How much does your band charge?

[geoham]

Hi Guys,

I've recently formed a covers band, and we're looking to get work at functions, weddings etc. So far, we've had a few pub gigs and a corporate function (for the company I work for). We're 5 piece - female vocals, 2 x guitar (one of whom also plays keys), bass & drums, doing a typical rock & pop stuff - from The Rolling Stones to Girls Aloud.



For those of you interested, here are video clips of the function:-
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iWUflqWh6M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iWUflqWh6M[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Rwxnvc5L4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Rwxnvc5L4[/url]

An acquaintance saw the clips of us playing at the function, and asked us if we'd play at a 50th birthday party in a bowling club in August. He wanted us to be the only entertainment that night - playing from around 8 until midnight.

I'm paying £1300 for my a band to play at my wedding for the same length of time, and that seemed to be about average for established bands. As we're not yet established, and wanting to do a good deal since it's someone we know, we wanted to be a bit cheaper than this.

We quoted £700. We'll need to hire a PA - I've budgeted £200 for that. There are five of us, so that leaves £100 each - not taking petrol in to account (20 miles away). The guy nearly choked! Was expecting something significantly cheaper.

My initial feeling is that £700 is a bargain, and we shouldn't budge, but I want to get feedback from you guys!

So - to all of you that play weddings and functions - what's your going rate? How did you get started with this? Nobody wants to pay top dollar for an unknown band - so should we just basically play for nothing until we gain more experience & reputation?

Thanks,

[tonybassplayer]

Certainly look like you have been playing for much longer

With my previous band we started doing functions etc for around £500 ( double a typical pub gig ) and then ramped it up as and when we felt we could justify it and they would pay it

[tonybassplayer]

PS we had our own pa all the time so didn't need to factor that in and if you are hiring at £200 wouldn't you be better buying it now as a shared asset ??

[geoham]

For the PA, our plan is to hire to start with - and use the proceeds of the first few gigs to buy something decent. We could afford a basic vocal PA just now, but don't know how well that would serve us. My preference is to get a full band PA - allowing the guitarists to leave their 4x12s at home!

[tonybassplayer]

Yes, ownership ( and transportation ) of the PA is often a bone of contention but shop around as there are a few round this way that would be happy with £100 for supplying and running their PA for the night. Times are tough and everyone wants a bargain.

[SkinnyMike]

£700 is about right mate. We typically charge £1,000+ for the lot.
They just need to be aware it includes a 2-3 hour show, D.J after (Ipod with spottily...) full P.A, Sound Engineer and sometimes lights. Bargain for £700-£1,000 if you ask me.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='SkinnyMike' timestamp='1360250042' post='1967385']
£700 is about right mate. We typically charge £1,000+ for the lot.
They just need to be aware it includes a 2-3 hour show, D.J after (Ipod with spottily...) full P.A, Sound Engineer and sometimes lights. Bargain for £700-£1,000 if you ask me.
[/quote]

+1

Also, the loading times (in and out), the travelling time and the inevitable waiting around. There are plenty of wedding gigs that want you to set up early so it doesn't interupt the day... but don't think about you occupying yourself for hours until you actually go on stage.

Factor in the cost of the PA, the lights, the repairs and upkeep of all your equipment, rehearsal time, the talent's time itself... at £700 quid, you are probably on less than minimum wage when talking about the average function/wedding gig.

And then there is the fact that you have to deal with 4rsehole hotel managers who think they are the business. Don't get me started...

[clauster]

When I was doing covers (pubs/clubs) we'd want (and get) £3-500 + soft drinks for 2 X 1 hour sets.

£700 for 4 hours sounds perfectly reasonable.

Edited February 7, 2013 by clauster

[brensabre79]

Yeah £700 is about right for what you're doing, weddings are usually a bit more. We often get people who think a band costs about £200 for the night. I put it to them like this:

[b]Try getting 5 plumbers to drive 20 miles on a Friday or Saturday night and work for 4-6 hours each until beyond midnight. Whatever they quote you, we'll charge half![/b]

[Mace]

,

[geoham]

Cheers for all the feedback guys. Part of me think that too many people think it's just hobby and we'd be happy to do it for free. Which is partly true I suppose. I just wouldn't play Girls Aloud songs!

[warwickhunt]

My present covers band charge minimum £250 for a standard pub gig (exception 'possibly' being small pubs when we want to fill up the diary and still minimum £220). Wedding gigs are a minimum of £500 but that is doing the gig with our normal PA and no silly arrive mid-afternoon; anything over and above that is reflected in a price bump.

[Mark_Bass]

My band charges around £200-250 for pubs, £300 for parties and £500-£700 for weddings...id charge more but we're not really a wedding band and we don't really like doing them so we don't get asked often.

Using your band funds for a PA is a sensible idea, also getting some form of easy set-up lighting is a good idea too, but after the PA.

[geoham]

Warwickhunt / Mark_Bass

How long a set would you normally play?

The reason I ask, is that when I was pricing wedding bands for my own wedding, the absolute cheapest you could get as about £750 - for a duo with backing tracks. 3 piece bass, guitar & drums £1000 and £1200 for a 5 piece. Typical arrangement in Scotland is for the band to play 8 - 12. I believe that 2 x 45-60 minute sets with a DJ to follow are more common south of the border.

