in our band, we jointly paid for all our PA (speakers, amps, foldback, mikes, leads, everything) by saving up gig money, and the then 6 of us signed up to an agreement which tried to cover every eventuality, as follows:

The PA and other assets are jointly owned by all 6 band members. Decisions about buying/selling kit can only be made by agreement of all 6 members. All have equal rights and responsibilities as far as using, storing, maintaining and insuring the PA goes.

„X        If an individual chose to leave the band, they would continue to own a 6th share of the PA that was currently owned by the band at the point they left. It would be up to the other members of the band to decide if they wanted to buy them out. If a ¡¥buy out¡¦ did take place, the price of the PA would be taken as the price that was paid for the PA, not the resale value. After a member has been ¡¥bought out¡¦ they no longer have any rights to any PA.
        
„X        If an individual were asked to leave the band, the rest of the band would have to buy them out straight away.
        
„X        If the band split up, and the majority of the members agreed, the PA would be sold and proceeds split between all members. Otherwise, each individual would still own a 6th share of the PA and the ex-band would own it as a group. Individuals could choose or be asked to leave that group, in which case buy outs would take place as above. The group would have equal rights to use the PA on a first come first served basis, and would have equal responsibilities for storing, maintaining and insuring it.
        
„X        If a new person joined the band, they would not own any of the existing PA, although they would have equal responsibilities for storage, maintenance and insurance. They would have an equal share of ownership of anything that was bought after they joined (unless it was using money saved up before they joined). However they could choose to ¡¥buy in¡¦ to equal ownership ¡V by contributing a 7th share (or 6th share, say, if they were replacing somebody who had already left) of the original purchase price into band funds.
        
„X        If a band member(s) died, their 6th share(s) would be inherited equally by the rest of the band. If the entire band died at the same time, a 6th share would belong to each of their estates.


So far our band has reduced from 6 to 5 in a good natured & friendly fashion, we're saving up to 'buy out' the person who left. Not sure if our agreement would stand up in court but since we're all mates, fair chance it'll never come to that. Our kit is big & heavy and we each store what we can in our houses, some more than others depending on how much storage each of us have... a share of fee from gigs goes into a kitty to cover insurance, new purchases etc, and we pay travel expenses to all the drivers or pay to hire a van depending on distances. we're never going to make our fortunes but we do cover our costs...