Set the rules for your band before the hard conversations happen

Bands often operate informally at the start, but tension can build once there is money coming in, recording costs to share, or disagreement about who controls songs and branding. A written agreement helps record what has actually been agreed before memories differ. It can cover issues like whether income is split equally, who owns master recordings, whether one member can book gigs on behalf of the group, and what happens if someone leaves mid-project. Those are the points that usually become difficult when nothing has been written down.

It commonly covers how performance income, streaming revenue and expenses are divided, who owns songs and recordings, how decisions are made, and whether the band name can be used by one or more members. It can also deal with rehearsal or touring costs, authority to sign deals, dispute procedures, and what happens if a member leaves, is replaced or stops performing. If your band writes collaboratively but records through one member's studio setup, for example, the agreement may need to separate songwriting ownership from recording ownership.

The drafting depends on how your band actually works. Key details include whether songs are written jointly or individually, whether the band earns money from live shows, merchandise or recordings, and whether one member manages bookings or social media. We also need to know if the group already has releases out, whether there is a producer or manager involved, and whether members contribute different amounts of time or money. Those facts can change how ownership, authority and payment clauses should be written.

Timing depends on how clearly the band has already agreed the main commercial points. If the lineup, ownership position and revenue split are settled, the process is usually more straightforward. If there are open questions around songwriting credits, recording ownership or exit payments, those points may need to be clarified before the agreement can be finalised. Once engaged, we will identify the information needed, prepare the draft, and flag any areas where the band needs to choose between different approaches before signing.

No. This service covers legal work for the Band Partnership Agreement itself and related drafting questions based on your instructions. It does not include tax advice, royalty collection administration, or ongoing representation in a live dispute between members. If the matter moves beyond documenting the arrangement and into negotiations, a member exit conflict, or related music industry agreements, that can be scoped separately. Keeping the service document-led helps make the fixed-fee and deliverables clearer from the outset.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Band Partnership Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.