Band hire in Australia: the complete guide

Most people arrive at this page without a genre in mind. You have a room, a date, a rough headcount and a feeling that live music would be better than a speaker in the corner, and that's genuinely enough to start. The genre question sorts itself out later, usually once you've described the night to two or three acts and heard what they suggest.

So this guide is deliberately the wide one. It covers what separates a working band from a hobby band, what actually moves a quote up or down, and how to describe your event well enough that the replies are useful. If you already know you want a rock band or something for a corporate dinner, the more specific guides go deeper.

The single most useful thing you can work out before enquiring is the shape of your night. How many people, in what kind of space, doing what. A seated dinner with speeches needs a different band from a backyard 40th, and the music style is almost the last thing that separates them.

Describe the room in your first message and the shortlist narrows itself. Low ceilings and hard surfaces make any band louder than the same band outdoors. A long thin space splits the crowd in two. Musicians who gig every weekend already know this and will tell you if your plan has a problem in it.

Every quote starts with how many people are in the band, because each one is a professional giving up their Saturday. Going from three players to five is not a small step up in cost and never will be. It is a large step up in sound.

Hours are the second lever, then travel, then whatever gear has to come along. A band that owns a PA big enough for your room saves you a hire bill you might not have thought about. Ask what's included rather than assuming, because sound and lighting sit in the quote for some acts and on your to-do list for others.

The labels overlap on purpose, because the acts do. The same five musicians might be listed as a party band, a pub band and a corporate band, and all three are honest, because they play different sets in different clothes depending on who booked them.

Treat the category as a starting filter rather than a fact about the players. What separates acts in practice is the kind of night they do most often. A band that spends every weekend in front of a dancing crowd carries that into your event whatever their listing says.

Recent live footage with the sound left on. A song list you can actually read. A reply that answers your questions in order rather than sending a brochure. None of that is glamorous, but it's the difference between a booking that runs itself and one you manage all week.

Ask what happens if someone gets sick. Working bands have a list of subs who know the set and they'll say so without hesitating. A long pause on that question tells you the band has not had to answer it yet.

You send a short message to the acts you like, they come back with a price for your specific date and venue, and you compare. Asking is free, there's no account to make, and sending an enquiry books nothing. A booking only exists once you've accepted a written quote.

Send it to a handful rather than one. Good bands get asked about the same Saturdays and the first name on your list may already be out. Three or four enquiries in one sitting saves you a fortnight of waiting.