Take Inventory First
Before any negotiation, make a complete list of shared assets: recorded masters, the band name and any trademark registrations, domain names and social media accounts, shared equipment, money in shared accounts, and any pending performance or licensing income. You can't divide what you haven't identified.
The Band Name
The band name is often the most contentious asset. If it was never trademarked, ownership is murky and may come down to who founded the band, who the public associates with the name, or who continues performing under it. If one person is clearly the creative centre and founding member, they typically retain the name. If it's genuinely collaborative, negotiation is required — sometimes one party buys out the others.
The Recordings
Masters belong to whoever funded and contracted the recording, or whoever the agreement specifies. If there's no agreement, they likely belong to the band as a whole (i.e., all members equally), which creates complexity around future licensing and distribution. Clearly agreeing on master ownership in the dissolution agreement is critical.
Get It in Writing
A dissolution agreement should cover: who gets the band name, who controls the masters and on what terms, how any outstanding income is distributed, social media account transfers, and a mutual non-disparagement clause. It's worth the cost of a lawyer to draft this properly — disputes years later over a song that got placed in a film can be very expensive.