The band broke up...gear splitting questions!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter fris9
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Sell on e-bay, split cash.

There's nothing worse then having people think you screwed them out of money.

The best advice I've ever heard is that when you start a band and you buy something, have someone buy that peice of gear. Even if you end up owning 1 SM57, a graphic eq, and some useless cords, it's better to walk away with something then get into endless arguments about who owns what.

Andy.
 
ignor my earlier advise (blinded by a bottle of jack d)
note to self stay off the pc when pissed.

are the band local mates you see all the time ? is there any reason to sell ,ok the band may have split up but it dose not mean you can not be friends!!
if you suggest they can come and record when they want with the new mates they end up playing with or anything they might want to record.
which means you all have access to the firewire.and a new band might be born and what ever split you up might get resolved.

if its a bad break sell the thing split the money and never bother them again.start a new band and buy another.

thus end the ramblings of a complete nutter
 
apl said:
I wasn't all that serious, but I did see a case of Miller Lite for 10.99 on the way to work this morning.
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Do you consider Miller Lite to be "beer"? I try to keep the words "Lite" and "Light" as far away from "beer" as possible, preferably not in the same sentence! :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
here is what i have used to great success.


first off, everything should be valued at what they are going for used. the entire band benefited from the equipment, not just you.

value each piece of gear, and put a price on it that everyone agrees on.
everyone pays for the gear they want to buy
the sum of money left after the stuff is gone is then divided 4 ways(or however many band members)


example
joe buys the pa amps for $500
jonny buys the pa speakers for $400
jesus buys the congas for $80
jonas doesnt want anything $0

total $980
divide by 4 members = $245 given to each person...

easy as 1 2 3
 
The only catch to the FMV approach is if there were reluctant investment, followed by non use, or side use outside the band. Let's say you talked everyone into buying it, and you guys never did any real recording with it, or you've been using it on your own projects (or other peoples projects)..... that could lead to some hard feelings about things. But if there's no extenuating circumstances involved, and all invested willingly and recieved the same benefit from the investment, then the buy out should be based on the generous side of fair market value. If that can't be agreed on by all, then sell it and buy yourself another one.
Band breakups suck, especially if there's children involved. :D good luck.
 
this is EXACTLY why i always refuse to buy "band gear" with "band money".

i either buy it myself and "let the band use it" or someone else buys it. that way there's none of this nonsense when the band is no more.

let this be a lesson to ya! own things outright! :D


cheers,
wade
 
mrface2112 said:
this is EXACTLY why i always refuse to buy "band gear" with "band money".

i either buy it myself and "let the band use it" or someone else buys it. that way there's none of this nonsense when the band is no more.

let this be a lesson to ya! own things outright! :D


cheers,
wade
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Amen. If everyone is super reasonable, it might all work out. But that's probably more the exception than the rule. When I was in high school I was in a band and gig money was used to pay off the PA system (just one or two gigs, but it amounted to like $250). When it was all over, the band leader and our manager/his father sold the PA and kept all the money. Not a huge deal, but it might have evoked less resentment if they'd communicated their intentions at the outset.

The worst was being in a band with a husband, wife and sister running everything. They got their cut, a booking fee, and a PA 'rental' fee. Essentially we were all making payments on a PA that some of us would never own. I brought up the idea of having the band rent my amp and guitar from me, but somehow they didn't like that idea... :D

CP
 
I agree with owning things outright.....most things we did with band money only pertained to merch, marketing, photos, etc....it just so happened that no one could fork over $500 outright of the interface, so we decided to all pitch in on it. As far as PA, mics, etc.....those were all owned by individuals in the band.

I only see this as being a problem because our drummer is kind of a penny pinching type guy, which is fine, but I'm almost positive he's going to assume that I pay the original money put up front for it, not what it's worth now. As far as the band using it, no one really had the chance to use it, and I spent a lot of freakin time just trying to learn it and Pro Tools in anticipation of us recording with it, which obviously isn't going to happen. In addition, there are a few members who, when we all pitched in, say $50 a piece for something, didn't. So....I'm not in a real compromising mood. Thanks guys!
 
that's understandable

i've been in all sorts of situations like this as far as merch, equipment, gas money on the band credit card...it's always shitty
 
crankypants said:
and a PA 'rental' fee. Essentially we were all making payments on a PA that some of us would never own.
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on a side note, i really don't see *that* much of an issue with a "PA rental fee" on a conceptual level. if they didn't own one, the band would either need to purchase one or rent one, and renting a PA is easily $100 for any decent sized PA.

the difference between a "PA rental fee" and you charging an "amp rental fee" is that everyone needs (and likely shares) the PA......whereas your amp is yours and yours alone.

that said, that sort of practice would REALLY rub me the wrong way and i wouldn't be in that band for long. :D


cheers,
wade
 
This is easy.

