How much are Pubs/clubs paying in Sussex?

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1494494921' post='3296428']
Just a +1 for £250 for pubs. Sky's the limit for other bookings though and you play pubs to get other bookings.

Take business cards, have a good online presence and talk to punters after shows.
[/quote]

Totally agree with this too..

Even doing local festivals for free is a good way of raising the band's profile.

[stevie]

Dorset and Somerset pub gigs pay an average of £200 to £250 irrespective of the size of the band. I'm getting the impression that this is what pubs tend to pay across the country.

[Dropzone]

The biggest problem you will find is the lack of space. Even some big pubs still only put a tiny space for bands, sometimes next to the route for the toilet. Some venues don't care how good you are as long as you put money over the bar. Also management can change frequently which can throw things about.

[Monkey Steve]

From a chat once had with a pub manager, a lot of chains/tenants will have a fixed budget from the chain/higher management, hence why £200 - £250 is common. It becomes something of a self perpetuating cycle - bands on the circuit know that the going rate is £250 so that's what they will ask for, and the pubs know that all the experienced bands ask for £250 so that's what they expect to pay. However, there may be some extras - one place my old lot played couldn't go above their fixed £200 but they could offer us free beer all night (sucked to be the designated driver).

As others have said, it's a buyers market and they're not going to offer more because you're better musicians or have more band members. It does, however offer the opportunity for new bands to undercut the market and get some gigs under their belts by offering to play a couple of £100 - £150 if you need to get your name known on the circuit more than you need to cover everybody's drinks bills.

From experience there's an oddly counter intuitive thing with proper music pubs (rather than the local that has bands on every Friday) in that in trying to make a name for themselves as having good, often niche bands playing originals, they end up with fewer locals who will show up every week regardless of who's playing, and often they survive on the goodwill of the local bands in accepting not very much money, or splitting the £200 between three or four bands.

Back to the OP, I'm not in that area (and not in the pub bands game for a while anyway) so can't give a list of paying venues. Anyone local that can help with that? I think Lemonrock has pubs touting for bands/advertising gigs so that's probably a good place to start

[gapiro]

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1494434652' post='3295983']
We play predominantly in Sussex area - East/West Sussex/Surrey/Kent borders.

You're probably looking at £250 - £300 for pubs, some pay up to £400, but that's typically for proven acts who draw a crowd.

Clubs can be more, some up to £500, but then smaller ones may pay half that.
[/quote]
[quote name='blue' timestamp='1494449628' post='3296159']
Not in Milwaukee. 😁

Actually your right, no matter what, a local band is never going to get more than $500.00 out of a bar..

Blue
[/quote]

Not to brag, but the Ska band would not go out for under £550 and were playing 40-50 a year, pubs and clubs.
Having said that, the ska crowd do turn out, and do drink....
I left now though because a) Mrs was/is unwell, b)The money wasn't worth it.... 7 piece ska band meant we still only got 50-60 each (£150 hiring a sound guy every gig...), which was easily countered by the number of rehearsals (60 mile round trip) c) set didn't change for two years.

[gapiro]

[quote name='Monkey Steve' timestamp='1494502878' post='3296522']
From a chat once had with a pub manager, a lot of chains/tenants will have a fixed budget from the chain/higher management, hence why £200 - £250 is common. It becomes something of a self perpetuating cycle - bands on the circuit know that the going rate is £250 so that's what they will ask for, and the pubs know that all the experienced bands ask for £250 so that's what they expect to pay. However, there may be some extras - one place my old lot played couldn't go above their fixed £200 but they could offer us free beer all night (sucked to be the designated driver).

As others have said, it's a buyers market and they're not going to offer more because you're better musicians or have more band members. It does, however offer the opportunity for new bands to undercut the market and get some gigs under their belts by offering to play a couple of £100 - £150 if you need to get your name known on the circuit more than you need to cover everybody's drinks bills.

From experience there's an oddly counter intuitive thing with proper music pubs (rather than the local that has bands on every Friday) in that in trying to make a name for themselves as having good, often niche bands playing originals, they end up with fewer locals who will show up every week regardless of who's playing, and often they survive on the goodwill of the local bands in accepting not very much money, or splitting the £200 between three or four bands.

