Think about this:
1) Back in the 1980's I got into recording because I wanted a home studio to record my Ideas and demo various bands I was in, I set up a 4 track TEAC 3340S and modified an old live PA mixer to behave as a studio mixer. My friends heard the demos and asked if I could record them too, I charged a small fee which I put towards more gear, then friends of friends of friends started coming and soon I rented an old factory and built a studio, I am still going.
2) In the 1990's recording gear and computers became cheaper and people set up little home studios to record ideas before going into the professional studio to record the real thing, but the home studio got better and better and in the end the work dropped off for the professional studios and they started to struggle.
3) The year is 2010, I only run my studio as a part time business now due to there not being enough work to open full time, this does not bother me too much as I enjoy what I do in the studio and I have time to play in my own band. So who records with me?
Bands that want to record live together in a room, with live drums and amps.
Bands that do not own any recording gear and don't want to buy any.
Bands that have nobody technical in the band that knows anything about sound recording.
Bands that have a home studio but want to track drums and guitars and take the files home to work on it.
Solo acts that would rather spend their money with me, get a good product and get on with playing the music live.
And most importantly, Bands that come to me to use my experience with both recording, producing and musical input that you do not get sitting at home on your own.
Don't forget that a big part of classic albums is the producer and engineer, if the Beatles had set up a home studio they would have recorded great songs but would never have meet George Martin, the fifth Beatle.
By all means have a home studio, record ideas, sell a few CDs at gigs, but if you are serious at some time you will need (want) to go into a Studio.
Cheers
Alan.
P.S. When paying for a studio as a band, your personal costs are only the costs divided by the number of members, i.e 4 band members = $1000 a day divided by 4 = $250 day for you. If you go out and buy the gear so that your band can record, they record for free and you pay for the gear and spend all the time. If the band buys gear, thats fine until the band breaks up or someone leaves at some point (which will happen), then who gets the gear?