How to Get a Guarantee For a Gig

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is David Jackel on behalf of Expert Village and I'm here to talk to you about negotiating your guarantee when you're booking a show. So, what is a guarantee? Well, a guarantee is when the club you're playing at promises you a certain amount of money for doing the show. So, usually the guarantee is anywhere from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the size of your draw and how popular your band is. If you're a small band, but you have a decent sized draw, I'd say a hundred dollars is a fair amount to ask because that's covering the basic needs, like traveling costs. However, many clubs won't offer a guarantee if you're a new act and they don't think that you're guaranteed to bring in a crowd for them. In that case, you can ask for a guarantee, which is a certain percentage of the door. So, let's say the club gets whatever their costs are from the door and afterwards you get certain, you're guaranteed a certain percentage. Let's say if there are three bands playing, you're guaranteed at least a third of that, or if you're a bigger band, and the other bands no one's ever heard of then, you're guaranteed half of the door and the other bands can split the other half. If you're playing at a different kind of venue, let's say it's a corporate gig or a college show, and then you can ask for a lot more money because their budgets are a lot bigger. A college show you should feel comfortable asking for a thousand dollars, and of course, you are going to have to negotiate and they may offer you five hundred and maybe you'll settle at eight hundred if you're lucky. Remember that when you're negotiating with a booking agent for a guarantee, you also have to guarantee them something. They're expecting you to bring in a draw, so it works both ways. If you want to get a good guarantee, you should be able to, with confidence, tell them that you're going to bring them a good audience. Otherwise, they're not going to give you a guarantee for good reason."