Site Meter Musician’s Notebook » Blog Archive » Establishing Your Band: The Band Agreement

Establishing Your Band: The Band Agreement

by Joel Falconer

Every band requires a basic agreement that sets the standard for working conditions and practices. The way this document will be written really depends on which governing model you’ve chosen, as discussed in yesterday’s Establishing Your Band post.

Aristocratic - if you’ve used the aristocratic model, the band leader should sit down and knock out a draft, then take it to the band and discuss each element, how it can be improved, and any ideas for additions your band members may have.

Democratic - if you’ve chosen this model, then the planning and writing process should be group-driven; get together and do the draft as a band, with no individual taking the first steps in the process alone.

Anarchistic - if you’ve chosen this model, you obviously won’t be having a band agreement!

If you have a business-savvy or intellectual property law-savvy friend (or band member) you might want to get them in on the process too. Don’t even attempt to start the Band Agreement without a good footing in IP law of your own. That said, don’t even get into the creative industries without knowing that stuff. Go to the WIPO site and get a grip on it all.

Once you’ve decided who is involved in the writing process you can get started. You’ll need to set up a document that follows a structure somewhat similar to the one included in the Band Agreement Outline, with any additions or deletions as necessary, and then filling out that structure to cover, exhaustively, each topic.

Download the Band Agreement Outline as a PDF.

This basic list will get you well and truly started on the way to producing a Band Agreement that will keep the operations of the band civil and provide mechanisms for the removal of a band member who causes too much trouble.

Midnight.Haulkerton (then called Orpheus) actually had a Band Agreement formed after one band member’s consistent poor behavior called for it. You can save yourself plenty of time and trouble (and lost hair) by getting it out of the way in the early stages.

The Establishing Your Band Series
Part One: What Direction Are You Going In?
Part Two: What’s This Band About?
Part Three: What You Need in Band Members
Part Four: Governing Models
Part Five: The Band Agreement
Part Six: Building Repertoire
Part Seven: Recruiting New Members
Part Eight: Learning & Arranging Repertoire

Subscribe to the Musician’s Notebook RSS feed to receive the next installment of Establishing Your Band.


Posted in Bands, Starting your band on June 14th, 2007

Link to this Entry

Recent Posts

Related Posts

3 Responses to “Establishing Your Band: The Band Agreement”

  1. Roberta Says:
    June 15th, 2007 at 10:45 am

    I like what you’ve done with this site!

    I’m here from the Cleveland site to tag you to write five reasons why you love blogging….enjoy!!

  2. Needless Productions » Why working bands need to think about contracts Says:
    June 22nd, 2007 at 8:32 pm

    […] Establishing Your Band: The Agreement  […]

  3. Musician’s Notebook » Blog Archive » The Band Agreement In-Depth: Exit Clauses Says:
    September 12th, 2007 at 8:37 pm

    […] more about the Band Agreement in the Establishing Your Band series. Did You Enjoy this Post? Subscribe to Musician’s Notebook. It’s Free! « Back Home […]

Leave a Reply


About Musician’s Notebook

Do you know which essential questions to ask yourself when starting a band? What is your strategy for reaching an audience? Which tactics are you using to promote? Can you answer in 4 seconds or less what the strongest theme of your music is? Most musicians answer these questions with a shrug and glazed-over eyes, but they're just a few of the things a musician must know to create exposure and audience. Read Musician's Notebook with Joel Falconer and discover how to make your music sharp, focused and successful.

Musician’s Notebook Author(s)
    » Damian-C

NAVIGATE

LINKS

CATEGORIES

TOP COMMENTERS

RECENT COMMENTS

SUBSCRIBE

ARCHIVES

Blogging Flair

Earn $$ with WidgetBucks!

