Paramore are a band

Are bands plural or singular? This one really pains me because the rules have changed, which creates a bit of confusion on some parts. Usually when you have a group made up of many parts, you refer to the group as singular because the group is one entity. For example:

A flock of birds is sitting in that tree.
A box of chocolates is a really cliche Valentine's Day gift.
My collection of MST3Ks is extensive.
My family is dysfunctional.


See? Each of these things is made up of many smaller things (birds, chocolates, MST3Ks, family members), but when together they become one all-knowing entity.

This concept all goes to hell when it comes to band names. For example:

Paramore is a band that recently split up.
The Dave Matthews Band does not rock. 
The Shondells have a hit song called "Hanky Panky."
The Nocturnals are Grace Potter's backing group.

Technically, a band is a single entity made up of multiple musicians, which would make it singular. We are talking about a band called Paramore, not Hayley Williams, what's-his-name, and that other guy individually. So it only makes sense to refer to it as singular.

Following this logic, technically you would say, "The Nocturnals is a single entity," not "The Nocturnals are a band." However, that sounds stupid. You wouldn't say, "The beetles is crawling on the ground." Why would you say, "The Beatles is a decent band"?

You still with me here? Okay, good.

What happens with these things is that we are referring to Paramore as a single entity just like we would refer to a flock of birds, as in, "The flock is flying overhead" or "Paramore is a band." However, we're referring to the Nocturnals as if they were the birds, not the flock. So we say, "The Nocturnals are Grace Potter's band."

Got it? Yeah, it seems pretty contrived to me too. But those are the rules.

Or at least they were until the AP decided to change them.

Now all bands are plural, so that explanation I just gave you was a total waste of time! Isn't that great? No exceptions, even for something like this:

The Band are a band that obviously had to be mentioned in this post. 

Plural. They're all plural.

Sorry, Hayley. This means that Paramore isn't a band. Paramore are a band.