You’ve got the album finished, you have the tour booked, your merch has arrived, butsomething still isn’t quite right. You’re not getting along. Your drummer isn’t showing up to rehearsal or your bassist takes every opportunity to disagree with your guitarist. There’s tension in the band and it’s palpable.

Managing band relations isn’t an easy gig whether you’re an indie artist or a household name. But at what point do you stop trying and eventually cut ties with the person or the band as a whole?

Consider the following:

• Scheduling: If a band member’s schedule makes it impossible for him or her to attend rehearsal on a regular basis, that poses a major challenge.
• Skill: If a member’s performance or skill level isn’t up to par with the rest of the band, that will hold the band back.
• Communication: If emails and phone calls are left unanswered and the band member goes mia for days at a time without notice, it’s going to be hard to move ahead and make plans as a group.
• Personality: If there are personality conflicts on top of the scheduling, skill and communication problems, then you have a major issue. Bands spend significant amounts of time together and if you can’t enjoy each other’s company, then it’s going to be a miserable experience.

If you’ve decided that it’s time to let a band member go, here are a few pointers:

• Do it in person: Do NOT, I repeat do NOT do it over email. It’s unprofessional. Set up a face-to-face meeting and tell the band member that you’re cutting ties in person.
• Be prepared: Go into the meeting knowing what you want to say so that you don’t stumble over your words or say things you don’t mean — and so that the meeting doesn’t drag on. Cut to the chase by knowing what you want to say.
• Be kind. Remember that the music industry is small. You might cross paths again some day. Don’t burn any bridges and be kind when letting a band member go.

Tell us what you think! Have you had to cut ties with a band member? How did it go?

Up next: Music Placements part two: video games.

The SongCast Crew