Don: The entrepreneur is the one who rents the venue, does the promotion, pays the musician, and IF there is any money left over after these expenses, he pockets it.   Which is only fair, considering that he or she took the risk, spent the time and effort making all the arrangements, and did all the necessary promotion, without which, the concert would never have taken place. Most of the entrepreneurs within my experience who are involved in folk music are more interested in hearing the singers than they are in getting rich

Absolutely! About 18 months ago I put on Tiny Tin Lady in Tunbridge Wells, purely because I liked them and thought they deserved a bit of exposure in the south east.

They paid their own expenses down from Leeds (not insignificant) but I put them up overnight here (Gawd, for small girls they can drink!!!). They charged a very reasonable fee, and made no demands for a rider. I did put on a vegetarian spread for them back stage, though, and bought them a modest keg of Heineken to keep their whistles wet.

I got the venue at "Mate's Rates", ie about 30% below normal price, because I know the owners. I paid about £100 for publicity posters and flyers to hand out and worked hard to get 2 spots (one a decent sized feature with pics) in the local paper and a slot on the local radio, all free. I also managed to persuade Ric Sanders of Fairport Convention to announce the gig from the stage at Fairport's Tunbridge Wells apearance a few weeks before the TTL gig. Ticket prices were the usual rates for a relatively unknown band.

With all that, and despite getting a reasonably decent crowd in for the venue and band, I made a loss of about £200 on the evening. I'd been pretty certain that I would make a loss, though that was slightly more than I'd hoped for. But, as you say, I was more interested in bringing the girls' music to a wider audience than in making a profit...however, if I'd adopted Conrad's approach my loss would have been nearer £800 than £200! There are limits to what anyone can absorb!