The band all contributed equally (I assume) to the purchase. The band all used the device equally (I assume) for band recordings. Great. Everybody got some use.

Now it is used, and needs to be "split up" between the equally equitted band members (equitted...I like that word...:) it isn't a word, but I like it anyway!). So, if the band had to sell it right now, it would be worth x amount. Take x amount and divide by the number of band members, then deduct that from x and you have the price you should pay them for it.

Remember, if you sell it, YOU would get an even cut too. So, if you were to buy it, it is fair to offer the going USED price minus what your cut would have been had it sold at that price. Then the other band members can split evenly what you paid them.
 
mrface2112 said:
and renting a PA is easily $100 for any decent sized PA.
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Holy cow, I would like to know where you can rent a "decent sized PA" for $100?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

That is about 1/4 of what a "decent sized" PA rents for.
 
fris9 said:
Ok......so, with band money, we bought a Firewire 1814 for recording. I want to keep it for my own use, so I need to pay the other guys. Here's the dilemma-do they deserve what a used one on Ebay would go for, or should I pay them the amount paid originally for the unit? To me, it makes sense that I would pay them what they would get if they sold it, but I can see this possibly becoming an issue and I would like some feedback.
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There is no issue here. Since you can buy it new, this is a self-correcting situation. Pitch what YOU want to pay for it. Just like shopping, no?

If they think you are being unfair, get the new price (like they might say) and tell them to buy YOU out.

Now, go get a new unit. They can fuck around and find out it is basically worthless on the used open market and see the light for themselves.

You will either get the unit cheap, or buy a new one but don't pay them new price for a used unit, how is that fair?

For all the posters that say you should pay the same price to them to be "fair", why don't these posters just pay the "buy it now" price on eBay and end the auction to "be fair"?
 
Ford Van said:
Holy cow, I would like to know where you can rent a "decent sized PA" for $100?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

That is about 1/4 of what a "decent sized" PA rents for.
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well, "decent sized" for playing a bar gig around here. for sake of argument, call it 500W for mains and another 500W for monitors, the speakers, amps, preamps (board/head/whatever), stands and cables. that's assuming that the only things running through the PA are vocals, kick and maybe bass.

of course, i've known our local rental dude for ages, so he cuts me a bit of a break on the price. anything more than 500W mains for a bar gig around and you'll make peoples' ears bleed. (read: the bars are small)

if you're needing more PA than that (miking the kit, giving individual monitor feeds, etc), well, of course all bets are off and personally i'd be contracting someone ELSE to deal with it rather than dealing with renting and setup/breakdown/running it myself. YMMV.


cheers,
wade
 
It's always the singer or guitarist's fault (unless the drummer can't keep a beat or the bass player can't stay in key).

I know these things.
 
Sorry about the band...

**Part of the depreciation of used gear is that you don't know where it's been.**

This is not the case with your band's equipment, so its depreciation *for you* cannot be compared to what the used market will bear.



Seems to me to be three options:

1. If everyone agrees to sell their share of it to you for $x.xx, then that rules. No hassle, everyone is ok with it.

2. Sell it and split the $$$ (I liked the idea of selling it to yourself on EBay, but you'd have to have really high ethical standards not to intentionally represent the gear poorly, so that's really out, too.)

3. Everyone gets back what they put into it in the first place. Imagine that you're just buying it new-- and any percentage that you lose in depreciation is just part of your hobby/overhead. Also worth the avoidance of selling it/ buying new stuff for yourself... time is $$$!

really, if anyone feels that #1 is in the least bit unfair, then #2 and #3 are your only honorable choices.
 
just give it to them and say GFY's.

then prowl the bay and craigslist for one for yourself. don't even get involved because everyone is going to have something to bitch about. tell them YOU want YOUR share, or the can compensate and just give it to you for free.
 
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