Anything between £80 and £200 depending on your experience and reputation.

The pub gigs are worth doing for extra cash, a social life and a means to improve your performance and playing skills as well as a good opportunity to test your own character.

It may feel diffucult at times but you can still make a good side hustle on top of a full-time job in 2022 by playing solo gigs in pubs. You need the drive, the desire, the consistency and the realism to acknowledge that it doesn’t eqaute exactly with your popstar dreams but it can be done.

I have used personal contacts gathered over decades along with an agency made up of other musicians who take a commission of £25 from a £125/150 fee. Paying a commission charge feels worth if when you consider the gig and earnings as something you simply wouldn’t have made on your own. For weddings and other functions I signed up to lastminutemusicians.com which I can recommend. It is worth noting that I had a professional demo video which I put up on my profile. It definitely helps.

https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/search/singers_vocalists.html

Sometimes it can be tricky and even embarrassing wondering how to pitch your self when asking for a fee having acquired a gig. Landlords aren’t likely to be forthcoming and if you have nobody to compare yourself to and confer with it can be daunting. Don’t be afraid and learn to accept that they might reject you altogether for asking for something quite reasonable. Most landlords know the score when it comes to regularly booking acts.

So what shoud you charge in pubs in the north of England as a solo singer guitarist? Anything between £80 and £200 depending on your experience and reputation.

Personally after paying paid gigs as a solo singer guitarist constantly since 2005 I would not want to go out for less than £80 and in the climate of a post pandemic UK forecast for a huge economic downturn in 2023 I am happy to accept £100-£150 once negotiated with individual landlords. Though offical websites connected to companies such as lastminutemusicians, which I’ve used, or the Musicians Union, which I’m in, talk about fees of £200.

Don’t forget to advertise online before the gig and be sociable after the performance to help persuade the person booking you that you are postive and enthusiastic. Then they might want to book you again. It’s not just about the performance. It really is about spreading and sharing the joy of music.

It definitely helps to keep up a constant social media presence and build up a set of personal contacts and good relations with pubs, cafes, proprietors, promoters, other musicians, guitar students and kind, supportive friends whom, hopefully, like your music and don’t dislike you as a person. Some people feel more comfortable imposing themselves and their music than others – you might think of that as arrogance or self confidence depending on how delusional it seems or not.

I’m one of those musicians who thinks it is better to stay polite and entertaining, remember that not everybody shares your music taste and also remember that, inside, it doesn’t pay to care either. Just do your job, be as professional and strong minded as you can, take the hit when you’re down and jump on good opportunites fearlessly when the doors open. Play what they ask for up to a point – the point for me being when a famous song makes me feel overly bored inside. Everyone has a threshhold of tolerance.

Don’t Give Up Your Day Job

Post pandemic you’re competing with quiz masters, karaoke artists, live football, full bands, blues duos, loud DJs and the regular hits chosen by bar staff to play on pub speakers. Plus you’re getting paid exactly the same kind of fee you might have got in the 1990s – I can vouch for that – while managing a mind blowing set of bills for a bunch of controlling corporations from internet to gas and electric. Never mind that petrol is presently £100 a tank for a standard car. That’s not an easy thing.

To deal with it, musicians that I’ve met and worked with in the north have a variety of methods of doing what they love best, sometimes while wearing a fancy hat which makes them feel good, and keeping themselves intact financially. Day jobs could include a call centre, fitting carpets, working in coffee shops or IT, other sources might be wealthy, encouraging parents or a retirement package. They seem happy with that life and self-identify as rock n rollers in that social context.

In contrast to that I have been accused of a negativity by contradicting the glamour and glory of a pub covers gig. However, I believe honest realism is more useful. A different perspective. Feel free to comment below on what you might think about the life of a pub musician in the north of England on a side hustle.

Check out other online blogs and podcasts which reflect the debate on the issue and the vast array of personal experiences out there to learn from. https://www.musicianwithadayjob.com/quit-your-day-job/

Such as music blogger Caleb J.Murphy (link above) or a series of podcasts by Paul Gillings a Suffolk musician who has covered a range of related issues in his local musicians guide – Don’t Give Up Your Day Job (buzzsprout link below).

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1916179

Also, the bright tones and positivity of internet descriptions of how hard you need to work and what you need to spend to get on with gigs are best served by more links below which I found useful. See what you think.

https://www.openmicuk.co.uk/advice/how-much-should-you-charge-for-gigs/: How much should you charge for solo gigs in the north of England? https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/blog/i-charge-real-world-advice-performing-musician/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CDepending%20on%20where%20it%20is,%C2%A380%2D%C2%A3120.%E2%80%9D: How much should you charge for solo gigs in the north of England?