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Interested
in booking me for a concert or event? I do all kinds of shows... formal
guitar concerts, house concerts, weddings, background music for
corporate dinners, fundraisers - you name the event, chances are I'm
willing to play it.
It's
not as hard as you think.
In fact, it's really quite
easy and my fees are very
reasonable. I'm not in this for the money, though I do have to support
myself. My main concern is that I have...
a)
the opportunity to
sell my
CDs (so that people can take my music home with them and share it with more
people...)
b)
the opportunity to
perform
for new people (so they can experience the music first hand!)
c)
that my travel
expenses are
covered. For obvious economic reasons, I don't wish to lose
money when I do a
show.
I
only play my own music. No
cover tunes, show tunes or
popular requests. Not even for weddings, I'm afraid. I do have the
occassional Christmas song in my repertoire, but aside from that, know
that if you hire me, you're getting "Michael Kent Smith" music!
Here
are my basic fees:
Below you'll see two fees,
one
for the Chicago area and one for everywhere else. There are divided
into five categories. Pick the one that best fits what you're looking
for.:
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Chicago Area |
Elsewhere |
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Background
Music
This covers
virtually
any event in which all I need to do is sit down and play my
music for a couple of hours.
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$200
for 2 hrs.
$50 per hr. thereafter
Maximum of 4 hrs.
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$500
plus
travel
expenses
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Formal Concerts
This covers
virtually
any "concert" style event in which I am entertaining
your guests. In this case, I'm not just playing the guitar, I'm
telling stories about the music and communicating
with the audience.
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$300
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$500
plus
travel
expenses
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Art Galleries
I love playing at
art
galleries since it supports the visual arts and puts me in an
environment where I can play challenging material.
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$100
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$300
plus
travel
expenses
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Weddings
There's always more
preparation for weddings than any other event, thus the
additional expense.
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$400
This covers
everything, including the dress rehersal. If you want me to wear a tux,
that's extra!
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$600
plus
travel
expenses
This covers everything, including the dress rehersal. If you want me to
wear a tux, that's extra!
|
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House Concerts
Yes, I'll come play a
concert at your house! See the information on house
concerts below for details.
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The cost to you varies. Read the info on
house
concerts below.
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The cost to you varies. Read the info on
house
concerts below.
|
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Charities, Benefits and Fundraisers
This can be a "concert"
situation or a "background music" situation. Whatever you prefer.
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The cost to you depends on what the
event is and how far I have to travel.
In some cases, depending on the cause, I might be willing to
do a benefit show where all the ticket proceeds go to the cause.
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The cost to you depends on what the
event is and how far I have to travel.
In some cases, depending on the cause, I might be willing to
do a benefit show where all the ticket proceeds go to the cause.
|
email me for a quote specific to your
event. Note:
If you do not hear back
from
me within 48 hours, call me at 630.453.7781. It's entirely possible
that your email message (or my response to you) got caught in a spam
filter.
Availability:
If you've checked out my
concert calendar
lately, you can see how booked I am. I'm booking some shows almost a
year out now. If you are in the Chicago area, I may be able to squeeze
you in somewhere. Shows elsewhere require a bit more time to plan and
fit within my schedule, so contact me and we'll see what we can work
out.
Travel
Expenses: I will go pretty
much
anywhere in the world to play a concert so long as my
basic travel expenses (airfare, car rental and accomodations)
are covered. When you contact me, just let me know where you're located
and I can give you a general price range of what to expect regarding
that. If you don't think you can afford this, contact me anyway. Most
of the time when I travel, I can book several shows in an area at once.
If this is the case in your situation, it will cut the travel costs
down quite a bit because I can split the costs between the various
shows. In other words, if I'm playing just one show, the costs might be
$600 for travel expenses, but if I'm doing three, it might cut it down
to $250 or so.
House
Concerts: House concerts are
a
wonderful thing! They are incredibly intimate and will provide your
guests with an unforgettable memory! If you wish to have me come and
play a concert in your home, there are a couple of requirements:
I would ask that you be
willing to help promote the show to your friends, family, and
acquaintances, and that you commit to doing your best to bring at least
20-30 people into your home.In
terms of the cost, I ask
each person attending to contribute $10 to the cost of bringing me. In
other words, I request a $10 donation per guest. My minimum is $300, so
if we don't quite make the $300, I would ask you to cover the
difference plus my travel
expenses, if applicable for your
location.
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