What to charge for gigs?

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ricorico Frets: 1220
In an interesting turn of events the remnants of two old bands have reformed recently and I'm gigging again!

We had our first practice on Saturday and we have had some interest through word of mouth and as a result we have three gigs lined up already. 

My question is: how much do we charge? 

We're going to use a pro sound engineer for the larger two of the gigs so we need to cover his costs (around £200) but we're at a loss as to what to ask for...

Were a covers band with a somewhat fragmented following across the last decade or so. 

Cheers!
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Comments

  • vasselmeyervasselmeyer Frets: 3664
    edited April 2017
    What sort of venues are you playing and have you any idea what numbers  you'll have in the audience?
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  • ricorico Frets: 1220
    The first gig is a private function but the two we are charging for are local mini festival type things with 300-500 people at a guess. 
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  • ElectroDanElectroDan Frets: 554
    Depends on a lot of factors.
    Around my way the range is probably £250 -£500 for the absolute top notch bands that are known for pulling in the punters.
    By using the sound guy you've already cut a huge chunk of your fee away, but to get going for the first couple of shows it might be worth it just to let someone else worry about that part of the operation.
    If you ask around some of the other local bands about pricing and venues that have live shows they are usually happy to talk about it. Never hurts to keep up with others and share info like that.
    Within a few months you will have a fair idea of what you can ask in you area. If your doing it for fun you still don't want to be losing money on shows. Some pubs know people love to play and try to take the piss a bit.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    Yes it's very difficult to say, there is no set fee in my experience, it depends on how good the band is and whether they bring in big crowds. Tomorrow and Saturday I'm playing  pubs in one band for £650 and £550, on Sunday I'm with another band doing a pub for £300 and I've done gigs recently for as little as £240

    In the summer I'm involved with a couple of festivals that are scaled to 400 - 500 people and we pay the headliners around £800 and the supports around £250 to £300. That's with a bit of budget from the brewery as well as ticket sales though ... if your organizers are on ticket sales only the money might be tighter. 

    If in doubt though shoot for £500, if they think that's way too much ask them what the their budget is and your see if you can do it cheaper for them. Otherwise you might ask for £250 and they might have been well prepared to pay £400 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    If you can provide a full spec corporate/function experience then go for a professional price. Other than that it seems to be what the market (or lack of) can stand. Pubs from £250-600 (mostly lower end). Clubs £500-750 and functions £600-£1800. State your price, be prepared to haggle and say yes or no depending on your needs and desires.
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  • uncledickuncledick Frets: 403
    The last paid gig we did was supporting The Rezillos.  35 quid cash.  
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  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    Didn't the issue of the fee come up during discussions with the organisers when making the bookings?     It's a bit awkward trying to negotiate after it's all agreed but I'd agree with Danny and probably start at £500 and come down a little if they won't cover that.  
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    On Friday we were playing a little beer festival in a nice country pub. Fee was agreed 6 months ago but there was a change of landlady 3 months ago. Anyway we do the gig, it went really well and the Colonel goes to find the landlady. Is it £200 or £250 she says? .... it's neither he says ..... it's £650!

    That took her by surprise but she paid it :)
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • ricorico Frets: 1220
    The figure being banded about for the larger of the two paid gigs is £750. They want two hour-long sets  :o
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    Is that 2 x one hour sets or 2 x one hour sets ? .... 2 x one hour is pretty normal
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • ricorico Frets: 1220
    Danny1969 said:
    Is that 2 x one hour sets or 2 x one hour sets ? .... 2 x one hour is pretty normal
    Unless i'm mistaken you've said the same thing!

    We're doing 2 x one hour sets
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    Yeah sorry, I meant is it two hour sets :) cos they would have been long old sets .
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    In my area you'll be lucky to get £250 - £300 for a pub gig and that's pushing it. If it was a private event I'll be looking at around £700 at least and adding on fuel expense getting there etc. Also if there's food at the event, the band gets fed and watered too 
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • StageStruckStageStruck Frets: 102
    In my area you'll be lucky to get £250 - £300 for a pub gig and that's pushing it. If it was a private event I'll be looking at around £700 at least and adding on fuel expense getting there etc. Also if there's food at the event, the band gets fed and watered too 
    I'm inclined to agree, around my area £200-£300 is probably more the going rate, depending on the size of the pub. You'd probably only get £300 if you were one of the more popular bands.
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  • nick79nick79 Frets: 252
    Going rate round here is £250 for a pub gig, we have occasionally got more but not very often. We get asked a lot to do pub festivals but they don't want to pay us. Don't see why they should expect us to do it for nothing when they are raking in the money from overpriced beer and food..
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    There's a part of me that would like to be a bit more rocknroll and only play shitty little venues for next to nothing. However, now we generally play biggish pubs for between £200 and £350. Unless there's an exceptional reason pretty much we won't play for under £200 now. This is between five, sometimes six, of us so it's not putting the kids through college. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • Allow extra money for particularly early starts and/ or finishes (as a wedding band our usual finish is midnight, we charge extra for a 1am finish)

    Allow extra money for going above and beyond your usual repertoire - e.g. you may allow 2 x 1 hours as your regular set, charge extra for a third set. I've done a few gigs recently with 3 x 1 hour sets and we have charged accordingly. At first it seems a bit unfair - after all, we would have just been sat down twiddling our thumbs between sets for that  hour if we hadn't been playing, we didn't put in any extra time as such....but fronting the band as singing guitarist, I can tell you that extra money was well earned!

    Stipulate minimum requirements regarding gear/ performance area etc - Especially relevant with outdoors shows where you need a proper sheltered, waterproof area with safe mains power.

    Set a cancellation policy and stick to it. Whether it be "50% of full fee is due if cancelled less than 14 days prior to the date" or whatever.

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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    nick79 said:
    Going rate round here is £250 for a pub gig, we have occasionally got more but not very often. We get asked a lot to do pub festivals but they don't want to pay us. Don't see why they should expect us to do it for nothing when they are raking in the money from overpriced beer and food..
    Charity event probably ?
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • not_the_djnot_the_dj Frets: 7306
    Local mini festivals are never great payers round here, normally free drinks and a burger plus the priceless "exposure". 

    £200 - £300 for pub gigs. 
    £500+ for functions if setting up in the evening, but certainly more if it's a set-up in the afternoon then clear-off type event. 
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  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    edited April 2017
    nick79 said:
    Going rate round here is £250 for a pub gig, we have occasionally got more but not very often. We get asked a lot to do pub festivals but they don't want to pay us. Don't see why they should expect us to do it for nothing when they are raking in the money from overpriced beer and food..
    Charity event probably ?
    Often a token gesture towards a charity but if the bar staff etc are being paid then so should the band imo.     
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