Charity Gigs

A lot of pubs, particularly chain pubs, have a habit of putting on charity events. These are generally fun days with live music, possibly guest beers, etc etc, and all in the name of some charity. It could be a local charity, a charity close to the hearts of the owners or punters of the pub, or just a charity that is supported by the pub chain. Afterwards you get the obligatory 'big cheque' photos in the local papers.

This week, some friends of mine who are in a band (who shall remain nameless so they're not associated with this overly critical blog post, but whose identities will be known to those who read this blog often) had one of their gigs cancelled by a pub at very short notice. The pub will also remain nameless, suffice to say it's part of a pub chain owned by Mitchells and Butlers, and located in the south of England. The reason for the gig not going ahead was due to an ultimatum given to the band by the pub: it was a charity do and they were expected to turn up and play for free, despite being previously booked on the understanding that they'd get paid. Of course, the band decided not to do the gig, as they have running costs and can't afford to simply gig for free whenever a pub decided to put on a charity gig, and it's more than a little cheeky of the pub to "move the goalposts" in this way anyway. Of course it's easy to assume the band are heartless bastards for not playing at a charity gig, and only in it for the money. But the whole thing made me think a bit more about the situation, and I can only conclude that charity gigs in general are a massive scam.

Charity gigs are usually run by pubs, and the pub is often open as usual. You can go in, buy drinks, listen to live music for free, and there are collection buckets around into which you can throw your loose change. The atmosphere is usually pretty good, and giving money to charity is generally a good thing. But there is one constant in the entire thing that never changes, charity or not - the pub. Think about it - on a normal gig or event night, the pub will pay a band, DJ or other entertainer to appear. The whole point of booking said events is to pull in punters and sell more beer and/or food. On a charity day the bands and entertainers don't get paid, they effectively 'donate' their time to the cause, but the pub don't actually donate anything. In fact, the pub have basically just conned a bunch of bands and entertainers to appear in their establishment, thus earning them extra bums on seats, without actually having to pay them. OK, so they've put a few charity buckets around the place and told one or two of their already-employed staff to run around hassling people for change, but the pub actually contribute nothing to the charity, financially or otherwise, yet reap the benefits of having live entertainment. The pub will usually even get free advertising in local papers in the weeks after the event, which is where the big cheque photo opportunities come in. The local paper will run a story that a nearby chain pub has raised [x] thousand pounds for charity, yet in actual fact they did bugger all, sold loads of beer and food on the back of a load of entertainers they didn't have to pay, and to cap it all off, they're now getting free advertising in the local paper.

So what am I saying? Basically, if you own a pub, run charity events. They're a fantastic way to make money while convincing gullible punters that you actually care about their poxy charity. If you're a band, please don't feel guilty about turning down charity gigs, you can't possibly be as immoral as the pub holding it. And if you're a punter and your favourite local band is playing a charity gig, please give generously. In fact, take all the money you would have spent on drinks and put it in the charity buckets instead. You'll be doing far more good than the pub are.