How To Start A Wedding & Events Band: The Definitive Guide

Decide if it’s right for you

• There’s a whole lot more to starting a professional wedding & event band than just playing music every night - You’re going to have to put in some serious time, effort and investment to pull it off and once you’re up and running, your people and business skills will be vital to your success.
• Playing in a wedding & events band can be one of the most rewarding jobs a musician can have. You get to travel throughout the country and potentially overseas playing in some beautiful venues with wonderful people, you get to play some of the best tunes ever written night after night, and ultimately you get to make a living as a professional musician if you make the right decisions.

Find the right people

• You’re going to be spending a lot of time with the people in your band so make sure you like each other. It’s important you can all communicate easily and you’re all team players.
• Make sure everyone is a competent player or singer. You’re going to need to learn songs at short notice and have up to 100 songs memorised and ready to go at the drop of a hat. A little sidenote to this; Make sure your players have solid technique. If you’re performing 2-4 hour shows a few nights a week, repetitive strain injuries can quickly creep up on you.
• Are your players organised and reliable? There is nothing worse for your client than a band of deps AKA a Frankenstein band. Make sure you select professional players who can manage their diaries, commit to gigs, and respond in a timely manner to messages and phone calls.
• Choose your players wisely. You’re creating a product that needs to sell and to do that you’re going to need a great front person and players who can put on a show.
• It can take time to build a great band from the ground up so don’t get disheartened if it takes a while. Bands develop over time so it’s ok not to be perfect right from the start. Work with what you’ve got and focus on being professional, prepared, and on time… every time.

Create your product

• What kind of band are you going to be? Are you going to specialise in a certain style or will you do a bit of everything? How many band members will you have? Will you offer multiple set-ups?
• Get together with your band and come up with a list of 50-100 songs you’d like to learn. Give everyone a week or two to learn them and then rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse some more.
• Remember a Wedding & Event band’s main job is to entertain. Yes, it’s important that you’re enjoying yourself but make sure you focus on your audience when it comes to choosing songs.
• Do you have a USP? What makes your band unique and more attractive to your potential clients? Do you have a spectacular singer or maybe you have a particular dress-code? Perhaps your band just sounds incredible?
• Who is your target market? Weddings, corporate events, private parties are the main ones but maybe you can see an untapped market somewhere.

Treat your band as a business

• You’ve created a band and you’re almost ready to start taking bookings and getting out there but first make sure you’re clued up and have a plan.
• A successful wedding band can reach a six figure turnover quicker than you might think. Make sure you keep good records of your turnover, expenses and profit from the outset.
• If you’re already a working musician, you’re probably already registered as self-employed with HMRC but if you’re not, now may be a good time for all your band members to consider registering.
• When musicians come together to form a band and have a common goal of sharing profit, they will generally be considered by law to be operating as a partnership.
• A partnership is usually the simplest set up for a band but that’s not to say it is the best set up. You could form the band as a Limited liability partnership or a Limited Company, each having their advantages and disadvantages.
• Whichever set up you decide to go for, make sure you draw up agreements between band members and take advice from a tax professional to avoid any headaches further down the line. Musicians Union provide some great information to get you started.
• VAT - Value Added Tax. If your band has a turnover of more than £90,000 in any 12 month period you must be registered for VAT and account for it when invoicing clients. - Make sure you speak to a tax professional if you’re approaching these kind of numbers.
• Public liability insurance - All working musicians should have public liability insurance to protect themselves and others. Some venues won’t allow you to play without it. The Musicians Union include public liability insurance with their memberships.
• All of the above points should not be considered tax advice. Do your homework, get a good accountant, and play by the rules to run a successful band.

Get the right equipment

• Since you’re going to be playing at private events, you’re likely going to be playing in country houses and big old castles in the middle of nowhere that don’t have their own sound equipment or stage lighting.
• Get the band kitted out with a good PA and some stage lighting. You’re going to be loading this gear in and out of vans a lot. Lightweight is good to make it easy to carry but don’t go too light as it won’t stand up to the rigours of gigging.
• It should go without saying but make sure all the players have working instruments and backups for when things break mid gig.
• When you’re just getting started there can be quite a few upfront expenses and the costs can add up fast. By all means invest in yourself straight away and get a top notch PA but remember you also have the option to hire PA’s or other big equipment. Just make sure you’re hiring from a reliable source.
• Transport - You’re going to need to get to the gig somehow and public transport doesn’t usually go to all the nice places wedding musicians play, so make sure you’ve got enough reliable cars/vans within the band to get everyone to the gig.

