The Saturday two bands turned up
You book live music most Saturdays and an acoustic night on Thursdays. Acts contact you through Facebook, Instagram, email and a couple of local agents. You agree a date in a message thread, and maybe a fee. The diary behind the bar has most of them in it.
One Saturday two bands arrive with their gear. One was booked by you months ago in a message thread, the other by the assistant manager who checked the diary, which did not have the first. Another week the band asks for the fee they agreed, which is more than you remember. And the gig poster goes up on Thursday because nobody made it earlier.
Why gig bookings get tangled
Musicians use whatever channel they use, and you reply in the same one. That scatters bookings across message threads in several apps and inboxes, often on personal phones. The diary behind the bar is a copy, updated when someone remembers.
Each gig also has details that matter on the night: arrival and set times, fee, whether the band needs food, how many people, parking for the van, whether they bring a PA. Those are agreed in the thread and are not in the diary, so on the night the manager on duty has to scroll through someone else's phone.
Acts also cancel and swap. A band's drummer is ill and they offer a duo instead, or a member of the band rings a different member of staff to move the date. If the change is agreed in a different thread from the original booking, the pub ends up with two versions of the same night.
The cost of gigs booked in message threads
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Double bookings | Awkward nights and a band sent home |
| Fees not written down | Disputes and bad feeling with acts |
| Details lost in messages | Set times, food and parking sorted on the night |
| Late promotion | Small crowds on nights you paid for |
| No record of how gigs went | The same acts rebooked regardless of trade |
Live music is often a significant cost for a pub, and it is only worth it if it brings people in. Knowing which acts and which nights fill the pub is how you decide whether to carry on.
A gig calendar for the whole pub
- Every gig goes into one calendar, whoever books it, with the act, date, arrival and set times, agreed fee, contact details and any needs such as food, parking or PA.
- When a date is added, the calendar checks for clashes, and pencilled dates can be held and released.
- A confirmation with the agreed details is sent to the act by email, so both sides have the same record, and a reminder goes out the week before.
- Each confirmed gig is published to your website's what's-on page and can be posted to social pages, with a simple poster generated from the act's photo and details.
- On the night, the duty manager sees the gig details on a tablet or phone and records the fee paid.
- After each gig, trade for the evening is pulled from your EPOS and stored with the gig, so you can compare acts and nights.
Contracts and any performance rights questions stay with you and your adviser. We keep the details you agree in one place and share them consistently.
Booking the next month of music
An act messages about a date. You check the calendar on your phone, see the date is free, add it with the fee and set times, and the confirmation goes out. The gig appears on the website and a poster is ready to print. After the gig, the calendar shows the evening's takings next to the act, and three months later you can see which acts brought the best nights.
- One calendar for every gig
- Fees and details confirmed in writing
- Promotion that starts as soon as a gig is booked
- Trade figures to decide who to rebook
Recognise this in your live music?
- Bookings are agreed in message threads on different phones.
- You have double-booked acts on the same night.
- Acts have disputed fees you agreed months ago.
- Gig posters and social posts go up at the last minute.
- You do not know which acts bring in the most trade.