Back to the OP, I'm not in that area (and not in the pub bands game for a while anyway) so can't give a list of paying venues. Anyone local that can help with that? I think Lemonrock has pubs touting for bands/advertising gigs so that's probably a good place to start
[/quote]
IME the greene king pubs usually have an agreed budget around 400 (in cambridgeshire) however in the past they used to just scam the bands off by offering 250, charging 400 to the brewery.

[jezzaboy]

Up here in the Sunny West of Scotland, for us it ranges from £180 to £270 but usually £250. I`m happy with that, getting paid to do something we love.

[blue]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1494486618' post='3296329']


C'mon Blue - get with the times man!!

We have an emoji for that sort of thing:


[/quote]


That cool, I like that. 😁

Blue

[ivansc]

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1494492299' post='3296398']

One slightly off-piste suggestion would be to try and get yourselves over to Europe. Much better experience, you get paid, fed and watered and people want to be entertained. They don't stand with their arms folded and dare you to impress them.
[/quote]

Agreed, but you WILL be having to declare your income and pay tax and the local equivalent of NHI if you are doing anything more than the odd one-off.
And after UK has Brexited, who the hell knows?

My (self-employed) retirement scheme is centred around a couple of houses I renovated in France and I am decidedly nervous about where I will stand post Brexit.

[Callumjord]

I play in a function band up in the north of Scotland (moray), we primarily play weddings and functions but do the odd pub gig to fill our calendar. A number of the pubs up here would rather just pay for an Acoustic guitarist in for the night but a number in the area are more than happy to pay for my 5 piece band. I don't think our going rate has been any less than £350 for a 3 hour set. I'm actually quite surprised to hear about the going rate down that end of the country.

[Len_derby]

[quote name='Callumjord' timestamp='1494659284' post='3297607']
I play in a function band up in the north of Scotland (moray), we primarily play weddings and functions but do the odd pub gig to fill our calendar. A number of the pubs up here would rather just pay for an Acoustic guitarist in for the night but a number in the area are more than happy to pay for my 5 piece band. I don't think our going rate has been any less than £350 for a 3 hour set. I'm actually quite surprised to hear about the going rate down that end of the country.
[/quote]


Yes, the higher rate is interesting. Two possible reasons come to my mind.
One is that, even with the sector in apparent decline, most places in England still have a glut of pubs.
Secondly, I have a hunch that 'up there' you appreciate live music more and hence audiences make more of an effort to turn up and spend money.

Your travel costs maybe high though? I gig porobably 3 weekends out of 4 and rarely have to drive more than hour each way.
But scenery isn't like yours!

[Callumjord]

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1494659973' post='3297612']



Yes, the higher rate is interesting. Two possible reasons come to my mind.
One is that, even with the sector in apparent decline, most places in England still have a glut of pubs.
Secondly, I have a hunch that 'up there' you appreciate live music more and hence audiences make more of an effort to turn up and spend money.

Your travel costs maybe high though? I gig porobably 3 weekends out of 4 and rarely have to drive more than hour each way.
But scenery isn't like yours!
[/quote]

Travel costs aren't high at all, a lot of the gigs we get in Elgin are generally weddings and functions so there is no travel for them but a lot of the pub gigs we get our in the smaller towns outside but I'd say I haven't had to drive more than 25-30mins in any direction to get to them. Although we do get offered the odd gig that is further a field.

[Grangur]

In the time I've been on BC I've noticed there seem to be more folk in the north than the south. People often talk of regular gigs with multiple bands. I don't see this happening often here in the south.

Isn't all this, and the occasional higher rates of pay, down to the fact that folk in the north simply spend more on their leisure than we do in the south. So, as a result, there's more cash flowing about.

I know this is going off topic but, house prices are lower in the north. I suspect this is because those in the north have different priorities and will spend on leisure rather than bricks and mortar.

This is evidenced by the number of clubs in the north. In the south they simply wouldn't survive in those numbers; southerners don't spend in clubs.

Or am I wrong?

[Len_derby]

Interesting questions regarding the north/south divide.
I have family in Greater London (Hampton) and Brighton. When I visit one thing I notice is the lousy road congestion and parking opportunities. I think that would take some of the shine off gigging for me.

[chris_b]

You should try gigging in places like Camden, Shoreditch and Covent Garden.

Those gigs really try your patience, but if the gig's a good one then it's worth the hassle to travel and park.