Who owns the PA?

[davehux]

Our current band PA is owned by the guitard, but he is leaving shortly and taking it with him. I own the band lighting rig. Neither of us charges the band for their purchase or use. We are currently gigging 2 or 3 times a month and this is unlikely to increase.

Just trying to work out the pros and cons of the new PA that we will need

Someone buys another and it remains their property.
Someone buys it and the band pays it back over a number of gigs.
Everyone stumps up cash up front for a share.
Just rent one each time

As usual, your Basschat experiences and helpful advice would be gratefully received

[EBS_freak]

It's always better if somebody owns the PA outright to avoid any complexities at the band split.

The way one of my bands has financed the PA is that one person has bought it and charges a nominal PA hire fee of £50 per gig (which is used to pay off PA). The one guy ends up with the PA as an asset - but that worked for the rest of the band.

[BobVbass]

one person owning it, or bits of it is best - one person could own the desk, one the speakers etc but don't share it - it's a nightmare

[merlin]

Buy your own rent it to the band,thats what I do,only down fall you get to carry the b***dy thing

[bremen]

If it's just a vocal PA I'd say the singer - the rest of us own our own instruments.

If he/she has any cash

[Thurbs]

Sharing kit is a nightmare, it should always only have one owner IMHO, especially if the band is quite transient. I would suggest the MD/leader/organiser/lastonestanding/whatever has the PA and takes a slightly larger share of the earnings because of it.

[4 Strings]

Being a Christian band we have rather a holy arrangement. Pa belongs to the band and if the band splits we'll pass it on to another band. To be fair it was paid for originally by grant money rather than band members so that's quite easy to do.

Our issue is in replacing the mics, who pays for those? The singers are my favourite as the rest of us have our gear. In the end though my bass will always be more useful to me than a mic will be to a singer.

Tricky one.

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1353343679' post='1873956']
Our issue is in replacing the mics, who pays for those? The singers are my favourite as the rest of us have our gear. In the end though my bass will always be more useful to me than a mic will be to a singer.

Tricky one.
[/quote]

Everyone who sings should own their own Mic. If only for health/cleanliness reasons.

[Thurbs]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1353344036' post='1873966']
Everyone who sings should own their own Mic. If only for health/cleanliness reasons.
[/quote]Agreed, caught a nasty infection from a mic once, made the mistake of using a rehearsal room supplied mic.

[Blink]

I own the pa mixer and front line. The rest of the band are responsible for their own monitors (in ear or otherwise) and mics. Seems to work OK and spreads the transport issues.

[Acebassmusic]

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1353342632' post='1873930']
If it's just a vocal PA I'd say the singer - the rest of us own our own instruments.
[/quote]

Oh dear, oh deary me......you really should know by now that the singer gets the PA supplied along with the fluffy towels, puppies and green M&M's....

Seriously though, in our band I own and supply the PA. It allows me to ensure 1) it's made up of good gear that works together 2) its kept in good nick 3) it works! 4) it saves any problems on who "owns" what or is "responsible" should anybody leave or an item blows up and needs replacing. The only thing I expect the singers to provide is ther own good quality mic.

In the past I've tried the "band buys the PA" and "you buy that bit and I'll buy this bit" - it usually ends up messy when someone leaves........or forgets their piece of equipment for a gig.......or forgets that it needs to actually work for a gig.......sorry....rant over

I like the idea of renting the PA back to the band.....not thought of that one.....doh!

Edited November 19, 2012 by Acebassmusic

[bremen]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1353344036' post='1873966']
Everyone who sings should own their own Mic. If only for health/cleanliness reasons.
[/quote]

There's a glorious anecdote involving Sade, Buster Bloodvessel and a shared SM58...

ah, here we go http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176732-funny-things-youve-heard-at-a-gigsoundcheck/ post #14

[LemonCello]

I've just bought the PA and it and all its bits and bobs resides at my house. I did consider renting but it's a chunk out of your fee and you have to travel to pick up/drop off. The rest of the band have offered to 'chip in' but I dunno about that.

