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how much money does it cost to put a band on?

no votes
?
by chris-budget-part-II

or ideally,
how much money does it cost to put a BIG band on,
a medium band on,
or a small band on
and so on
with examples please.

for the purposes of this - lets pretend i am putting on a gig in my flat so i don't have to rent anywhere out

THANKS A BUNCH!

chris-budget-part-II | 20 May '08, 12:55 | Send note | Report this | Reply

sorry

not trying to be rude, despite coming across as such.

it just really is an open question that depends on the band, their agent, where they're from, where you are, if they're touring, what gear they're expected to bring etc etc.

if they're playing in your flat i would assume you're not going for anyone big, so you could probably get away with £50 + beers + pizza and a place to sleep or something.


Radiohead won't play

unless you live on a busroute


i live near three 24hr routes, 3 tube lines and a train line.

how much do you think they'd charge me?


will your tv

be left on standby during the gig? If so they refuse to do it.


heh.


?

big black

medium 21

the small faces


Medium 21

I have a single of theres somewhere, from about 5 years ago.

Didn't really like it.


theirs

*


if its the 'Acting like a mirror' single

you should check out the b-side which is 'Honeymoon hearse' its fantastic!


That's the one!

Acting Like a Mirror...

I'll give it another whirl.


if you avoid the venue hire cost

for a fairly well known indie band with a reputation like say Animal Collective i reckon your looking at about a £400 - £600 band fee then all the other shit so in total i'd keep aside about £800 - £900.


AC

Cost a lot more than that. Try quadrupling it, and you might be a little closer.


yep

they might have been around that price 4 or 5 years ago, they'd be a lot more now!


.

times it by ten in the case of london


For a band with a back catalogue and reputation like AC

it'd be a lot more than that. Maybe Panda Bear on his own would be in that region.


ha

I've had bands with 2 singles ask for £400!


I wish animal collective cost that

id put em on ever month


.

This is the stupidest question I've ever read. There is literally no answer.


the fact that there are answers

disproves this

and i know its an open question, i'm just wanted totally rough figures

i'm leaving it up to you for definitions of size, but obviously im not going to put on fucking coldplay am i,

lets say
BIG, MEDIUM, SMALL in the context of DIS

ok!±??!??!?!??!!!

OMGZ


NO

There isn't. You can't answer the question without knowing the band, the location of the show etc.

"Big" band with 5 people costs more than "big" band with 2 people.

"Medium" band from 400 miles away costs more than "small" band from 1 mile away etc etc.

Whatever you do, never put shows on.


Erm...

""Big" band with 5 people costs more than "big" band with 2 people."

Wrong. The fee you pay for a band is not usually based on the number of members. I've booked a "medium" band for the same price as a "medium" artist.

""Medium" band from 400 miles away costs more than "small" band from 1 mile away etc etc."

Well that's a given right? That was why Chris-Budget put it into three categories- small, medium and big.


well no

"Medium" band from 400 miles away costs more than "small" band from 1 mile away etc etc."

that's not necessarily true either.


Big band- £750-£1K+

Medium band- £200-£500
Small band- £30-£150

This is based on my previous experience with booking bands. Getting a big band for £750 would be very, very lucky in most circumstances.


^^ pretty good

some idea - my friend put on Brakes in october and it cost £900.


hmm.


I wanted to put Fingathing on in Durahm

booking agent was asking for £800 + VAT, plus two hotel rooms.

But then I'll play for free.

So in short, it really varies....

RB


With smaller bands

Distance plays a big factor in the price, they mostly just ask to cover transport and food, but that can differ greatly depending on if they're on the other side of the country, how they intend to transport themselves, how many are there in the band and what equiptment they have.


it all

depends on the band!

big bands in excess of £1k
medium bands £250 - £1k
small bands free - £250

you might be surprised at some bands though as i tried booking what i thought was a small - medium band as they're not really all that well known yet was quoted £2k. haha, they can bloody well stay in scotland!


dan le sac vs scroobius pip

in december 2007 in manchester were £600


tell you what

why don't you try and book the bands for your "how long is a piece of string" festival and then come back and tell us all how much they are charging


you can get

shed seven for 3 quid i hear


i wish!


and

if anyone knows any big bands who'll play for around £1k - £1.5k i'd like to know!


How big are you talking though?

