Recently it seems like “the” hot topic is how much musicians get paid, so I thought I’d share my thoughts and experiences for anyone that is interested…
To give you a bit of background, I am joint-founder of www.lastminutemusicians.com, the UK’s leading entertainment directory and have been performing as a professional pianist for more than 20 years.
At the age of 6 I started out trying to learn the violin and (thank goodness!) moved on to piano when I was about 9.
Whilst at school I made the most of the local music services, rehearsing weekly with a whole variety of ensembles, including my town and county youth jazz orchestras, school wind band (where I played percussion) and even our sixth form male voice choir!
After school I was lucky enough to be appointed conductor of my local youth choir as well as the Bournemouth University big band.
Whilst I can’t remember my very first paid gig, I have a memory of performing with a funk band in a local pub when I was about 15 – I’m sure that wouldn’t be allowed these days..!
As a young musician starting out I was advised by my uncle, who happened to be Musicians Union branch secretary at the time, to say yes to pretty much everything as that’s the way to build up experience whilst improving – great advice for anyone starting out.
My first regular gig was at a seaside fish restaurant performing on a Friday and Saturday evening. With the help of my uncle, I negotiated a fee of £65 for 2 x 1 hour sets which I was quite happy with as a young musician.
This was in the late ’90s – I can’t remember what the musicians union suggested rates were at the time, but I think we checked that they were in line with their rates at the time.
In April 2023 the Musicians Union updated their recommended live rates as follows:
• Casual engagements for groups performing in pubs and clubs for up to 3 hours:
£147
(per musician)• Casual engagements for groups performing at functions of up to 4 hours:
There are also various extras like travel expenses, setting up time, overtime, porterage etc. that should be added to these fees.
£196
(per musician)
See the full breakdown
On our Facebook group UK Musicians for Gigs we had a whole variety of reactions to the new rates, for instance:
I remember the days of those pink MU contracts when every pub had a band on a weekend and many throughout the week and local pub entertainers made a decent living. Those days have gone – so many pubs have closed and the ones that remain don’t make enough to pay live entertainment what they should. In Bristol there are so many bands and solo acts who would like to get paid but prefer to play more often even if it’s for free. The Musicians union is now really only representing session musicians – the rest they don’t have a clue about!
Vincent Brown
Those rates would be laughed at in my neck of the woods, you’d never get a gig again. Lucky to get half those rates.
Dave Smith
We decided a little while back, perhaps before the “recession”, that a few fewer gigs at a slightly higher price was a good aim – less travel etc meant the end money was close, for less effort. The recession has meant people cutting back, what they will hire and what they will pay, so keeping the price up is really hard. It’s not only that someone will always work for less than you, it’s also that some money is better than none – which is of course what keeps the price down too. And it’s not always true that a £2k band will make the crowd any more pleased than a £500 band. Or we get to the position where someone will spend their budget on 4-piece rather than 6 or 7 – more money for those 4, fewer musicians paying the rent…so, get a good trio going and keep the money up??
Sean McBride
Time the MU got real. If any of us have the least possible chance of achieving these rates, then please let me know how it’s done? Your lucky if you can get £80 to £90 up here in the north, different world in the south I suppose?
Peter Brent
To continue my story, when I was about 19 I moved to London to attend Trinity College of Music. By this time I’d been performing quite a lot at local venues so I felt confident approaching venues in London to introduce myself.
I quickly learned that the competition is fairly high and often venues are inundated with CDs and promo packs from musicians.
The best paid gigs seemed to be weddings, private events and corporate events, so we sat down and worked out a way to get noticed.
This resulted in the birth of www.lastminutemusicians.com in 2003, now used to organise events daily by over 2500 customers. Our musicians have performed at a massive variety of events and occasions, including the Royal Wedding and the London Olympics. We even had a sax player booked to wake up the housemates on a hit reality TV show!
As I almost exclusively perform at private events, I am pleased to report I have been charging Musicians Union rates for almost every gig I’ve played. I now charge higher rates than my peers as I feel after 18 years performing at over 2000 events I feel my level of skill and experience are worth it.
For example, I would expect to pay a lot more to a piano teacher per hour the better their level of skill and experience – I’d expect to pay maybe £50 for an hour for your average teacher, but would also quite happily sell my car for just one lesson from say Herbie Hancock!
I think musicians fees mainly tend to be affected by the following factors:
- Location (areas like London have high demand therefore higher wages)
- Skill level / experience (the higher your level of skill & experience the better the product)
- Reviews (lots of positive reviews from past clients should helps justify higher fees)
- Equipment (the larger the equipment setup the more effort involved which drives up the price)
Having set prices available online has been a good way to ensure continuity and seems to help clients feel like they have to pay the same as everyone else instead of presuming you will negotiate down to what they want to pay.
In my experience, most musicians tend to fall into one of the following categories:
- Beginner / enthusiast
- Amateur / “hobby” musicians
- Semi-pro / “weekend warriors”!
- Pro
Arguably there should be different rates for the different categories of musician, but who would decide who is in which category!?
In my experience musicians tend to be fairly critical of each other and obviously it’s a very subjective topic.
If you have any comments on this topic, please let us know below…
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