the ultimate test of this would be for clubs to stop booking acts and only have singers and musicians nights for a couple of quid and see if the club folds or to up the door fees to pay acts a higher percentage/flat fee to see if the audience count drops and for the club to fold ... seems pointless really, book acts who's terms you are happy with whether a fee or a percentage and if the terms don't suit either then it's so long been nice to know you. Life is too short to trade insults. when i recently took over our club I sent out a questionnaire, the result of which was that people would probably pay more but come less to guest nights -who wins then? Rural clubs in particuar are only going to get a limited audience regardless of the amount of advertising and marketing.

Countess Richard, villan's club is not a dump, it is full of people who enjoy live music in a rural location. we have performed there many times. You owe him an apology. you are also creating an environment of'us' and 'them' whic does not exist and does a disservice to the industry. I am sure your oomments are not meant to offend-but as a club organiser who spends hours advertising making posters listening to promos, speaking to acts and turning up each week when I could quite easily not bother, well I am offended. I love our club and our people and the acts are just a small part of it, they are not our raison d'etre. So less high horse and more positive suggestions -for example, a club of 35-40 people what would you charge for a guest?