I often receive calls or emails from charities looking for entertainment for their fundraisers. Many times this is accompanied by a request for us to donate our services. While I don’t mind being asked, it’s rare that I can accommodate such requests since I’m a relatively small business and my expenses running a NYC-based business are not cheap.

One thing I do to mitigate the charity’s costs is to auction off song requests. We do the normal song battles and tip wars that are typical to dueling pianos in which the guests can stop and start (and re-stop and re-start) song requests by bidding and outbidding with their accompanying tip money. We’ve made a fair amount of money for our fundraising clients using this mechanism.

The second thing I suggest, which is even more powerful, is for the group to seek corporate sponsors for the entertainment. If the entertainment costs $3,000, sell the entertainment sponsorship for $6,000 which raises $3,000 for your organization right there! With dueling pianos, we’ve had situations where one piano was sponsored by one business, while the second piano was subsidized by another. Each sponsor had their banner on the side of “their” piano, and the entertainers played off each other using the company names. One pianist would say that his side, the TD Bank side of the room could sing louder, and get them to sing. The other pianist would say, oh no, the Columbia Bank side can sing even louder than that. And so it went. We created real value for the sponsors, and they were thrilled to become part of the show.

Another possibility is to offer your perspective entertainment company free advertising or publicity to help defray their costs, in exchange for a discount. I’ve accepted these offers before, but for me to seriously consider such an arrangement, the advertising and publicity has to be legitimately something that would benefit me. Be careful to be clear upfront as to why you’re calling. I’ve had people reach out to me and impersonate a real client, asking for a quote, only to find out after 4 emails and a couple of phone calls later that what they really want is a donation of our time in exchange for something that I don’t want or need. I’d rather just be asked on the first communication so we’re having the right conversation, rather than be led on.

My cousin got married last year in Philly, and she hired one of my favorite wedding bands. It was a 10 piece orchestra, with horns, 3 singers and a full rhythm section. They were simply amazing. This band has been voted Best Wedding Band for several years running by The Knot, Wedding Wire and NBC. As a professional wedding entertainer myself I couldn’t help asking my cousin how much she paid. She admitted to paying about $10,000. So then I got to wondering what other traditional wedding entertainment charges to play a reception. I went on to GigMasters, and asked for some quotes to see what some of those bands would charge. Here’s what I found:

I asked for bids for a 5 hour reception in NYC, including cocktail, dinner and dancing. I specified that the ceremony was in a separate room, and that I was expecting 100 guests. I put in a Saturday about 14 months out as my wedding date.

Charisma, a 6 piece band out of Newton, CT responded immediately with a price of $5,500. The Polka Brothers from NYC responded quickly with $3,000 for 4 polka musicians. Alchemy from Carmel, NY wanted $2,800 for 6 performers. Barynya, an 8 piece Russian/Gypsy band asked for $5,500. But that’s not the entire picture.

I asked around to several industry friends of mine that run established wedding bands and who DON’T advertise on GigMasters. They were telling me they charge prices of $10,000 – $14,000 for 7, 8 and 9 piece wedding orchestras. Some of them never found the need to advertise because their calendars were booked out 12-18 months just on word of mouth. Others had started advertising on GigMasters and similar sites, but at some point outgrew those sites. As they became more and more known, and were able to charge more for their Saturday nights, they found GigMasters less useful since they were now competing with bands that were willing to charge significantly less.

While you may get a good show from bands that charge $3,000-$4,000 (I’ve never actually heard the Polka Brothers), the bands that are able to charge $10,000-$14,000 are the ones that have nurtured and grown their reputations with each wedding at which they’ve performed. I’m sure that the brides and grooms that have hired them thought they were worth every penny.

When you enter into a contract with your entertainment provider, whether it’s a wedding band, a magician or a DJ, you normally will be expected to provide some kind of nonrefundable deposit along with your signature to secure the date. The amount may vary, but a 50% deposit is fairly common.

If you’re a bride, or just planning a party and this is first time you’ve ever bought entertainment services, this can be a scary thing. What if the event gets cancelled? What if someone dies the week before? What if it rains on our outdoor beach birthday party? Do I get my deposit back?

