Swindon Music

Interesting Drowned in Sound discussion

For my tuppence, I have increased my local shows in Devizes to £5 on the door. This is to simply cover costs - a more realistic price. see my website for a slightly more in depth opinion on that.


How ever, from My Paying an entry fee point of view... I have never really quibbled over an entry fee, if there is a band I want to see. In reality £5 is nothing to pay, even with drinks on top. This how ever is born from the fact I rarely go out to an event that I'm not in some shape or form involved with.

What I'm saying there is, to regular regular gig goers a couple of quid on a ticket price, would be more significant.


What's everyone else's opinion on this?!

A fiver sounds fair enough to me.

depends on the level and drawing power of the bands. I work with grass roots local bands and the way I perfer to work is to the following formula.

free entry = reasonable crowd = decent bar take = guarenteed payback by the venue = consistant, guarenteed (if low) payment for the bands.

okay I don't make money but I'm not in it for that. I would rather bands know that there isn't a gamble and they will always get enough money to fill up the petrol tank and get a service station fry up on the way back. It seems to work as I have Bristol and Oxford bands asking for slots, Portsmouth/Southampton bands up on a regular basis even one mob from Derbyshire asking to come back.

Most bands don't need to have carrots of unattainable earnings dangled before them, most want a good gig, decent sound and a fun experience and that is what they get on Songs of Praise and Green Man nights.

Geography and reputation is also a factor. When I ran free gigs at The 12 Bar you couldn't get people in if you offered them free beer and a lift home afterwards and as the band payment was fueled by bar takings it didnt really work out. We did try a payment by donation system and famously took just over £7 on night with 40 people through the door, I wonder how many would have come in if they had to pay a set fee? In many ways it's all about the venue, anyone with a "if we build it they will come"attitude is going to come unstuck.

Like I said that's just my view of working at grass roots levels, each tier of the live promotions game seems to have a different set of guidelines. I think people have to remember that the people that frequent this forum probably understand that bands need to be paid and so would cough up to get into gigs, but a hell of a lot of people wont, the amount of arguments I have had over a £3 door entry to watch three bands, one of which has traveled from out of town, you would think that you were asking for the deeds to their house. It's all very well saying gigs are too cheap but you try putting a fiver entry on a local band night and you will going home pretty out of pocket.

I think £3 is a fair price for a night with 3-4 local bands - any more and i'd have to think about it. But as a general rule I'd never say anything was too cheap.

It's always a really tricky one, this.

With our shows the entire basis starts from the point that it's a non-profit making venture. The idea has always been to bring great bands to Swindon that might otherwise not ever play here and to put on the best local acts to support those bands and help them learn their craft more comprehensively (and maybe make a few valuable contacts along the way). Therefore, we base the ticket price around crowd number expectations verses the total cost of putting on each show.

The downside is that while we always know, to the pound, what the show will/has cost, we never know how many people will show up. That being the case, several of our shows have lost a fairly considerable sum of money while others have made amounts that have helped offset the losses.

Overall, we've lost money. I suspect if every ticket sold had been priced at £1 more then we'd have broken even and probably have enough to cover the upcoming February 17th show in full. But, that's life and the whole idea behind Acme Live was to bring new bands to Swindon, a significant number of which are from abroad and have never played the UK before - let alone Swindon - and we're managing to do that.

People are obviously aware that bands from the USA, especially, cost a lot more to put on than UK based bands of a similar level and so ticket prices for them has not been an issue so far (and, I guess, maybe I do feel they're a little too cheap in some ways).

When it comes down to it, Acme Live will continue to put on shows for as long as people turn up to them and essentially fund the whole shebang. If/when people no longer support the shows then they'll ultimately come to a halt. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen.

Back in the day, I payed £5 to see Silverchair, tripping Daisy and Everclear at the Astoria..... But that was half my life ago. Oh God.

If gigs were too cheap, wouldn't every venue be rammed constantly?

I think what people are saying in the wider world is that gigs cost a lot to put on, there is often a lot of effort put into a show from a promoter and for the door price, that event is cheap!

Personally, for local original bands on a Friday or Saturday £3 or £4 is perfectly acceptable. For more popular touring bands i'd expect to pay a bit more depending on the venue and size of the band.

I'd definately be put off if tickets started exceeding £4 for local stuff. I like to show support but i also like to stay in my overdraught ya know?

Not really, as that would assume lots of people don't care what music they listen to/watch and that other aspects, such as work/college, bar prices and transport don't factor in and other events (sometimes other shows) aren't happening on the same night.

For example, I was keen to go down to the show at The Furnace last Saturday but couldn't make it as it was my girlfriend's brother in law's birthday night out. The ticket price didn't concern me, I just wasn't able to be in two places at once.

Personally speaking, I don't really think ticket prices really start to become a deal breaker until you get into the £10 territory for local/smaller shows and up to the £40 /£50 for big arena tours.

If somebody wants to go to a show, I'd say one of the very last deciding factors that means they don't go is the ticket price itself.

this is probably a discussion that would only happen in the UK, anywhere else in the world (that I've played anyway) people expect to pay to see music, go into any bar/club in US/Europe/Asia when there is music on and you WILL pay a cover charge on the door or increased bar prices on gig nights.

people in the UK expect music to be free (especially original) - happily paying £10 to see a tribute band but not "risking" £3 for an original band.

this is historical because people who make music are seen by many parts of society as enthusiastic amateurs (as opposed to craftsmen)...add to this the musicians themselves do themselves no favours by working for nothing...why would a venue owner want to pay you when he can get an equally good band with that same following for nothing?

the tour I did last year each gig cost £750 to put on - the standard ticket price was £15 - you do the sums!

original bands need to pick gigs carerfully , not over playing one place .

Totally agree with this sentiment - If there is a band playing you want to go see, you'll pay any fee and not really think of it.

Even with local music, you'd expect to pay a few quid, the price doesn't turn you off... Which is why it's important for promoters to have an image - an general understanding of the sort of music they put on, so you know, if you're going to one of their night, before you walk through that door you know what you're getting.

When I was dragging all my friends to Moles literally 10 years ago, for Purr... We would see a band else where and say "they are such a Purr band" or "such a Moles band"

I have chosen to not attend gigs because the ticket price wasn't justified in the past.

Giz an example man!