Is it not possible to have a £2.50 floor singer/local artist club AND a £10 national artist venue? Why do I get the impresion that some people seem to be reacting as if the two are mutualy exclusive?

What should happen, and sometimes does in my experience, is that the two should be symbiotic. The small local club books the little known artist for a reasonable fee (We always pay 100% of the door takings and, more often than not, any profits from a raffle btw) When the artist becomes better known and/or professional they get the booking at the big expnsive venues. Conversely when the artist, now of national status, visits the big venue, they can, occasionaly, call in to the local club where they made their name and give a little of their time to helping the new comers to the scene by supporting the local club. Am I making any sense?

Having said all that the 'folk club scene' (whatever that may be!) is not all about artists or organisers. It should be primarily about the audience. In this market led economy what should be paid to the artists is dictated by what the audience wants to see and is willing to pay isn't it?

Now, if we want to open up a whole new can of worms, what about subsidies? What would be wrong with the Arts council, or another such body, funding smaller clubs so they can pay the nationals a decent rate and still charge the poorer members of the audience an afordable fee? You never know - we may even encourage pubs to go back to live entertainment for free if we expanded that. As long as it wasn't karaoke it would get my vote anyway...:-)

Incidentaly - we do usualy pay the % I mentioned earlier but when excess funds from singers nights or fund raisers get to a reasonable level we will always consider booking someone famous and subsidising their fee with club funds, ensuring that the club is completely non-profit making.

Cheers

Dave