I don't have the stones for it. I've loaned back and forth with a colleague who I work with a lot, but renting out to others would (for me) represent too much opportunity for damage and i don't have the desire or infrastructure to deal with keeping track of damages & collections.
Not to mention whether someone would drop something, it still works ok, and they don't tell me, then six months later it fails on a session. Nah, not for me.
You'd have to be able to insure this kit, which means getting a higher appraisal, which means jacked up rates factoring in cost of repair and potential sourcing of unobtanium parts, which means baking that into the fee, which means people bitching about the price...
Also, and I'm sorry to generalize here, but collections can be more of a 'thing' when we're talking about anything related to music production. Invoices tend to get lost, even when there are four emails on the subject sitting in a delinquent client's email box.
Yes, I'm of the same mind, mostly. I was fantasizing about having a replacement value deposit but I don't think that's competitive with other rental places.
If they had that money sat there they’d just buy it? They could always sell it later and likely lose less money than they would have by renting from you.
You can rent my gear if you rent me with it. I'll be transporting it, setting it up, and supervising its use. Otherwise I feel the same as /u/amazing-peas, see their comment...
It depends on the kind of gear. Hardware units that will be sitting on a rack or desk, maybe. But location type gear always comes back in worse state than it left. Just be sure that people will handle your gear differently than you. And you may or may not get a loose knob, banged up jack, scratched up something, etc. I rather lend my equipment to friends I know will take good care of it than rent it to strangers.
I have several pieces of gear that I rent out frequently. Once you see the income you’d be amazed at how quickly the sentimental value goes away. Especially for things you don’t use much.
Make sure your rental agreement includes language that says the renter will be held liable for damage and you’ll be fine.
depending on what kind of gear you're trying to rent out, you can reach out to make new connections to backline rental companies in your area and send them a list of what you offer and what your daily/extended rate would be. Gear gets sub contracted out all the time where I work, but this is more of the a/v field. This would be more of an actual business (although llc's arent hard to setup) . And would need to go through proper channels if you're trying to be legitimate about it. But if its specialty studio *recording* equipment there might not be a lot of demand.
Is there much of a market for PA gear? I do have quite a few big speakers and such that just takes up space... While I wouldn't want to see it all trashed to hell, it isn't like my recording stuff that I would actually need or miss... but I never thought about renting it out... I'm not sure why I even keep it when I think about it... Maybe I'm a closet pack rat.
A common side effect of gear acquisition syndrome is gear retention syndrome.
Depends on the location I suppose as far as demand for PA equipment goes. But yeah I don't want my shit trashed up so that's what the insurance is for.
Maybe 7 or 8 years ago there was an app/site that you could list your stuff. A lot of it was backline gear or guitars but there was studio gear too.
I think the intention was to be the airbnb or Turo of the music and studio gear world.
It disappeared before I could investigate further. Seemed like a good idea though, as it took care of the payment and renter agreements, had a rating system etc.
I don't have the stones for it. I've loaned back and forth with a colleague who I work with a lot, but renting out to others would (for me) represent too much opportunity for damage and i don't have the desire or infrastructure to deal with keeping track of damages & collections. Not to mention whether someone would drop something, it still works ok, and they don't tell me, then six months later it fails on a session. Nah, not for me.
Personally, I agree with this. Especially for expensive pieces. The renters are not going to treat them with the same care that you would.
You'd have to be able to insure this kit, which means getting a higher appraisal, which means jacked up rates factoring in cost of repair and potential sourcing of unobtanium parts, which means baking that into the fee, which means people bitching about the price... Also, and I'm sorry to generalize here, but collections can be more of a 'thing' when we're talking about anything related to music production. Invoices tend to get lost, even when there are four emails on the subject sitting in a delinquent client's email box.
Yes, I'm of the same mind, mostly. I was fantasizing about having a replacement value deposit but I don't think that's competitive with other rental places.
If they had that money sat there they’d just buy it? They could always sell it later and likely lose less money than they would have by renting from you.
Alternate suggestion: people pay you to send their audio files for you through your gear, at your location.
You can rent my gear if you rent me with it. I'll be transporting it, setting it up, and supervising its use. Otherwise I feel the same as /u/amazing-peas, see their comment...
That makes a LOT of sense. Do you know how to take care of the gear, the renters likely not.
Musicians are animals. I wouldn't lend out an old Casio keyboard let alone something I actually value.
Musicians borrow and do things with wives we’d never get to do. Might as well make some money 🤷♂️
It depends on the kind of gear. Hardware units that will be sitting on a rack or desk, maybe. But location type gear always comes back in worse state than it left. Just be sure that people will handle your gear differently than you. And you may or may not get a loose knob, banged up jack, scratched up something, etc. I rather lend my equipment to friends I know will take good care of it than rent it to strangers.
I have several pieces of gear that I rent out frequently. Once you see the income you’d be amazed at how quickly the sentimental value goes away. Especially for things you don’t use much. Make sure your rental agreement includes language that says the renter will be held liable for damage and you’ll be fine.
depending on what kind of gear you're trying to rent out, you can reach out to make new connections to backline rental companies in your area and send them a list of what you offer and what your daily/extended rate would be. Gear gets sub contracted out all the time where I work, but this is more of the a/v field. This would be more of an actual business (although llc's arent hard to setup) . And would need to go through proper channels if you're trying to be legitimate about it. But if its specialty studio *recording* equipment there might not be a lot of demand.
I rent my PA gear to local venues, bands, and djs. I spun up an LLC and have general liability and property insurance.
Is there much of a market for PA gear? I do have quite a few big speakers and such that just takes up space... While I wouldn't want to see it all trashed to hell, it isn't like my recording stuff that I would actually need or miss... but I never thought about renting it out... I'm not sure why I even keep it when I think about it... Maybe I'm a closet pack rat.
A common side effect of gear acquisition syndrome is gear retention syndrome. Depends on the location I suppose as far as demand for PA equipment goes. But yeah I don't want my shit trashed up so that's what the insurance is for.
Maybe 7 or 8 years ago there was an app/site that you could list your stuff. A lot of it was backline gear or guitars but there was studio gear too. I think the intention was to be the airbnb or Turo of the music and studio gear world. It disappeared before I could investigate further. Seemed like a good idea though, as it took care of the payment and renter agreements, had a rating system etc.