Band agreement basics: the name, the splits, leaving members and how you decide

Most bands start with a group chat, not a contract. That is fine until the first real money arrives, the drummer moves cities, or a label asks who actually owns the name on the poster. A band agreement is the document that answers those questions while everyone still likes each other.

This is a practical guide, not legal advice. Partnership and trademark law differ by country. We use the UK Partnership Act 1890 as a worked example, because it is short, public and shows clearly what the law does when a band writes nothing down. Check the rules where you live, and have a local music lawyer read anything you sign. Everything here is as we read it on 24 Oct 2026.

You may already be a partnership

Under section 1 of the Partnership Act 1890, "Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit." There is no form to file. If four of you gig for fees, sell merch and split the money, you may be partners in law already.

That matters because the Act then supplies default rules for anything you have not agreed. Most of them start with "subject to any agreement", which is the point: a written agreement replaces the defaults with your own choices. If you write nothing, the defaults are what you have.

The four things every band agreement should settle

1. The name

The band name is often the most valuable thing a band owns, and the easiest to fight over. The US Patent and Trademark Office says a trademark is "any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services", and that "you become a trademark owner as soon as you start using your trademark". Registration is optional and gives broader, nationwide rights; without it, your rights cover the area where you actually trade.

So the name exists, and someone owns it, from the first gig. The agreement should say who:

• Everyone jointly, usually through the partnership or a company the band sets up.
• One founder, who licenses it to the band. Common when a project is one songwriter plus a changing line-up.
• Whoever remains, with a rule about how many members must stay for the name to carry on.

Also write down what happens if the band splits: can anyone tour as the band, can a departing member say "formerly of", and who decides about registering the name and in which countries.

2. The splits

Here the defaults are blunt. Section 24(1) of the 1890 Act says all partners "are entitled to share equally in the capital and profits of the business" and must contribute equally towards losses. Equal may be exactly what you want. If one member paid for the van, or the band wants to pay the person who does the bookings, you need to say so.

Separate the income streams, because they are different kinds of money:

• Live and merch income. Gig fees, merch and sync fees paid to the band. Usually split by the agreement after expenses.
• Recording (master) income. Who owns the recordings the band paid for, and how streaming and sales money is shared.
• Songwriting (publishing) income. This belongs to whoever wrote each song, in the shares they agree per song. It is a separate copyright from the recording, as we explain in two copyrights in every song. Some bands split all writing equally regardless of who wrote what; others split song by song. Either works if it is written down.

For the per-song shares, a split sheet signed at the session is the practical tool; our guide to metadata, ISRC, ISWC and split sheets covers how to fill one in and register it.

Add the boring parts too: who holds the bank account, who can spend band money and up to what amount, and how often everyone sees the books.

3. Leaving, joining and firing

This is where unwritten bands get hurt. Three default rules from the 1890 Act show why:

• Joining needs everyone. Section 24(7): "No person may be introduced as a partner without the consent of all existing partners."
• Firing needs a clause. Section 25: "No majority of the partners can expel any partner unless a power to do so has been conferred by express agreement between the partners." Three of you cannot simply vote the fourth out.
• Leaving can end the whole thing. Under section 32, a partnership entered into for an undefined time is dissolved when any partner gives notice of their intention to dissolve it, subject to any agreement.

A good agreement replaces those with rules you would actually choose:

• How a member leaves (written notice, how much notice) and whether the band continues without them.
• Whether, and how, a member can be asked to leave, and by what vote.
• What a departing member keeps: usually their songwriting shares in songs already written, and an agreed share of income from recordings made while they were in the band.
• What they give up: usually any say in future decisions and any share of future live income.
• How band equipment and money in the account are valued and paid out.
• How a new member is added, and whether they share in the old catalogue (usually not).

4. How you decide

Section 24(5) says every partner may take part in management. Section 24(8) says "differences arising as to ordinary matters" may be decided by a majority, but "no change may be made in the nature of the partnership business without the consent of all existing partners."

That leaves a lot open. Decide in advance which calls are:

• Majority decisions: booking a gig, approving a routine expense, choosing a single.
• Unanimous decisions: signing a record, publishing or management deal, selling or licensing the catalogue, letting a song be used in a political advert or a brand campaign, changing the name.
• Delegated: things one person handles alone, such as day-to-day social posts or advancing shows.

Say what happens on a tie, and add a simple disputes step, for example a cooling-off period and then mediation, before anyone calls a lawyer.

A short checklist

1. Who is in the band, as of what date.
2. Who owns the name, and what happens to it if the band splits.
3. How live, merch, recording and songwriting money is split, and how expenses come off first.
4. Who controls the bank account and spending limits.
5. Who owns the recordings and the equipment.
6. Leaving, firing and joining: notice, votes, payouts, catalogue shares.
7. Which decisions are majority, unanimous or delegated, and the tie-breaker.
8. A disputes process.
9. When you review the agreement (once a year, or before signing any deal).

What we think

Write it before you need it. The defaults in the 1890 Act were written for Victorian businesses, not for four friends with a van, and they treat everyone as equal partners who can end the whole venture by giving notice. That can be fair, but it is rarely what bands mean, and nobody notices the gap until a member leaves the week a song takes off.

Our view, artists first: keep songwriting shares with the writers and agree them per song, because that money lasts longest and is the easiest to lose. Make the name a joint asset unless one person truly is the project, and say so plainly if they are. Make firing possible but hard, with a clear vote and a fair payout, because a band that cannot remove a member who has stopped turning up eventually stops being a band. And treat the agreement as something you revisit before every deal, not a one-off. A label or manager will arrive with its own paperwork; walking in already agreed with each other is the strongest position a band can have. Before you sign theirs, read our record deal red flags.