I know of one particular band who were charging around £1,700, my friend, using her excellent bartering skills, got them down to £700. If you can wangle it that way then you're onto a winner.


i'm actually thinking pretty pretty small

like, for venues which hold about 150 - 200 people.
if i'd know people were going to get so shirty about an open question then i would have phrased it a little better.

when did everyone get so precious round here?

YOU HAVE ALL CHANGED!


This whole website has changed!

It's scary...

Any bands in particular you're after? Where would the venue be based?


some arty electronic goodness

so....... something not very popular but kind of well known in their niche.
um....... someone like Max Tundra???

it's very early days of a half thought out plan. it would be in brighton - somewhere


max tundra

you're probably looking in excess of £500 easily.

he was around £400 just for a DJ slot a few years back.


suitable for headline slot

not huge, but a step up from these new puritans, youthmovies and the like. i guess it's more medium to big.

again this is probably a stupid how long is a piece of string type question, sorry.


I run a clubnight

in a venue that very size in London.

We look to pay £150 - £350 for headliners. £350 is absolute tops. We haven't paid that yet, but we would if it was someone we really, really wanted.

We paid £250 for a band that are playing O2, Dot to Dot, Glade, Lovebox, all that sort of shizzle. So they're not HUUUGE, but they're doing OK.

And we're just offering £300 to a band who we absolutely love, but probably aren't as big yet.
But they explained that they won't do a gig without their own soundman and that they need a van for all their stuff, so £300 is the minimum they play for now.

Fair enough. I hope that helps.


that is helpful

thanks!


One off gigs

generally cost a lot more than if the band is on tour and doing a load of dates. A friend of mine booked four fairly big "indie guitar" bands for a Student ball a few years ago, and it ended up costing £12,000! Plus they all had stupid rider requests, and one of the bands were vegan so the food for them cost a fair bit on top of their fees.


'student balls'

always spend stupid money on bands though. one band i recently paid £50 for played one for £1200.


^this

Universities will throw ridiculous amounts of money at bands for playing uni gigs. How established is the band you booked for £50?


five singles

a few bits of press in NME (no 'radar' piece though), one big support tour, glastonbury, lots of evening radio + lamacq radio 1 session... they'd probably normally get £200 for a london show actually so i was more on mates rates. i think they were only two singles in when the student ball was booked. they went in at £1500 and got knocked down to £1200 and laughed all the way to the bank.


this was also

before they had an agent.


How on earth

did paying for vegan food make the rider more expensive?!


Sorry...

didn't make that clear. They bought them a load of food for their rider, then when they turned up at the venue they refused to eat any of it due to not knowing whether it was vegan-friendly or not. So out popped the students on the committee to find the same amount of food again, therefore costing them twice as much... i didn't mean that vegan food costs more than "normal" food although i think that's what it sounded like probably!


I have heard to book a big band

they will take Mcdonalds Monopoly Vouchers to complete their set. Magic Numbers for instance...


Value

Apparently you get a third off booking the Bee Gee's the moment.


Depends if they have an agent

Agents will push the price up massively - which is their job, I guess, but it makes it hard to put on a lot of bands in smaller cities.


Not if you contact the band directly

and get them to agree to do it before you've spoken to their agent.


Lots...

will just direct you to their agent anyway, though.

In any case, some bands can be deceptively cheap, I've booked a reasonably trendy band who have had decent press coverage and a few singles and an album out for £150, and that was through an agent, but I've also been quoted £800ish for a very good but not especially high profile band who would have been worth 60 people max. I know a couple of people who promote gigs as a day job and am constantly shocked about how much more or much less a band is asking for than I would expect.


Also...

dancey, electro type bands will generally cost more than, say, a 4 piece indie rock band, as they usually play clubnights with bands on, which have an audience beyond just what the headlining band will pull in and the band/agent can therefore get away with asking for more money because the night will, in theory, generate more income than just a 8-11pm gig with the headlining band being the main pull.


do this

if you want to get an angry phone call from their agent.


agents always ask

way too much. Fair enough, as it's their job. But you have to haggle a bit to get a good price.


some agents

will bust your balls though, i mean £2K for *** ******** *** is just ridiculous!


its odd

for example-
support slot for £30 per ticket sold out gig in big london venue...how much did support act get paid...£50

yet someone like Kimya dawson, who i would say is fairly big, quite often does a free 'breakfast' show for nothing...she just loves playing...
so its odd


lolz

I think I know who you're talking about. I was quoted silly prices for them too when they had *just* released their album.


£250,000

tom waits = cunt