Edited February 7, 2013 by geoham

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1360261297' post='1967720']
Warwickhunt / Mark_Bass

How long a set would you normally play?
[/quote]

2 x 45 but tbh it isn't set in stone and I've no problem playing longer, especially if it is a good gig... I don't consider the 'playing time' as something I get paid for; I get paid for humping the gear in and out of the gig and getting home at silly o'clock (and dealing with all of the other shyte ).

[SkinnyMike]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1360257852' post='1967615']
[b]Try getting 5 plumbers to drive 20 miles on a Friday or Saturday night and work for 4-6 hours each until beyond midnight. Whatever they quote you, we'll charge half![/b]
[/quote]

Brilliant!

[geoham]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1360257852' post='1967615']
[b]Try getting 5 plumbers to drive 20 miles on a Friday or Saturday night and work for 4-6 hours each until beyond midnight. Whatever they quote you, we'll charge half![/b]
[/quote]

I always find it interesting that people readily accept going rates of £30 - £50 per hour for a tradesman or more for lawyers, accountants etc - but are shocked when musicians, photographers or even IT technicians and web designers ask for half of that.

[brensabre79]

Bonkers innit, I think it stems from the fact that when people go to see a band at a pub, they are having a good time, and drinking, they see a good band all smiling and looking like they are having fun (even if they are not!) and think they band are out to enjoy themselves just like they are. But the thing is, the best bands don't look like they are working at all!

Now the thought of paying someone £1,000 to come down the pub with you and have a laugh for a couple of hours sounds totally unreasonable doesn't it?

Similarly for designers, photographers etc. people don't realise or value the skill and time involved at all. I'm actually a designer, and I do a bit of photography too. I've lost count of the amount of times a friend asks me to do stuff for them for free, wedding invitations being the primary one. "I was going to do it myself in WordArt, but you're better at it than me" or "Well, you've always got your camera with you anyway haven't you, so what difference does it make if you take a few photos?"

[BILL POSTERS]

We take as much as we can get, usually around £200 for pubs.

We dont do any freebies or reall cheapos anymore. I never wanted to, but one of my bands used to do the odd one if we were quiet and treat it like a rehearsal, but its counter productive really.

last staw came when a fairly well known small Black Country pub wanted not just a freebie, but "could you set up after 9pm, cos we rent the room out to somebody else till then and they like it quiet"

Might accept the odd charity gig if its genuine, but we got fed up of doing them where there was no real collection going on other than maybe a bucket on the bar or the hotdog stand etc. But you could bet your life the bar staff etc get paid . And the beer tent were making money. Even the PA guy gets paid, but all of the bands do it free. Somebodys having a laugh there.

[ben604]

I've got a slightly different take. We do pubs for £300, weddings for £600ish, we don't play freebies unless someone we know asks us to play a charity do. I think 8-12 would be a mix of live/DJ/iPod stuff, so total playing time would be 2 hours. For friends/acquaintances birthday parties (depending how much we liked them!!) we charge our pub rate + travel if it's in the sticks.

But we're nice guys, eh!

[paulmcnamara]

I think all of us musicians should spearhead a movement to get paid like anyone else. Otherwise it is devaluing our playing. If you want to then donate your earnings to a good cause, great, but at least let us earn the money so we can decide what to do with it.
Really liked the story about the plummers.....

[icastle]

We charge around the £250 mark for pub gigs but usually come away with an extra £50 because we generally pull a good crowd and maximise that with posters.

Weddings are our main area though - around the £1300 mark for those.

Not cheap, but we do a fair bit of 'value adding' for that.
We have a sound engineer, provide the disco and enough lighting to make Blackpool nervous.
We work with the couple and visit the venue to make sure we are prepared for any eventuality - having the venue manager 'onside' beforehand makes most problems disappear. .
We also 'custom learn' the first dance music chosen by the couple and record it to make a proper packaged CD to give to the couple as a 'keepsake' - along with a couple of business cards slipped inside a little pocket in the CD case to get us their mates weddings as well.

Musically, it's never going to set the world on fire and isn't 'stretching' in any way but we've got bookings every weekend for about two months now and then a few weeks off before the June wedding season kicks off.

[geoham]

£1300 is pretty average for a wedding band up here in Scotland. But typically there's no disco - just the band playing all night, so much more work needed.

This is who I've booked for my own wedding, and they charge about the same as you: [url="http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk"]http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk[/url]

Quote from their site:-
[indent=1][i]"Like other wedding bands in Scotland, the Saturns typically play from 8pm - 12 pm, and stop for 30-45 minutes rest during the buffet".[/i][/indent]

Edited February 8, 2013 by geoham

[icastle]

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1360335438' post='1968882']
£1300 is pretty average for a wedding band up here in Scotland. But typically there's no disco - just the band playing all night, so much work needed.

This is who I've booked for my own wedding, and they charge about the same as you: [url="http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk"]http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk[/url]

[/quote]

If I had my way I'd play all night as well, but the youngsters in the band can't keep up with me.

I played at both my weddings which, on reflection, probably illustrates why I've had as many as I've had...

[geoham]

Considered playing at my own wedding, but decided against it - to start with, my best man/guitarist and I would both be wearing kilts and intoxication is likely!