Grand Wazoo Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 This is something that has been confusing me for the last few years, getting paid to play! So you've got your average 4 piece band, drummer, singers, guiw@nkist and yourself on bass... you find a venue that will let you play and it's time to agree your fees with the venue owner. Is there an average going rate? Who can you appeal to if you are getting screwed? PRS? (Performance Right Society, not Paul Reed Smith) What's your individual experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bh2 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) We usually turn up and have a free bar... when I was doing Jazz gigs we'd get about £50 each for a four piece, prob about a three hour session with a couple of breaks. That was about 15 years ago now so say £80 - £100 each? Could do with some of that! Bob Edited March 22, 2011 by bh2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 depends what sort of band you are, if it's mostly originals you be lucky to get anything, we charge £160 for 2 x 45 min sets in pubs doing mostly punky covers, but I think we're on the cheap side, but it all depends on the venue and the night the gig is, basically get what you can but be flexible if you want gigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Agree, depending on what type of covers depends on fees. The regular Kings Of Leon/Muse stuff seems to pay more, as its more popular. Like the post above, my band did punk covers, and we started at £200. Most venues would pay us more, as the people who came to see us drank a lot, so thats another factor. If you`ve a heavyweight following, you get paid more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Musician's Union Casual Gig minimum rate is currently set at: For engagements of up to 2 hours = £65.00 Over 2 hours and up to 3 hours = £78.00 These rates are, of course, unenforceable but they are a useful guide as a starting point. Don't forget to take into account how far you have to travel, late night gigs etc, all of which can up the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I tend to quote my own fee as £1.00 per correct note played on the night. Sometimes I get a fiver! But seriously, in this neck of the woods £200.00 for a band would be usual (normal pub style gigs), more for functions obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 It's a crazy question with no answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer61 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Lowest rate we get is £180, max is £300 for typical pub stuff. Average is around the £220-240 mark. For a 3 piece it works out pretty well, I used to get around my current top rate for a 5 piece which wasn't so good. Private work starts at £450 and goes up to as much as we can get away with. 'Proper' function bands you're looking at £1000 upwards. Luckily I only gig for fun and the cash goes to keep the wife sweet with handbags and me to waste money on here/eBay/Thomann/Hartnoll Guitars/GAK/etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bh2 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1172159' date='Mar 22 2011, 02:54 PM']It's a crazy question with no answer.[/quote] yes it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 In an originals band, I'd only ever expect enough to cover travelling expenses. The bands we have in the pub I live in get £120 per hour. More at the end of the night if the takings are good! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razze06 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 In my (not vast) experience, average pub gig with average covers set, 2x1hr will pay about £250 here in edinburgh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) If you're looking to play your material to an audience, or play covers/standards for a bit of fun and a social night out and don't care about the financial part, then pay rates probably don't need to figure in your equation. If you're looking to make money, there is nobody to appeal to and no 'minimum wage' - if you agree to do the gig then that's it! Far better to get the financials sorted out beforehand and if you think you're getting screwed then just don't take the job. I'm always wary of deal that involve 'percentage of the bar takings' or 'percentage of ticket sales' because they are a potential breeding ground for arguments further down the line. As for 'going rates' - I can only use our experiences as a 'stake in the ground'. If you're a competent, entertaining/crowd pleasing band playing a pub gig on a bog standard weekend night then probably £150 to £250 is probably about right. If the pub knows you and have a 'special' on (real ale festival or something like that) then you might squeeze an extra £50 out of them. If it's a wedding or party of some description then I'd say somewhere between 3 and 6 times your 'pub rate'. Corporate events attract the highest rates, larger companies will happily pay out 10x the pub rate if you get a reputation for professionalism (and pandering to their every need!). A lot of it really depends on what you're prepared to put into the gig though. Our higher paid gigs involve nearly a whole day setting up as we also have a trilite mounted lighting rig, smoke machine and backdrops alongside the normal multicore/PA/backline stuff. Edited March 22, 2011 by icastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I still don't know why this is in the Bass Guitars [Just for bass guitar posts] section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 My four-piece always take a deposit before a function gig of £150 + another £800/900 on the