Weekend Warriors. How Much For A Gig?

[SuperSeagull]

£250 round this way and we do 2.5 hours…

[Chienmortbb]

Well there are 5 of us. To be honest I an happy with £250 or £50 each. Last NYE @

and Xmas Eve we got £600. 
 

Our best payer came about as a fluke. I contacted them and gave them a price of £300, them realised it was further than I thought and upped it to £400 thinking they would say no. They were happy and we now do there 2-3 times per year and it is the best venue we play.  If on,y all clubs were that well run, it even has a dressing room👍. 
 

[markbunney]

Between £250 and £350 in Kent. This NYE we have £650

[White Cloud]

£220 normal gig, £400 party, £600 weddings: then again the context is we are a two piece outfit.

 

Most venues in our area won't meet our prices post COVID. Cost of living and all that ...

 

It's fine. No pay no play. 

[tauzero]

Generally £300, which is also what gigging through agencies pays. Haven't done an NYE for years, did a few with a club band (three-piece) and got £900 a time then.

[Rexel Matador]

I'm in a 3-piece blues/classic rock covers band (what can I say, we saw a gap in the market 🤣) that mostly plays around the North-West of England. We usually get around £250 for two 45 minute sets. Some places are strict about the time so they get exactly that. If they're not bothered we'll play longer if we feel like it.

 

We've all got day jobs so the cash is just split between us for a bit of extra pocket money. I wouldn't do it for free though, on principle. I've done my time playing original music to empty rooms and a gig is a fair bit of work when you factor in rehearsal, setting up, etc.

[Chienmortbb]

17 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

Depends - for solo covers work in pubs I’ll try to get £100-£150 a go. 

 

I believe this is what most Semi Pro Karaoke singers charge too. My club of choice, the local Legion, does try to put bands on, but the budget sometimes dictates a week or two of solo Artistes. Presumably that pays for us and other groups at other times.

 

January is a write-off for bands, although we have one gig booked.

[itu]

The whole band is something like from 1k to 3k depending on the gig. An established company will be charged more, some small weddings less. I don't think I will (ever) leave my daily work.

 

(Note: Price includes PA and lights.)

Edited October 31, 2023 by itu
added costs

[asingardenof]

Just realised I never put in our fees. We normally charge £400 (five-piece covers band) but often will do £350, based largely around Bradford and Huddersfield. We have a fairly regular NYE gig where we get £500. A lot of places I've tried to get us into near me in Wakefield and the Five Towns have said we're too expensive, but our singist is firmly against going below £300 so that prices us out of most places unfortunately.

[Phil Starr]

In the years BC (before covid) we averaged £320 with our 4 piece covers band. We did a few cheaper gigs for a couple of pubs when it restarted in recognition of how tricky it was for all of us and we are back to a standard £300 fee now. My duo go out for £150. functions and NYE are double our normal fee. We are discussing a price hike next year to £320. With a different band we were getting £300 a gig 15 years ago so it hasn't really moved at all over that period of time.

[TimR]

I guess at £300 you just have to increase their footfall. 20 extra people buying 3 drinks each would cover that.

[Lozz196]

Back in 2009 when I was in a covers band we used to get £250/£300 per gig. Fast forward to the start of this year when I was briefly in a covers band and the fees were the same.

[neepheid]

Inflation's a myth, right?

[Lozz196]

It certainly is when it comes to band fees 🙁

Edited October 31, 2023 by Lozz196

[TimR]

Group electronics has fallen in price. You can now get a digital mixer and good powered speakers for well under £1000. 

Our PA cost nearly £2k in the late 90s.

 

A set of very good LED lights, stupidly cheap. 

 

And you can get a very good gigable bass for under £400. 

 

Some things have really gone down in price or stayed the same. FX pedals are under £100. 

 

Learning tunes is easy so much online resources. And when I was at school rock guitar and drum lessons didn't happen. My old school is now having an annual battle of the bands competition with several bands playing. When I was there we had one drummer, two bass players and three guitarists. Enough for 2 bands with a drummer drafted in from another school.

 

This means a young band of very good musicians can be up and running with minimal outlay.

 

Increased competition means fees for bands haven't kept up. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by TimR

[cetera]

I don't believe the cost of a band setting up or 'increased competition' has anything to do with it. If anything, there used to be MORE live bands on the circuit.

 

The difference is the perceived value of music to venues.... and punters.

Not so many people go to pubs for live music anymore, indeed not so many people go to pubs full stop. Supermarkets do the drinks cheaper and people have so many more choices of entertainment (games consoles, netflix, social media, etc etc). As a result, pubs don't consider live music to be such a drawer and certainly aren't willing to pay the sort of money we'd all like to see, allowing for inflation...

