I have no idea if this is the correct place to post this quesiton. If it is not, please accept my apologies and point me in the correct direction.
Is there a web site that addresses the fair assessment of fees of Celtic entertainers for weekend Celtic Faires? I’m not talking about high profile entertainers doing high profile faires, rather the smaller faires.
We are trying to plan our first faire and need some data. Do any of you perform at the smaller faires? What do you like about them, and what do you dislike about them?
I don’t know that there could be any such fair comparison, as musicians will charge what they can get according to their local market.
Do you play professionally yourself? If not, try and find someone who does in your area and ask them what it costs them to travel to a gig, equipment rentals, union fees, etc. to see what it costs a musician just to show up at an event in your area. Most times I think you will find they work pretty cheap.
I’ve helped in getting festivals started - just on the periphery, and volunteering where I could, but from what I’ve seen, the best advice I can offer is:
If you’re planning to hold a festival, start small, and use what local talent you have available. My experience with this is that some folks want to be the Milwaukee Festival in their first year. What they fail to see is that Milwaukee has been holding their Festival for just over 25 years now, and they didn’t start big, they GREW over the years.
djm is correct in stating that local musicians will charge whatever the market will bear, and if they’ve been gigging for a while, they know what will fly economically and what won’t. Of course, being new, you can honestly plead the ‘poverty’ case, and start out by asking if they’d do a set for free (e.g., they’re either working for free for the first time around, or perhaps 1/2 their usual fee).
Check the local pubs / clubs for bands that work locally… talk to management at those places to see if the band is reliable (nothing worse than a band that shows up late, or not at all) and ask the managers if the band has a strong local following (that’s the idea of pubs/clubs having band play - the idea is to draw a crowd. If they don’t draw a crowd on a regular basis, I’d consider pushing those bands down your priority list.
Check with some local promoters to see what acts might be touring in your area… who knows, you might get lucky and find a ‘big name’ band who has a date to fill, and will work for a slightly lesser fee than normal, with the idea that if they had 2 or 3 days off, they wouldn’t be making ANY money on those dates if not for your festival.
Many thanks for the good suggestions. We’ll try to get the information from the people who use these bands. Unfortunately, in our area there is not a large day-to-day following of Celtic music. There is, however a reasonably high interest in periodic Celtic music.
It is baffling to me that an area that has a rich Celtic heritage does not embrace it.
And it wouldn’t hurt to ask the bar owners what they pay bands on St. Pat’s, Boxing Day, etc. What’s more, they can put you in touch with their contacts in the bands. Finally – and perhaps best of all – certain pubs may even help sponsor some aspects of your fair if you work it right. (at least that’s what happens here)