Pub/club singing?

forallotherthings31

Anyone ever earnt a few pennies (or know anyone that has?) doing this kind of stuff.

I enjoy performing and do on an amateur basis - I'm decent but not amazing and would love to try and earn a bit of cash doing what I do anyway.

I love love love my day job and am not looking to do anything full time or anything just wondered if there's any worth in having a go?

PasturesNew

My friend and his guitar have been making a brilliant living out of this for years. I remember in about 1998 he was making about £26k/year from doing about 3 gigs/week and flogging the odd CD here and there.

You need to make a demo, then go round to places that put on that sort of entertainment and speak to them, ask them if they think you'll "do". A lot might ask you for a freebie night to see if their beer sales increase or decrease, but if takings are up they'll book you. Look for about 4-5 bookings per year from a variety of places.

SailorSam

I sing sometimes at a local pub, they ask me to get up at closing time, it encourages the customers to drink up and get out fast.

forallotherthings31

^ ha ha I'm sure I've seen you in my local

PasturesNew - thats quite inspiring to know about your mate. I'll definately start looking into this a bit more. Thanks

PasturesNew

forallotherthings31 wrote: »

^ ha ha I'm sure I've seen you in my local

PasturesNew - thats quite inspiring to know about your mate. I'll definately start looking into this a bit more. Thanks

One thing you can do is record some of your stuff at home, as mp3s and stick it online. Get it onto youtube for example. Then get yourself a simple website that says what you do and the area you'd cover and details so people can get in touch. And start a facebook page.

Then you've got the ability for people to find you, contact you, hear you - and tell their mates.

Then when you get bookings, you can do a Gigs List on your website and on facebook.

dave4545454

go for it! i've been gigging for years and making loads of money. and it's all tax free too

lincroft1710

dave4545454 wrote: »

go for it! i've been gigging for years and making loads of money. and it's all tax free too

Do you in fact mean you don't declare your earnings as income?

PasturesNew

dave4545454 wrote: »

go for it! i've been gigging for years and making loads of money. and it's all tax free too

No it's not, it's a business, you're self-employed. You have to declare all earnings, then see if there's a liability.

TwistedPsycho

and as much as pains me to stiffle musical creativity, please remember that if you cover other artists songs you have to have a MCPS licence for the right to perform it.

An associate of mine was caught out and his covers band were threatened with court action as they had been caught 4 times in 6 months (ordinarily they perform 2 to 3 times a month so thats a lot they weren't caught for)

forallotherthings31

I don't think it stiffles creativity to do it the right way- i didnt know that though. I've always done covers and never heard anything about any type of licence -is this just for paid performances?

TwistedPsycho

Its for all performances AFAIK