Booking live musicians for Events: The Checklist

May 20, 2020 Artist Bookings

Music has a huge impact on how we feel and behave, something which brands have known for decades.

There is a reason why certain commercials pull at our heartstrings or make us feel jubilant or joyous. It’s the combination of powerful, emotional sound with perfectly paired visuals.

This is exactly the same when it comes to event entertainment. Live entertainment marries great sound with engaging visuals, and can make an event memorable, inject fun and help pull a theme together. Whether it’s a Christmas party or maybe a seasonal product launch, live entertainment is in demand.

One of the most popular forms of live entertainment for events is the band. Why? Because bands are dynamic, fun and versatile, suitable for just about every kind of event from a corporate product launch to a conference after party, weddings to gala dinners.

This mini-guide gives you all the information you need to finding and booking a band quickly and safely, and in time for your event.

Step 1: Deciding what type of entertainment you want and need

Make sure to have an idea of what you want from the get go. Are you looking for a particular style like jazz, swing, funk or maybe a tribute band?
Niche bands like these can be fabulous, and if your event is themed niche entertainment can help you accentuate it. Whether it’s Pink covers, Tina Turner or ragtime tunes you are looking for, there will be a perfect match for your event.

Jazz - cool sophisticated groovy – think cocktails, less formal, mood elevation
Classical – Elegant, cultured, classy - perfect for formal events and feature sets
Opera signers – Elevate the mood, inspire and impress. Nothing beats the Opera wow factor.
Party bands - going to dance, dance, dance the night away
DJ’s – music for all tastes
World – culturally specific or themed, fun and frivolous

However, you need to know a few things and the venue performance space before you go searching for your dream entertainment.

The location of the performance space
How many people can it hold
Technical specifications like access to power and venue supplied sound system

Here are a few things to ask your venue:

Is there a dedicated space for the band, and how big is it? Will it fit a 3 piece, 5 piece or maybe even a 9 piece band?
Is there a changing room for the band? This gives the entertainers somewhere to get ready, and means they don’t have to hang out in the main venue before going on stage.
Is there a loading area so the band can quickly and easily get their gear into the venue? Is there somewhere they can park afterwards?

Step 2: Budget, Budget, Budget

Perspective is a good thing when considering hiring live musicians.

Couples spent an average of $1000 on flowers and $480 on wedding bonbonniere
The average cost of a plumber is between $60 -$100 an hour plus call out fees between $40 - $60
Australian spend an average of $1600 per annum on take away coffee and $365 a year on perfume
A 20 minute in-chair teeth whitening treatment can cost between $300 - $700
The average cost of a style cut and blow dry is between $120 - $300

Artist Bookings only recommends Musicians who are highly trained and experienced professions.

What are you paying for?

Many artists have over 10,000 hours of practice gained over many years. Musicians are often self employed and do not get paid to rehearse - but rehearse they do – may artists spending up to six hours a day seven days a week honing their skills.
Musical instruments can also be expensive - classical instruments like harps, cellos and violins can cost thousands of dollars and require meticulous care to ensure the quality of the sound.

As a very rough guide you can expect to pay :-

DJ – from $800 for a 4 hour gig
DJ and muso combo - from $1300 for a 4 hour gig
Solo singer/guitarist – 1 hour from $300, 3 hours from $700
Acoustic Duo – 1 hour from $450, 3 hours from $1100
Acoustic & Electric Duo (backing tracks) – 1 hour from $450, 3 hours from $1100
Trio – 1 hour from $660, 3 hours from $1100
Trio with vocals - 1 hour from $860, 3 hours from $1135
Four piece – 1 hour from $1000, 3 hours from $1900
Four piece with vocals – 1 hour from $1250, 3 hours from $2250
Five piece – 1 hour from $1200, 3 hours from $2100
Five piece with vocals – 1 hour from $1500, 3 hours from $2500

Fees are usually cheaper the longer the musician is employed

Step 3: Agency or Going Direct?

An Agent

An agent’s job is to ensure you get the right artist for your gig. Agencies work on referrals and word of mouth recommendation and they want your event to be a success because they know your positive recommendation is worth everything.
A good agent will work with you to ensure you get what you want.
They know the skill and background of their artists and know how to negotiate with the artists to give you what you need.
Good agents also take care of details you may not think of, they provide insurance, pay the taxes, provide replacement guarantees and manage all the contracts and communications.
Artists engaged by Agents are professional who rehearse and perform at a high standard. If that’s important to you we suggest that you always use a reputable agency to book with.

Going Direct

If you book the band directly make sure there is a contract in place as it will protect both you and the band but be careful - bands have been known to disappear overnight taking your hard earned $$$ with them.
Communications can be difficult with bands so make sure they are reliable and you can get several different contact numbers for the band members so you can track them down if need be.
Be careful of hashed up bands – there are several of these operations in place and if you value good music and reliability you should be very careful about using them.
Essentially, hashed up bands are just individual musicians who answer a push notification from a booking platform, the first muso to accept gets the job.
To register with the platform the musicians have to know a set number of songs and music but they definitely never rehearsed together and many arrive at a job not knowing the other artists.
Its a testiment to the skill of the musicians that many of these hashup up bands get resonable reveiws - but we always wonder what the host and guests would think if they'd have gotten real bands!
All we can is you get what you pay for. Good luck !*

Step 4: Choosing and booking the perfect act

Now that you have armoured yourself with lots of information it’s time to wade into the sea of entertainers and choose your preferred act. Although there are other services out there, we obviously recommend ARTIST BOOKINGS as the best place to look.

This is because we have quality screening, replacement acts for unforeseen artist cancellations, and in addition the entire process, including payment, all happens on one site.

Once you have found a selection of bands within the style you want, and supporting the overall theme of the event, these are the things we recommend you do:

Get our opinion - the job of a booking agent is to recommend the right artist for your gig. We want your event to be a success because we know your positive recommendation is worth more to us than a negative one – we can recommend artists within your budget and that suit your style.

Listen to their audio tracks and watch their videos.

Look at their pictures, presentation is important and you want to make sure that they look the part.

Can you see them perform live? You can ask but actually seeing the act live can prove tricky as many function bands play at private and corporate events only. We recommend taking the advice of the booking agent

Step 5: Sit back and relax

Good news, the hard work is now officially over and you get to sit back and get ready to enjoy.

Now you hand over the big stack of information provided to you by the venue as well as any other practical information, sit back and get ready to enjoy.

Well, most likely you will be rushing off to sort the catering, sending out invitations and photography. But at least you can rest assured that the entertainment has been sorted!