[Geddys nose]

I own my own PA and charge a equal share out of the gig money, Works well for repairs and buying new stuff for the band,I would never make a profit if its the PA's share.

[pietruszka]

I'd go for the one person owns the PA arrangement. I own my bands PA outright, theres no argument, it belongs to me. If I leave I still have the PA.
And yes I think the singer should have the PA to but we all know what they're like. And each vocalist should have their own mic for hygiene reasons.




Dan

[Jacqueslemac]

We all own it equally. Gig money has almost paid the finance off (it was underwritten by the two guitarists). if anyone leaves, the deal is that they get 80 per cent of their contribution back in cash and the PA stays with the band. The only risk of this is the last remaining member of the band ends up with the PA.

Everything apart from the desk lives in my cellar, so I get the pleasure of transporting it everywhere. On the other hand, if there's an acrimonious falling-out, possession is nine-tens of the law, isn't it?

[Lozz196]

In The Daves, we`ve bought the pa between us. Should anyone leave they don`t get a cut. Only when the band folds, will everyone who has been involved get an equal share. It`s up front, everyone knows this, and seems to keep things fairly hassle free. It all lives at our guitarists, so we all hope he`ll never leave - as there`s quite a lot of it.

In The Tuesday Club, the drummer already had his own, so no point in buying another, plus most gigs we play are at London venues with house pa anyway.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Lozz196

[barkin]

[quote name='Acebassmusic' timestamp='1353344418' post='1873978']
...in our band I own and supply the PA. It allows me to ensure 1) it's made up of good gear that works together 2) its kept in good nick 3) it works! 4) it saves any problems on who "owns" what or is "responsible" should anybody leave or an item blows up and needs replacing. The only thing I expect the singers to provide is ther own good quality mic.

[/quote]

Yup - after all manner of "issues" in the past, this is now how I do it. Singer/s provide their own mic, although I do have a couple of my own - everything else is mine.

If the guitarists were in any way involved, it'd either not work, or some leads would be missing or...

Also means I can comfortably use it with my other band, and do the sound for other bands, parties etc without worrying about breaking "our" PA.

Works for me.

[brensabre79]

The band started with a shared PA, gradually bits broke, nobody interested in losing money by giving up gig money to replace so I bought the replacement gear, now I own the entire PA and I take a sixth man cut for supplying PA and looking after the sound. Everyone is happy with this, and as I'm the one operating it now it all works!

Singers have to have their own mic. I also believe they should supply the PA to be honest (it's their amp after all) but having seen so many singers turn up with wholly insubstantial / broken / unsafe equipment, for my peace of mind I just do the PA!

In an ideal world, just as everyone else does, the singer should turn up with adequate amplification/personal monitoring equipment, that they know how to use and keep in working condition. I think world peace and an end to suffering is a more realistic goal however.

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1353344036' post='1873966']
Everyone who sings should own their own Mic. If only for health/cleanliness reasons.
[/quote]

Nothing worse than a mic that stinks like an old ashtray is there ?

[gareth1982]

me and the drummer own ours outright. it works for us. we are probably the closest 2 anyway in terms of friendship, and he is 60 (i'm 30), so when he hangs up his sticks or kicks the bucket, the pa is mine, all mine i tell ya!!

[Doddy]

I'd never buy the PA as part of a band-there is too much potential for hassle later on. Let one member of the
band buy it,then there is no problems.If that person wants to charge more,that's up to them and the rest of
the band.

[Happy Jack]

I own my band's PA. I reckon it makes it harder for them to sack me ...

[MrTaff]

Our singer and the guitarists share the PA so they payed for it but sooner or later is going to cause issues when one of them leaves or something breaks.

I've found that PA's cause nothing but arguments over who owns what & who pays for what so now I try to stay out of it, I own and maintain my rig & leave the PA stuff to them.

[largo]

Our band share ownership of the PA. We all pay a small amount each gig for its upkeep, repairs and upgrade. It stays with the band if anyone leaves and last one(s) standing if we were to ever split up will own it.