Of course the answer will depend on the wording of the deposit clause in the contract, but most likely if the event is cancelled because an unforeseen circumstances, you will likely be out your deposit. But let’s dig deeper.

It’s easier for people to understand why a caterer, or even a venue would request a deposit. They have to buy food or they are reserving the space exclusively for you and must turn down other business. But a musician isn’t purchasing any perishables, right? Well, not exactly. The busy nights for any event entertainer is Saturdays, followed closely by Fridays. There are only 52 Saturdays in a year and each one represents an opportunity cost. If your Aunt Mattie falls face first into the minestrone two days before your graduation party, the band still needs to be compensated for that Saturday night that they committed to your party. It is entirely possible that they have turned down other clients to commit to your party. While it’s sad that Aunt Mattie decided to pass two days before your big event, this is not the fault of your event vendors.

What can you do if the unforeseen happens? The first thing is to have a conversation with your entertainment provider. While they may be under no obligation to reschedule, many will try to work with you and apply part or all of your deposit to another date. The flexibility they have will depend on how in demand they are, how full their calendar is and on what day of the week you want your new date. You certainly can’t expect them to bump another client because you need to reschedule. And nor can you expect them to give you another Saturday night on the busiest part of wedding season. But maybe they’re willing to apply all (or some) of your deposit to a Tuesday night, or an off-season Friday night.

This is a conversation you can have with your entertainer BEFORE signing the contract. Ask the “what if” scenarios. Just understand that if this conversation drags out too long, your vendor may start to question your commitment to the date.

Another option is to take out Event Cancellation Insurance for your date.

What is typically covered by event cancellation insurance?
Fire, earthquakes, flooding, blizzards, hurricanes, terrorism, headline entertainers or speaker cancellation, outbreak of disease.

Event cancellation insurance probably won’t cover things like lack of ticket sales, or the time spent planning the event.

Everyone wants their event or party to be memorable, and using unique entertainment ideas is simply the best way for folks to remember your event. The more unique, the more lasting the impression. So in continuing the tradition of our Events Entertainment Blog, here are 10 more cool and different ways to wow your guests:

1. Hire a 60 second novelist. He will ask the attendees some questions about themselvesBook the 60 second novelist. He comes with his own table and a manual typewriter and asks guests a few questions to get a sense of who they are, and he types out a short life story in one minute. He even binds it so guests can take it home. The story is funny, imaginative and true. This is a fun way to get people to open up and share their stories and get to know each other.
2. Our favorite idea is dueling pianos. This exciting and unique form of interactive music and comedy involves two crazy entertainers, each wielding a grand piano, top party hits from the past 40 years, jokes, toasts and audience interaction. Each piano player tries to outdo the other in this outrageous fiesta of music and comedy. This is especially good for corporate events where you want everyone to let their hair down and just have fun. or with brides who want to steer clear of the typical bands or DJs and are want something more memorable. To bring dueling pianos to your celebration anywhere in North America…call us at 917-721-5247 or email us at info[at]nynyduelingpianos.com
3. Hire a miniature impersonator. Political correctness aside, it’s pretty cute to see a 4 foot Elvis Presley in full regalia strutting around your event. It’s sure to make your guests smile.
4. If you have a flair for the dramatic, bring in a fire performer. This combines dance, drama and movement into a theatrical presentation that is hypnotic and memorable. Of course you better check with the fire marshal to see what is required in terms of safety!
5. Another dramatic choice would be a Chinese-themed event, replete with acrobats and balancing performers, folk dancers in costume, martial arts demonstrations, and a parade with a paper dragon. If you can’t have your party in an exotic locale, bring the exotic locale to your party!
6. Barbershop quartets are always hit with their tight harmonies and olde-tyme costumes. Some of these vocal groups will write a song for your group or company if you give them background beforehand. Imagine listening to these beautiful voices singing about Uncle Charlie’s flatulation problem in glorious 4 part harmony.
7. If you live in a warm climate, think about having a Snow Party. There are companies that will come to your event and create real snow and ice. You could have a White Christmas in Southern Cali with Snowmen, sledding, snowball fights and ice skating. It’s not impossible.
8. Pig Racing. I admit, this is a bit out there, but who could resist these plump little porkers trotting down the track, each scrambling to get out in front for a nail biting race to the finish. If you have a really twisted sense of humor, you could follow it with a…(wait for it…)
9. Pig Roast! Ok, perhaps not the most inspired idea after a pig race, but who doesn’t like bacon and roast pork, especially if your pig lost the race.
10. Moulin Rouge is always a fun theme to work with. Hire some Can-Can dancers, slap red-flocked velvet on the tables, and don a gorgeous Parisian turn-of-the-century costume. Hang a girl on a trapeze singing Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend and call it a day!

