£100 in your pocket and empty or £30 and packed?

[HengistPod]

Would love to go back 30 years and play for pure fun again, but nowadays I'm a bit of a sentimental mercenary. Got to be the money. Gear doesn't buy itself.

Only time I'd play a regular gig for half the cash is if it was in the local pub and I didn't have to leave the house til 7pm. £20 of my cut goes straight to the Mrs, which helps to keep her tolerant. Another 20 in the whisky bottle, 5 for the bairn's pocket money and the rest in my pocket for frittering away.

Having said that, if you're out for £300 at a venue 2 or 3 times and people still aren't turning up then re-bookings start to look unlikely. Unless the landlord likes you ... we played a place for the first time recently where the landlord could be seen mouthing along to a Wildhearts tune, which surprised us somewhat. He loved us. Bar had maybe 10-12 punters in (3 or 4 dancers), but he's booked us several times for next year - as well as to play at his birthday party!

What does annoy me is pubs that don't bother advertising and then go on about how quiet a night it's been. I send posters to every gig 2 weeks in advance (enough for a few in the pub and some in local shop windows or boards), and am genuinely taken aback when we rock up and there are none in sight. "Did you get the posters?" ... "Aye, they're here under the bar somewhere" ... "Any ads in the local paper?" ... "Naw, that costs twenty quid".

[Les]

It would have to be the money I'm afraid.

I couldn't enjoy a ram packed gig full of punters drinking and having a ball without thinking
"Why is this tw@t only paying us a hundred quid"

[Kevin Dean]

Any gig my band does I create a event on FB & push it like mad & we always get a good turn out & always get asked back & some pubs have started paying more than agreed because they have done so well over the bar .

[Monkey Steve]

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1479816358' post='3179467']
What does annoy me is pubs that don't bother advertising and then go on about how quiet a night it's been. I send posters to every gig 2 weeks in advance (enough for a few in the pub and some in local shop windows or boards), and am genuinely taken aback when we rock up and there are none in sight. "Did you get the posters?" ... "Aye, they're here under the bar somewhere" ... "Any ads in the local paper?" ... "Naw, that costs twenty quid".
[/quote]

Grinds my gears too - and it's not just pubs but a lot of "promoters" in London assume that you're bringing the punters so they don't even need to bother telling anybody that there's a band on that night...

Back to the OP, it depends on the pub.

One of my bands played a local pub a few years back - rammed and we'd only charged £100 (we did it for fun, didn't pay for rehearsal space, so as long as we covered petrol and beer it was all fine). the landlord paid up, then told us to have a look at the expenses book to see what other bands were being paid (£300 - £500) and suggested that we might want to re-think what we charged. Which seems odd, but he explained that he, like a lot of pubs, was part of a chain, and he was given an entertainment/promotions allowance. If he didn't spend it he didn't get the money, it wouldn't go into his profits, so he was more than happy to pay every penny to the bands.

Other end of the spectrum, we used to play a little local pub that had a great reputation for getting crowds in when bands were on, and they never paid a penny but gave the band free booze from the second you walked in until you left at the end of the night. And even on one occasion when our drummer, who never drank as he always had to do the driving, went back for a pint a few weeks later, specifically because the landlord thought it was unfair that he'd been missing out by only drinking lemonade when we played. Easily drank more than our share of what we usually got paid.

And in the middle, we often played a place about three hours drive away, another music venue that the landlord worked really hard to make work. When we started we got a couple of hundred quid and the place was rammed, but after the recession hit the crowd dried up and we would refuse to take more than petrol money, and would happily drive out there to play as a favour for the landlord if he needed a support band or was trying to launch something new.

We may be skint but our karma is in very good shape...

Edited November 23, 2016 by Monkey Steve

[blue]

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1479801366' post='3179305']
I am possibly one of the few who does gig but doesn't really enjoy it overall, because of this exact thing. I get completely demoralised if there is an empty house.[/quote]

I use to feel the same way, until I broached this topic with a few Pros I know that headline international tours.

When I asked how they deal with poor attendance at shows. They all had the same answer, "It's nothing I even think about".

Now, whenever I get to a show regardless of the attendance I play the role of cheerleader.

I talk to all band members make jokes and stress the importance of having fun and having a good show instead of being demoralized.

Blue

Edited November 23, 2016 by blue

[leschirons]

None of us get to choose though do we? We take every gig at £xxx and always hope it'll be busy.

If it is, it's a bonus for me. If it isn't, I certainly don't get down about it. It's a paid rehearsal, and a meal out, with friends.

I can enjoy a €600 gig thats empty just as much as a free-bee with 500 people. For me, it's more playing the best I can, with people I really like.

[oggiesnr]

Take the money everytime. Must be nice for it not to matter but as it does then money talks.

My other thought is that for as long as bands are prepared to play for under a fair price, and if it's packed they can afford more than £100, then you're doing a diservice to both you and other bands.