folk club organisers ,put in a lot of hard work,which I appreciate,and some of them notably Ted and Ivy Poole[Swindon]have done it for nearly fifty years,fair play to them.
Snail,I am not advocating paying artists the same fee,I am advocating that doorprices should be the same for all guests. after that,
How you raise the money, to pay for guests is up to the organiser,he can subsidise guest nights by having singers nights,or even fundraising events like ceilidhs/ garden fetes,it has been tried and proved successful,so it doesnt have to be as: you are trying to say robbing one artist to pay for another.
I remember Alex Campbell,handing back part of his fee[the percentage part of the door]and taking his guaranteed fee only ,saying to the organiser,keep that for the club.
and more recently Tony Wilson giving his fee from Stockton folk club,back so that the club could get something to help Ron Angel with his post hospitalisation.
I have just visted Lowestoft folk clubs website,where Tom Mconville and David Wood are priced at 4 pounds,and Cockersdale are priced at 5 pounds, in my opinion both these groups are extremely good,highly professional, both have to come a long way ,and both of whom I would enjoy equally,so why the difference in price,what it says subconsciously is that one is better than the other[which is not so].
now every organiser has a right to run things their way,but if it was me[in Tom Mconville or any of the other 4 pound artists], Iwould be extremely pissed off.
I have played this club several times and had good evenings[on one occasion I sold 14 recordings]Their website is very good,and am sure in every other way the club is still very well run,and is a good club.