When you’re shopping around for the music for your wedding reception or corporate party, you often find yourself directed to an online clearinghouse of bands and musicians. These one-stop private entertainment sites like Gig Masters (Gig Salad and Gig Mama are other similar brands) are great places to begin a search and get a basic price point for what you’re seeking. Many entertainers start out use listing services like Gig Masters because they offer a fair amount of exposure to many potential clients. It forces these performers to keep their price competitive because of the direct competition with other vendors who are bidding on the very same job.

But here’s where it gets interesting: once bands and musicians become successful after a few years and start getting a lot of repeat business and referral business, it makes less and less sense to fight for these jobs on the basis of price. If someone has seen that band at another function, or was directly referred by someone who has, then they are probably already sold on the band, and the cost is not the most important factor. It’s similar with wedding entertainers or college entertainers that are approached by potential customers during talent showcases. Those customers are already sold once they talk to the band about a gig because they have already seen them live. These prospects are highly qualified, and have a fair likelihood of becoming high-value clients. They know what you can do, they are in the market for your product, and they are already talking to you. As a band gets more exposure to high-value prospects, it starts making sense for them to charge more, especially for those coveted Saturday dates, where there’s only 52 each year.

This also has an effect of these successful performers pricing themselves out of online marketplaces such as GigMama or GigSalad. Some of them continue their listing, and it may be profitable for them even if they only get 1 gig every year or two. Other success stories simply abandon the online clearinghouses to focus their time and effort on networking with higher value clients such as referrals and showcases.

Now to be fair, many performers that have found success on Gig Masters continue to thrive there. They keep their price point low enough to continue to attract new clients, and because of the many client-based reviews they have generated, they can differentiate themselves from the pack. But I believe (and I know the good folks at GM et al. will vehemently disagree) that many of the most successful bands and entertainers have minimal to no presence on these types of websites.

You’re having a classy event, perhaps a corporate holiday party or a cocktail hour for your wedding reception. You call up a company like mine and you tell the entertainment planner that you want a piano player to play background music during your cocktail hour, something “jazzy”.

Most profession piano entertainers are able to play in the style of jazz to varying degrees, without actually being a legit jazz pianist. To many clients, Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble are jazz, and those are the melodies they want to hear. Maybe they want to hear some lite FM melodies sprinkled in. Other clients want to hear Thelonius Monk tunes, or a Bill Evans-esque interpretation of a classic standard. These clients would require a legitimate jazz trained pianist. Both styles are completely valid for classy cocktail music, and to be brutally honest, the majority of the guests will not know the difference unless it’s pointed out to them.

From the musician’s point of view, it takes much more training to achieve the status of a true jazz pianist, and as such, they get more respect in the music world. Even cocktail players that play “jazzy”, or “in a jazz style” really have a limited jazz vocabulary and can’t really “hang” with the straight up jazz crowd.

From the standpoint of a client looking for background music at their event, in my experience, it’s usually not important to them whether they are hearing legitimate jazz improvisation, or a cocktaily (yes, I just said cocktaily) “jazzy” version of a melody. Just because it’s not straight up jazz doesn’t make it unsophisticated. I would dare say that the late and famous New York society cocktail pianist Bobby Short wasn’t exactly a legit jazz pianist, yet the distinction was lost on the majority of his fans, and he was certainly considered extraordinarily sophisticated by most.

As for the pricing, with any professional entertainment you are paying for professionalism, experience, musicality, and a classy presentation that can float in the background, adding ambiance and being complimentary to party chatter. Whether it’s “cocktail music” or true jazz, the cost is generally going to be the same.

There are other things that will impact your cost more than the style you choose. See our blog post: What Drives The Cost Of My Private Event Entertainment.