[TimR]

17 minutes ago, cetera said:

increased competition' has anything to do with it. If anything, there used to be MORE live bands on the circuit.

 

...

 

Not so many people go to pubs for live music anymore

 

...

 

people have so many more choices of entertainment (games consoles, netflix, social media, etc etc)

 

So increased competition then?

[warwickhunt]

I have (paper) diaries from 30 years ago and until recently I've been playing some of the same pubs now that I was then (different managers)... for the same £250 fee!  

 

A few ago we started cutting out the venues we least liked and started only playing those prepared to up the fee to £300.  Some gigs we lost but on the flip side we did pick up sufficient £300 gigs to balance it.  We'll still do late afternoon gigs for £250 as we can still enjoy our evenings or on occasion fit in an evening gig as well.  BTW these are 'normal' pub gigs; 2 x 45 sets, starting at 21:00, using our PA and small lights.  Anything requiring extra PA or really long timescales we price accordingly.  NYE would typically not be a pub gig and we'd want double money as a minimum but possibly triple.

[jezzaboy]

We are booked into a well know Glasgow pub in the middle of January, 3 x 45 mins sets for £280. It is our first time there and if we go down well, the next time the money will go up. 

 

Most places in the West of Scotland pay £250 to £300 but some only pay £200 and are taking the p*ss. When I started gigging in 2005, we were getting the same money as we do now, it must be the only industry where inflation seems not to exist.

[Gasman]

One additional factor to consider is gig fees in comparison with the national minimum hourly wage. As self-employed contractors (not actually entitled to NMW but bear with me) we should however be able to charge for travelling expenses and set-up/teardown time. My average time away from home for a gig is 6 hours of which I reckon 4 are chargeable although it's arguable that they all should be; my average mileage is about 80 per round trip @45ppm, say £36 while my cut of a £300 gig fee is £60. Hourly rate (for 4 hours) is therefore £15 less £9 (reduction per paid hour for notional mileage allowance that I don't get for fuel and wear on my car) means my hourly rate is effectively a staggering £6!

 

Of course YMMV and this is a slightly artificial construct, but it's indicative of the financial truths behind what I do for fun and social intercourse (careful!) to occasionally get out into the world away from the four walls of home - it's not really a paying business proposition unless you discount everything but the actual time spanking the plank. It would be interesting to compare earned value by substituting pre-Covid and 1970/80/90 figures for historic comparison...

[martin8708]

Pub gigs run at about £120 to £160 a gig for the whole band here on the Isle of Wight . So £40 a person for a 4 piece band .

Christmas / New Year / Cowes week will pay more , but in over 20 years of local gigging there has been little increase in gig money .

We do have quite a few live venues , but we have lots of bands chasing those gigs .

We get a lot of retirees moving to the Island who used to be in bands looking to start gigging again and a local music college pumping out kids looking to live the rock and roll dream , so competition is fierce ( and landlords know this ) 

A few of the more serious professional bands won’t gig locally and choose to do Mainland gigs only .

[DGBass]

6 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

We are booked into a well know Glasgow pub in the middle of January, 3 x 45 mins sets for £280. It is our first time there and if we go down well, the next time the money will go up. 

 

Most places in the West of Scotland pay £250 to £300 but some only pay £200 and are taking the p*ss. When I started gigging in 2005, we were getting the same money as we do now, it must be the only industry where inflation seems not to exist.

That sounds about just right for bar gigs in and around Central Scotland. Regular venues I've played aren't paying anymore than what they did pre-covid and mentioning an increase of even £20-30 quid doesn't go down well. I've heard that there is a better paying class of bar gig further up the East Coast so I may explore that. Travelling further does means more cost, and time to get there and back. Generally speaking, there seem to be less live venues to play post covid so there is less bookings available and bands are playing for less or the same as four or five years ago just to get a gig.

[cetera]

16 hours ago, TimR said:

 

So increased competition then?

Not in the way you originally phrased it, no...

[Marky L]

4 piece covers band doing a varied selection of songs our way. We have a fairly good reputation in the area (same as the OP by the look of it).

 

Pubs typically £320-£360 (though we do a favour for our favourite regular at £300) Social clubs typically £400 and weddings and parties £400 - £600. NYE this year £1000, though I think it should be more. Bands not wanting to do NYE? It's down to one or two of them "wanting" (having) to do stuff with the family.. 😉

 

A local pub I know will pay a max of £400, we are in at £360 but getting a gig there is a nightmare, they are swamped with requests for gigs.

 

We are flexible with in reason depending on the venue etc. We enjoy doing it and the money is a damn handy benefit from it.

 

Oh and it's a fair share out at the end of the night. The only thing we divvy in for is PL insurance. Gear is your own responsibility. (Our drummer has a thing about lights.. we just let him get on with it 😂)