.
email me for more info: mdgrove@rock.com
Mark Grove
The Music Industry in the last five years has really taken off in the indie scene and has become more of a business and just another vocation. Bands come and go like the next "beer fart"--But here are a few tips to at least keep the business side of your band together even if your band does not.
First of all, make sure all gig money is spread evenly between each working member of your band no matter who is contributing the most. Now as far as song writing goes, even though one person may be writing the songs for the band and getting the bulk of the royalties, you'll have other band members saying we have to play more tour dates because that's the only way the others can make any money.
When that happens you start having internal problems. Especially when the band has regular expenses such as vehicle and instrumental maintenance.
And if those expenses are over and above what the band makes touring , it makes the others even less inclined to keep the band going in hard times. While the main songwriter keeps on making a supplemental income from song writing royalties, everyone else tends to feel like dead wood in respect to financial gain and their value as a contributing player.
But at the same time, if the main lyric man isn't properly compensated for and the others are receiving regular royalty cuts, yet not contributing anything creatively in the song writing process--you have another quagmire again. This can turn around and cause problems with the main songwriter.
If the others contribute to the composing and arranging of each track then they should be at least receiving mechanical royalties which I will go into in another article on this subject. But everyone should receive a fair percentage based on their individual contributions to each song.
As well, the arrangements of each track on an album are part and parcel of each song along with the lyrics. So you should split the royalties, but if someone is the main writer, composer and arranger they should definitely receive the bulk of any royalties. Each individual musician in a given band should be smart with their publishing royalties and learn all they can about the music industry from a business standpoint.
If you're in a position to be a session player between tours and receive royalties from your regular band work, do it. Learn to sing at least background vocals and definitely learn to write songs to end up being more employable doing what you love to do. So even if your band doesn't stay together you can at least have the satisfaction of knowing you are keeping the business side of life together, because these tips will be important for long term success in this business.
As well, your band needs to learn how to joint venture with other bands setting up gigs where you open for each other, interview each other and set up media as well. This can also go to writing promo material for labels and showing other bands how to make money selling other band's material for a cut of the profits, and recording bands too.
There are many ways to make money if your band dissolves. That way you have a back up if it does, and you're not so pissed off at the end of the day and can move on to other band's of your own and doing session work or writing.
email me for more info: mdgrove@rock.com
Mark Grove
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