How to get booked

• First stop: Promo material - Get a good video of the band playing their favourite tunes, or the tunes you think will attract your target audience. You could record the audio and video all at once to potentially save money but bands normally get the best results when recorded separately. Don’t cheap out on this, Invest in yourselves and you’ll reap the rewards. A starting budget for a promo video will be around £1400 which isn’t much when you divide it by 4 or 5 members and you can pay it back with one gig fee.
• Get some nice photos of the band - Whoever’s shooting your promo video can likely do a few photos at the same time.
• Get active on social media - Use it to show off your new videos and highlight your services.
• Book a few public gigs in your home city. Go to your local live music bar and ask for a gig. Get the punters dancing and you’ll know you’re on track to becoming a successful band.
• Compare booking platforms and agencies - These can be a great way of getting gigs booked in if you’ve got good promo material. They’ll usually deal with some paperwork for you and communicate with clients on your behalf to some extent.
• There are numerous platforms out there that allow you to upload a profile and there are countless agencies. Platforms and agencies usually charge around 20% commission per booking and some may ask you to work exclusively with them which you should consider carefully.
• When choosing a platform or agency make sure to read your contract with them and know exactly what they are offering you. Are they really offering you good value or will they become a dead weight if they don’t perform?
• Remember, The agent or platform works for you. Not the other way around.

Share the load

• As you’ve probably gathered by now there’s a whole lot of work to do when running a wedding and events band other than just performing.
• Depending on how you decide to run your wedding and events band, it may make sense to give each member a particular role or perhaps one member is willing do the majority of the work for a larger share of the gig fee.
• Things that need to be done include; communicating with clients or agents, social media and marketing, booking public gigs and rehearsals, writing up contracts, invoicing, managing your calendar, checking accounts, budgeting, calculating quotes, and the list goes on…

Factors to consider when pricing your band

• How much does it cost you to attend and play one gig? Fuel for a couple of cars, rehearsal time to learn a first dance together maybe?
• how many hours does one gig take? If you start packing the van at 5:30pm, arrive at the venue for 6:30pm to set up and be playing by 8pm, play until 12pm, Pack down in 45 minutes and arrive home to unload the van at 1:45am, You’ve just pulled off an 8 hour shift without even realising it.
• Know your worth - How much experience do you have? How good are you? If you’re a new band, you may want to price yourself lower to get more bookings and gain experience but if you’re really good then fire in and name your price. What should a person of your skill level be earning per hour? £20, £30, £40 per hour? Say you’re worth £30 per hour. It’s taken you 8 hours to complete the gig plus the 2 hour rehearsal earlier in the week. That means you should be charging at least £30 x 10 = £300 per member. £300 x number of members + Fuel + Rehearsal time + other costs = price
• Market factors - Will you be priced competitively? How much do similar bands cost in your area? Maybe your product is exceptional and you can multiply that price by 10. Have you got loads of bookings already and demand for your service is high?

Time to put on a show!

• After advertising yourself successfully you’re probably seeing the year ahead begin to fill up with gigs and if you’re lucky, a few last minute bookings are coming your way only a few weeks after launching.
• Always remember that you’ve been hired by your clients to entertain. Pull out all the stops and get the party started. If the guests aren’t dancing, you’re doing it wrong.
• Reputation is paramount to success. Turn up on time, dress sharp, communicate clearly, and act professionally at all times.
• If you’re getting the last two points right, you’ll soon be getting recommended by your clients and other suppliers working in the industry making for a nice steady flow of gigs.

If you’ve made it this far through the article, you’re probably pretty serious about starting a wedding & events band. You can use all of the points above as your blueprint for starting your band but make sure you do your own research to provide yourself with the best chance of success. Good Luck!