When I started running the old BBC Folk Club (Clanfolk) around 1969, I made on huge error - being very new to it all and not playing professionally myself - but I only made it once.

When the guests had finished the evening, I came forward with the club cheque book to pay them. Wrong! They expected cash, and I didn't have cash. Luckily the pub landlord, Danny, put his hand in his back pocket and gave me the cash to pay the act - and I wrote HIM a cheque. Red faced saved, but a lesson leaned.

Circumstances may be different depending on how you do the booking. If you go through an agent, very often the agent pays the performer, and a cheque to the agent is the appropriate thing to do. But, over the years, most club music transactions I've seen or been involved in have involved cash. Whatever you do, make sure the artist understands what the deal is before you shake hands on the deal!