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How bands actually get paid
Splitting a fee, travel, deps, statements and the paperwork around a gig: written for the people doing it, not for a search engine.
Should a band pay a dep's travel?Usually yes, worked out from the dep's own postcode and taken off the top like every player's. Who hands the money over, the lift, and what to agree first.How to make a stage plot your engineer will actually useWhat a stage plot shows, how to draw one on a single page, what goes in the input list and the monitor mixes, and when to send it to the venue.What is an input list, and how do you write one?An input list is the numbered list of channels a band needs at the desk. What goes on it, the order engineers expect, phantom power, and how to send it.How much do wedding musicians get paid?There is no standard fee. What a wedding musician takes home: the band's fee, the agency's cut, travel off the top, an equal share, and what moves the number.Do bands split money evenly?Most function bands split equally once travel has come off. When somebody is paid more, how that is said out loud, and what goes wrong when it is not.How do you pay band members fairly when some travel further?Take each player's travel off the top, then split what is left equally. Why that is fair, the rate, whose postcode, lifts, and what goes wrong otherwise.How do you run a wedding band's admin online, not in a group chat?Put every gig in one place the whole band can open: the date, venue, times, set, who is playing and each player's pay and travel. Here is how.How much does a dep get paid in the UK?There is no standard dep rate. The three ways UK function bands set one, how travel works, who pays whom, and what to agree before you say yes to a dep gig.Is there an app to split gig money between band members?Yes. A free calculator splits a gig fee to the penny in a minute, and the app does it for every gig with a statement each. What a fair split needs.What replaces a function band's admin spreadsheet?One place for the gig, the line-up, each player's travel and the split. What the spreadsheet did, where it breaks, and how to move without losing a year.Your own gig records: what a working musician should keep, per gigThe few things worth writing down after every gig (date, venue, fee, your own miles, expenses, who paid you) and the habit that makes January painless.Dep etiquette: how to get asked backWhat bands remember about a dep, and the habits that get you asked again: what to ask before saying yes, how to be on the night, and what to do after.Band expenses: what gets paid back, and howWhich costs a band pays back and which stay yours, the difference between a travel receipt and a band expense, and how a claim reaches the right statement.How to claim mileage as a UK musician: the rates, the record and the box it goes inMileage for self-employed UK musicians: the 55p and 25p rates for 2026/27, flat rate or actual costs, home-to-gig travel, deps, and the record to keep.How a wedding band's price is built (without a number)What goes into a UK wedding band's price: which fee is quoted, the agency's cut, travel, the deposit and balance, the extras, and what moves the number.How cover bands split gig money (and where it goes wrong)The real arithmetic of a band fee for a US cover or wedding band: what comes off the top, why travel should come out before the split rather than after, how a sub gets paid, and the mistakes that cause arguments.What to pay a sub, and who actually pays themThe band pays you, you pay the sub. That arithmetic with round numbers, the four things to agree before you ask, and what a longer drive costs everybody.HMRC's mileage rate is now 55p: what it means if you gigThe approved mileage rate rose to 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles from the 2026 to 2027 tax year. What that means if you drive to gigs.How band members get paid, and what you should be able to seeWhat happens to a gig fee before it reaches you, why your total and the bass player's differ, what a statement should show, and how deps change the maths.How bands stop double-booking themselvesThe three calendars every band accidentally keeps, why a date falls between them, and how to make one of them the one that actually decides.How to start a function band in the UKThe practical order: the line-up, who is in charge, the material, the kit venues ask about, getting booked, what to charge, deps, the day and the records.What a dep actually costs you, and who pays whomThe band pays you, you pay the dep. Here is that arithmetic with round numbers, what to agree with your dep beforehand, and the record worth keeping.What a good day sheet contains (and how to keep one)Everything a day sheet has to answer before the band leaves the house (call time, load-in, parking, set times, who to ask for) and where to keep it.What is a dep? How depping works in a UK function bandDep is short for deputy: a musician covering one gig for a band's regular player. What depping pays, who pays the dep, and what to agree before you say yes.How UK function bands split gig money (and where it goes wrong)The real arithmetic of a band fee: what comes off the top, why travel should come out before the split rather than after, how a dep gets paid, and the mistakes that cause arguments.PAT testing for bands: what venues actually ask for, and how to keep the recordsWhat PAT means for a function band's PA, lighting and backline, what venues and agencies ask to see, how often gear gets retested, and the simplest way to keep the records straight.The musician's invoice template for the UK: what it must sayA free UK musician invoice template you can copy, what a self-employed musician's invoice must include, and how deposits and balances work for a band.Why we built Event Band ManagerBand money goes wrong in the same place every time: the travel. Here is the order the arithmetic has to happen in, and why a spreadsheet keeps getting it wrong.