A Guide to Hosting Live Music in your Pub

Hosting live music in your venue can be a rewarding and reputation-boosting experience, providing an excellent opportunity to attract more customers and increase your revenue during times when it might not typically be so high.

The benefits that come with hosting live music in your venue are endless, with increased customer dwell time one of the main ones. The music being played often offers entertaining and social experiences for customers, whilst encouraging them to stay in the venue for a longer period of time. Live music events are often billed as being during set times, which can further encourage customers to arrive early or leave late to ensure a complete customer experience.

We have come up with some key considerations to take into account if you are planning to host live music in your venue, or if it is something you may consider in the future.

Licensing & Legal Factors

The Live Music Act came into force on 1 October 2012 and deregulates live music, removing licensing requirements for live music and recording music where there is a premises licence or club premises certificate in place permitting ‘on sales’. Licensing requirements are also removed if the premises is open for the sale or supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises and live or recorded music is taking place between 8am and 11pm, or if the music is amplified live music or recorded music (DJs or disco) the audience consists of no more than 500 people.

In short, this means that if the aforementioned criteria are met, any live or recorded music-related conditions that appear on your premises licence are disapplied, unless the live and recorded music-related conditions have been re-imposed as part of a licence review. In the case that the conditions have been re-imposed, they will need to be complied with.

What type of music should your pub host?

The answer to this question is very goal dependent. You should consider what outcomes you want from the event and whether you want to encourage new customers to visit or satisfy your existing regulars. To gauge the feeling amongst customers, you can informally ask them what they’d like to see, along with researching who plays in similar pubs locally

How do you source the bands/artists?

Technology platforms such as GigRealm can connect pubs with the best up-and-coming artists. There are features within the platform containing analytics and data to ensure that you get the right person or group for your pub. Everything is managed online from finding, reviewing and booking acts, automated contracts and invoices, making it a simple and stress-free process.

Should you charge people entry for live music events?

As someone new to hosting live music events, it is unlikely that you would have much success charging customers an entry fee to the event. This, of course, does depend on the quality of act that you have playing, but it is probably best to begin with free gigs and move on to charging in the future once you are recognised in the local community as a music pub, if that is your aim.

What equipment is required?

A good place to start would be a good PA system and additional lighting. It is best, however, to keep investment limited at the beginning, as artists and bands often provide equipment themselves, and you don’t want to over-extend yourself if live music is not something your consumer base enjoys as much as you predict.

How to promote the new events

The same way that you promote your pub. It is key to keep customers informed of what’s going on in your venue on a weekly basis, so updating your website, social media and posters around the pub should give them a good idea of what is on the agenda. It’s also important to remember that some bands/artists will bring their own people with them, such as family, friends or fans.

Will your pub need more staff?

Unless it is a large-scale event attracting a big crowd, you will likely be able to get by with your current employees. In the case that you expect an increased number of visitors, it would be wise to get security staff booked in well in advance. You should make sure that your team are fully briefed on the evening’s arrangements and able to answer any queries that customers may have.