Free gigs for charity and exposure - would you?

relic245

Just interested in opinions. 

We are a covers band (age 45 - 58) all been round the block a few times with different bands. We play for fun and enjoyment. 

Saying that we generally get paid. My take is that if we're good enough to play then we should be paid the same as other bands. 

We've been approached by a local promoter. 

He puts on a gig once a month at a weatherspoons. It's to raise money for a charity. 

He's asked if we would like to headline (2 warm up acts and a 45 min set for us)  - as it's for charity then there is no fee. 

Our bass player has raised an interesting point: 

"I like the idea of it, but why would we do it for free for a massive national brand like Wetherspoons….on the other hand it will no doubt be very busy and I’m sure we would go down well and get other gigs from it…it’s an intersting conundrum !"

What would you do? 

Snags

The classy way to do it to make a point is to charge and then donate the fee to the charity anyway, after you get paid. Obviously not all promoters/venues will wear that, though.

The questions to ask when politely making the point are:

• Is the promoter getting paid?
• Do Weatherspoons donate their takings for the night or a % thereof?
• Is the sound guy getting paid?
• etc.

I work with quite a few non-profits and other than a couple where I had a very personal connection, it's always commercial (not music related, though); they get a discount, and they get favours, but it's commercial. Just because they're a charity, it doesn't mean you have to be, and their staff aren't working for free anyway.

WeZ84

I'd do it as a one off - it might lead to some future paying gigs with the promoter or someone in the audience might book you for their event - get some business cards or something ready to hand out and use it to get some exposure and treat it like a rehearsal.

Maybe try and get the pub to through in some free drinks or some food for the band at least.

thecolourbox

I wouldn't work in a Wetherspoons in any capacity, paid or otherwise, to be honest. Unless every single person working there including the bar staff are working for free, why should you? But knowing Wetherspoons, they'd probably take that idea and instead dock the pay of their staff

Roland

I’ve always charged, and then each member of the band donates as they see fit. Personally I don’t donate to animal charities, especially those which spend money on television adverts, but other members of my band might wish to.

You’ve also got the questions about what the organisers, and the venue, are making from the event, both directly and indirectly. Paying for free is actually paying to play once you’ve added in costs of travel, parking, drinks, strings, rehearsals etc. I’m loath to do that where the venue is taking bar profits and not contributing to the charity.

John_P

No, unless the exposure is genuinely worth it - but that's rare and it just encourages the idea that musicians don't have value.   
Are any other people working that day for free?

Either charge a fee and donate it,   invoice them in advance with a donation itemised or just charge your regular fee.

In my experience, the more you are paid the more they will treat with respect. One of my best paying gigs is a big charity ball I do every easter, the band gets around £2k and they usually raise around £70k for charity.  


I would at least ask them how the gig is bringing in money - if it's just a bucket being passed around then you would probably raise more doing it as a regular gig and donating the fee. 

DefaultM

I wouldn't unless it was a small charity I cared about and knew they were getting all the money from all involved. 
Done all this when I was younger. The end result was always that I found out others had been paid to be there whereas I'd paid to play, and we didn't even get any further work from it. 

lustycourtier

Not a chance in a wetherspoons. Im also intruigued how that wetherspoons can have music, as they pay no PRS....

CountryDave

As mentioned above. It’s always the band that get asked to do it for free.
 Ask if the pub are handing over their profits, are the bar staff working for free. Is anyone making anything from this apart from the charity?
 If so, ask why your band shouldn’t be receiving payment.
 Then there’s the question of if the charity aligned with your beliefs. Would you normally hand over £50 to that charity (assuming a 5 piece band at £250 a gig). 

To agree to do this means there is a likelihood you may have to cancel a paying gig, therefore your cost/donation is the price of the other potential gig.

maltingsaudio

I always charge something for charity gigs . The golden rule is if the bar staff and security get paid we do. That said I often give some of the fee back but that’s up to me and I never expect any of my crew to work for nothing.

Now not wishing to cast any aspersions on anyone, but charity gigs are there to raise money for the charity.Therefor it is in the best interest of the charity to ensure they get as many people in as possible which means a band or bands which can draw a crowd . They have spent a long time building up a following so they deserve to at least be offered something .

CaseOfAce

I remember someone once saying - "the only thing doing charity gigs gets you is ...more free charity gigs".

Personally I'm all for a good cause and don't mind doing them on occasion. 
As others have said it is a bit cheeky the band are expected to do it for free whilst staff etc are still being paid as well.
Just because I'm having fun on stage, I'm still working.

Supportact

I have done free gigs for charity events before, but it's generally been because no one else was making money (e.g. Local charity where all the money raised is going to them). In this case I think that if the bar is going to be selling drinks and presumably keeping those profits then they should offer you some payment even if maybe you'd do it for less than your usual rate as it's a charity event. 

I wouldn't say never play for free, but you have to feel comfortable with the deal in your own mind. 

chrisj1602

I’ve done the odd charity gig, I prefer getting paid but I’ll just see it as a free rehearsal. 

theatreanchor

For Mr Brexit? No way. Don’t care if it’s for ‘charity’. Artists should be paid for their work. The pub will be full of boozers and the pub will be taking money. Are they donating the price of pints to charity? Nope. 

Rowby1

Been stung on “charity gig” situations before. I no longer do them unless I know who else is getting a cut of the money as well as the charity.

If I can’t get a clear answer on that it’s either a no thanks or what we’re normally paid and a proportion of the money handed directly to the charity. 

relic245

Some seriously good points here - thank you everyone. 

We're going to go back to the promoter and ask some of these questions.  It sounds like it's quite likely weatherspoons trying to get bands for free. 

We did a charity gig 2 weeks ago that we would do again in an heartbeat. 

A pub where we've played a few times and get paid the going rate. 

Once a year they do a charity bash and everyone plays for free (inc the soundguy) there was free beer and burgers though. 

The place was rammed all day - the pub must have made a fortune but they did made £2k for a local charity both from bucket collections and merch sales. 

All bands got booked for a further paid gig. So yes the venue did well, but they are good guys so we don't mind supporting their business.   There must have been quite a lot of organising and there were a lot of bar staff on so the venue put a lot of effort into it. Sounds like it's not quite the same at weatherspoons. 

RocknRollDave

For a corporation like Wetherspoon, it’s a hard no from me re playing for free.

bloodandtears

in this scenario, no...  in other charity cases, it depends.. size of audience and organisation of event are key to any freebies I would undertake

merlin

Exposure?? People die of exposure. 

Sporky

My experience is that exposure isn't legal tender. 

Danny1969

lustycourtier said:

Not a chance in a wetherspoons. Im also intruigued how that wetherspoons can have music, as they pay no PRS....

I've never seen any live music in Spoons anyway and I've been in more Spoons than I can remember up and down the country. They don't even turn the telly up normally.