So this is perhaps a separate argument around how much we pay guests, as distinct from how much we, the punters, pay to get in.
Speaking for one folk club I represent, we have always paid our guests a previously agreed fee, never done percentage of gate takings as some clubs do. There have been rare occasions when audience attendance was poor, and the guest has offered to take a lower fee, but we have always refused to entertain this, and given them what was originally agreed. In between guest nights, we have session nights, where people paya small entry fee, and this and membership fees help to subsidise guest fees if there is a shortfall on the gate takings.