Whats the going rate for the average pub gig?

[krispn]

Just wondering about this following a chat with a mate who was approached while busking and offered a tenner to play in a guys packed bar for a few hours over the edinburgh festival!

Is there a big regional difference between what bands get paid for pub gigs? I don't mean the gigs where you play your own originals but established music pubs. I joined a new band at the start of the year and there seems to be a consistent £60-£70 per member type payment/fee. My regular pub gig pays £70 per member (£280) per gig and a bit more if we're playing a longer set kike we do over the Edinburgh festival with the extended license - 22:00-01:45  - 4x45min sets.

Does this vary wildly and do the bigger cities get more, regional pub pay less? I've been lucky to play some bigger gigs with another project where the organisers were in the band and it was their primary business (a choir thing), they ran the whole event and the band got paid £400-£500 each for these bigger ticketed events - these were 'full house' 1800 seat theatre type gigs and often only happen annually mores the pity!

So it appears Edinburgh gig tend to pay on average £280 for a 4 piece but it can be venue specific

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by krispn
For clarity

[Osiris]

The pub circuit we play, roughly Northants, Bucks to Leicestershire-ish, pays between £250 to £350. There's the odd venue that will pay below that (which we avoid!) and only 1 or 2 WMC's that will pay more. But £250 is standard in most places that we play. 

[krispn]

Good to know. I don't envisage any major UK tour of the pub circuit but was just wondering

 

[Les]

Yea roughly the same as Osiris’ manor here in the center of the known universe though there are a lot of pubs only paying 200 and not really struggling to get bands for that. 

[bertbass]

£200 here in the southeast.

[Mudpup]

6 minutes ago, bertbass said:

£200 here in the southeast.

Really????
We do about 50 gigs a year in the South East and they're all £300+
You need a new agent!!!!  😉

 

[Linus27]

Here in the south (Surrey/Hants/Berks) we on average get paid £300 in pubs for 2 x 1 hour sets. Some might pay a little less and some pay a little more but the majority are £300. Ws also don't go out for less than £300. Clubs are then between £300 - £600 but the majority is between £400 - £500.

[bertbass]

11 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

Really????
We do about 50 gigs a year in the South East and they're all £300+
You need a new agent!!!!  😉

 

No agencies round here and if there were, you'd get even less.  When I say South East I mean East Sussex.  It makes me laugh when everyone says the affluent South East, they obviously haven't been to Hastings.

Edited August 11, 2019 by bertbass
Added bits.

[Maude]

Devon and Cornwall, rural and city pubs/clubs, £300-£350.

[krispn]

Wonder what it’s like in and about London?

Edited August 11, 2019 by krispn

[jezzaboy]

Glasgow/Paisley/Ayrshire we got paid anything from £180 to £270 for a pub gig, playing for just over 2 hours. Not very good for a 5 piece.

We were offered a gig at the Lizard festival up in Frazerburgh for £250 plus bed and breakfast earlier this year which we played last year for £500 so I don`t really know whats the deal up North. Needless to say we told him to stick his £250!

Edited August 11, 2019 by jezzaboy

[mep]

Between £200-250 down our way in Devon 

[krispn]

40 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

Glasgow/Paisley/Ayrshire we got paid anything from £180 to £270 for a pub gig, playing for just over 2 hours. Not very good for a 5 piece.

We were offered a gig at the Lizard festival up in Frazerburgh for £250 plus bed and breakfast earlier this year which we played last year for £500 so I don`t really know whats the deal up North. Needless to say we told him to stick his £250!

We were up in Thurso for country music thing and we got a bit more but I can't help but feel the sheer distance away meant they paid more - worked out at about £100 quid each (5 piece) but it was basically covering the petrol and our stay but I decided to go camping and used the time to go nab a Munro while I was up there but yeah I'd not be doing that again as a regular thing.

 

[peteb]

7 hours ago, krispn said:

Just wondering about this following a chat with a mate who was approached while busking and offered a tenner to play in a guys packed bar for a few hours over the edinburgh festival!

Is there a big regional difference between what bands get paid for pub gigs? I don't mean the gigs where you play your own originals but established music pubs. I joined a new band at the start of the year and there seems to be a consistent £60-£70 per member type payment/fee. My regular pub gig pays £70 per member (£280) per gig and a bit more if we're playing a longer set kike we do over the Edinburgh festival with the extended license - 22:00-01:45  - 4x45min sets.

Does this vary wildly and do the bigger cities get more, regional pub pay less? I've been lucky to play some bigger gigs with another project where the organisers were in the band and it was their primary business (a choir thing), they ran the whole event and the band got paid £400-£500 for these bigger ticketed events - these were 'full house' 1800 seat theatre type gigs and often only happen annually mores the pity!

