Very simply, it depends on a few factors listed below:
The following starting prices are pretty typical:
You should also be prepared to pay a little bit more depending on your location. Hiring a band in London can increase the cost due to factors such as congestion charges.
If you book your band through an agency you can expect to pay an extra 20% on these rates as a service charge.
Wedding entertainment can cost a little bit more as there is more at stake, it's your special day after all. You can expect to pay anything from £200-1,000 more for a wedding and if your wedding is on a public holiday (New Years Eve) expect to pay even more on top of that!
Yes. Think about it this way. You hire a 4 piece band to perform at your wedding. It takes 30 minutes for them to get there. 1 hour for them to set up. Perform for 3 hours. 1 hour to set down and 30 minutes to get home. In total that's 6 hours. Each musician get paid £150 for the gig, that's £25 /hour. Now that may sound a lot, but don't forget they had to drive to the gig, pay for the equipment and instrument, rehearse and work unsociable hours.
If you're ever shocked by how much it costs for live music hire a plumber at 9pm on a Saturday night to fix a leaking toilet. I bet most musicians will work for half the piece they quote... (no disrespect to plumbers of course!)
If you're interested in a more detailed breakdown of calculating how much you should charge for a gig, check out our article on "How Much Should I Charge to Play at a Wedding in the UK".
This article was last update 19 August 2021.
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