night, sometimes more. Pubs and clubs we usually take £350-400 on the night, generally anywhere that will pay us less than that aren't worth playing unless they can offer us a very regular slot. There have been other gigs that I've earned a lot more at, but they're few and far between unless you're going through agencies and we're not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1172183' date='Mar 22 2011, 03:15 PM']I still don't know why this is in the Bass Guitars [Just for bass guitar posts] section [/quote] Alright already, I should have posted in an appropriate section. Hopefully a handy moderator will move it somewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 In a nutshell, I am not aming to make serious money out of it, I do have a day job and this is just a hobby, however travel expenses and more importantly fuel cost which is the biggest issue on everyone's agenda recently, but I am more concerned about ways to repay the drummer and his van, and for the other 2 to get a meal and a drink out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1172122' date='Mar 22 2011, 02:14 PM']... you find a venue that will [color="#FF0000"][b]let you play[/b][/color] and it's time to agree your fees with the venue owner ...[/quote] Well [i][b]there's[/b][/i] your problem. If you see it as the venue being persuaded to "let you play" then the correct answer is nothing, nothing at all. The venue gets some entertainment, you get a stage to perform on. Fair exchange is no robbery. My band doesn't do it for the money ... but we won't do it for no money unless it's part of a long-term strategy (play a free gig now and, if successful, get offered paid gigs in future). By playing good covers, we persuade people to come to the pub who wouldn't do so otherwise, and persuade punters who were already there to stick around and listen to us. They all buy extra drinks, the pub makes extra money, and we get a cut of it. For an established covers band playing established music pubs in West London, you'd be looking for something in the region of £200. The number of musicians in the band is pretty much irrelevant; a 6-piece doesn't get paid twice as much as a 3-piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 As a 5 piece, we would start at £200 in a pub, If the pub say they don't pay that, we don't play there. So a 2x45 in a pub is between £200-300 and we try and average £50 a man on these gigs. Same set for a non-pub event is £350 upwards and that is the friends rate, otherwise £500 start if headlining a beer festival or something. Functions start at £500-1000. We only play what we play, so if people have seen us..that is what they get. No, I can't justify the same set getting such a difference in rates... it is the way it works for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietruszka Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 The singer from the club band I play in deals with all the bookings, in my experience it helps to have one person doing the bookings, it keeps things more straight forward rather than dealing with a different person each time they ring/book you. We play a couple of clubs in town, both pay £50-£60 per member. We also play pubs which again pays about the same and for private gigs its somewhere from around £800 for a 4 piece. Im not 100% as the singer deals with it all! If we do gigs further afield which require stopping the night, we add rooms and a meal on top of that. In my experience, if you're good you can charge. If you're excellent, you can charge more and you'll be justifying it when you play. This has worked well for us and we repeatedly get asked back. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Tub Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) Pubs around here pay £200 - £250 for rock covers bands to play 8:00pm to midnight with a break halfway. Personnel in the band is irrelevant. If they're playing originals, then they're lucky to get half that. Edited March 22, 2011 by Hot Tub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckedUpFunkies Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Massive difference between which area your playing too. Around Norwich were gettin £250 ish. Ipswich down too £200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='1172152' date='Mar 22 2011, 02:47 PM']I tend to quote my own fee as £1.00 per correct note played on the night. Sometimes I get a fiver![/quote] I adopt a similar scheme & owe one venue in Bristol at least £30! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='Hot Tub' post='1172348' date='Mar 22 2011, 05:30 PM']Pubs around here pay £200 - £250 for rock covers bands to play 8:00pm to midnight with a break halfway. Personnel in the band is irrelevant.[/quote] ditto, usually end up with £40 - £60 for a pub gig, depending on how many the split is, functions etc. vary incredibly, sometimes well paid, and other times more trouble than they are worth this is my experience as someone who plays for fun outside of the day job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='BurritoBass' post='1172376' date='Mar 22 2011, 06:04 PM']I adopt a similar scheme & owe one venue in Bristol at least £30! [/quote] LMAO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Same sorts of prices here too, Although I have gone from a function band/popular pub band and a reasonably well paid blues band to one originals band since January hence my growing fruit and veg thread in off topic! Im prefering the music though so its all good and both departures were my choices so I cant complain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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