GUEST,Johnny Sunshine wrote: "If it's an unpaid performance then by all means there should be a collection. One club I used to play at was free admission, but everyone would be expected to put (at least) the cost of a pint in the pot, and the bar takings would top it up to a round figure. Often that translated into more for the performer than they'd have got if everyone had had to pay £2 to get in".

That's the way I see it. I don't expect performers to play for nothing, particularly if they've travelled and have costs to recoup. In those kinds of scenarios, I wouldn't begrudge a putting money in a pint pot at all - I've done it.

It's not a practice that I'd like to see as being the 'norm' though. The idea that a performer could earn more through doing that than through proper payment might be too tempting for promoters and the like. On the non-folk circuit, payment through giving performers tickets to sell seems to abused in a similar way by some promoters.

"If a performer's being paid, then soliciting tips suggests that something's wrong with the fee, the admission price or the promotion."

I agree completely.