 So it appears Edinburgh gig tend to pay on average £280 for a 4 piece but it can be venue specific

I think that the fist thing you need to understand is that a pub will pay for a band as a whole, not per member...! It is about how many people you can pull in and how much they will spend behind the bar behind the bar. it doesn't matter if it is a 3 piece or a 7 piece band - the fee will be the same. 

Around here (the West Yorkshire area) most pubs will pay between £200 and £300, depending on what crowd you can pull in that particular area and the size of the pub, with an average of £250

Edited August 11, 2019 by peteb

[Nicko]

3 hours ago, krispn said:

Wonder what it’s like in and about London?

Outer London is £250 to £350 for standard pub gigs. Theres some specialist music pub venues that pay £400 but difficult to get in without a free try out and they really want tributes or themed bands rather than mixed covers.

[Paddy515]

Within Lincolnshire, we charge £300 for town pub gigs and private partys (not weddings). Village pubs, we do for £240 to help these venues out a little, what with them being out "in the sticks" and trying hard to make a decent living.

[3below]

6 minutes ago, Paddy515 said:

Within Lincolnshire, we charge £300 for town pub gigs and private partys (not weddings). Village pubs, we do for £240 to help these venues out a little, what with them being out "in the sticks" and trying hard to make a decent living.

About the money for what we do in Mid Wales / Shropshire.  Take out expenses (fuel, car, insurances etc etc), factor in time travelling, setting up, packing down etc. and it is a little bit more than the living wage. Beats teaching though  but less reliable as an income.

Edited August 11, 2019 by 3below

[warwickhunt]

Newcastle based, I play in 2 bands.  Band A - a rock covers 3 piece @ £250/£300.  Band B - 70's specific 6 piece @ £450+.  However, the type of pub/club we play doesn't have any crossover; Band B couldn't/wouldn't play for less money (but they also lug a lot more lights/sound etc), Band A smaller set up.  I have to say each band has the same level of professionalism but different markets.

[krispn]

44 minutes ago, peteb said:

I think that the fist thing you need to understand is that a pub will pay for a band as a whole, not per member...! It is about how many people you can pull in and how much they will spend behind the bar behind the bar. it doesn't matter if it is a 3 piece or a 7 piece band - the fee will be the same. 

Around here (the West Yorkshire area) most pubs will pay between £200 and £300, depending on what crowd you can pull in that particular area and the size of the pub, with an average of £250

Trust me I understand all too well! I'm just using that 'per head' as an example - we sometime do a trio gig and the bar offers the same rate for the three of us and it's not personnel dependent. I know some bars who appear to offer a flat fee but then I know folk in 'bigger' bands as in personnel and they get more money but also they're maybe more popular and the bar sales reflect this when they have them in.

Edited August 11, 2019 by krispn

[rogerstodge]

5 hours ago, Mudpup said:

Really????
We do about 50 gigs a year in the South East and they're all £300+
You need a new agent!!!!  😉

 

I think you both need new agents.. we’re 4-£500 here in the south east,£600 some of em 🤷‍♂️

[FinnDave]

I quit the pub scene a year ago, but for the last 5-6 years before that it was 200-300 a night.

[BrunoBass]

8 hours ago, Osiris said:

The pub circuit we play, roughly Northants, Bucks to Leicestershire-ish, pays between £250 to £350. There's the odd venue that will pay below that (which we avoid!) and only 1 or 2 WMC's that will pay more. But £250 is standard in most places that we play. 

This is pretty much exactly the same for us, we’re based in north Oxfordshire and rarely play outside of a 25 mile radius of our hometown Banbury. We’re a three piece.

[3below]

19 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

I quit the pub scene a year ago, but for the last 5-6 years before that it was 200-300 a night.

The 'depressing' part of this is what we used to charge (and get more bookings than we could do) in a popular Ceilidh / folk band circa 1975 to 82 (West Midlands, successful local folk dance circuit etc but not a major or even minor festival etc, band). Will just say that the gigs I play have not kept up with what I got then, not by a long country mile. Interweb calculators suggest about £210 each per gig in today's money.

Edited August 11, 2019 by 3below

[Woodinblack]

We get around £300 for most places in the not at all affluent south somerset.

[steantval]

1 hour ago, rogerstodge said:

I think you both need new agents.. we’re 4-£500 here in the south east,£600 some of em 🤷‍♂️

You would have no work around our way at those rates, the pubs would not pay it, £250 is probably the average and there are some very good bands up this way who can probably push for £300.