We were looking for a 'Celeidh' band for a wedding and when we googled we found a band featuring somebody we knew and in fact we had seen the band and realised that they would be ideal, and it turned out they are with an agency.

So the question is whether to approach the person we know direct or whether to go through the agency. It would be nice to go direct as presumably the musicians will get paid more if there is no agents' cut.

These are not people whose main living is got by playing music, though the standard is professional. But I'm not averse to them earning money using their skills, which are not in doubt. Moral problem. Answers on a postcard.

These agencies we discovered tend to put up videos and audio files of their acts, as do acts which don't use agents. So if people are booking acts blind just because they are with an agency, they should really be looking at the online evidence before making a decision.