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com

 

Entertainment & Music Channel Posts

  • Please leave your message after the beep
    BEEP! Sorry for the long absence, folks--technical difficulties at the mother ship. It's a relief to be back up, but please bear with CHHQ just a little longer, as I'm on vacation through the end [...]
  • Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" Music Video Is Super Hot!
    Madonna's latest CD "Hard Candy" has slowly been growing on me, but this track is the stand out song on the album. Madonna has always been an innovator when it comes to sharp artistic music [...]
  • Music Video Flashbacks
    BELLE AND SEBASTIAN - "THE BLUES ARE STILL BLUE" (2006) THE FLAMING LIPS - "DO YOU REALIZE?" (2002) GOLDFRAPP - "STRICT MACHINE" (2003) TRAVIS - "WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN ON ME?" [...]
  • Streaming Jukebox: 100 of My Favorite Brit-Pop Songs of All Time!
    LISTEN TO A NON-STOP MIX OF OVER 100 OF MY FAVORITE "BRIT-POP" TUNES OF ALL TIME WITH NO REPEATS! GREAT FOR CLEANING HOUSE, FOR WORK AND SURFING THE NET! GET READY TO HEAR SOME SONGS YOU [...]
  • Pop Culture Buzz Technical Difficulties
    As you may have noticed Pop Culture Buzz has been down for some time due to server issues and other technical difficulties, my apologies for the inconvenience. Now that we are back up and running [...]
  • Review: Vantage Point
    I went to go see this movie at the cheap theater to make up for the fact that I paid so much money to see such a horrible movie (Please refer to my review of The Happening) and for once I was very [...]
  • Review: The Happening
    I had to go see this movie as soon as it came out because I love Mark Wahlberg and I was really excited to see him in something new. I rarely go out and spend the $10 to see a movie when it first [...]
  • DVD Review - "Be Kind, Rewind"
    GRADE: A Michel Gondry is a Director who has the ability to make everyday living things look animated and larger than life. His music videos with Bjork are monumental pieces of artistic eye [...]
  • Alexandra Out Of Big Brother House - BB9 HM Thrown Out After Threatening Other Housemates
    The witch is dead, long live Big Brother! Alexandra De-Gale has been booted out of the Big Brother house ahead of her inevitable eviction on Friday after she is said to have threatened some of [...]
  • Everything I know, I learned from Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    1. Jason Segel can, like, write stuff. Apparently all that time in Judd Apatow's writers' room paid off; his movie is genuinely funny and well-written, and pleasingly un-formulaic. Skeptical as I [...]

 

Hot Off The Press

  • My favorite quick salad
    Salads are a weekly occurrence in my house, both because I need to cut my fat intake and because I truly love them.  That familiarity can bring with it a sense of boredom from time to time, so [...]
  • Kate Hudson Debuts on the Home Shopping Network
    Kate Hudson's hair product collaboration with her hairstylist David Babaii will make its debut on the Home Shopping Network today, July 3, and will continue to be a featured product throughout the [...]
  • Partners in Parenting
    I have seen it many times before, heck I have even been guilty of it. It is probably the most common parenting mistake we mothers make and sometimes we don't even realize we are doing it. Do you [...]
  • Emily's sister is really "Happening"
    I guess it's a safe bet to say that talent runs in the Deschanel family. We all know and love Emily Deschanel for her role as Temperance Brennan in Bones, but her little sister Zooey Deschanel is on [...]
  • Wellness session, "Health benefits of fresh summ...
    "Health benefits of fresh summer produce and how to prepare it," through 12:30 p.m., session repeated at 12:30 p.m., RSVP to barclay@iastate.edufree 515-294-9625 [...]
  • One More Silver Dollar
    If you can read this you're too close ... and legally blind Government officials announced today that the U.S. Mint will soon produce a new silver dollar commemorating the birth of Louis Braille [...]
  • Beach Day
    Yesterday, I took Peanut to the beach to hang out and see her grandparents and aunt. You would think I never take this kid anywhere - she kept saying how excited she was! It was a lot of fun, [...]
  • Liv Tyler does the cow fashion
    I was starting to suffer headache this morning because of the moody weather here in Philippines and that became worse as I learn something today. We know Hollywood personalities. They are one [...]
  • Amy Ryan returns to The Office
    What Office fan wouldn't be thrilled about this? Amy Ryan, who appeared on the finale last season, as Holly Flax, the new human resources representative, is definitely clocking back in for The [...]
  • FSU weekly news (June 30 - July 2)
    In this edition of FSU Headlines (7:24): - Florida State Law a jobs juggernaut. - Florida State not turning a blind eye. Subscribe to FSU Headlines podcast via iTunes. Just click [...]